Ouray, Colorado.

It isn’t often that I get a second chance to photograph a popular site on our travels. In 2021, we drove the Million Dollar Highway, a scenic route known for its stunning views and dramatic drop-offs. You can visit my post about this popular scenic highway here.

In September 2023, we left the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and headed toward U.S. Highway 550, the Million Dollar Highway. That journey allowed me to improve my photography of the popular waterfall, which is only a short drive from Ouray.

Bear Creek Falls is hidden underneath an amazing bridge that spans a gorge in the rocks, which was a real challenge for the original road builders. I referenced that story in the Million Dollar Highway post mentioned above. From underneath that bridge, the falls plunge 200 feet (61 m) into the Uncompahgre Gorge, making it a truly impressive sight.

There is a parking area and viewing platform just off the highway, making it easy to see the falls. The falls are accessible year-round, but the best time to visit is in the spring when the runoff is high, and the falls are at their most powerful. The falls can freeze in the winter, creating a dramatic ice formation.

Be aware that climbing or hiking near the falls is dangerous. The rocks can be slippery, and there is a significant drop-off. If you want to get a closer look at the falls from below, a few guided hikes are available in the area.

About the photo: When I captured the falls from the same vantage point in 2021, I captured a single image with my Nikon D500. During this visit to the falls, I used my Samsung S23U camera and captured three successive images from the top to the bottom of the falls. If you compare the two images, the major improvement in the panoramic image here is that I could include more detail at the base of the falls where the creek continues on from its fall.

One advantage, dear reader, you cannot see from the photo here on my blog or on my Flickr site, where it is posted in 2K HD, is that the final image before online compression is larger than 4K HD. Using a guide to printing on high-resolution media, the final photo merge before compression would create a 12×16 high-quality print at 300 dpi. I don’t plan to print this image, so my major goal was achieved when I included more of the waterfall’s base than in my photo from two years earlier.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s also acceptable. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

Ouray, Colorado.

Created in a valley and surrounded by the San Juan Mountains, Ouray grew with the state of Colorado. The town’s history is synonymous with the growth of mining and the railroads needed to ship the mined silver and gold. Only two months after Colorado became a state, the city was incorporated in October 1876.

The town of Ouray only had about 400 residents upon incorporation but grew rapidly as the mining industry grew. In 1887, the railroad tracks finally led to Ouray and by 1888, the year the county courthouse was built, there were railroad excursions to visit the burgeoning mining town.

There are many original buildings from the 19th century still standing in Ouray. Two examples are the St. Elmo Hotel built in 1899 and Wright’s Opera House constructed in 1888.

Tom Walsh, the wealthy owner and the operator of the Camp Bird Mine was responsible in part for the addition of a library and public hall on the second floor of the city offices constructed in 1900. Built to resemble Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, the structure burned in 1950. It took 38 years, but in 1988, a reconstruction and restoration plan was brought to completion and the building’s historical facade again graces the city.

Our visit to Ouray concluded our first ever journey on the Million Dollar Highway between Ouray and Silverton. As I noted in an April 5, 2022 post, the highway is beautiful, but it can be treacherous in poor weather conditions. The beautiful drive past Red Mountain and the many mining areas is one of the most scenic drives I’ve taken recently, and if you read my blog regularly, you know I am saying a lot here.

This beautiful building now houses several small businesses. At one point, it used to house a gas station.

Ouray is home to three waterfalls, Box Cañon Falls and Cascade Falls, and Bear Creek Falls. Cascade Falls is visible from almost any point in Ouray. At the east end of 8th Avenue, the Cascade Falls parking lot, there is a trailhead where you will begin the moderately steep but thankfully short walk to the waterfall.

Just out of town, on the highway from Ouray to Silverton, a pull-off with a large parking area is a must-see stop. Walk along the short sidewalk to the viewing area where you will get a spectacular view of Bear Creek Falls. Just above the falls is a bridge that first spanned that chasm on Otto Mears toll road, the beginning of the first 6.5 miles (10.4 km) of the Million Dollar Highway.

