RockandBrush
New member
hey cool trip and thanks for sharing , can you please tell me what camera you are using to get these awesome quality pics
Not all who wander are lost: ~11k mile North American summer adventure - 50% covered
- Thread starter rwright07
- Start date
I used a canon T3i rebel with a kit lens, and a 55-250mm zoom lens to get these. Unfortunately it didn't survive the trip. Now I have a Canon EOS M that takes similarly awesome pictures but is a mirrorless DSLR that takes longer than I would like to autofocus.
Can't beat the price on the EOS M though.
Sorry I'm slow to upload more, the Internet on the jobsite I just arrived at is very slow. Despite uploading them to an image host from the hotel, just getting them laid out in an order I want from site is painfully slow. 13 hour nightshift.... I may find a way around it today.
Can't beat the price on the EOS M though.
Sorry I'm slow to upload more, the Internet on the jobsite I just arrived at is very slow. Despite uploading them to an image host from the hotel, just getting them laid out in an order I want from site is painfully slow. 13 hour nightshift.... I may find a way around it today.
Next up: Natural bridges national monument, a few photos from our quick run of the white rim trail, Arches NP, and the La Sal mountains.
The geology of natural bridges national monument was astonishing. We spent some time here just staring, comprehending the forces at work required to carve such exquisite curves into the rock.
really neat shot of the road disappearing into a cut blasted to continue the ascent from the canyon floor.
The switchbacks on both the east and west end of the white rim trail were memorable to say the least. Why this road was cut? I havent a clue.
A couple photos from Arches. The place was a ZOO! We couldnt hardly comprehend it after all the solitude out in the Maze district and our time on the White Rim. Between the heat and the crowds we decided to GTFO.
Cheapest diesel fuel of the entire trip. Needless to say i filled my tank and every ounce (thats about 30mL to our friends that use sensible unit systems) of fuel capacity we had.
Next we headed to Colorado, to the San Juan mountains to explore the mountain passes, ghost towns, and culture of the western slope.
The geology of natural bridges national monument was astonishing. We spent some time here just staring, comprehending the forces at work required to carve such exquisite curves into the rock.
really neat shot of the road disappearing into a cut blasted to continue the ascent from the canyon floor.
The switchbacks on both the east and west end of the white rim trail were memorable to say the least. Why this road was cut? I havent a clue.
A couple photos from Arches. The place was a ZOO! We couldnt hardly comprehend it after all the solitude out in the Maze district and our time on the White Rim. Between the heat and the crowds we decided to GTFO.
Cheapest diesel fuel of the entire trip. Needless to say i filled my tank and every ounce (thats about 30mL to our friends that use sensible unit systems) of fuel capacity we had.
Next we headed to Colorado, to the San Juan mountains to explore the mountain passes, ghost towns, and culture of the western slope.
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We entered CO through Grand Junction to meet a friend, and then headed for the San Jauns and the Apline loop area.
We ran the trails in this order:
Ophir Pass
Black Bear Pass
Imogene Pass
Engineer Pass, Animas Forks, and Cinnamon Pass
Here is the map for the region:
Here is a 25 minute highlight reel:
We started in Ophir/Ames, which also happens to be the home of Nikola Tesla's first commercial alternating current hydo-power station!
I am a power engineer, with an educational background in combustion turbines, steam turbines, and pelton turbine hydo generation so i get nerdy about these things.
The view climbing the pass. This trail was easy, with a constant grade and decently wide track.
It was surprisingly easy to talk her into that shot!
The view back up the pass from the other side.
We headed to Silverton to get a Pint and to see the town, since we didnt expect to head back that direction. (Little did we know what fun we had in store.)
Next, later the same afternoon we headed back north on 550 toward Black Bear Pass. Despite the locals discounting my plan to take the fullsize truck as crazy, we pressed on.
All over this area are rented Jeeps, Black Bear Pass is the only trail in the area that the rental contract explicitly forbids!
The view from Black Bear pass as you lose sight of the valley towards Silverton
Black Bear Pass summit looking down towards Telluride. See if you can spot the Marmot!
You cant see the steep descent and the switchbacks from here! All the warning you get is a sign that says past this point the trail is one way headed down.
