Gary's Trip To Ouray

[kramttocs]

Bob - I'm still running the factory engine-driven cooling fan on Big Blue. And it apparently moves a LOT of air as it has a serious sound to it when it is engaged. But it isn't as high-pitched as the electric fans on all of the other vehicles, including Jeeps, Toyotas, etc. In any event, it works and we had absolutely no cooling problems on the trip.

Having said that, we did have a "cooling system" issue. Several mornings I found the coolant recovery bottle down ~16 ounces, and found tracks in the dust under it. So it looks like the lid to the reservoir is leaking coolant as we bounce our way down the trail and the coolant splashes around. I know the lid isn't sealed so I'm thinking about pulling the reservoir, turning it upside down, and running flowable RTV into the lip.

As for the right of way, everyone was very friendly. The side-by-sides were very quick to pull over. They seem to know that they are more maneuverable than about anything else but a motorcycle or bicycle, so they move over quickly. (We saw tons of motorcycles and several bicycles - including two young ladies on bicycles that made it to the tops of Engineer and Cinnamon. )

And you are right, the reason to take Big Blue is for the fun of it. I'm sure I could have spent some money and made Blue able to do the same trip. Or bought another vehicle and made it capable. But it is more fun to me to take an "old truck" and make it do it in style.

And speaking of "style", my brother frequently popped the hood to show people the engine. And he got lots of "wow's". I think he was almost as proud of it as I am.

Great updates, analysis, and photos! Really enjoying seeing the photos

[Gary Lewis]

Great updates, analysis, and photos! Really enjoying seeing the photos

Thanks, Scott.

Speaking of photos, I've been working on them to be able to share them. However, I've also discovered several ways not to do it. For one, taking two cameras, like my iPhone and a Nikon point & shoot, is a pain because the pictures are stored in two different places. And merging the two sets of files isn't easy. So it might be best to stick with one camera.

But wait, there's more! Gaia, the mapping app, has the ability to take pics from the app and show them on the map. But it seems have its own numbering scheme separate from that of the device on which the pic is shot, which makes sense because you could use several different devices to access the map and/or shot pics.

Given that, I've been struggling. But I think I'm there, so let's get this show on the road!

We stopped on the second day of driving on Monarch pass to take a break and get some ice cream. Note how clean Big Blue is.

But my brother spotted the cable car and wanted to go up, so we did:

And from the top I shot this 180 degree pano. (The railings are actually in one line.)

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, Scott.Speaking of photos, I've been working on them to be able to share them. However, I've also discovered several ways not to do it. For one, taking two cameras, like my iPhone and a Nikon point & shoot, is a pain because the pictures are stored in two different places. And merging the two sets of files isn't easy. So it might be best to stick with one camera.But wait, there's more! Gaia, the mapping app, has the ability to take pics from the app and show them on the map. But it seems have its own numbering scheme separate from that of the device on which the pic is shot, which makes sense because you could use several different devices to access the map and/or shot pics.Given that, I've been struggling. But I think I'm there, so let's get this show on the road!We stopped on the second day of driving on Monarch pass to take a break and get some ice cream. Note how clean Big Blue is.But my brother spotted the cable car and wanted to go up, so we did:And from the top I shot this 180 degree pano. (The railings are actually in one line.)

Day One:

 

I called the days we were in Ouray Day 1, 2, 3, & 4. This is about Day 1.

 

We went south of Ouray on HW 550, the Million Dollar Highway, and picked up Ophir pass. At the trailhead we aired down and once down into the town of Ophir we aired back up. And that's where we learned not to give each tire 2 minutes as that raised them from 15 to 45 psi! From Ophir we hit a county road and went into Telluride and picked up Imogene Pass, which took us back to Ouray. All in all Gaia says that is a 56.2 mile run.

 

Here's the route in a pdf so you can zoom in and still have some clarity. (Click on the Full Screen icon on the bottom right of the map to open it up in another window where you can zoom and pan.)

 

 

Here's my brother, Rick, on Ophir Pass:

 

And here's a shot of coming down Ophir pass. Note that this is about the spot where we stopped last year to let a tour truck come down, and where I learned my passengers as well as those in the Jeep behind us were already freaking.

