Best Dog Friendly Towns In Colorado – Colorado is famous for its mountain ranges and forests. Peaks exceed 14,000 feet and many small towns exceed 7,000 feet. We are fortunate to live near many of these cities, just across the state line from New Mexico. We hopped in our “dog van” to explore Ouray and Silverton, enjoying the beautiful scenery and cool mountain air.
It was an interesting trip for us. Our base is at 6,000 feet, so we’re no strangers to altitude, but we’re in a semi-arid climate, with a lot of rain and snow in the mountains of Colorado – it can often be dry here, and we can see possible clouds. And it rained to our north in Colorado.
Best Dog Friendly Towns In Colorado
On this trip, we spent a short afternoon crossing through the high desert into a mountain pine forest.
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Our first stop was Silverton, a colorful little town of less than 700 residents at an elevation of 9,318 feet, with a few historic buildings that remain from the mining era. There are plenty of bars and restaurants for tourists, but enough tourists don’t necessarily keep them open all the time (especially during COVID), so be aware of the opening hours if you plan to eat here.
Silverton’s main attraction is probably the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. This historic railway has been in continuous operation since 1881. For better or for worse, our family motto is “If I can’t bring my dogs, I won’t go” – so we can’t say we’ve experienced the railroad, but I’ve heard it’s pretty cool. If you don’t have pets or want to kennel them for the day, there’s definitely something to consider.
Other than the train, local businesses are mostly hotels, inns, gift shops, and a gas station. Halfway across town, be sure to visit Silverton City Park (aka Harmony Park) with its musical instruments (somehow I didn’t get a photo of it – I think we were too busy playing!).
After walking around town, we found a campsite a few miles outside of Silverton, across the river in a scattered camping area.
22 Best Mountain Towns In Colorado For A Cozy Getaway
Outside of a number of designated areas, mountain roads are not ideal for caravans. If you have a camper pickup or 4×4 short van, you can find great spots deep in the forest roads, but most others are happy with neighbors and the number of fire calls. Even if you have an off-road vehicle, know where you are going and ideally travel with two vehicles: some of these mountain passes in America have dangerous jeep roads and may not be wide enough for long. May the time machine return safely.
Cell signal quality in these mountains is largely a matter of luck as to whether or not the camp is visible to a cell tower. Obviously, you can get a good signal a mile or two off the highway. On average, we were surprised to find a good signal, working remotely from good campsites, especially on weekend evenings when the cell towers are overloaded.
Heading north from Silverton to Ouray, you’ll drive the Million Dollar Highway. Parts of it are carved straight out of the mountain face, and because of the heavy snowfall, there are very few handholds. This means nearly vertical drops, thousands of feet down, sometimes just beyond the white line on the road. In the spring, before they have time to repair the road, you can see sections of the road collapsing due to water erosion. There is no room for error here.
Trucks use this route to service mountain communities, but personally I would not want to bring a Class A or large trailer on this route. It’s possible, but not fun. Keep in mind the recommended 25mph cornering speed and practice your engine braking skills elsewhere – you don’t want to be using the brake pedal all the time on these long descents.
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Also, be aware of fickle mountain weather and be prepared to delay your trip if it rains. Even with moderate rainfall, waterfalls literally fall on the surface of the road, and sometimes the water brings down stones with it. It’s a beautiful drive for a van below the recommended turning speed in good weather and worth it for the scenery alone, just be careful and let the passenger see the sights. And leave that big trailer or camper at the campsite.
At the northern end of the Million Dollar Highway is the slightly larger town of Ouray, a mining town known as the “Switzerland of America.” Ouray is a beautiful small town surrounded by waterfalls and a hiking trail with easy access to beautiful mountain scenery. It’s very touristy, but not in the “lots of gift shops” kind, and has a variety of restaurants (we love Thai Chili’s). Ouray is at 7,792 feet—lower than most of it—and it was hotter than we expected.
Because of the heat, we wanted to find water to cool off. The dogs loved wading through the “baby baths” – pools perfect for cooling their toasty paws.
We visited in June and the baths were still full – but this can vary depending on the time of year.
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Then we arrived at Cascade Falls, which is right outside the city. It’s a very short walk to the falls and the best part is that you can walk up a few hills and stand behind the falls!
It was so refreshing! But not for the faint of heart. It’s a narrow path, slippery with moisture, and you have to stoop to walk under the overhang.
Someday we would like to return to the Silverton and Ouray area and take longer trips. At the time of our visit, our dog Lily was a month away from recovering from a snake bite, so we kept our walk short. If you and your dog are up for a long hike, we hear the Icy Lake Basin Trail in Silverton is great, and it’s on our list for another time. If you don’t have pets, other adventures you might want to consider are the hot springs and Box Canyon Falls.
We didn’t have much luck finding a campsite near Oure, so after a day trip with two hikes we headed back south to camp near Silverton.
Dog Friendly Colorado
The dogs spent the early evening looking for a “chippy” – Mishi preferred to stay on the ground, while Lily enjoyed the elevated view created by the van bed.
Driving above 12,000 feet above the clouds was never a problem for us, even when we lived at sea level. None of us suffer from altitude sickness. I haven’t seen any infected dogs either, but be aware of these warning signs! But make no mistake, these are serious mountains, and even the “down” places are at 6,000 feet. If you’re driving at sea level in this area of Colorado, be sure to know the signs of altitude sickness and be prepared to return to a level you’re comfortable with. If you have the time, go camping halfway up the mountains for a week or two.
If you have more time, you can head north around Sniffles Mountain and visit Telluride, the third mountain town. It is the largest of the three and probably the most touristic because it has a famous ski resort. Next time we’re here we’ll hit the road ourselves, stay tuned for our adventures in the area. Until then, it’s time to sleep!
Hovenweep National Monument Dog Tour After a long winter, it’s finally time for our first van tour of the season! After considering our options, we decided to skip Hunweep National Monument due to the weather! Living in the Four Corners area, we are fortunate enough to see this.
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Our top tips for RVers new to RVing with dogs? We were once too! Really new. I went from Never R Wing to full time Class A with two dogs. First photo as RV owners in 2016! Starting a full-time business from scratch can be intimidating, but don’t let that stop you. I made a list.
Chaco Valley Tour with Dogs What is Chaco Valley? Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico was the center of Native American culture from about 800 to 1100 AD. It is now protected as a World Heritage Site by the Chaco Culture National Historic Park. It contains several ruins of a very peculiar architectural style, and was probably introduced. We only had one more trip for this year.
