A Week in Colorado - 11 Trails/Backroads (loads of pics)

[jdhughes]

Finally made it out there from Atlanta! I'd been planning this trip for about a year using websites at home, and bringing my maps and trail books to plan during class last semester. I had planned for the trip to take two full weeks including two days on either end for the trip out there, but it only took eleven days which equals a full week of wheelin in the Colorado backcountry!

I was a little worried about the Cherokee and how it would hold up. After all I had never really wheeled it and I was hoping that my retreads would hold up too. I don't have any recovery gear, and I wasn't bringing any spare parts. And my dad and I were going alone. So I was breaking most of the rules suggested in my trail guide book... To my surprise, nothing went wrong the whole trip!

My dad and I did 11 trails total, 9 of which were passes, which was awesome. All of my driving consisted of trails south of I-70, mainly because I wanted to get to the San Juans! They include Shrine Pass, Cottonwood Pass, Owl Creek Pass, Last Dollar Road, Imogene Pass, Yankee Boy Basin, Black Bear Pass, Ophir Pass, Los Pinos Pass, Pearl Pass and Mosquito Pass. The intention was to use trails to get around the state, and for the most part it was pretty seamless.

Overall the difficulty of these trails in terms of technicality was nothing too crazy. My XJ only slipped once the whole time and that was backing up in one of the switchbacks coming down Black Bear Pass. I suppose some of the trails had plenty of potential for body damage/falling to your death if you were not paying attention to the trail, but as long as you are smart about it you are good to go. O.k. onto the pictures…

JULY 27 - JULY 28

From where we live (north of Atlanta) we drove to Chattanooga, through Nashville, up and over to St. Louis, took I-70 through Kansas City, all across Kansas, through the plains half of Colorado, and finally ended up in Silverthorne, CO the second night. That was 1,363 miles from home.

Here is my dad and I ready to go




These signs were all over Kansas for like 100 miles:


This is what we want!


Descending into Silverthorne after the Eisenhower Tunnel. Sorry for the bug guts.

[jdhughes]

JULY 29

From Silverthorne we drove west a few miles on I-70 to exit 190 where the Shrine Pass Rd begins. It's a very easy road, but the scenery is awesome, so it's worth passing a Camry or two. There is a nice trailhead after the pass and you can walk a bit to get a good view of Mt. of the Holy Cross.

Just up the trail


Me and the Jeep


Wide, easy road


Beautiful views


Shrine Pass Rd dumps you into the small town of Red Cliff. From there we took hwy 24 south to the town of Leadville, which is actually a really neat place.

Leadville:


From there we continued south on 24 to Buena Vista, grabbed some lunch, and headed to Cottonwood Pass. The east side is paved, the west side is dirt. Still, and easy trail, but very scenic.




Looking west down the other side


Cottonwood Pass drops down and the road goes around the Taylor Park Resivior and continues west to hwy 135 just south of Crested Butte. From there we drove south and stayed the night in Gunnison. We went exploring that evening and discovered Hartman's Rocks ORV park just south of town. It was way cool! It has a nice overlook:


And some hills to play on:

[jdhughes]

JULY 30

From Gunnison we followed hwy 50 for a little bit and turned left at Big Cimarron Rd which leads to Owl Creek Pass. I used this trail to work closer to the San Juans and to bypass Montrose via dirt. Owl Creek Pass goes through some great ranch land:


A really nice drive


Chimney Rock


This pass is still in the trees


It actually had just finished sleeting on us when I took this picture


Owl Creek Pass drops you off just outside of the town of Ridgway. There was a really good cafe that we got some subs from. This is from their deck:


From Ridgway, we went west for about 10 miles on hwy 62, and then jumped on Last Dollar Rd to Telluride! It's yet another easy trail, but very nice scenery.



Good aspen groves


There is a cool overlook to drive out on and pose




Last Dollar Road pops out just west of Telluride. Here is a shot of Telluride from the free charilift. Its a very touristy place.



And our campsite for the night:



more to come later...

[jdhughes]

JULY 31

Today we got up early to start Imogene Pass. I let air out of my tires and disconnected my swaybar to help smooth out the trail because it is pretty rocky.

The "warning" sign


Up the trail a bit


The Tomboy Mine site. It's huge


Up at the top - it's very cold and was raining at the time


This is down the other side. There are some side trails to explore old mining stuff.


