Expedition 2009 - Rocky Mountains

[Backwoods Rambler]

Day 6- Continued again......

We headed to Williams pass after seeing that the Tunnel was not open - Williams Pass Trail is rare in Colorado for the fact that it's only open from Aug 1st -to- Aug 31st, so we were lucky for the opportunuty to have traveled it.

The trailhead from this side is VERY easy to miss, but look for the trailhead signs on the East side of the road, right near the Palisades.

Nice views in the meadow on the way up

Pano from the top of Williams Pass

And of course, great views coming down the pass as well.

From Williams Pass we headed to Hancock Pass

Unfortunately I didn't get many shots from Hancock because the Jeep was trying to overheat due to using the A/C which I had to use because my drivers side window stopped going down at Alpine Tunnel!

From Hancock, we were headed to Tomichi Pass - The tiny looking road headed up the far mountain range here across Brittle Silver Basin.

The road down Hancock

Can you spot the Jeep?

 

[Backwoods Rambler]

Day 6- Continued again......

Heading up Tomichi definitely seems more dangerous than Schofield

On top of Tomichi with Hancock in the distance

Pano from the top of Tomichi

Heading down Tomichi to, what would become the last camp of the trip even though we had one day left.

Can’t miss Tomichi cemetery on the way down

Most of the way down Tomichi is private property, so not much to see there

Back at camp I fixed my Window, door speaker and the pass side power mirror was also showing signs excessive wear.

This was the only “trail repair” required for the trip, not bad at all.

Camp was nice and warm this night, but no water to speak of

The next morning I started the long drive home.

Interesting how this drive, that would normally seem to take forever, didn’t seem so long after being behind the wheel for 6 days straight for 6hrs each day.

We cut the trip short a day because we all agreed that one (rushed) day in the San Juans just wasn’t going to cut it. The decision was made to instead end on a high note and make the trip out to the San Juans next year for a full week.

 

[yubert]

GPS Waypoint?

Awesome scenery and photos. Ths is the type of trip I like to do! Do you have GPS waypoints of the route and where you camped? Thanks for documenting your trip, it was enjoyable to read. :bike_rider:

 

[02TahoeMD]

Great pics, fantastic trip. Thanks much for sharing, very enjoyable.

 

[Backwoods Rambler]

Awesome scenery and photos. Ths is the type of trip I like to do! Do you have GPS waypoints of the route and where you camped? Thanks for documenting your trip, it was enjoyable to read. :bike_rider:

I have all of the camp sites, but my GPS unit started deleting parts of the first 2 days of the trip, so I'm hoping Jeremy has the Track Log to post up.

 

[Backwoods Rambler]

Here is some follow-up information for those interested.

Shots of the actual completed route:

GPS track logs of the actual completed route, including campsites:

GPX format

GDB/Garmin/Mapsource format

KMX/Google Earth format

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Awesome...."BWR"....!

I have no idea how I missed this most Wonderful thread!

Awesome Pics!

Thank you!

Keep Going!....:sombrero::elkgrin::costumed-smiley-007:ylsmoke:




.

 

[Backwoods Rambler]

I almost forgot, here's some seperate GPS logs for Piney Ridge Trail:

GPX format

GDB/Garmin/Mapsource format

KMZ/Google Earth format


If you've never used google earth, do yourself a favor, download it and check this trail terrain out in 3D.

Here's a snippit; but it's WAY cooler to be able to hover over the terrain in 3D on Google Earth.

 

[mrbishi]

breathtaking scenery and photos! Great report. Had me drooling, unfortunately we don't have anything like that here in Western Australia

 

[Backwoods Rambler]

I've been checking out the Piney Ridge Trail area on Google earth a lot closer and it appears that there's much more trail to be explored in this area :victory:

 

[hattrik21]

For some reason I can't get the GPX file for the entire route to download. Is anyone else having this problem?

 

[Funrover]

Great trip! Looks/sounds like a great time!

 

[cruzinwyo]

Great trip! The beetle kill in the North Park area is terrible. It's been a few years since I have been there, but it is pretty bad!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[BigDaveZJ]

Awesome trip! We just spent a few days running some of those exact same trails and had a blast.

 

[Backwoods Rambler]

Yeah, I saw that. :elkgrin: I can't wait to get back out and do it again.

Did you notice that Randy hit many of these trails as well?