A number of legends exist around how this stretch of US550 came to be known as the Million Dollar Highway. There's a huge history of gold and silver mining in the area so one story has it that men who built the roads linking the crucial mining towns of Silverton and Ouray discovered lumps of precious metals along the way and made themselves millionaires. The other story is more closely related to how perilous the road itself is to travel given the twists, turns, height and consequences of getting it wrong. A visiting VIP was heard to remark that "you won't get me going back down that road for a million dollars".
Regardless, today the road is renowned as being simply spectacular to drive, featuring incredible views and an almost never ending supply of corners in a land that almost prides itself on straight lines between places.
Coming from the UK, we're entirely used to roads with corners and any keen driver will tell you that setting up a car to move cleanly through a corner is one of life's little joys. It seems to be a bit of an issue for the average American driver though and the rabid safety culture means corners are usually hobbled with a speed limit at least half that which could actually be employed. Of course it could simply be that most US vehicles just don't have the suspension setup for corners given their size and barge like comfort spec.
Now that's what I call a road!
ReplyDeleteGlad you weren't coming the other way - looked like bit of a drop.