Trip advice please: Southwest Colorado (Ouray, Silverton, Telluride, Lake City)

[Kevrend]

Heading there in a few weeks. Planning on being there around the 18-22 of august if anyone is around and wants to do some passes and/or camp.

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[Rummie]

Heading there in a few weeks. Planning on being there around the 18-22 of august if anyone is around and wants to do some passes and/or camp.

We will be in Telluride during that time frame. Camping in the forest and doing Holy Cross first, then parking the camper and heading down to Telluride and staying in a hotel for a week.

We've done most of the passes in a JKU previously. Planning on Black Bear, Ophir, and Poughkeepsie at a minimum. Probably Imogene as well. Maybe we can meet up for a trail or two.

 

[CerOf]

We will be in Telluride during that time frame. Camping in the forest and doing Holy Cross first, then parking the camper and heading down to Telluride and staying in a hotel for a week.

We've done most of the passes in a JKU previously. Planning on Black Bear, Ophir, and Poughkeepsie at a minimum. Probably Imogene as well. Maybe we can meet up for a trail or two.

That’s going to be a great trip!

Ive read about Holy Cross, it looks tough!

 

[Rummie]

That’s going to be a great trip!

Ive read about Holy Cross, it looks tough!

We love that part of the country. Holy Cross is gonna be a blast. We won't be trying Cleveland Rock though. Not much chance of getting my Gladiator up that. Hoping that we run into some other Jeepers to help spot since we will be on our own. It will be a weekend in August so I expect there will be plenty of others on the trail.

 

[Kevrend]

We will be in Telluride during that time frame. Camping in the forest and doing Holy Cross first, then parking the camper and heading down to Telluride and staying in a hotel for a week.

We've done most of the passes in a JKU previously. Planning on Black Bear, Ophir, and Poughkeepsie at a minimum. Probably Imogene as well. Maybe we can meet up for a trail or two.

I think our plan is to try to do Ophir and Black Bear in a day, if possible. Camping in the area of Telluride, then Imogene Pass and camping Ouray then Alpine Loop and camping Animas Forks. Shoot me a message and we can try to coordinate. I saw your YT Channel. We are in a gator Gladiator as well. Sport with 2" AEV lift and 35's. Nothing aggressive. Black Bear is my only concern, but I'm pretty excited for it.

 

[AZCooWhip]

Glad this was revived. Is there such a thing as the “go to” itinerary on which trails and order to do them? Also, are they all day trips and back to Telluride or someplace then back out again the next day?

Starting to plan and very familiar with the destinations but zero clue on the planning part.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Kevrend]

Glad this was revived. Is there such a thing as the “go to” itinerary on which trails and order to do them? Also, are they all day trips and back to Telluride or someplace then back out again the next day?

Starting to plan and very familiar with the destinations but zero clue on the planning part.

Thanks in advance.

Ophir is Silverton to Telluride, supposed to be an easy day trip.
Imogene is Ouray to Telluride, decent day trip.
Alpine loop is a combination of a few, engineer pass and others, I believe, and is a longer trip.
Black bear is between Silverton/Ouray to Telluride. Day trip, but sketchiest one.

 

[AZCooWhip]

Ophir is Silverton to Telluride, supposed to be an easy day trip.
Imogene is Ouray to Telluride, decent day trip.
Alpine loop is a combination of a few, engineer pass and others, I believe, and is a longer trip.
Black bear is between Silverton/Ouray to Telluride. Day trip, but sketchiest one.

Roger that. Thanks for the input!

 

[Rummie]

I think our plan is to try to do Ophir and Black Bear in a day, if possible. Camping in the area of Telluride, then Imogene Pass and camping Ouray then Alpine Loop and camping Animas Forks. Shoot me a message and we can try to coordinate. I saw your YT Channel. We are in a gator Gladiator as well. Sport with 2" AEV lift and 35's. Nothing aggressive. Black Bear is my only concern, but I'm pretty excited for it.

We will probably do Ophir from Telluride and take Black Bear back one day. Will try to get an early start to avoid afternoon rain. Black Bear is a lot of fun. The tippy part just before the steps is easy as long as you take it slow and follow the guidance of a spotter. The switchbacks are the same. We'll just have to do a lot of back and forth on the first tight switchback.

Imogene is a great trail as well. You may want to take it from Telluride towards Ouray. At least going that direction you are the uphill vehicle during the majority of the narrow shelf roads. Less backing up that way. Better to go on a weekday to have a bit lighter traffic.

I'll PM you as it gets closer.

You Sport will do fine on all of these trails. We even did Poughkeepsie in an open diff JKU including doing the wall twice.

 

[VolatileA]

I was just there 2 weeks ago. We stayed in Placerville out by the original True Grit house. We hit Corkscrew on Red Mountain, then Black Bear Pass into Telluride the first day and then hit Imogene Pass the next day. Grabbed a perfect dinner at the True Grit Cafe in Ridgway that night and saw fireworks on the 4th of July over the hot springs in Ouray. This is probably my favorite place on earth. Good luck and watch the weather up there, it gets crazy!

This is an incredible shot of your truck, love it.

 

[Rummie]

Glad this was revived. Is there such a thing as the “go to” itinerary on which trails and order to do them? Also, are they all day trips and back to Telluride or someplace then back out again the next day?

Starting to plan and very familiar with the destinations but zero clue on the planning part.

Thanks in advance.

We did Black Bear from Ouray to Telluride (the only direction you can do the full trail), stopped for lunch and shopping in Telluride, then took Imogene back to Ouray. Easy to do in one day. So if you start in Telluride then Imogene is the morning trail and Black Bear the afternoon trail. I would check the weather patterns when you will be there since summer can be rainy in the afternoon.

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