Million Dollar Highway Dispersed Camping

Ouray is beautiful but there are not a lot of spots to camp with easy access into town. We were thankful to have even found this location. You are off the highway however there are large spots for oversized R.V’s and longer campers and it’s easy to access. The campsites are pretty much in the ghost town of Ironton. You can walk through the old houses which is neat. I think the worst part was the historic tours that run through the sites bringing tourist up to see the ghost town.

Very nice place to camp near Ouray. This place can host quite a large number of rigs or tents if you do some looking around. There are two large fields to camp but those aren't the nicest. A bit of road noise if you camp on the side close to the road but there is no need to do that. There were plenty of free places when we were there (we camped Friday to Tuesday). The key is to scout around a bit and find some of the more secluded sites. We camped directly on the small stream.

Review for campground and Ouray area. Two weeks before arriving I looked at camping, the private facilities, KOA, etc., were full. Amphitheater was our best bet but reserved sites unavailable and few first come first serve. Considered Thistledown and Angel Creek but with a 16 foot trailer wondered about getting in and out. Stopped at Amphitheater and it was full. Nice host said usually first come are taken by 9:30. Million Dollar Highway and Ironton seemed too far from Ouray when first considered but decided due to few spots at Thistledown and Angel Creek. Never drove into Ironton Park Dispersed, due to all the 4 wheeler trailers parked at road opening.
Million Dollar Dispersed, parallels the highway. The highway noise was background except for the occasional semi or bike, much less at night. The road, CR -20D, has entrance on the South and North ends and the North end shares entrance with Ironton Dispersed and is well marked. The south entrance had water standing and was deeper rutted. The road has lots of spots available. on the East side is Red Mountain Creek and spots are cutouts to pull off the road and was used by all types of campers with enough room for a tent between the pull off and creek. The creek is rust color from minerals and I would not consider a water source. There is no water or bathroom facilities. We camped on west side in a single back in spot with a 2-3 foot drainage trench along the road, much shallower along most of the road. There are single back in sites and 1 or 2 acre open areas to pull into. The area has heavy use by 4 wheelers and Jeeps and their offspring, so expect dust from the gravel road, also, used by campers as a stop over. We loved the drive back into Ouray and even with the one lane and associated stop light due to a rock slide earlier in the week was 20 minutes. Our camp was surrounded by Blue Spruce and tall Pine trees. Enjoyed it. We drove up to Thistledown and Angel Creek and would not have wanted to pull our small trailer to either.

First, driving up the “Million Dollar Highway” from Ouray was terrifying for me. No guardrail, no shoulder, sheer cliff drop offs and lots of curves. Driving back down wasn’t as bad because then you’re not on the drop-off side of the road. I would never drive that road in winter, but people do... in fact this camping is at the base of a Nordic skiing trail
system. I didn’t have any Verizon signal the 36 hours I was there, walking up and down road 20D. For one second I got a one bar 1X signal near the base area, a text came through from the night before, and then the signal was gone again for the rest of my stay. There are plenty of spots to camp, but someone decided to park five feet from me and run their generator until midnight on the second night. All day there were lots of jeeps and ATVs because there is a major jeeping trail system that has a trailhead there. The area is pretty and close to Ouray. I’d camp there again in a pinch, but didn’t love it.

40 MH+jeep. If you don't have a 4x4 or ATV you'll be in the minority, so manage your expectations accordingly. Lots of noise and dust especially on the weekend and of course some people are more respectful than others with their speed. Same with music and generator noise. We were lucky to get a spot right along the river, so that drowned out a lot of the noise. Road was either dust or mud, depending on the weather. Not a lot of boondocking options in this area, but it's only about 15 minutes from Ouray and lots of hiking options so it was a good spot for us. We had 1 bar 1x with Verizon at this site. There's a park near the visitor center where you can fill up water jugs.