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San Juan
U.S. 550 slices through the San Juan Mountains just south of Ouray.
 
TRAVELER Magazine San Juan
A truly remarkable 236-mile (380-kilometer) loop in Southwestern Colorado will take your breath away, and it’s not because of the high altitude. The road winds through a series of switchbacks, hairpin turns, and high mountain passes—sometimes without guardrails—as it passes through the spectactular San Juan Mountains.

Along the way, explore Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride, mining towns turned resorts. Then descend into the arid southwestern corner of Colorado and head for Mesa Verde National Park, where you can take a guided tour of an Anasazi cliff dwelling. Or take a side trip to the high alpine locale of the Yankee Boy Basin, where wildflowers explode in a riot of color.

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© 1997 National Geographic Society.   All rights reserved.   Photograph by Tom Bean.
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