 

And now we are coming up Imogene. If I were to rate the trails on a 1 - 5 basis I'd probably rate Imogene as a 3+, with Ophir as a 2. Imogene was steep at some points, but the hardest part was in finding places to meet people. There are some parts of it that are tight.

 

We stopped for lunch at an abandoned mine, and I got a shot of Rick enjoying his lunch:

 

And the obligatory "we were here" shot on top of Imogene. No, I didn't get out as we'd spotted another pulloff up above and just stopped to get the pic as the place was crowded.

 

 

And here's the pulloff. Lot's fewer people but still way up on the mountain at 13,000'.

 

But it is what we did on that point at 13,000' that I thought was "hot". We brewed two cups of Starbucks from a Keurig and then sat on the tailgate and drank it, looking our over a vast chunk of Colorado. It is amazing what 3000 watts of AC can do.

 

 

And then we headed down the mountain.

 

And towards the bottom at Camp Bird Mine we spotted this cute house, after which we were pretty well back in Ouray. A good day, and a lot of fun!

[Gary Lewis]

Day One:

 

I called the days we were in Ouray Day 1, 2, 3, & 4. This is about Day 1.

 

We went south of Ouray on HW 550, the Million Dollar Highway, and picked up Ophir pass. At the trailhead we aired down and once down into the town of Ophir we aired back up. And that's where we learned not to give each tire 2 minutes as that raised them from 15 to 45 psi! From Ophir we hit a county road and went into Telluride and picked up Imogene Pass, which took us back to Ouray. All in all Gaia says that is a 56.2 mile run.

 

Here's the route in a pdf so you can zoom in and still have some clarity. (Click on the Full Screen icon on the bottom right of the map to open it up in another window where you can zoom and pan.)

 

 

Here's my brother, Rick, on Ophir Pass:

 

And here's a shot of coming down Ophir pass. Note that this is about the spot where we stopped last year to let a tour truck come down, and where I learned my passengers as well as those in the Jeep behind us were already freaking.

 

And now we are coming up Imogene. If I were to rate the trails on a 1 - 5 basis I'd probably rate Imogene as a 3+, with Ophir as a 2. Imogene was steep at some points, but the hardest part was in finding places to meet people. There are some parts of it that are tight.

 

We stopped for lunch at an abandoned mine, and I got a shot of Rick enjoying his lunch:

 

And the obligatory "we were here" shot on top of Imogene. No, I didn't get out as we'd spotted another pulloff up above and just stopped to get the pic as the place was crowded.

 

 

And here's the pulloff. Lot's fewer people but still way up on the mountain at 13,000'.

 

But it is what we did on that point at 13,000' that I thought was "hot". We brewed two cups of Starbucks from a Keurig and then sat on the tailgate and drank it, looking our over a vast chunk of Colorado. It is amazing what 3000 watts of AC can do.

 

 

And then we headed down the mountain.

 

And towards the bottom at Camp Bird Mine we spotted this cute house, after which we were pretty well back in Ouray. A good day, and a lot of fun!

Day Two:

 

The second day was a looooong day. Bob had warned me that it would be, but he couldn't foresee the "adventure" we had. But all's well that ends well.

 

Gaia says the route is 45.9 miles, most of which is on the highway. As shown below, we got off on Engineer Mountain Trail, or the Alpine Loop, depending on what map or signs you are reading. (The sign on the highway says "Alpine Loop" at the moment.) And we then went up to Mineral Point, Animas Forks, Engineer Mountain Pass, California Gulch & Pass, Lake Como & The Wall, Hurricane Pass, and then Corkscrew Gulch.

 

 

But as Bob said, Engineer Mountain Trail is rough!

 

Things were going well until I slid off the side. What happened was that I thought I could sneak the driver's side tires past the rocks and put the right side tires on top of the berm. But I was wrong and the LH tires hit the rocks, which pushed us to the right and the RH tires slid over the berm.

 

 

 

But that was fortuitous in a way because it caused us to meet Mike. We'd just passed him while he wondered if he should go on since someone coming down the mountain told him he should NOT go up in his 4Runner. He came up and we discussed the situation, with all of us realizing that just pulling it forward with my winch would probably cause the rear end to slide down the hill more. So Mike brought his 4Runner around and positioned it above us and ran his winch line to the rear of the step bar on Big Blue. Sure enough, when we ran Big Blue's winch the truck went straight forward and came right out.

