5 Nights on the Alpine Loop

[Chili]

Last week my wife, a friend, and our 3 dogs took a trip up to the Alpine Loop in the San Juans (SW CO). We try to make this trip every year (have gone 5 of the last 7 years). This year was a little different, as another close friend and his fiance just bought a house in Lake City (our jumping-off point) so we spent a couple of days at there place as well.

We camp at about 11,000', just below Engineer's pass. Other than some minimal hiking, and at least one trip around the loop, this is usually a relaxation / reset trip for us. As such, there is not much to write about, so I will just post up some of the pics:

Tow rig and trailer. 2005 Suburban Z71 and Ford Courier truck bed trailer. I have a RTT for this trailer but did not have the time to build the rack before this trip. Last year we had a RTT on the Suburban but since we prefer to base camp, having to pack everything up just to do some exploring was not well suited for us. I swapped out the truck axle for a trailer axle, and added matching Z71 wheels and same sized tires a few days before the trip. I still need to rebuild the tongue, but once done it will not have as much rake as now:

A few pics of camp.. We did not get our preferred spot but were happy with the one we did find.

Couldn't wipe the smile off of my face:

We were camped right on Henson Creek:

 

[Chili]

Our girls nice and warm with their jackets Dakota and Molly:

As I mentioned, we camped in a tent, but I recently bought the Eno Doublenest set up, so I tried it out with a mid afternoon nap:

We did the loop on Monday (7/27), and only caused minor damage to my truck.

My wife and I at Engineer's:

The road ahead:

 

[Chili]

Heading in to Animas Forks:

We ended up stuck in Animas Forks for a while, as while we were down there a Jeep went off-trail and had to be winched out on the road back up to Cinnamon Pass:

Fortunately they were pulled back onto the trail without injury or damage. They were really lucky as it was quite a ways down had they started rolling.

 

[Chili]

Dogs!

Our friend's Border Collie, Ramona:

 

[Chili]

Saw a few Deer, Marmots, Chipmunks and a number of Birds:

 

[Chili]

Some scenery pics:

Moon-rise:

Around the corner from American Basin:

We'll be back to Lake City in September for our friend's wedding and the Wine festival, but will be staying in town. Otherwise, we are already planning next year's trip!

 

[lumpskie]

Beautiful pictures! That trip makes me want to go to Ouray right now!

Any idea how that jeep got off the trail? It seems like there are too many people getting hurt or stuck on those trails, considering how easy the wheeling is out there. (as evidenced by the ExPo article on closing Black Bear Pass)

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Awesome pics. This is how life was meant to be enjoyed. We live only once. get out and explore and enjoy nature.

I loved my own trip to Colorado. I wish to go again someday.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/143041-Road-trip-Adventure-offroading-to-Utah-and-Colorado

 

[Chris Cordes]

Way to go! It was great meeting you on the trail, wish we had more time to chat. We were the folks behind you on cinnamon Truck pics included for reference

 

[Tatted]

Question, is this a trail that I could do with no issues with my tundra and camper, we would love to meet more people we could go offroad camping with once in awhile. Nice pics by the way

 

[Chili]

Beautiful pictures! That trip makes me want to go to Ouray right now!

Any idea how that jeep got off the trail? It seems like there are too many people getting hurt or stuck on those trails, considering how easy the wheeling is out there. (as evidenced by the ExPo article on closing Black Bear Pass)

Not sure how they went off. It appeared to be an older couple (50's+). I can only speculate that they got a little too close to the edge to pass / let someone pass, and could not get back on the road.

Way to go! It was great meeting you on the trail, wish we had more time to chat. We were the folks behind you on cinnamon Truck pics included for reference

Haha! I figured you were probably on here. We actually passed your camp later that day, on our way back up to our camp site (we had stopped in town at our friend's place for showers, then had some Poker Alice pizza for dinner). I like that spot you guys were in but we usually stay higher up around Mile marker 15 (near Rose's Cabin). I would have stopped to chat some more but the wife wanted to get back up the mountain and get the fire started.

Question, is this a trail that I could do with no issues with my tundra and camper, we would love to meet more people we could go offroad camping with once in awhile. Nice pics by the way

If I can do it in a mostly stock suburban, you shouldn't have any issue in a Tundra, assuming your camper isn't too wide. The only real issue would be passing people in some of the tighter spots as there is plenty of traffic going both directions.

We were pretty surprised at the traffic this year, as there was much more than we have seen in years past. I was also not thrilled that we had some neighbors one night that were shooting late at night (after 10PM). Don't get me wrong, I'm a gun guy, and we had a few with us, but it was dark / late when they were shooting. And without knowing if they had been drinking, and what direction they were shooting in, had us a little worried. We went and checked out the site they were in later in the week and someone also left a bunch of beer bottles laying around the fire pit, which I just don't get..

 

[Chili]

Beautiful pictures! That trip makes me want to go to Ouray right now!

Any idea how that jeep got off the trail? It seems like there are too many people getting hurt or stuck on those trails, considering how easy the wheeling is out there. (as evidenced by the ExPo article on closing Black Bear Pass)

BTW, the Alpine loop (including Engineer and Cinnamon Pass) are not nearly as bad as Black Bear. What I consider the back side of Engineer (between Engineer and Animas Forks) was pretty rough as compared to year's passed, but we always do the loop counter-clockwise, and the roughest spots are going down-hill rather than up. I was also babying it the whole day as our friend has back issues and was getting pretty beat up, even at a slower pace.

 

[Tatted]

I hear ya, we were in the middle of nowhere 2 weekends ago and some kids showed up bouncing through mud puddles and booming their stereos past 11, they were about 1/4 of a mile away from us, it sucked

 

[Chili]

By the way, I should give credit to my wife for these pics, as she took 98% of them. She actually ended up taking over 500 pictures!

 

[tae73]

Great pictures, was there just a few days after you.