Campground Review: 4J+1+1 RV Park, Ouray, CO

Oddly named park, but it gets the job done. You're right in town and right on the banks of the Umcompahgre River.

58 RV sites, 45 of those with full hookups. All sites have a picnic table and BBQ grill. Roads and sites are gravel/dirt. Sites are quite close together. About a quarter of the sites back up to the river and we were fortunate to get one of those. This is a combination RV park (closest to the office) and mobile home park.

Amenities include wifi, playground, restrooms and laundry. Our own Verizon wifi got reasonable 3G signal, sometimes slow. The parks wifi was okay, but bogged down sometimes and would knock you off. The big draw here is that you can walk to everything in town, it's just two blocks to Main St. There is also a foot bridge at the North end of the park that leads directly to the Ouray Hot Springs Pool and Fellin Park.

We really enjoyed having a river site. The rushing river sound masked the fact that you were very close to your neighbor and it also provided a wonderful cool breeze. Being two blocks from Main Street was incredibly convenient. On Thursday nights in June there are concerts in Fellin Park and we were able to walk to two of them during our stay, great fun and good food and drink. We would stay here again if being close to town was desired.

We paid $495 for two weeks. When we first arrived (June 13th) the park was full on the weekend, but about half on the weekdays. By the end of our stay it was full every night; summer travel had truly begun. Many families and folks on summer vacation.

Site 11R. The river is directly behind the trailer.

The river had a lovely cooling effect and created privacy with its constant white noise.

Here you can see how close our neighbors were.

Taken from the Perimeter Trail, the RV/Trailer park is the row of units against the hill.
Ouray Hot Springs Pool and Fellin Park in the foreground.

A Last Alpine Hike with Our Ouray Buddies

I've said it before and I'll say it again, blogging has turned out to be the best conduit for meeting like-minded folks on the road. Had it not been for this forum right here, we might never have met up with Mark and Bobbie, residents of Ouray and home of the Box Canyon Blog. We had a couple of excellent hikes with them last week and our last hike before heading on down the road was just as gorgeous and soul-satisfying as could be. Mark and Bobbie are very fortunate to call this awe-inspiring landscape their home.

Several small lakes and the ruins of the Bullion King Mine sit high up in alpine meadows. We drove a narrow, twisty and steep dirt road just South of Red Mountain Pass off Hwy 550 to access the area. Parked at about 11,600 feet, we hiked up the road above the tree line, flanked by hillsides beginning to burst into bloom. Large snow patches created dozens of snow melt streams flowing off the mountainsides all around us.

That's our truck parked just off the road.
Hwy 550 is in the valley far below us.

It seemed like a good time to proceed on foot...

Up the road into alpine heaven!

Remains of the Bullion King Mine.

Strange substances had boiled out of a mine shaft long ago.

Making our way around and above the lake.

This second small lake was at 12,800 ft, our highest point on the hike.
Notice how sparse the vegetation is at this point! 

We decided to find a different route down the mountain.

We picked our way down through the loose shale.

Glissading down a snowy slope!
The first person down went the slowest...the last person down (me) fairly flew!

It was pretty steep, with boulders to stop you!

Continuing to pick our way down the steep slope...

This section was not as steep and we found we could sort of ski down!

The pointy peaks on the right are the Needles,
which we had seen from Durango a couple weeks ago.

It was another incredible hike in some of the most beautiful country we have ever seen. Thanks, Mark and Bobbie, for sharing lovely Ouray with us and for dinner in your wonderful home. It's been great getting to know you and we hope our paths cross again, somewhere, sometime.

We've got one more full day in Ouray, then we're off to Gunnison as the weather heats up around here.

RVers Meet Up, Family Style

My parents, Ron and Phyllis McGuire, bought their first RV when I was 11 years old. The trips we took as a family (my sister included) around the US and to Alaska was a big influence in my personal desire to continue RVing as an adult. My parents have had an RV ever since, and currently travel part time in a 5th wheel trailer. Their experiences living and traveling on the road for as long as two years straight were helpful in Hans and my decision to live this full time RV lifestyle.

In a continuation of a trip that started with my nieces graduation from nursing school in Fresno (Congratulations Crystal!), then stops at my daughters, Aunts and Uncles houses in Oregon, my parents met up with us in Ouray for a few days.

We've managed to take in a number of sights in and around Ouray together during their stay. Here are some of the highlights:

We checked out the Ouray County Museum. This is an excellent museum with tons of history and artifacts from the area. My pictures of some of the exhibits did not turn out so well so you'll have to take my word that it was worth the price of admission!

Don't want to get on his bad side!

One day we took a drive South on Hwy 550 to check out some of the mining relics.

First stop was to check out Bear Creek Falls where we managed to get a group photo.

Then we made our way to the Idarado Mine remains:

Old, abandoned buildings dot these hillsides, backed by snow touched peaks.

Backed by Red Mountain, you can see old buildings still standing among the tailings.

An old trestle...to nowhere.

Heading up Camp Bird road, the road got a little more interesting:

Atlas Mill

Tail gate lunch!

Heading back to Ouray we stopped to check out Snefflels Creek.

Today we took a tour of the fully restored Beaumont Hotel. Built in 1886, the hotel had been vacant for 30 years and fallen into almost hopeless disrepair when it was purchased in 1998 and millions of dollars were spent over 5 years to bring it to its current glory. And glorious it is! The details of the renovation and the history of the building that we learned on the tour were well worth the small fee. Plus, we enjoyed a delicious lunch on the hotels lovely patio and received a reduced rate for the tour.

Historic Beaumont Hotel

Lunch at the Beaumont Grill.

All three stories open onto the lobby with an atrium overhead.

The Dragonfly room, with Tiffany lamp.

Looking down into the lobby.

Today's bonus shot...I finally caught a good photo of one of the beautiful butterflies we've been seeing everywhere!

Mom and dad head out to Fruita tomorrow and will slowly make their way back to San Diego. It's been fun hanging out with them out here in new territory! Hans and I have a couple more days left in Ouray, then we're off to Gunnison as we continue our summer in Colorado.