A T-shirt's in order: "I drove the Million Dollar Highway!!" Yikes. And I did it twice.

The pictures on this page were taken on the Highway 550 which is the east-side portion of the San Juan Skyway Loop. A smaller portion of it, roughly between Silverton and Ouray, is called the Million Dollar Highway. There are several legends as to how it got the nickname, and no one seems to know for sure..

Most of the 550 is an easy, fun drive. It's very scenic, and, in my opinion, more rugged than the Highway 145 part of the loop. More mountains are in view. Any many of them snow-capped. There are also a couple of passes to go over.

The hard part is the last five or so miles before descending into Ouray from the south side. The road becomes narrow, winding and with no guard rails as you go through the area of the Uncompahgre Gorge. Ironically, that's the most scenic part as well. There is, however, a large lookout section where drivers can pull over and take in the view of the gorge and the waterfalls.

If you enjoy these pictures and want to see the rest of the skyway loop, check out the Highway 145 photos from Dolores to Telluride. A link is provided at the bottom of this page.

Also, there are separate pages of photos for the major towns along the route. Thanks for visiting.