After this point, I didnt take any more photos until my nerves had settled. It had started to rain suddenly. The switchbacks were tight, and required 3-4 point turns in the YJ. The dodge required at least 4 points on most turns, even while taking the most aggressive corner line. I would also pull up till the tires were about to go off the cliff, and then reverse until the rear bumper hit the hillside.
See my next post for the videos my good friend and Comrade Will put together documenting our time in UT and CO. The Colorado video includes footage from Black Bear and all our mining road pass adventures in SW CO.
Here we arrived at Bridal Falls, past the crazy part of the Black Bear switchbacks. After we stopped here, the Indiana Jones theme was blasting, and we were headed into Telluride for a few rounds of SHOTS, dinner, and a night on the town.
That building there is the old powerhouse and residence at Bridal Falls. The miners needed alot of power to do their work, and engineered fantastic solutions (as well as insane roads)
This is the view that best illustrates just how insane the miners were that built Black Bear Pass, and how steep it really is:
The waterfall on the upper left is seen in one of my photos above, as is the powerhouse about halfway down on the right.
That road was not actually that technically challenging, but the pucker factor and consequence of any mistakes are 10/10. ESPECIALLY IN THE RAIN!.
We ran the trails in this order:
Ophir Pass
Black Bear Pass
Imogene Pass
Engineer Pass, Animas Forks, and Cinnamon Pass
Here is the map for the region:
Here is a 25 minute highlight reel:
We started in Ophir/Ames, which also happens to be the home of Nikola Tesla's first commercial alternating current hydo-power station!
I am a power engineer, with an educational background in combustion turbines, steam turbines, and pelton turbine hydo generation so i get nerdy about these things.
The view climbing the pass. This trail was easy, with a constant grade and decently wide track.
It was surprisingly easy to talk her into that shot!
The view back up the pass from the other side.
We headed to Silverton to get a Pint and to see the town, since we didnt expect to head back that direction. (Little did we know what fun we had in store.)
Next, later the same afternoon we headed back north on 550 toward Black Bear Pass. Despite the locals discounting my plan to take the fullsize truck as crazy, we pressed on.
All over this area are rented Jeeps, Black Bear Pass is the only trail in the area that the rental contract explicitly forbids!
The view from Black Bear pass as you lose sight of the valley towards Silverton
Black Bear Pass summit looking down towards Telluride. See if you can spot the Marmot!
You cant see the steep descent and the switchbacks from here! All the warning you get is a sign that says past this point the trail is one way headed down.
After this point, I didnt take any more photos until my nerves had settled. It had started to rain suddenly. The switchbacks were tight, and required 3-4 point turns in the YJ. The dodge required at least 4 points on most turns, even while taking the most aggressive corner line. I would also pull up till the tires were about to go off the cliff, and then reverse until the rear bumper hit the hillside.
See my next post for the videos my good friend and Comrade Will put together documenting our time in UT and CO. The Colorado video includes footage from Black Bear and all our mining road pass adventures in SW CO.
Here we arrived at Bridal Falls, past the crazy part of the Black Bear switchbacks. After we stopped here, the Indiana Jones theme was blasting, and we were headed into Telluride for a few rounds of SHOTS, dinner, and a night on the town.
That building there is the old powerhouse and residence at Bridal Falls. The miners needed alot of power to do their work, and engineered fantastic solutions (as well as insane roads)
This is the view that best illustrates just how insane the miners were that built Black Bear Pass, and how steep it really is:
The waterfall on the upper left is seen in one of my photos above, as is the powerhouse about halfway down on the right.
That road was not actually that technically challenging, but the pucker factor and consequence of any mistakes are 10/10. ESPECIALLY IN THE RAIN!.
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Great stuff, and about that Schafer Trail........
What a well-done report. Great to see a fullsize oil-burning pickup out there.
The Shafer Trail, Moki Dugway, and lots of other routes in southern Utah were built or expanded from trail status during the uranium exploration and mining boom from the early 1950s through Three Mile Island in March 1979. The US had a vibrant uranium mining industry for decades, and it all pretty much came to a screeching halt after TMI. Geologists like yours truly, happily employed exploring for economic deposits, had to find other ways to make a living.
Foy
What a well-done report. Great to see a fullsize oil-burning pickup out there.
