Usually plan the route in reasonable detail so we can count on camping spots and have enough miles in a day without having to set up and eat dinner in the dark, but Imogene Pass was closed due to mudslide damage so my plan went out the window and we pretty much flew by the seat of our pants. Still, it worked out well, we had places to camp that fit our group, and other than the incessant rain on the first night, we had a great time.
7 rigs, 10 guys and a dog
1 LJ (me)
Brad - green TJ Sarah on 33s, Jonathan riding along
Alex - black TJ on 35s, Karma (pit bull) riding along
Sean - tan JKU on 33s, Parker riding along
Dan - white JKUR on 35s
JT - lime green JKUR on 35s, David riding along
Brian - Tacoma on 31s
Most of us met in Colorado Springs, we met Brad and Alex in Canon City. The breakages started early and Alex almost had to go back home to Pueblo because his transmission output seal was dumping into his skid plate.
He decided to send it but we grabbed a replacement seal at Napa and made sure we had all the tools on hand in case it got worse and we had to do a trail repair. He ended up checking it at the end of every day and ended up adding a total of half a quart over the entire 4 days to keep it topped off.
We met Brian in Gunnison, had some BBQ, then headed to Lake City. Aired down as soon as we hit dirt at the road to Engineer Pass and texted our families as we would have sparse cell reception for several days.
Whitmore Falls
Weather started to come in as we summitted Engineer Pass. We took a couple of really quick photos and then headed down as it started to rain and lightning began to strike nearby mountains...below us.
At the bottom of Engineer we continued onto Mineral Creek, which is a 5/10 rated trail due to some tapered rock ledges making it a bit off camber. The wet, slick rock amped up the pucker factor a bit.
We settled in to camp at the bottom of Poughkeepsie Gulch. It rained on us most of the evening so we spent a lot of time huddled under some 8x8 canopies. The tents all ended up with water in the floors and I didn't bring a cot so I hammocked inside the LJ and didn't sleep great.
Next day we were supposed to continue down Mineral Creek to Ouray, then go over Imogene and Ophir, and then come around and camp in a basin above timberline north of Silverton. Given the storms, we decided we'd like trees, so we decided in the morning to do Poughkeepsie Gulch:
saw a black bear just north of "the wall" obstacle
Watched from the beginning of the bypass as a couple of built Gladiators on 40's failed to even get off the ground on the wet slab and decided we didn't want to spend a bunch of time winching 7 rigs up it, and took the bypass. Most of us that had any chance of making it had done it before.
Short "highlight" video...this is literally all I recorded. Was just too busy living in the moment and didn't feel like messing with cameras.
After Poughkeepsie we continued over Hurricane Pass/Corkscrew Gulch and got rained on some more.
Air up at US-550, then drive up to Ridgway and approach Telluride via Last Dollar Road. Saw some billion dollar ranch land, and then camped near Alta Lakes between Telluride and Ophir.
Next morning we got up and went over Ophir Pass, which isn't much more than a gravel road with some narrow spots.
Gassed up in Silverton, Brad and Jonathan had to part ways as J had to work on Monday. The rest of us went up Eureka Gulch to see Lake Emma, which breached and drained into a mine in the mountain underneath it on a Sunday in 1978, leaving an empty lakebed.
There's still some sort of mining activity going on up there, maybe exploration waiting for silver or gold prices to reach a threshold?
7 rigs, 10 guys and a dog
1 LJ (me)
Brad - green TJ Sarah on 33s, Jonathan riding along
Alex - black TJ on 35s, Karma (pit bull) riding along
Sean - tan JKU on 33s, Parker riding along
Dan - white JKUR on 35s
JT - lime green JKUR on 35s, David riding along
Brian - Tacoma on 31s
Most of us met in Colorado Springs, we met Brad and Alex in Canon City. The breakages started early and Alex almost had to go back home to Pueblo because his transmission output seal was dumping into his skid plate.
He decided to send it but we grabbed a replacement seal at Napa and made sure we had all the tools on hand in case it got worse and we had to do a trail repair. He ended up checking it at the end of every day and ended up adding a total of half a quart over the entire 4 days to keep it topped off.
We met Brian in Gunnison, had some BBQ, then headed to Lake City. Aired down as soon as we hit dirt at the road to Engineer Pass and texted our families as we would have sparse cell reception for several days.
Whitmore Falls
Weather started to come in as we summitted Engineer Pass. We took a couple of really quick photos and then headed down as it started to rain and lightning began to strike nearby mountains...below us.
At the bottom of Engineer we continued onto Mineral Creek, which is a 5/10 rated trail due to some tapered rock ledges making it a bit off camber. The wet, slick rock amped up the pucker factor a bit.
We settled in to camp at the bottom of Poughkeepsie Gulch. It rained on us most of the evening so we spent a lot of time huddled under some 8x8 canopies. The tents all ended up with water in the floors and I didn't bring a cot so I hammocked inside the LJ and didn't sleep great.
Next day we were supposed to continue down Mineral Creek to Ouray, then go over Imogene and Ophir, and then come around and camp in a basin above timberline north of Silverton. Given the storms, we decided we'd like trees, so we decided in the morning to do Poughkeepsie Gulch:
saw a black bear just north of "the wall" obstacle
Watched from the beginning of the bypass as a couple of built Gladiators on 40's failed to even get off the ground on the wet slab and decided we didn't want to spend a bunch of time winching 7 rigs up it, and took the bypass. Most of us that had any chance of making it had done it before.
Short "highlight" video...this is literally all I recorded. Was just too busy living in the moment and didn't feel like messing with cameras.
After Poughkeepsie we continued over Hurricane Pass/Corkscrew Gulch and got rained on some more.
Air up at US-550, then drive up to Ridgway and approach Telluride via Last Dollar Road. Saw some billion dollar ranch land, and then camped near Alta Lakes between Telluride and Ophir.
Next morning we got up and went over Ophir Pass, which isn't much more than a gravel road with some narrow spots.
Gassed up in Silverton, Brad and Jonathan had to part ways as J had to work on Monday. The rest of us went up Eureka Gulch to see Lake Emma, which breached and drained into a mine in the mountain underneath it on a Sunday in 1978, leaving an empty lakebed.
There's still some sort of mining activity going on up there, maybe exploration waiting for silver or gold prices to reach a threshold?
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