 

After that, still wondering if he should go on, Mike asked if he could tag along. (And he did so for three days.) So we headed up the mountain and stopped at Mineral Point. (That road was rough and later Mike said he didn't want to go back if it meant going to Mineral Point.) Next up was Engineer Pass, and here's my brother, the engineer, pointing at the sign.

 

From there we went back down to Animas Forks, where we had lunch and toured one of the houses. Here are some pics from that, starting with Rick and Mike on Big Blue's tailgate with the mine in the background.

 

And here's the sign outside the house that we toured:

 

This pic is a pano from inside looking through the bay window of that house:

 

From there we headed through California Gulch and over California Pass:

 

 

 

 

From there to the junction with Poughkeepsie Gulch and then down the gulch past Lake Como and to The Wall. No, we didn't try to tackle The Wall. First, there was a serious ~2' step that we'd have to get over in order to even get to The Wall. Then at The Wall the less difficult side on the left was cabled off. So we decided to give it a pass.

 

 

 

And last, on to Hurricane Pass and then to Ironton and back onto 550 and up to Ouray. It was a looong day, but turned out very well. I learned one thing not to do, we got unstuck nicely, and we gained a new friend - Mike.

 

[Nothing Special]

.... Speaking of photos, I've been working on them to be able to share them. However, I've also discovered several ways not to do it. For one, taking two cameras, like my iPhone and a Nikon point & shoot, is a pain because the pictures are stored in two different places. And merging the two sets of files isn't easy. So it might be best to stick with one camera.

I need to leave for church choir practice so I don't have time to digest your reports right now, much less comment on them. But they were fun to scan through and I'm looking forward to taking more time!

But a comment on this, when I've tried to combine pictures from multiple devices, what I've found best is to put them all in one folder on my computer and sort the folder by date. IF I remember to change the time on our digital SLR camera for the correct time zone (big if) because the cell phones automatically do, then they all get sorted in the order they were taken.

[Gary Lewis]

.... Speaking of photos, I've been working on them to be able to share them. However, I've also discovered several ways not to do it. For one, taking two cameras, like my iPhone and a Nikon point & shoot, is a pain because the pictures are stored in two different places. And merging the two sets of files isn't easy. So it might be best to stick with one camera.

I need to leave for church choir practice so I don't have time to digest your reports right now, much less comment on them. But they were fun to scan through and I'm looking forward to taking more time!

But a comment on this, when I've tried to combine pictures from multiple devices, what I've found best is to put them all in one folder on my computer and sort the folder by date. IF I remember to change the time on our digital SLR camera for the correct time zone (big if) because the cell phones automatically do, then they all get sorted in the order they were taken.

Bob - I'm headed out for Bible study momentarily, but I will comment on the date and folder idea. Basically that's what I wound up doing. But I created folders for each day and sorted the pics into those.

However, I was a bit taken aback by the pics taken on the iPhone but inside Gaia. Their differing numbering scheme threw me off. Then I discovered that I was set up to sort by name, not date. When I changed that it all cleared up.

[grumpin]

Bob - I'm headed out for Bible study momentarily, but I will comment on the date and folder idea. Basically that's what I wound up doing. But I created folders for each day and sorted the pics into those.

However, I was a bit taken aback by the pics taken on the iPhone but inside Gaia. Their differing numbering scheme threw me off. Then I discovered that I was set up to sort by name, not date. When I changed that it all cleared up.

Very nice! What an adventure!

[Sac79]

Very nice! What an adventure!

Looks like an amazing trip! Can't wait for day 3&4. I'm quite envious, I wonder if Eddy could do this...

[Gary Lewis]

Very nice! What an adventure!

Thanks, Dane!

 

Rob - I'm not sure Eddy would have the clearance to do it. Big Blue's clearance had us hit only 4 or 5 times, but Mike's 3" lift and larger tires on his 4Runner had him hitting the rocks several times a day. However, he has skid plates installed so there was no damage other than to the skid plates themselves. Other than that I'm sure Eddy could do it.

