Because it was the pandemic summer of 2021, rental cars were scarce, and thus expensive. Ordinarily, a one week rental of a car in Colorado would not have cost so much. Otherwise, the rest of the trip was quite affordable. Ouray lodging is not cheap, but staying in Silverton or Telluride would cost even more. Ouray is the best lodging point because of its central location with respect to the trailheads. If we had known that Grand Junction had a site for fossils, we would have driven to Grand Junction on Friday night and checked out the fossils before our flights on Saturday.
We stayed the last night, July 3rd, at the China Clipper Bed and Breakfast. If we had stayed at the River's Edge Motel on July 3rd, we would have been charge the holiday weekend rate for our entire stay there. So it was cheaper to relocate for one night. This turned out to be especially fortuitous because the proprietor of the China Clipper Bed and Breakfast told us about the fossilized stegasaurous tracks, which led us to hiking up Twin Peaks mountain on our last day.
Photos taken of our lodging in Ouray:
Item | US dollars | Comments | |
| Round trip tickets to Grand Junction | $444.80 | Delta Airlines. Transfer at Salt Lake City | |
| National car rental | $654.14 | Six day rental of Toyota Camry. | |
| Conoco Gas | $33.36 | Fill up car in Ridgeway. | |
| Shell Gas | $15.00 | Fill up car before returning. | |
Transport Total | $1147.30 | ||
| River's Edge | $975.92 | Six nights | |
| China Clipper B&B | $166.21 | One night, price reduced with Expedia Points | |
Lodging Total | $1142.13 | ||
| McDonald's | $18.61 | Lunch in Grand Junction | |
| Duckett's Market | $47.10 | Groceries in Ouray | |
| Goldbelt Bar & Grill | $30.00 | Large Hawaiian Pizza | |
| Goldbelt Bar & Grill | $20.00 | One order of fish & chips | |
| Panny's Pizza | $30.95 | Large BBQ Chicken Pizza | |
| Duckett's Market | $14.33 | Groceries in Ouray | |
| Goldbelt Bar & Grill | $36.00 | Two orders of fish & chips | |
| Duckett's Market | $13.99 | Groceries in Ouray | |
| California Pizza Kitchen | $45.00 | Lunch in Salt Lake City airport | |
Food Total | $255.98 | ||
| Grand Total | $2545.41 |
Best Hiking in Southwest Colorado lists fifty-one excellent hikes but does not include every hike in the area. For example, the Twin Peaks hike we did is not listed in the book. But the book is a great resource. Plus, it is accompanied by a website that includes color maps and hike profiles. The only negative thing I can say about the hiking guide is that author is way too optimistic about which trailheads can be accessed by a standard rental car (as opposed to a vehicle with 4WD). I liked having the National Geographic map for locating hikes in the area, and for identifying peaks, but it is not necessary if you are planning a hiking vacation like we did.
