Yankee Boy Basin

[CraigClint]

If you find yourself in Southwest Colorado in mid-July, and happen to be driving a very high clearance vehicle make a stop in Ouray. It is an interesting enough town on its own, being situated in the bottom of dramatic box canyon. The road in from the south is also very dramatic, and much less scary than taking it from north to south. The road out, along the only stream leaving the canyon, is beautiful and easy to drive. However, the real show is on the road leading from the southwest corner of town, up through the aspen groves, around a sheer drop hairpin turn, under a drippy rock ledge and on up to spectacular high meadows. At the top end of the road you'll be near 13,000 feet with a great view of the back of Mt. Sneffles, having passed beautiful waterfalls and fields of wild flowers. It takes a little nerve, but the rewards are worth it. If you'd rather not drive your fancy SUV up into the rugged terrain there are jeep tours that leave from Ouray on demand. We took our Cherokee and had a ball!

[Mark Sedenquist]

Ouray is one of the amazing places. Some of our photos from the area and links on this page for more view of the Yankee Boy drainage.

Mark