Ouray, Colorado — September 10, 2009
We didn’t go very far this day. After walking around town a bit and having a coffee and snack at Artisan Cafe and bakery, we headed up into the mountains on Camp Bird Road. Unfortunately, it was too cool for our picnic along Sneffels Creek to sit for too long without a fire and a light rain started not long after we finished eating.
(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)
The entire present-day economy of Ouray is based on tourism. Ouray bills itself as the “Switzerland of America” because of its setting at the narrow head of a valley, enclosed on three and a half sides by steep mountains.*
Many of the buildings have interesting 19th century decorative enhancements, such as the weather vane above.
Even though still technically summer, the aspens in the high country were already showing signs of color.
We didn’t need to find a picnic table, but it was too cool at 10,700 feet to stay long, especially when raindrops began to fall.
The city population was 813 at the 2000 US census.*
Like most towns in the Colorado mountains, Ouray was originally a mining town. However the evidence does not dominate the town. The largest and most famous mine is the Camp Bird Mine, the second largest gold mine in Colorado, established by Thomas Walsh in 1896.*
While Camp Bird Road is generally passable for small sport utility vehicles, there are some places that are fairly rough and, a couple, like the rock overhang above, that can be down right unnerving for some people.
I still have a lot to learn about my camera, but was able to get a decent time lapse shot of Sneffels Creek without a tripod.
__________________________________
Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 10, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
* from Wikipedia
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you I enjoyed my stop by here today and all the pictures
.-= Patricia´s last blog ..Korny Zucchini Pizza =-.
Ha – there’s a wee town in Nova Scotia called Bear River that calls itself the Switzerland of North America.
.-= XUP´s last blog ..First Bite =-.
Awesome I love the Ouray area- I lived in Colorado from 1977 until 1998 when I moved to Wisconsin. Parts of Colorado are extraordinary and then others are rather like an armpit… my Mom was born in LaJunta that area is kind of the pits.
.-= Michelle Gartner´s last blog ..Music Monday – 123 By the Groovie Goolies =-.
Looks like a fun place to walk around, and good eats always helps.
Hi Mike – Ouray was tiny in 2000. This is another thing I’m looking forward to about travelling in the US – you have so many really small towns and cities and everything seems so spread out.
In the UK, a place needs to have a Cathedral to be called a city. My nearest city is probably one of the smallest we have, with not much more than 100,000 people. And the village I live in is very small with less than 200 people. We don’t even have a shop.
If Ouray was here, it would be called a village. I think that is probably because we have crammed too many people into one small country.
Sorry for taking so long to respond to comments.
Pat – You’re welcome — and thanks for stopping by!
XUP – I think there are a lot of places that compare themselves to Switzerland.
Michelle – Colorado is pretty neat, but, actually, our first stop in Colorado was a stay in the KOA at LaJunta.
Dot – It is a fun place to walk around. We actually had thoughts of moving there after retirement, but that’s not financially practical for us. Home prices are just too high there.
Cath – There are a lot of small towns and a lot of cities. Unfortunately, with ubiquitous franchises and big box stores, there is often little to distinguish one place from the next. Ouray has the advantage of a unique location with none of the normal franchises and no big box stores. All of that can be found less than an hour’s drive north in Montrose, though.