Day Three:

After the long day on Day Two we decided to take it a bit easier. In fact, Rick and I met up with Mike at his favorite breakfast place, Camp Bell's, at 8:30 instead of hitting the road at that time.

 

During breakfast we discussed where to go that day and I suggested we go back to Animas Forks and take Cinnamon Pass and then go up to American Basin. I think this is when Mike said "If that involves Mineral Point count me out." So we went through Silverton instead, and that was a much easier trip, even though it 78.9 miles long.

 

Doing it that way the road is very easy up to just south of Animas Forks. In fact, we didn't even air down until we were half way between Silverton and Animas Forks. But we did see many, many people who apparently didn't have on-board air as they didn't air down at all, and their vehicles and their heads were being pounded unmercifully. However, the drop to 15 psi smoothed out Big Blue very nicely.

 

Here's a shot of the road out of Silverton as well as one of some mine works along the way:

 

 

And here's a shot of Animas Forks from above as we started up the Cinnamon Pass trail. In the right center you can see the William Duncan house, the one with the bay window.

 

 

The climb up to Cinnamon Pass was much like that to Engineer Pass - steep and with tight switchbacks. But we made it. However, so did these guys on bicycles! Turns out that the one on the left, Jeff Delmedico, is from Fort Gibson, OK and knows people I know. And he's wearing a Pittsburg State jersey, and Pitt State is where Rick went to college. And the guy on the right, Larry Bowles, is from Tahlequah, which is where I went to college. Small world!

 

 

On the east side of Cinnamon Pass the road is much easier. This is the Alpine Loop and is billed as something that almost anyone can do. But bear in mind that the really rough section that we did on Day Two is also part of the Alpine Loop, as is the section where we slid off the side. So there are easy sections and rough sections. This is one of the easy ones.

 

And then we turned off the easy road to go up to American Basin.

 

And the road got a bit steeper, narrower, and rougher. But still not bad. It was an easy but fun climb.

 

From there we headed back to Silverton. Mike, ever the knight in shining armor, stopped to help a couple that were having trouble with their OHV and discovered the lug nuts were stripped and the wheel was about to come off. So he took them back to Silverton where they got their truck and trailer and went back after their OHV.

 

Rick and I went to Smedley's Ice Cream Parlor and had ice cream and coffee. Then we wandered around Silverton and found what looks to be the perfect vehicle! Can't you imagine coming around a bend on a narrow trail and meeting someone with one of these?!?!

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, Dane!

 

Rob - I'm not sure Eddy would have the clearance to do it. Big Blue's clearance had us hit only 4 or 5 times, but Mike's 3" lift and larger tires on his 4Runner had him hitting the rocks several times a day. However, he has skid plates installed so there was no damage other than to the skid plates themselves. Other than that I'm sure Eddy could do it.

Day Three:

After the long day on Day Two we decided to take it a bit easier. In fact, Rick and I met up with Mike at his favorite breakfast place, Camp Bell's, at 8:30 instead of hitting the road at that time.

 

During breakfast we discussed where to go that day and I suggested we go back to Animas Forks and take Cinnamon Pass and then go up to American Basin. I think this is when Mike said "If that involves Mineral Point count me out." So we went through Silverton instead, and that was a much easier trip, even though it 78.9 miles long.

 

Doing it that way the road is very easy up to just south of Animas Forks. In fact, we didn't even air down until we were half way between Silverton and Animas Forks. But we did see many, many people who apparently didn't have on-board air as they didn't air down at all, and their vehicles and their heads were being pounded unmercifully. However, the drop to 15 psi smoothed out Big Blue very nicely.

 

Here's a shot of the road out of Silverton as well as one of some mine works along the way:

 

 

And here's a shot of Animas Forks from above as we started up the Cinnamon Pass trail. In the right center you can see the William Duncan house, the one with the bay window.

 

 

The climb up to Cinnamon Pass was much like that to Engineer Pass - steep and with tight switchbacks. But we made it. However, so did these guys on bicycles! Turns out that the one on the left, Jeff Delmedico, is from Fort Gibson, OK and knows people I know. And he's wearing a Pittsburg State jersey, and Pitt State is where Rick went to college. And the guy on the right, Larry Bowles, is from Tahlequah, which is where I went to college. Small world!

