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CO - Ouray, Silverton, Lake City, Telluride Experts

cruiseroutfit

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
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Sandy, Ut
So, I'm heading down to Ouray next week (thurs-sun) with my family... we will be traveling in my Tacoma (32's, open diffed) and my BIL's Landcruiser (locked F&R, etc). Having never been in the area, I really want to plan out my weekend... We have two full days for wheeling, and possibly some wheeling before we head home on the last day.

A couple questions:

1. Poughkeepsie Gulch... doable safely with my Tacoma, I hear it is much harder going up then down, I can plan accordingly... thoughts?

2. What passes are "must do's"? Which ones would you avoid for lack of time?

3. Have you compared your travel times to the times in Charles A. Wells guidebook? More or less than indicated?

Here is my tentative plan...

Trail I:
Ouray to Black Bear Pass (if reopened by then :( ) into Telluride for Lunch. From there, back over Imogene Pass (possibly checking out Yankee Boy & Governor if time allows), leaving us back in Ouray. Based on Well's numbers, it will be a ~11 hour day (inc. 1 hr for lunch). Sounds long but I think we can move through it a tad quicker with 2 capable rigs. If Black Bear Pass is still open, we will go over Ophir Pass adding another hour or so to the day.

Trail II:
Ouray to Mineral Creek, over Engineer Pass. Lunch in Lake City, back over Cinnamon Pass and California Gulch. From their, either down Poughkeepsie Gulch and back to Ouray OR from down Corkscrew Gulch and back Ouray on 550. Again, based on Wells numbers we are looking at ~8 hours with an hour in Lake City for lunch.

Too ambitious? Plenty of time?

Let me know! :cool:
 
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Greg

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
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Location
Grand Junction, CO
Catherines parents are in town for a few days, so were actually going tomorrow to Silverton first, the over the Alpine Loop & down to Ouray.


1. Poughkeepsie Gulch... doable safely with my Tacoma, I hear it is much harder going up then down, I can plan accordingly... thoughts?
Click to expand...

From what I saw, there's only "the Wall" that you'd need to be worried about. It was rainy & therefore muddy when we did Poughkeepsie, and that made it difficult. There is one really steep & long hill that has no big rock on the left side of the hill, it bypasses the Wall & I think your Taco could climb without a problem. But I've seen you drive, I bet you could go up the same line I took my 4Runner up. I took the far right line. The hardest line is up the center, that's where Chris tried in the Bronco.

The weather dried up today, but the last few days have brought some rain. The high elevations in this area also seem to atteact frequent showers.


2. What passes are "must do's"? Which ones would you avoid for lack of time?
Click to expand...

I can't think of any I've seen so far that I'd avoid for time-sake, but stopping to look at the neat mining stuff will eat up alot of your trail time. But you will need a break, just balance it all out and the mining history is incredible.


Trail II:
Ouray to Mineral Creek, over Engineer Pass. Lunch in Lake City, back over Cinnamon Pass and California Gulch. From their, either down Poughkeepsie Gulch and back to Ouray OR from down Corkscrew Gulch and back Ouray on 550. Again, based on Wells numbers we are looking at ~8 hours with an hour in Lake City for lunch.

Too ambitious? Plenty of time?
Click to expand...

This is a great trip, there's so much to stop & look at. Not sure on the time question though, since we haven't taken that exact route. I could see it going more than 8 hrs, but that's only if you're really taking your time.

I have yet to do Black Bear but I really want to do it. It's steeeep... :D

Here's another handy link, the FS passes page-

http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/sanjuan/conditions/roads/passes.shtml
 
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cruiseroutfit

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
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For the visually based folks ;)

Option I & Option II
 

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BroncoMama

BroncoMama

Rock Diva
Location
Just south of craziness
cruiseroutfit said:
So, I'm heading down to Ouray next week (thurs-sun) with my family... we will be traveling in my Tacoma (32's, open diffed) and my BIL's Landcruiser (locked F&R, etc). Having never been in the area, I really want to plan out my weekend... We have two full days for wheeling, and possibly some wheeling before we head home on the last day.

A couple questions:

1. Poughkeepsie Gulch... doable safely with my Tacoma, I hear it is much harder going up then down, I can plan accordingly... thoughts?

2. What passes are "must do's"? Which ones would you avoid for lack of time?

3. Have you compared your travel times to the times in Charles A. Wells guidebook? More or less than indicated?

Here is my tentative plan...

Trail I:
Ouray to Black Bear Pass (if reopened by then :( ) into Telluride for Lunch. From there, back over Imogene Pass (possibly checking out Yankee Boy & Governor if time allows), leaving us back in Ouray. Based on Well's numbers, it will be a ~11 hour day (inc. 1 hr for lunch). Sounds long but I think we can move through it a tad quicker with 2 capable rigs. If Black Bear Pass is still open, we will go over Ophir Pass adding another hour or so to the day.

Trail II:
Ouray to Mineral Creek, over Engineer Pass. Lunch in Lake City, back over Cinnamon Pass and California Gulch. From their, either down Poughkeepsie Gulch and back to Ouray OR from down Corkscrew Gulch and back Ouray on 550. Again, based on Wells numbers we are looking at ~8 hours with an hour in Lake City for lunch.

Too ambitious? Plenty of time?

Let me know! :cool:
Click to expand...

Okay, here are my .02 cents.

