Need recs on best places to eat/drink in Ouray. Also, some suggestions on things to do would be great.

We'll be there for 4 days in the next 2 weeks. Already planning to do the 1/2 day train trip from Durango so that'll take up most of a day.

Looking at taking Ophir pass over to Telluride and Last Dollar Rd. Home. Would also like to do Alpine Loop if open (or any of these if open).

Imogene is probably out of the question.

Anyways, will just be 3 of us (wife and 3.5 yr old) so no strenuous hiking is in the cards.

TYIA!

We used to go th Ouray every other year for a couple of decades. Great location to spend a few days. If you haven't been high in the mountains, the elevation may give you headaches.

Ophir and Imogene are about the same in difficulty. We jeeped all of them many, many times over the past four decades until we got in our 60s. No issues until some jerk coming down doesn't yield to you going up and forces you to backup down a very narrow path to the past turnout. Both have some challenging runs..

Make sure you have a high center vehicle and go early in the day...don't be the last ones on the trail.

Years and years ago we were out there about 4pm and high centered on a boulder and stuck our jeep. We worked and worked to get it out and couldn't. It gets really dark early in the mountains. We ended up spending the night on the trail in the jeep until the first group of jeeps came early the next morning and the guys lifted our jeep off the boulder.

Take some snacks and water with you as you don't know what's going down. Take flashlights and a couple of blankets.

I am not sure if I would have taken my kids at 3 1/2 years old on either of those two trails. I would stick to the more moderate trails now. Still can see a lot and enjoy them greatly.

Love me some Ouray. My favorite restaurants:

(Ouray is a small town w/ a ton of people staying and passing through. I'd recommend you go ahead and book reservations for your dinners)
Bon Ton- consistently best quality and service. very nice place (it's kind of underground/basement of building so don't let first looks fool you).
Outlaw- it's been there forever and feels like a good mountain town restaurant. I actually think the food is good there and the atmosphere is great. Evenings they will have a piano player in there, your kid will love it.
Maggies' - for lunch- great burgers and fries.
Ouray Brewery- I like it as a midday break/lunch on the roof. good food and they have their own beers. packed all the time.

Easy stuff - take the short hike to Cascade falls and do the Box Canon. Easy and the kid will love it.

I'm a jeeper but most of those mountain passes/trails will consume the full day. Last Dollar Road is easy and pretty. What are you driving?

Zone416 said:

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Love me some Ouray. My favorite restaurants:

(Ouray is a small town w/ a ton of people staying and passing through. I'd recommend you go ahead and book reservations for your dinners)
Bon Ton- consistently best quality and service. very nice place (it's kind of underground/basement of building so don't let first looks fool you).
Outlaw- it's been there forever and feels like a good mountain town restaurant. I actually think the food is good there and the atmosphere is great. Evenings they will have a piano player in there, your kid will love it.
Maggies' - for lunch- great burgers and fries.
Ouray Brewery- I like it as a midday break/lunch on the roof. good food and they have their own beers. packed all the time.

Easy stuff - take the short hike to Cascade falls and do the Box Canon. Easy and the kid will love it.

I'm a jeeper but most of those mountain passes/trails will consume the full day. Last Dollar Road is easy and pretty. What are you driving?

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good recs.

F150 FX4 with slightly bigger tires. I've watched countless videos of guys doing the loop and even Imogene in an F150. I even saw a guy in a Raptor do Black Bear Pass (those switchbacks took awhile).

I've considered just renting a jeep for the day, especially if doing mineral creek up to the loop (I have the FunTreks guide to colorado backroads).

Train trip is Sunday. Was hoping to get over to Telluride and back on Tuesday maybe (maybe just highway roads if we can indeed to the loop instead). Hotsprings/easy hike on Monday and meander around town. Leaving Wednesday for Red River.

We arrive Saturday but probably won't get into town until 4pm or so (coming from South Fork).

We just spent 4 days in Ouray with our teenagers this month. We loved Brickhouse 737 for an adult meal we did without kids. We did BonTon and really enjoyed that as well and did take one of the kids with us. Maggie's does have a great burger as suggested above. We ate breakfast a Mi Mexico every morning (included in our hotel price) and enjoyed it. They have fantastic chorizo. We all ate lunch ar the Full Tilt saloon and it was really good. I highly recommend stopping by Mouse's chocolates for coffees, ice cream and chocolate treats. We also ate at the Mineshaft restaurant and really enjoyed the appetizers and the pizza was okay. We also liked sitting rooftop at the Goldbelt Bar and Grill and had good pizza there.

Definitely check out the hot springs and Box Canyon. We hiked part of the perimeter trail and really enjoyed that. We also did the Bachelor Mine tour with the kids which was good but short. We also did a Jeep tour and went to Telluride and did rafting with Telluride Outside which was fantastic.

Enjoy your trip we loved Ouray.

We loved Ouray. Having a 3.5 year old would make for a different itinerary than we did with teenage boys, but you could still do some jeeping up in the pass toward telluride. Either rent a jeep for yourself, or rent one that comes with a driver if you're not comfortable.

