Victorian Ice

Victorian Ice

Ouray Colorado - Western colorado's Hot springs Shangri-La

If there is a Shangri-la this is it. There are few places on earth that compare to Ouray.  It is an insolated gem that remains unknown to many tourist and residents alike.

 

Hidden deep in the remote San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado, The natural hot springs have been beckoning people for centuries. The Ute Indians made their summer camps beside the bubbling hot springs on the banks of the Uncomphragre River.

 

They believed that this special valley of the hot springs had "big medicine". It does.  The hot spring will wash away your worries and rejuvenated you spirits.  Soaking in the mineral waters and watching the clouds drift over the alpine peaks, is a relaxing way to take in the Colorado Rockies.

 

Ouray Colorado is a special place. The novelist, Ayn Rand, thought that it was so special that she used Ouray as a setting for her utopian city of Galt's Gulch in the novel, Atlas Shrugged.

 

This little Victorian Village is scattered with many natural hot springs seeping out of the nearby mountains. One is even located in a cave. Many of the lodges in town offer   accommodations featuring use of their private hot springs. Many have multiple hot tubs and others have pools and some have both.  It is a soaker's paradise.

 

Ouray also is blessed with beauty. It is called "The Switzerland of the Rockies". On all sides of the village, great mountains rise 2000 feet above the valley floor. The snowcapped peaks that ring the village are outlined against the blue skies. Words can not describe it and cameras are in adequate too. It is just spectacular.

 

Like all alpine villages it has a myriad of outdoor activities.  You can do the normal stuff like: hiking, jeeping, exploring ghost towns, rafting wild rivers, as well as, taking pictures of alpine meadows full of wildflowers and waterfalls.  But Ouray has something new and different. It has the world's first ice climbing park.

 

This tiny little town does not hibernate in the winter any longer. Each year thousands of ice climbers come to Ouray to climb the artificial ice known as "hero ice" created by the "Ouray Ice Farmers".   It is quite a festival.

 

But the town's Hot Springs Pool remains the major attraction for Ouray. The pool has been completely remodeled, updated and expanded. It is now 250 feet by 150 feet with a warm section for soaking and a cooler section for laps. The temperature varies from 70 to 104 F.  Soaking in the pool is the best way I know for recuperating from an active day in the mountains.

 

If you are a romantic, you can tour this Victorian town in an old western stagecoach, or perhaps, you prefer a white horse-drawn carriage.  The local livery stable has both.

 

 The pool brings visitors from all over, but you will only feel like a stranger in town for a few minutes.  The locals are laid-back and very friendly.  It seems that there is a slower pace here, very relaxing.   They say "howdy" will a smile, in that unique western way.

 

Ouray and The Hot Springs Pool is a popular year-round getaway for many Western Colorado residents.   But it is still an insolated gem, that remains unknown to many tourist and residents alike.

 

Ouray may not actually be Shangri-la, but it looks it, and feels like it and it has that  mystical charm.

 

 

By Tod Vandewalker

western-colorado-travel-secrets.com

 

 

About the Author

Tod Vandewalker is the editor of http://www.western-colorado-travel-secrets.com  the independent Western Colorado Travel Guide. For more information on Ouray hot Spring can be found at  http://www.western-colorado-travel-secrets.com/ouray-colorado.html – Copyright – you may freely republish this article, provided the text, author credit, the active links and this copyright notice remain remain intact.

What the hell happened to the HISTORY Channel...?

I want...

Knights
Barbarians
WW2
George Washington
the Black Plague
Al Capone
Da Vinci
the Jazz Age
the French Revolution
Pablo Escobar
the 1960's
the Dark Ages
Henry Ford
the Reinsurance
the Civil War
Victorian era London
the Cold War
etc,etc

Instead I get...

A bunch of modern day rednecks driving trucks on ice
A bunch of modern day rednecks chopping down wood
A bunch of modern day rednecks killing alligators in the swamps
A douchebag, cheapskate pawnshop owner who rips off his customers
A bunch of lame losers going out into the woods looking for bigfoot
A bunch of lame losers looking for ufos in the sky
A bunch of nerds talking about the universe
Endless programs about 2012, Nostradamus, and the end of the world

Yeah I miss the WWII documentaries and stuff about the Crusades and myths.

Besides the reality shows on rednecks we also got Stan Lee looking for people with "powers" but it seems more about people with talents. Though i was impressed with the man that can bend a wrench in half and roll up up a steel pan with his bare hands.

Victorian Ice - British Sea Power (Lyrics).wmv