Trail I:
Imogene Pass is a definite must! Love it, it's my favorite pass in the whole state actually. It is a long haul though, so I doubt you'd have time for Yankee Boy, although it is worth it if you can race up there. If Black Bear is closed Ophir is a great SHORT option. From start to finish we've hauled over it in a little under an hour in the old tow rig. It's quite easy, the only spot you need 4 wheel drive is at the top for traction.

Trail II:
Engineer is a killer pass too and going up from Red Mountain is always my first choice. Mineral Creek is cool, not much there, but there are the remains of 1 of the 2 remaining stamp mills in the area that still have the actual stamps in them. In Greg's trip report from July 4th, on their drive home they went by there and he posted a picture of the mill. The back side of Engineer is merely a dirt road so you'll make great time into Lake City. I would recommend you travel down Poughkeepsie due to the open factor. The wall is pretty ugly even with lockers and we've been getting afternoon rains quite regularly so that just muddies it up. I would chose Poughkeepsie over Corkscrew just because it's so amazingly beautiful and Corkscrew is a little mundane in my opinion. Chris thinks Corkscrew would be a bit shorter though.

So there ya have it! I've never checked our times with Charles Wells, but that's because we stop at every single mine shaft or building to see if there's anything interesting!:D Hope this helps!
 
yellowbronco

yellowbronco

Cuts Through Grease !!!
Location
Moab
cruiseroutfit said:
I actually just read it reopened... though the FS still has an older status:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/sanjuan/conditions/roads/passes.shtml

This happened the same day as the slide that closed the road:
http://www.ouraynews.com/default.as...&subname=&pform=&sc=1144&hn=ouraynews&he=.com
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Woah, that guy getting killed is freaky:( We went through Ouray on the 30th on our way home from a camping trip, it rained pretty hard the night before. I'm sure that loosened some things up. There have been freak accidents the last few years now up in that area.

Black Bear is one of the few passes in the area I haven't done yet, I have been to the top but not down into T-ride. Having a hard time convincing BroncoMama that we're not going to die.:D
 
kkemp

kkemp

Active Member
Location
Salt Lake
I'm supposed to be heading to Ouray this Sunday for 1 week. I'll be doing the same trail. Imogene, Corkscrew Gulch, Calif Pass and Cinamon Pass are definately on my list. I'm having to take our SUV cause we have too many passengers for the Jeep.

Anyway, I've been watching the weather forecasts and right now it's not looking so good. It looks like rain for the whole week.

Kurt, assuming the rain doesn't keep me from going, I'll be staying in Ouray at the RV park in town in case you are interested in doing a ride together. I have to admit thought. I've taken my Explorer up Mineral Creek before and I don't think I want to drag it over that again. I also won't be doing Black Bear this time.
 
cruiseroutfit

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
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Sandy, Ut
kkemp said:
...Kurt, assuming the rain doesn't keep me from going, I'll be staying in Ouray at the RV park in town in case you are interested in doing a ride together. I have to admit thought. I've taken my Explorer up Mineral Creek before and I don't think I want to drag it over that again. I also won't be doing Black Bear this time.
Click to expand...

We will be there Thurs-Sun next week, running trails all day Friday & Saturday. We'll be staying at the Ouray KOA. We'll have to see if we can hook up for a run together... although our trip plans arn't set in stone, we are pretty dedicated to seeing alot of trails and hope we can travel as planned.
 
crimsonride

crimsonride

huh?
Location
Murray
I don't have time right now to read all of this but I highly recomend Blackbear pass from durango to Teludride (sp?). Definitely doable in your tacoma but still a challenge. Be carefull on those switchbacks.
 
cruiseroutfit

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
crimsonride said:
I don't have time right now to read all of this but I highly recomend Blackbear pass from durango to Teludride (sp?). Definitely doable in your tacoma but still a challenge. Be carefull on those switchbacks.
Click to expand...

Cool.. thanks!
 
XJumpmaster

XJumpmaster

XJumpmaster
Location
Sandy, Ut
Dang it! I've been wantin to do this for a long time now! Tamara is on call next weekend or we'd be there in a heartbeat! Looking forward to the trail report!
 
neagtea

neagtea

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
farmington
Your day 1 trip is about 6-8 hrs. Black bear is no problem I did it while it was snowing 2nd week of sept.
 
BroncoMama

BroncoMama

Rock Diva
Location
Just south of craziness
kkemp said:
I'm supposed to be heading to Ouray this Sunday for 1 week. I'll be doing the same trail. Imogene, Corkscrew Gulch, Calif Pass and Cinamon Pass are definately on my list. I'm having to take our SUV cause we have too many passengers for the Jeep.

Anyway, I've been watching the weather forecasts and right now it's not looking so good. It looks like rain for the whole week.

Kurt, assuming the rain doesn't keep me from going, I'll be staying in Ouray at the RV park in town in case you are interested in doing a ride together. I have to admit thought. I've taken my Explorer up Mineral Creek before and I don't think I want to drag it over that again. I also won't be doing Black Bear this time.
Click to expand...
Please don't let a little rain stop you! It always says isolated rain this time of year and up at high elevations, it's not uncommon for a few sprinkles every afternoon. All those roads up in that area are very passable when wet though so even if it's a downpour, you should still be fine. It's when you get past Labor Day that you want to be a lot more cautious because it can snow with very little incentive.
 
BCGPER

BCGPER

Starting Another Thread
Location
Sunny Arizona
Kurt, I've done all these trails, and will be doing them again over labor day. Your truck will handle it all. Most of these have a lot of gravel in them, so even in the rain they don't get really sloppy.

But, you need to take your time. If you're into old mines (and I know you are), you'll be out exploring a lot of old buildings.
 
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