Million Dollar Highway

jeep786

Guest
Hello everyone, I like to share my trip to Million Dollar Highway in the states of Colorado with my NT700.
The trip was in the middle of April 2015. I'm not so good at editing but i tried
Hope you all enjoy it and thanks for watching !!

https://youtu.be/YgkUyQd4AUw
 
very nice, very scenic. snow at lower elevations make for nicer camera shots, and ride. I did my first rocky mtn experience last june 2015. very fun trip, still snow above 11,500 ft and pikes peak etc
 
Great video, Jeep! The first time I ever rode the Million Dollar Highway was on May 8, 1998 (I remember the date because it was my son's birthday and I had expected to be at his house in Montrose by 6:30-7:00. A friend and I were pre-riding a possible bicycle tour route. We'd left Grand Junction at 8AM, ridden to Montrose, Gunnison, and Lake City when my buddy's clutch quit working on his Goldwing 1200. We had to get some brake fluid and bleed the clutch circuit and by the time we finished it was snowing as we went over Slumgullion Pass between Lake City and Creede. That turned to rain at Creede and back to snow on top of Wolf Creek Pass. By the time we got to Durango at 6, it was up to 65 and since neither of us had ever ridden the Million Dollar Highway, we figured we'd only be about an hour late to Montrose

WRONG!!! I was on my '83 Silverwing that I'd only had for three months and I'd never ridden in the mountains before that day, much less at night. About the time we got Engineer Pass, it started snowing. Yikes! Then I dragged a floorboard as we went down the hairpins before Silverton and I knew I was going to die. Before we got to Ouray, along the stretch at about 17:30 minutes into your video, I came around a corner and there was a rock the size of my head rocking in the middle of my lane. But we made, even though we didn't get to my son's house until 10:00. We missed the birthday party. By the time we got back to my folks' house in Grand Junction it was midnight and the temperature was back up to 70F.

I'm still looking forward to my first trip from Durango to Ouray without having to ride in rain. I've gone south on the Million Dollar Highway on a nice day a couple of times, but in the four or five times I've been northbound, it's always rained between Silverton and Ouray. It looks like you guys had a beautiful day for one of our great Colorado rides!
 
Thanks for your sharing your great memory Phil. I can imagine what kind of thoughts were going through your mind when you ridding up in those mountains, especially in rain!
Some parts were really scaring, it didn't matter if we were going up or going down, I felt like I was just going down!! lol
It was a great trip and I would go back again. :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Great video! YIKES!!! Colorado apparently doesn't care much for guard rails...although in many places it looked like the edge of the highway was it...no place to put a guard rail. Maybe you guys out west should pack parachutes into your jackets where the pads go...
 
That's funny! I was trying to remember which "classic" movie you are paraphrasing....."Badges? We don't need no stinking badges"... Blazing Saddles?
 
I thought the highway through RMNP was as 'daring' as the road from Ouray to Durango. The portion from Ouray to Silverton was prettiest.

I had to laugh at the video. It shows how hard it is to enjoy the views when you are riding a motorcycle on a highway like that. Glad you had so little traffic. Last time I was on 550 it was a long string of cars and trucks with some people on bicycles just to add to the fun :(
 
Time I rode it we left Durango just at dusk; Thought we would stop in Ouray but no, they wanted to get to Montrose. Rained all the way up there. I was not a happy biker.
 
Nice...I'll get out that way someday....not sure I'd chance that last road.(3rd pic) on my NT...looked more like dual sport country.
 
Well, I have to say that to be complete you really need to go on US550 THREE times.

Once during the peak of summer when everything is green. Spectacular views.

Then during fall when the aspens have turned yellow.

Then during spring when the pass opens as Jeep did it in his video. The video does not do justice the the grandeur of the place. Yesterday was my first time in the rockies with the snow level so low (I usually visit in summer or fall). I even got some better views as there is construction just north of Silverton which meant 30 min to get out and walk around.

Oh, and if you think riding on a road where it drops straight down at the white line is bad, watch the guys in the construction zone running the small shovels and bobcats ON THE EDGE!! Kudos to those guys.

PS Phil, I also finally stopped at the Gateway Canyons resort and had lunch there (CO141). Quite the place. Seems it is also a training location for that chain of resorts. Most of the staff there this summer is Phillipino. They are in culture shock right now. Oh, and lunch (Pig sandwich) was really good. Not for the cheaper folks as my sandwich and fries was $20 :) Not really bad when you consider that rooms start in the $500 per night range and go up to over $2000 per night!!!
 
Last edited:
charlie b said:
PS Phil, I also finally stopped at the Gateway Canyons resort and had lunch there (CO141). Quite the place. Seems it is also a training location for that chain of resorts. Most of the staff there this summer is Phillipino. They are in culture shock right now. Oh, and lunch (Pig sandwich) was really good. Not for the cheaper folks as my sandwich and fries was $20 Not really bad when you consider that rooms start in the $500 per night range and go up to over $2000 per night!!!
Click to expand...

Whoa! I'm glad I've got lodging for free in Montrose where my son and daughter-in-law are. And I'll probably continue to eat lunch at the little store on the east side of Gateway!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom