CO 2015 - the Altitude Tour, pictures please!

[FishPOET]

Monday August 3 was Black Bear Pass & Imogene Pass

Black Bear Pass is the signature trail of the San Juan Mountains and arguably the most famous 4x4 trail in Colorado. It is a one way trail from the top of Black Bear Pass down to Bridal Veil Falls and traffic is not normally a problem. Twelve vehicles met at the trailhead at 9am under partially cloudy skies.

Climbing Black Bear Pass


Near the top of Black Bear Pass




Black Bear Pass


Marmot


Coming down from Black Bear Pass


Coming down next to Ingram Falls


Telluride down below


The first downhill switchback (3000' drop down to Telluride if you misjudge the turn)






Traffic and parking in Telluride is a nightmare. We did not stop in Telluride and headed for the trailhead to Imogene Pass. The trail climbs right up a residential area and hikers walking 3 and 4 wide on the very narrow trail is always a problem. Imogene is not a one way trail and there is plenty of traffic coming downhill for us to dodge. We stopped for lunch at Tomboy Ghost Town.

Imogene Pass








Heading down Imogene Pass towards Ouray


A few brave souls crossed the waterfall. We had thunder & lightning very near.






We stopped at the Ice Mine.....but there was no ice to be found. Our original plan was to run Yankee Boy Basin but it was 4pm when we got to the turnoff and we headed into town instead. Dinner was mexican food at the Outlaw Restaurant. Food was good but the service was horrible and the manager made sure we knew we were not valued customers. We sat around the campfire until 10pm.

......to be continued.

[TipsE-Z]

All this Mexican food, and I still had some when I got to Breckenridge; meant to take a photo to post but my broccoli forbid my memory from functioning well.

[sarah]

All this Mexican food, and I still had some when I got to Breckenridge; meant to take a photo to post but my broccoli forbid my memory from functioning well.

HAHAHA!!

Awesome pics so far... keep em coming! I've sorted through my 1200+, now just need to title and edit them.

[Lumpy Grits]

Outstanding trip report!
LG

[FishPOET]

Tuesday August 4 the group split in the morning and met for lunch at Lake Como. Most of the group ran Mineral Creek and Poughkeepsie Gulch and the rest of us spent an hour enjoying Gray Copper Gulch and headed up Hurricane Pass to meet the group for lunch.

Gray Copper Gulch is my favorite spot to take photos and it didn't disappoint.




















Hurricane Pass


Hurricane Pass Overlook and MJR Peak (13,250')






After Hurricane Pass we ran Corkscrew Gulch including the viewpoint which in my opinion has a switchback nastier than any on Black Bear Pass.

Corkscrew Gulch














Dinner was mexican food at "Thee Pitts Again" BBQ restaurant. Great food and great service. We sat by the campfire until 10pm.

to be continued.......

[FishPOET]

Wednesday August 5 was a relax & recharge day. My mom, Uncle Bill, Linda, Lettie, Daniel and myself jumped in Linda's Tiger at 6:30am and headed for Durango, We took the 8am Durango & Silverton Steam Train back up to Silverton.



















After lunch in Silverton we headed out to Animas Forks











Frisco Mill


Dinner was mexican food in camp and we sat around the campfire until 10pm

to be continued....

[Mike]

WOW! No wonder that this "Ghost Town" has survived so long. Someone keeps rebuilding it. This is what it looked like in 2012:


Conflicted on this one......

[TipsE-Z]

Well, I guess it's bout time I contributed a little bit to this thread; aside from craving Mexican food now we had a great trip! My son (whom lives in Columbus, OH with his mom) and I have never gotten to go camping together, or on a road trip, and only wheeling a couple times. We did all of these things on this trip; great bonding time that can't be replaced. This was my daughters (7 months old during the trip) first time camping.

Camp all set up


Ian spent a bit of time staring at the creek wondering what he'd signed up for. Chilly temps at night for us tent campers, and he's a bit of a wuss.... But we're working on that. Vita missed Ozzy, Rat's dog.


Zara did some thinking as well, though her's was probably at a different level.


Pics from this trip are some of the last of my Jeep in decent shape. Yesterday I ran an "Extreme" trail and did some fender mod work.


I warned no one I was taking this, if you look closely you'll see some Mexican somewhere.




Zip Line Parking.... I really wanted to edit all my photos into videos with clips of zipline fun, but no time. I'll post my videos later this week when I get them finished.


Dirtman's first attempt was, well... Lounger worthy; momentum is your friend. This was our less efficient model, using a D Ring and a Tree Saver.


Success!


Sort of... Stopped here and got to do a fun little dance to get a littler further to the first knoll. Once one had done it, the flood gates opened and a few more of us had to try.




I love the skies out there, so pretty in the mornings.









I think this is heading over Black Bear Pass; hadn't made it to the seat sucking yet.





Maybe it's all the diapers I don't change, but this mud looked familiar to me.


I managed to pull off (as my wife put it) my most "artsy shot ever" of Sarah at Clear Lake; man my photos are out of order. Sorry folks.


Again, at Clear Lake, Ian had some minor altitude sickness (first time to ever be that high) and was sleeping in the Jeep. Zara loves our dogs.


I just thought these vertical mine shafts were pretty cool.

[TipsE-Z]

I tried to warn my son not to follow this guy, but I guess in this case you CAN make it...


Guess she'll be a Jeep girl, I hope Instagram has died off by then and not been replaced.


This is one of her favorite perches, high atop my head pulling out what hair I have left.


Family pic; my son's mom had bought him new jeans for the trip... They didn't fit. So, we improvised.


He was stoked for this shot so he could tell friends at school that he had a snowball fight a couple weeks ago.


After Black Bear, coming out of Telluride, we did some stopping for some waterfall searching. Kalah was busy feeding the baby so I had the camera and tried to tinker with the settings.


After Zara was fed, we hiked over to a second waterfall nearby, Ian wasn't paying attention so only his leg made it in the shot.



So many gorgeous views.






This was from MJR Peak, best we could tell (comparing to folks GPS' and the Jeep's "Where Am I?") my watch was pretty accurate on the altitude. I just thought this would be a cool shot and Kalah was kind enough to take it.


Not our group, but I believe this is California Gulch down below MJR Peak.


Zara's corral worked out great for the lunch and fishing stops; packed up like a lawn chair.


But she can't always be contained.


We finally spotted the bull moose on our last evening in camp. We'd kept hearing of a family in this water at the entrance to our camp area; thankfully Kalah had the telephoto lense with her for this.


Back to being out of order, I'm sorry folks.



Kalah and the baby flew from Columbus to Denver, while Ian and I drove; 31 hours in a Jeep with a 7 month old didn't sound good. By the time Ian and I got back home we'd drove 3,674 miles and burned 257.7 gallons of gas. At this time, I'd like to thank Prius drivers for helping keep costs lower. I'm sure I'll post up more photos when I have a chance. Maybe reorganize things; I should let Kalah do this stuff.

**Just read over my posts, maybe I should have had coffee before doing this.

[suntinez]

Gorgeous pics! I'm glad *someone* got the moose

[FishPOET]

Thursday August 6 found our group a little smaller after Bryan, Chris, Kalah, Ian & Zara started making their way home. We ran "The Alpine Loop" which consists of Engineer Pass and Cinnamon Pass with a side trip to Schafer Gulch/Hurricane Basin

Engineer Pass




Oh! Point near Engineer Pass








We took a short side trip to Schafer Gulch/Hurricane Basin to see the Golcanda Boarding House, Compressor House & Blacksmith Shop.

Hurricane Basin








Golcanda Boarding House








Golcanda Compressor House




We had lunch at Whitmore Falls and finished the day taking Cinnamon Pass back to Animas Forks. Dinner was mexican food at Grumpy's. We tried to sit around the campfire but it started raining.

to be continued......

[FishPOET]

Friday August 7 we said good-bye to Linda. We ran Ophir Pass, Alta Lakes and Last Dollar Road

Ophir Pass






We had a long lunch at Alta Lakes


Last Dollar Rd


We had mexican food for dinner at True Grit in Ridgway and we were back in camp by 6pm. We sat around the campfire until 10pm.

to be continued....

[FishPOET]

Saturday August 8 we said good-bye to Ryan, Cathy, Bryce, Reed, Chuck, Alycia, Lettie & Daniel. We ran Cunningham Gulch to Stony Pass with a quick side trip to Buffalo Boy. Back on Stony Pass to the USFS 520 to Rio Grande Reservoir for lunch. CR18 to CO149 to USFS 515 to USFS 516 to "Heart Lake Trail" to Wager Gulch to Cinnamon Pass to Animas Forks.

Buffalo Boy on top of the Tram House




Buffalo Boy Tram House




Tram Tower (we could not talk Dino into sliding on this zipline)


Dino on top of the Tram House


Stony Pass (Continental Divide)


The headwaters of the Rio Grande River start near this trail and we followed the Rio Grande River form many miles and had lunch at the Rio Grande reservoir






Incredible views for the Heart Lake Trail




Back over the Continental Divide again at 12,400' and we heard Julie Andrews singing "The Sound of Music"




Wager Gulch & Carson Townsite










On Cinnamon Pass I spotted this juvenile Bighorn Sheep




Dinner was at mexican food at Handlebars Saloon. By far the best food and best service of the trip. We sat around the campfire until 10pm.

to be continued....

[FishPOET]

WOW! No wonder that this "Ghost Town" has survived so long. Someone keeps rebuilding it.
Conflicted on this one......

Golconda Boarding House in 2012


Golconda Boarding House 2015 (new construction added to the right of the structure along with many other improvements)


Golconda Compressor House 2012


Golconda Compressor House 2015


Read more about it at http://historicorps.org/golconda-mining-complex/

and here http://www.historycolorado.org/oahp/...ining-heritage

[suntinez]

Amazing pics everyone.

On Cinnamon Pass I spotted this juvenile Bighorn Sheep

You found a bighorn! Awesome - they are very hard to spot, even when you know where they are.

Apparently we ate a lot of Mexican food? :hide: