Ouray, Colorado

Ouray packs a lot into a few blocks at the bottom of a steep bowl of San Juan peaks. The city's sulfur-free hot springs pool is the obvious way to end a day, and the six-mile Perimeter Trail rings the town with about 1,600 feet of climbing, linking Cascade Falls, the Ice Park and Box Canyon Falls. In winter the Ouray Ice Park, an ice climbing venue inside city limits, offers more than 200 ice and mixed climbs, so January is busier than you might expect. If snow is falling, think twice about the drive south over Red Mountain Pass toward Silverton, a narrow, exposed road that rewards a cautious driver.