You can picnic in some really pleasant weather at altitude in some beautiful alpine meadows with cold streams on your jeep trip. When you get high enough you will see snow and can even do some sledding with your kid which I'm sure they will get a kick out of.

I seem to remember there being some hot springs at one end of town or the other, but we didn't check them out.

The perimeter hike all around the outskirts of Ouray would be a bit much with a 3.5 year old, but there's a short hike where they do the ice climbing in winter which is called the Box Canyon trail or something like that, which would be doable, and there's a waterfall on that.

Everybody has hit the best restaurants already. The brewery is a really cool place to chill upstairs with the views and good beer, and I think the food was solid as well.

One thing that we did which was really cool is had a cookout one night next to a stream which parallels the road as you're heading up toward the jeep trails toward telluride. This is closer to the bottom of the ascent, but I think there would be multiple place you could make this happen. Little portable stove and some dogs and burgers under the moonlight next to the mountain stream was a cool deal.

I haven't been to Ouray in over 35 years, but I've visited Silverton several times the past 12 years when my parents would rent a place there for a month or 2 in September/October.

If you make it to Silverton the Pickle Barrel was always a great meal. Parents were friends w/the owners so that injects some bias. My wife and I always thought it was far and away the best meals when we'd visit since so many other places were taking tourist train cash for frozen food from a truck.

Lake Emma and the Sunnyside mine are cool if you can get to it. We took my dad's wrangler at the time. The mine ran under the mountain lake Emma. In 1978 the mine collapsed and Emma disappeared flooding mineshafts all over the area. It now looks like a hole in the ground on Mars.

Animus Forks is a cool mountain top ghost town. One of the homes was owned at one time by a man who's daughter owned the Hope Diamond. Also in the area is the Old Hundred Boarding House. You can't get to it unless you're a crazy hiker and don't mind a wall of scree descending to the house. You can however see it on the mountainside from a drivable trail below.

Rent a Rzr instead.

But do it now. Head up to Yankee Boy Basin and take a picnic lunch. My young family enjoyed it.

Take advantage of the loop trail all around the town. Take a kid carrier if they're young.

The Ouray hot springs aren't very warm. Orvis is way better or the Caves. For food in Ouray, there isn't much. Gnar taco in Ridgway is tasty.

DP

JustPanda said:

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The Ouray hot springs aren't very warm. Orvis is way better or the Caves. For food in Ouray, there isn't much. Gnar taco in Ridgway is tasty.

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3 of the 5 pools are geothermically heated. You choose which ones to get in.

I would second what has been said about Maggies for a good burger and Last Dollar Road being an easy scenic trail to ride. To me, Ophir is a little easier and less daunting for those with a fear of heights than Imogene. We did it in a rental jeep, but had a guy in a stock F-150 not far behind us. The base of falls at the end of the canyon in Telluride are a pretty cool place to hang out and have a picnic, and you can drive most of the way there, or hike from the bottom. Animas Forks is kind of cool, but it isn't on a mountain top as was said earlier. The trail to it from Silverton is mostly just a gravel road that is slightly bumpy in a few spots. The trails from Animas to Ouray are more challenging and you will want a rental Jeep if you want to take Mineral Creek back to town.

JustPanda said:

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The Ouray hot springs aren't very warm. Orvis is way better or the Caves. For food in Ouray, there isn't much. Gnar taco in Ridgway is tasty.

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Bad info.

the city owned springs have different pools w different temps and again your kid will likely love that pool. There are also several private hot springs in Ouray that you can purchase entry to.

And although Ouray is smallas I and others have listed above, there are some good restaurant and food options. Someone mentioned Gold Belt which I forgot about, good pizza dine in or to go, and sides. Colorado Boy also has good pizza.

Getting closer. I can smell the cool mountain air now.

I lived there. They are cold. Sometimes the warmest ANY pool will be is sub 100 in the winter. No thanks to that.

Again, some days the entire Ouray hot springs is less than 100.

Orvis 100%

737 and Ouray Caf are both solid. Yankee Girl for burritos or ice cream.

"Cool" mountain air not so much the last 2 weeks. It's f'n blazing this week. 82and rising which here feels much much warmer because of the elevation.

It hit the 90's the last 3 days

Is there a Colorado thread you haven't ruined?

JustPanda said:

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"Cool" mountain air not so much the last 2 weeks. It's f'n blazing this week. 82and rising which here feels much much warmer because of the elevation.

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Yeah, that sounds terrible. 82 with a feels like of 78 due to the humidity versus 103 with a heat index of 110+ and 80 for an overnight low. Oh the dilemna...maybe he should just stay home.

This?


or This?


Seems like a pretty easy choice to me.

I'm here and it doesn't feel Iike 78 but whatever. It's 91 on my outside thermometer. I guess someone not here knows more… Honestly, **** you guys.

At least one good thing about the take over is our house appreciating 300% in 5 years. Still wish it'd stop though.

