GTV First Loop: Ouray

To hike or to snowshoe? That was the question. The outfitter in town sold us a map, offered to rent us snowshoes, and offered up lots of advice. In the end, we set our sights on something “lower down” (ha!) and south-facing, that we figured wouldn’t require the snow shoes.

Just out of town was the Amphitheatre trailhead. From there, we began our hike on the Portland Mine Trail—the name of which we figured was a good omen.

From there we traversed over to the Chief Ouray Mine trail and climbed…

…and climbed…and climbed…And eventually gained the ridge, where we found some pretty deep snow.

Add to that a traverse around the ridge to reach the mine, plus a few frozen stream crossings (one at the head of a rather impressive waterfall), and you got yourself a heady section of trail.

The mine was a neat to see—and an interesting reminder of the ore-extraction history of so much of this now pristine-seeming area.

However, back around the ridge just a bit was a snow-free and sunny spot, so we made that our lunch destination.

From there we trekked the long stretch back to the van, thrilled to have had such a stunning trail practically all to ourselves for the day.

On the way down, we decided that Box Canyon falls was too cool to pass up—even though it’s on private land, cost a few bucks each, and required us to walk more (the nerve!).

Weary and in need of fortification, we hit up the quite fabulous Ouray Brewery for sustenance, then hit the hay back at the 4J. +1. +1.