Day 4 Preview: Ouray -> Durango

[this day is really why I started the preview posts. I was looking at pictures of the passes we were going to climb and decided to do that for each day. Of course, now there are only 4 days left until we start riding]

After an evening in Ouray we'll set out bright and early for Durango. We'll be riding 72.5 miles with about 6,500 feet of climbing up Red Mountain Pass, Molas Divide and Coal Bank Pass. Between Ouray and Silverton we'll be riding what is known as the Million Dollar Highway. This will be a hard day, but probably not as hard as Grand Mesa. It will be an incredibly scenic day as you can see by the photos below. I hope we get beautiful weather for stage 4 because the climb up Red Mountain Pass and the descent into Silverton are supposed to be some of the most scenic in Colorado. Here is a view we'll get before going up and over Red Mountain Pass:

CC photo from flickr user M Bergman

And here is a view from Red Mountain Pass (you can see the highway on the left):

CC photo from flickr user Eleaf

The top of Red Mountain Pass is 11,018ft and then we scream down into Silverton, an old silver mining camp. From here, we could take the narrow gauge rail into Durango, but then we'd miss all the fun on the next two passes. Here's a picture of Molas lake before we climb up and over Molas Divide:

CC photo from flickr user StevenM_61

Next up is Coal Bank Pass and then it's a downhill all the way into Durango. I couldn't find a good picture of Coal Bank but here's a picture of Electra Lake, which we'll ride past on the way into Durango:

CC photo from flickr user ElCapitan

The final aid station on stage 4 is Honeyville at mile 61. Mmm. Honey sticks! The elevation profile is below and check out the stage profile on MapMyRide.

This will probably be one of the most scenic rides I've ever done. Certainly the most scenic road ride I've done. And 8 days from now I'll let you know how it went!