Now it's 93 in the sun! Guess this is why big govt doesn't work. It's nowhere near feels like 78 ROFL. Yes it's a little cooler just down the road but it's HOT. I'm sure Montrose has felt like an oven the last 2 weeks (I know it has I've been there to buy vapes).

Temperatures for "weather" are measured in the shade. That 103 in Dallas is in the shade. In the sun it is probably 130. I assume that 10% is the humidity in your pic? That means the feels like is going to be cooler than the air temp, unlike Texas where the feels like is routinely 10-15 degrees hotter than the air temp. Just because it is hot for you, doesn't mean it isn't going to feel gloriously cool to somebody coming from Texas. I know your schtick is the whole "I live in Colorado and love to crap on anything Texans come here to enjoy", but just because you live there doesn't mean you are the only authority on the place.

JustPanda said:

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I'm here and it doesn't feel Iike 78 but whatever. It's 91 on my outside thermometer. I guess someone not here knows more… Honestly, **** you guys.

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When I lived in Denver I'd my mow my yard in the afternoon when the temp was 95. Neighbors said I was crazy.

85 in Dallas in the sun with humidity feels significantly significantly worse than 95 at elevation with little to none.

So honestly, I'm very comfortable saying you can go **** yourself.

With those tiny hands I bet you think that 3x3 thermometer is huge too.

Eatery in Ridgway is another solid one. Just got reminded of it.

ChoppinDs40 said:

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Zone416 said:

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Love me some Ouray. My favorite restaurants:

(Ouray is a small town w/ a ton of people staying and passing through. I'd recommend you go ahead and book reservations for your dinners)
Bon Ton- consistently best quality and service. very nice place (it's kind of underground/basement of building so don't let first looks fool you).
Outlaw- it's been there forever and feels like a good mountain town restaurant. I actually think the food is good there and the atmosphere is great. Evenings they will have a piano player in there, your kid will love it.
Maggies' - for lunch- great burgers and fries.
Ouray Brewery- I like it as a midday break/lunch on the roof. good food and they have their own beers. packed all the time.

Easy stuff - take the short hike to Cascade falls and do the Box Canon. Easy and the kid will love it.

I'm a jeeper but most of those mountain passes/trails will consume the full day. Last Dollar Road is easy and pretty. What are you driving?

---

good recs.

F150 FX4 with slightly bigger tires. I've watched countless videos of guys doing the loop and even Imogene in an F150. I even saw a guy in a Raptor do Black Bear Pass (those switchbacks took awhile).

I've considered just renting a jeep for the day, especially if doing mineral creek up to the loop (I have the FunTreks guide to colorado backroads).

Train trip is Sunday. Was hoping to get over to Telluride and back on Tuesday maybe (maybe just highway roads if we can indeed to the loop instead). Hotsprings/easy hike on Monday and meander around town. Leaving Wednesday for Red River.

We arrive Saturday but probably won't get into town until 4pm or so (coming from South Fork).

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If you gut is telling you to rent a Jeep (or a Razor), do it. Don't get up there and have something happen to your main transportation because you decided not to spend an extra couple hundred bucks for the Jeep rental. It could screw up an otherwise great day.

Two years ago, instead of renting a Jeep, I took my 4x4 Tundra up Nellie Creek Road (outside Lake City) and got into an issue with the gears locking up in 4x4 low. Had to adjust my whole plan just to get the truck down to the town's only mechanic so I could ultimately make it over to Denver to pick up my wife at DIA and make it to the A&M-Colorado game. If you think you should rent the Jeep, rent the Jeep.

Just got back from there today. Ate burgers at Maggie's went to hot springs had ice cream at Mouse's and short drive to Bear Creek Falls.
Great recommendations, everyone in our group loved it and was a fantastic half day.

Just drove through Ouray. Fantastic place. If you get a chance, check out Black Canyon of the Gunnison park. Absolutely stunning views.

Just got back from Durango/Silverton. Didn't make it to Ouray this trip, but that was based on BB and Imogene still being closed. I think they opened Imogene in the last day or two, but not 100%. Love the area, and the weather is great! Not sure who panda is or why he's a jerk.

OP have any more questions?

Just set up camp

Outlaw for dinner tonight

Durango train tomorrow.

Jeep to Lake City one day

Town + Telluride the next.

Then off to Red River.

AgLA06 said:

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Is there a Colorado thread you haven't ruined?

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From South fork, CO, we took 160 back to Del Norte, then 285 up to Saguache. Turned on 114 to take Chochetopa pass over into Gunnison.

50 west all the way to Montrose and down to Ouray.

That stretch on 114 to Gunnison and then 50 through Cimarron and Cerro pass onto Montrose was one of the prettiest drives I've done in a long time.

Wild wide open spaces the western slope is.

Then once you turn south in Montrose, the mighty San Juans just tower in the distance. Ouray is a special place.

Dinner at Outlaw was great. Wow.

Looking forward to the Million Dollar Highway tomorrow (without pulling a 35' trailer in 30-gusting 45mph winds).