Eventually you come to a fork in the road near the Camp Bird mine. You can go right to Ouray, or left to Govenor and Yankee Boy Basins. We went up to Yankee Boy.



The Blue Lakes Hiking Trailhead at the end of the trail in the basin


This is looking down into the basin from the side of Mt. Sneffels. Yankee boy is the one on the left.


Here is my dad coming down the mountain. We were beaten by Mt. Sneffels. I know we look close to the top, but we still had a long way to go and we were running out of time. Oh well, we'll be back.


You pass under a cool overhang on the way to Ouray



We could not find a place to camp or stay in Ouray - it was very crowded. We ended diving back up the road 10min to Ridgway and found a cheap motel.

[jdhughes]

AUGUST 1

Today we left Ridgway an went south on hwy 550 to get to Black Bear Pass. The trailhead is just south of Red Mountain Pass on 550. Here is the trailhead:


Climbing


At the top


A little flexy coming down


About to drive into oblivion


Making a 2-point turn on one of the switchbacks


So after all of that was done we were back in Telluride, and it was only like 3pm, so we headed for Ophir Pass. This trail is located south of Tellurid on hwy 145. You pass through the small town of Ophir, head over the hill, and land in Silverton.

Ohpir


Climbing to the pass


View from the pass, looking towards Silverton


There is a lake you can hike to above the pass. I climbed the hill some more to get a better view. This looks towards Ophir.


The road pops out back on 550, and we found a really nice campground just outside Silverton.



more to come....

[boardsurfer]

Originally Posted by jdhughes

THIS....this is why I love Colorado. Fantastic Pic!

[jdhughes]

AUGUST 2

Today we got up and had a good breakfast in Silverton and then headed north to the Animas Forks. From there we used Engineer Pass to get to Lake City where we stayed the night.

Up the valley from Silverton




We had a great time exploring the Animas Forks and especially liked the Duncan House (the one furthest right)


Starting the climb to Engineer Pass


There were still tons of wild flowers


At the overlook before the pass. The trail in the distance is closed.


My dad and I at the top


A small cabin just off the trail on the way down


Still, the mountains were very lush, more than I expected in the summer

[jdhughes]

AUGUST 3

Today we left Lake City and drove south on hwy 149 to Slumgullion Pass, and then headed down the Los Pinos Pass trail. This is an easy route, and wanders around more open ranch land. It's very interesting scenery. From there we took hwy 114 to hwy 50, and then back to Gunnison. From Gunnison, we drove north to Crested Butte and hit up Pearl Pass. This was the most challenging trail of the trip. It was very rocky and slow and took about 5 hrs. The scenery, however, was worth the effort. We descended into Aspen and stayed the night there.

My dad and I at Slumgullion Pass


Los Pinos Pass Rd


Wide open spaces


Just starting down the road to Pearl Pass. This is from Crested Butte


A little fox we saw. He was stalking some prey.


Beautiful aspen trees all over


The real start of the trail


Rambling through the hills


A little log obsticle


One of the rockier sections


Almost there!


Dad and I at the top




Another rocky section


Coming down into Aspen you can stop at the ghost town of Ashcroft and check it out

[NorthwestYJ]

Awesome trail report! Loved the pictures

[jdhughes]

AUGUST 4

Last day of wheelin. Today we drove over Independence Pass, and back to Leadville. From there we took Mosquito Pass to Alma, and then hwy 9 back up to I-70 and Silverthorne - right back where we started.

Starting Mosquito Pass


Climbing


Leadville





Mining remains

[jdhughes]

AUGUST 5 - 6

Well sadly, every good trip has to come to an end. Here's what you see before you go over the hill into Denver:


Overall, it was an awesome trip. The only thing was that since I did so much, it all sort of blurs together. When I do it again, I might try to do some harder trails, and keep them in the same area.

I put 3,463 miles on the Jeep. 660 of those where from bumming around Colorado. I averaged 16mpg.

[srmitchell]

Wow, thats a hell of a trip. Nice!

[theAuthority]

What did you use for trail guides? I'd like to do this around the northwest here. Seems like you found alot of back woods stuff !

Good to see jeeps traversing the landscape!

[jdhughes]

Here is a short video of me going up part of Engineer Pass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss2Y315KWT0

[theAuthority]

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