The Shafer Trail, Moki Dugway, and lots of other routes in southern Utah were built or expanded from trail status during the uranium exploration and mining boom from the early 1950s through Three Mile Island in March 1979. The US had a vibrant uranium mining industry for decades, and it all pretty much came to a screeching halt after TMI. Geologists like yours truly, happily employed exploring for economic deposits, had to find other ways to make a living.
Foy
grogie
Like to Camp
Thanks for sharing the report, your pictures and the videos. I am impressed that you took a Ram down Black Bear and the video is awesome! I've got a cousin that lives in the area that has done so with a Suburban (which at the time I thought he was crazy), so as you found out, it can be done. And as you said with some shots afterwards! 
Anyway, I'm headed out to Utah next year so thanks for the tips!
Anyway, I'm headed out to Utah next year so thanks for the tips!
DeadMoney44
New member
Love the report. Some really great pictures.
Would love to see more from Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Canada.
Will be hitting those beautiful places this summer. Route ideas are always appreciated.
Would love to see more from Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Canada.
Will be hitting those beautiful places this summer. Route ideas are always appreciated.
Glad you guys are anxious to see more, I have many more stories and many more Gigabytes of photos, I have largely picked out my favorites, but I am running out of online image hosting space. I like that imgur is free and unlimited, but the organization isn't as nice as others. Anyone have a good free hosting site that I can upload a TON of photos to? My photobucket is full, but I haven't posted them all here yet.
More to come!
More to come!
Out of Telluride, we took Imogene Pass toward Ouray. The Imogene summit was the highest point we reached with the vehicles, and was fantasticly scenic. Along the way you also pass a great deal of ruined mining equipment which is fascinating to crawl around in and affords the ability to look back in time.
After running Imogene and grabbing lunch in Ouray, we headed up the Alpine Loop trail and took the fork toward Animas Forks to explore the ghost town and find a spot to camp.
We intended to head over Cinamon Pass in the morning to the Carson ghost town, then back toward Animas and to take Engineer Pass as our route to the west.
Unfortunately, I discovered that my roof tent mounts had become a problem. A real problem. As you can see in this picture I had "fixed" this particular problem joint once before, and was hoping it would get me through to my stopover in Fort Collins. NOPE.
We headed back to Silverton and met up with some locals who helped us form a plan. I ordered a ladder rack from an outfit in Durango but it was going to take two days to get in stock. OK. Plans changed to spend some more time in Carson, Lake City, at local mining museums, and on Engineer pass.
Some views from American Gulch.
Unfortunately, just a half hour after this last photo was taken my camera was destroyed........
I stopped to help some folks broken down, left my camera on the front bumper when I went to get my tools and accidentally crushed it when I moved the truck.
I dont have my own pictures from the summit of Engineer pass (which was the most striking of them all. BE THERE FOR SUNSET!!!!), of the Carson ghost town, or of the sheared YJ leaf pack that threw the next wrench in our plans.
Fortunately he broke the shackle end of the spring, so we strapped the axle to the frame, and limped all the way from the summit of the massive hill climb above Carson ghost town, over Cinnamon pass, and back to Silverton. We managed to get a spring pack overnighted to the same outfit in Durango, and the next morning I towed the off kilter jeep into Durango.
Much to the surprise of Durango Truck accessories (who were awesome and helpful) we broke out our tools and installed a leaf pack while simultaneously assembling and installing a ladder rack in their parking lot!
Unfortunately, the last few days incidents had eaten up my friends available time and as soon as the spring was installed they headed back to CA.
I on the other hand, had to make time to get back on track. After looking at the map, I decided the fastest way to get back on track was to head BACK to silverton, and BACK over Cinnamon pass through Lake City and to try and reach Gunnison. My passenger can attest to the beating the truck took that night making time with full aired tires, and the new additional load. We still made it to Gunnison late, and were on track to head over Tincup and Cumberland Passes the next day.
This area is also beautiful, but my schedule crunch (AND CAMERA CRUNCH) left me unable to document it.
After a quick stop over in Leadville, we headed over Mosquito pass and into Denver.
My next stop was a long weekend in Fort Collins, to meet up with some friends for some good ol' fashioned brewery tours and debauchery.
From FoCo, CO I headed back west through Poudre Canyon to Steamboat Springs. This drive is fantastic and I highly recommend it.