 

 

On the east side of Cinnamon Pass the road is much easier. This is the Alpine Loop and is billed as something that almost anyone can do. But bear in mind that the really rough section that we did on Day Two is also part of the Alpine Loop, as is the section where we slid off the side. So there are easy sections and rough sections. This is one of the easy ones.

 

And then we turned off the easy road to go up to American Basin.

 

And the road got a bit steeper, narrower, and rougher. But still not bad. It was an easy but fun climb.

 

From there we headed back to Silverton. Mike, ever the knight in shining armor, stopped to help a couple that were having trouble with their OHV and discovered the lug nuts were stripped and the wheel was about to come off. So he took them back to Silverton where they got their truck and trailer and went back after their OHV.

 

Rick and I went to Smedley's Ice Cream Parlor and had ice cream and coffee. Then we wandered around Silverton and found what looks to be the perfect vehicle! Can't you imagine coming around a bend on a narrow trail and meeting someone with one of these?!?!

Day Four:

This was our last day in the mountains so we thought we'd take it easy. We met up for breakfast again and discussed where to go. One suggestion was Last Dollar Road and then Imogene Pass back to Ouray. But LDR was thought to be too easy and Imogene was closed for a foot race.

 

So Mike suggested Porphyry Gulch and we parted ways to meet up again at the trailhead. Here's the map, but this time I've zoomed in on the trail bit and excluded the long highway run from Ouray, up north, to the trailhead.

 

Unfortunately our "let's meet up here" plans didn't work too well and Rick and I got to the trailhead ahead of Mike. So after some time calling him on the radio (he had one of my handheld GMRS radios) and texting him on the phone, all to no avail, we went up Porphyry Gulch trail. It actually comes off of the Black Bear Pass trail part way up the mountain, but for whatever reason there was no sign at the highway to tell you of either the Black Bear or Porphyry trails, so we had to double back a bit. But here's a shot of the start of the Porphyry Gulch trail:

 

In the shot below Rick is talking to his wife, using the one bar of signal we got as we rounded that corner. And we were alerted to having a signal by the text & voice messages rolling in from Mike. But unfortunaly when we tried to call or text Mike he didn't have coverage at that time. So we broke out the other GMRS handheld (the built-in radio apparently has antenna problems) and called Mike on it. Turned out he as in the highway construction queue and would be there in a bit.

 

So we waited at that spot with the view below of the valley and Highway 550. After while we spotted Mike's 4Runner, but just as we did he got past the trailhead and had to backtrack. However, in a bit here he came and we went on to the top of Porphyry Gulch, although I don't have a pic for that somehow.

 

Once we'd seen Porphyry Gulch we turned around and headed back down the mountain for the Black Bear trail. Mike had convinced us that Big Blue would be a bear to get around the first of the switchbacks, so Rick and I agreed we'd just go to the pass itself and not any farther. Here's a view of the Black Bear Pass trail:

 

And here we are at Black Bear Pass. The motorcycle was ridden by Luis Sanchez. I need to find a link to his Youtube account as he got out his drone and shot videos while we were there. Perhaps Big Blue is in them? (I've found him at the newspaper in Santa Fe and sent him and email.)

 

Here's a view of the trail off Black Bear Pass down to The Steps. Note that there is no white 4Runner in any of the pics as Mike stayed down below at the gate to the pass trail. He told me later he just knew we were going to tackle The Steps and he didn't want to be around when we did.

 

And here's Rick in his Top Of The World shot. (You really have to see it on an iPhone as it was shot in Live and his arms are waving like he's trying to fly. )

 

At that point we went back down Black Bear Pass trail and picked up Mike. Here's a shot of the trail:

 

And here's a closeup of that colorful mountain, which I'm assuming is Red Mountain.

 

After getting back down to Hw 550 we crossed the road and picked up CO 825, which goes on the other side of the valley and gave us the view below of Porphyry Gulch Trail on the left and Black Bear Pass Trail on the right:

 

After that Rick and I went back to Ouray and took in Box Canyon. It is amazing as the water comes in at an angle and splashes down into the stream. It was a fitting end to our four days in the mountains, and allowed us to decompress a bit.