So ended our journey to Ouray and we found ourselves on that section of U.S. 550 known as the Million Dollar Highway. You can click on any of the images above to view them in 2K HD on my Flickr site, or you can visit the entire album here.

John Steiner

Silverton, Colorado.

Part of U.S. 550 comprises a section of the San Juan Skyway Colorado Scenic Byway. On our July trip to Colorado last year, the lodge we stayed at is on that highway between Durango and Silverton. There is scenery aplenty along the highway no matter where to take it, but stop at Silverton for a short break and then continue north toward the small community of Ouray.

That section of highway, expensive and difficult to build, was purported to cost a million dollars a mile to complete. The opening image features one of the views of the scenery as the highway snakes its way through the San Juan Mountains.

There is some controversy about the length of the “Million Dollar Highway”, some counting the 75 miles (120 km) from Durango to Ouray, others counting the entire 190-mile (306 km) stretch from the New Mexico border to Montrose CO. Others avoid the controversy by calling the entire 236-mile (380 km) stretch the San Juan Scenic Skyway.

To avoid the controversy of the true length of the Million Dollar Highway, I am limiting my image gallery to that stretch between Silverton and Ouray. Constructed in the 1880s, that 25-mile (40 km) stretch was certainly difficult to build, but it didn’t cost a million dollars a mile.

To me, it’s a million-dollar highway because the views are worth a million dollars, OK? In any case, that section of highway is not one that will be traveled at freeway speeds. It is often shoulderless, is missing guardrails on some of the steepest dropoffs at the highway’s edge, and the speed limit in many sections is but 25 mph (40 kph). Besides, you’ll want to take it slow so your passengers can enjoy the beauty of the highway.

Switch drivers for the return trip so that the driver on the way to Ouray gets a chance to view the scenery on the way back to Silverton. The highway winds its way through three of the highest mountain passes in North America. The image above features a view of Red Mountain near the top of Red Mountain Pass.

This pass is extremely dangerous in the winter as there are no guardrails along this section of highway that is the summit of the 11,018-foot (3358 m) pass. As you can see from the image, the highway at this point is very near the top of Red Mountain.

Another definition of the Million Dollar Highway could be related to the mining activities in that area. A gold rush of prospectors swelled the population of the area in the 1880s. The last few miles of construction from Ouray to Ironton was the most difficult section to build. An enterprising railroad builder and entrepreneur by the name of Otto Mears constructed a toll road to allow passage between the two communities, the last stretch has come to be known as “Mears’ Miles.”

Just south of the city of Ouray is Bear Creek Falls where Otto Mears put his toll gate to collect the fees from travelers on this most difficult section of highway. Today, a large fenced area with ample parking allows visitors to take a look at the concrete bridge spanning the break in the rocks above Bear Creek. Take a moment to imagine a wood plank bridge that Otto Mears constructed there in 1880.

Near the falls is a trailhead that starts at Highway 550 and winds some 3.5 miles (5.6 km) up to the Yellow Jacket Mine. The elevation gain on the trail is about 1,000 feet (305 m), and there are switchbacks and steep ledges to contend with on your journey. For a less strenuous hike, you can stop and turn around at the Grizzly Bear Mine, about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the trailhead.

There is a large parking area near the waterfall, and if you look in the opposite direction from Bear Creek Falls, you can see another waterfall high in the mountains. The image above was captured with the zoom set to 150 mm, so that waterfall is a good distance from the parking area.

The scenery along the highway is plentiful, and there are lots of opportunities for some beautiful mountain landscape images. You will find, however, that there aren’t that many pull-offs. I sat in the back seat behind the driver on parts of the drive to allow me to shoot from the open window. If you are in motion, use a fast shutter speed so that you don’t get motion blur from the objects in the foreground. The image above was captured at 1/2500 seconds.

Please click on any of the images above to visit the gallery on my Flickr site. The images there are in 2K HD, and there are many more there than I shared here in this post. One thing I really like about the Flickr site is that the image metadata is available to view for those who are interested in the technical details of the images. Arrows on the left and right of the images will allow you to scroll through the entire gallery. You can also visit the Flickr album page here.

John Steiner