After dinner and a pint in Steamboat, I headed into the woods to the north and picked my way through forest roads up to the border with Wyoming. When I popped out the next morning early on the WY side, to the surprise of the lumberjacks felling timber, I discovered the reason the trail I took was so overgrown. Apparently it had been closed 5 years ago after the road washed out on the CO side. It didnt seem like a terrible washout to me! But then again, a locker, and LSD, and some Cummins torque seem to overcome most obstacles.
I wish I had some photos from that adventure, and of the stunning dirt roads from La Barge, WY to Jackson Hole. At the suggestion of a member here, I took La Barge Creek Rd, and Grays River rd to connect the dots. It was fast (if you have the dampers to absorb some washboard), scenic, and was definitely the road less traveled!
More to come, I have photos again starting in Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons.
After running Imogene and grabbing lunch in Ouray, we headed up the Alpine Loop trail and took the fork toward Animas Forks to explore the ghost town and find a spot to camp.
We intended to head over Cinamon Pass in the morning to the Carson ghost town, then back toward Animas and to take Engineer Pass as our route to the west.
Unfortunately, I discovered that my roof tent mounts had become a problem. A real problem. As you can see in this picture I had "fixed" this particular problem joint once before, and was hoping it would get me through to my stopover in Fort Collins. NOPE.
We headed back to Silverton and met up with some locals who helped us form a plan. I ordered a ladder rack from an outfit in Durango but it was going to take two days to get in stock. OK. Plans changed to spend some more time in Carson, Lake City, at local mining museums, and on Engineer pass.
Some views from American Gulch.
Unfortunately, just a half hour after this last photo was taken my camera was destroyed........
I stopped to help some folks broken down, left my camera on the front bumper when I went to get my tools and accidentally crushed it when I moved the truck.
I dont have my own pictures from the summit of Engineer pass (which was the most striking of them all. BE THERE FOR SUNSET!!!!), of the Carson ghost town, or of the sheared YJ leaf pack that threw the next wrench in our plans.
Fortunately he broke the shackle end of the spring, so we strapped the axle to the frame, and limped all the way from the summit of the massive hill climb above Carson ghost town, over Cinnamon pass, and back to Silverton. We managed to get a spring pack overnighted to the same outfit in Durango, and the next morning I towed the off kilter jeep into Durango.
Much to the surprise of Durango Truck accessories (who were awesome and helpful) we broke out our tools and installed a leaf pack while simultaneously assembling and installing a ladder rack in their parking lot!
Unfortunately, the last few days incidents had eaten up my friends available time and as soon as the spring was installed they headed back to CA.
I on the other hand, had to make time to get back on track. After looking at the map, I decided the fastest way to get back on track was to head BACK to silverton, and BACK over Cinnamon pass through Lake City and to try and reach Gunnison. My passenger can attest to the beating the truck took that night making time with full aired tires, and the new additional load. We still made it to Gunnison late, and were on track to head over Tincup and Cumberland Passes the next day.
This area is also beautiful, but my schedule crunch (AND CAMERA CRUNCH) left me unable to document it.
After a quick stop over in Leadville, we headed over Mosquito pass and into Denver.
My next stop was a long weekend in Fort Collins, to meet up with some friends for some good ol' fashioned brewery tours and debauchery.
From FoCo, CO I headed back west through Poudre Canyon to Steamboat Springs. This drive is fantastic and I highly recommend it.
After dinner and a pint in Steamboat, I headed into the woods to the north and picked my way through forest roads up to the border with Wyoming. When I popped out the next morning early on the WY side, to the surprise of the lumberjacks felling timber, I discovered the reason the trail I took was so overgrown. Apparently it had been closed 5 years ago after the road washed out on the CO side. It didnt seem like a terrible washout to me! But then again, a locker, and LSD, and some Cummins torque seem to overcome most obstacles.
I wish I had some photos from that adventure, and of the stunning dirt roads from La Barge, WY to Jackson Hole. At the suggestion of a member here, I took La Barge Creek Rd, and Grays River rd to connect the dots. It was fast (if you have the dampers to absorb some washboard), scenic, and was definitely the road less traveled!
More to come, I have photos again starting in Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons.
crackerjack
Observer
i'm really impressed with your vehicle and your build is very well thought out. lots of good ideas and inspiration for my future build. i have been looking at carli suspension systems for my eventual diesel. currently waiting to see the new nissan titan with the v8 turbo cummins.
your trip and the pics you took are fantastic, really enjoying this report.
thanks
