The Million Dollar Highway?

retroman

Joined
May 26, 2022
Messages
17
Age
75
Location
Hot Springs, NC
Hey Folks:

It looks as tho my grand trip out to the high Rockies and back here to North Carolina is a go. My trip from Durango, CO to Ouray will include The Million Dollar Highway....or so I thought. A few other folks have recently told me that that road is VERY popular and full of lumbering, noisy Harley Davidsons. I want to have an enjoyable trip full of what the mountains have to offer and not have it ruined by the ever present sound of "roaring" after market non-mufflers. I already get a lot of that right around here. My question is: Is there another route northward from southern Colorado that someone has tried that would offer a pleasant experience without all of the aggravations, or is the Million Dollar Highway as bad as I have been led to believe?

Bob
 
It's not that bad... I've done it several times and it's usually not bad. Worth it to do at least once.

My fav road is 92 in Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. 65 to Mesa is nice then over to the Colorado Nat'l Monument.
 
retroman said:
Hey Folks:

It looks as tho my grand trip out to the high Rockies and back here to North Carolina is a go. My trip from Durango, CO to Ouray will include The Million Dollar Highway....or so I thought. A few other folks have recently told me that that road is VERY popular and full of lumbering, noisy Harley Davidsons. I want to have an enjoyable trip full of what the mountains have to offer and not have it ruined by the ever present sound of "roaring" after market non-mufflers. I already get a lot of that right around here. My question is: Is there another route northward from southern Colorado that someone has tried that would offer a pleasant experience without all of the aggravations, or is the Million Dollar Highway as bad as I have been led to believe?

Bob
Click to expand...
I was there about a month or so ago. The mil dol highway was getting some work done and was partially closed. Id look into that.
 
Ever present roaring? Seriously? You live in NC?

A lot of the towns in the Rocky's have noise ordinances to stop the offending riders. Take Joe's suggestion.
 
When I went out to RockSToc 5 in 2019 , I ended up on the Million Dollar Hwy between Ouray & Durango - 3 times . I don't remember if I saw ANY Harleys ! As such I would not worry about that issue ...

We went to the Smokies one weekend & saw & heard what you are talking about , valleys were reverberating with roaring Harleys everywhere , families in cages complaining about it , but complimenting us about how quiet my '91 GoldWing is . Turned out that the Harleys were having a rally that weekend , based out of Maggie Valley or Cherokee , NC.
 
I just rode it five days ago on the Friday beginning the Memorial Day weekend and it wasn’t bad at all. I have probably ridden or driven 550 twenty five times and most have been great rides…..it can rain or snow on a moments notice! You should also ride Hwy 92 (mainly because US 50 has ongoing road closures between Montrose and the Blue Mesa reservoir dam for the foreseeable future) which is a super road (rode it today west to east from Delta, CO).

Hwy 141 through Gateway Canyon south from US 50 is a very lightly used, superb ride along the Dolores river that you work your way over to Ridgeway on Hwy 550 just north of Ouray.

Don‘t miss riding Cottonwood Pass from Buena Vista to the Taylor reservoir and down to Gunnison……all new pavement in the last few years.

FY riding pleasure…..
 
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