RE: Ridgeway SP - CO

[wapiti]

 
Not many posts for Colorado. Hmmm.
 
 Well, here s my two cents.
 
 Last summer my family spent a few days at Ridgway State Park and thouroughly enjoyed ourselves.
 
 It s north of Ouray and the San Juan mountains by about 12 miles. The camp ground has a couple of entrances. We stayed up on the top two loops of the Dutch Charlie CG. It s covered with a forest of Juniper trees and most spots offer a modicum of privacy. Everything was clean and most spots had 110 hookups. The toilets and showers were clean and kept up as well.
 
 At the south end  of the CG there is a path to a scenic overlook that s above the resevoir. To the south one can see the majestic San Juan mountains and are quite spectacular at sundown.
 
 The swim beach at Dutch Charlie was closed due to low water levels. Unfortunately the drought out here has hit the resevoirs hard. But the palyground at the swim area was a nice place to let the kids burn off some steam.
 
 The town of Ouray is a short drive away. It s nestled at the end of the valley that brings you into the SJs mountains. Ouray is aka little Switzerland due to the rugged peaks surrounding it. Ouray has hot springs that we enjoyed during a typical afternoon mountain rain storm. There is a lot of mining history in the town along with the usual tourista shops and atttractions.
 
 If one is adventuresome, you can continue south to the old mining town of Silverton. A town that hasn t changed much since I was a kid. Still only has one street paved. It s also the terminous of the Durango & Silveton Railroad. If you don t get a chance to ride the D&SRR, one can at least see it in action as it departs, I think at 3:30 pm. Need to check schedules.
 
 Why did I say adventuresome when going to Silverton? Well one needs to drive over Red Mountain pass. A two lane highway that winds and switchbacks it s way up and through the San Juans and gold and silver mining history. The road is narrow with sheer dropoffs and often with no guardrails. A bit of a white knuckler if your not used to driving in the mountains.
 
 If you haven t seen the San Juans, I would highly recommend going. There are tons of websites to get info of the area. There are several CGs worth staying at, but the one at Ridgeway was a great place to have a base camp.
 
 Here s a link to it s site: http://parks.state.co.us/ridgway/
 
 

[Redwolf]

 wapiti
We stayed at Ridgway as well, in July.  (Part of our Great Fires of Colorado Trip).
 
 A very nice and clean park.  We stayed at the Pu-Cu-Chu-Pak campsites.  My comments and pictures from the park are [link=http://redwolf-journeys.net/2002/ColoradoJune/Ridgway/RidgwayTop.htm]on our website [/link].