7 day loop through Colorado

[Adventure Jeep]

Great pictures and awesome post. Thanks

 

[TreeTopFlyer]

Notice however that he broke a sway bar link somewhere along the way. Could have been the day before on Imogene.

LOL, same thing happened to me. I think it happened going up to Clear Lake. I have since reinforced the links. With a near 10K rig, those links are weak. They should be made out of 3/4". Great pics, thanks for sharing. We are itching to get back there. We're on our 55th day of 100 degrees down here.

 

[BIGGUY]

Very nice. I've been looking at heading down to do see some areas of CO and this thread has given me some ideas of places to check out. I've been to Ouray and Craig, but not anywhere else.

 

[roverrocks]

We had a great time at the BCGNP, but it was time to move on. We headed southeast around the canyon toward Gunnison. We then headed north on hwy 52 toward Paonia. We had never been here, but the map showed it as a scenic byway, and my wife wanted to see Paonia. Hwy 52 was beautiful. It wound up over Maher pass with amazing views of the canyon 1800 ft. below and the reservoirs that have been created in it. We stopped at the top of the pass at a rest area and had lunch. We watched as a stormed rolled in over the San Juans. It was amazing to watch. We then headed down the other side to Hotchkiss where we junctioned with hwy 133 to Paonia. We did not get any pics in Paonia, but we stopped at this hippy orchard that my wife had read about and enjoyed empanadas and fresh fruit. We then continued on Northeast over McClure Pass (8,755 ft.) We thought that we might stay in a free campground at the top of the pass, but it was early and we decided to continue on. As we turned southeast to come down McClure, my wife realized that we were looking at te Nothern slope of the Maroon Bells. These mountians were on her "hope to see" list. At the bottom of the pass there was a road heading south along the mountains which we followed just to see what we'd find. We found Marble Colorado pop. 107, with an RV park. I will use the term "RV Park" loosely.

Very nice pictures. Keep them coming.

 

[Haggis]

Diggin' the trip report. It's great to see you and your family out havin' fun with the Tundra.

 

[JCMatthews]

Day 6 cont.

We found Marble small and covered in white rocks. Apparently there is a marble quarry near by that produced marble of the finest quality. You can see by the pictures that marble is used all over town as decoration, and in place of cement in some cases. Also at its height they quarried and milled the marble used in the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The area is extremely beautiful. There are two OHV roads leading south out of town. One travels over a pass to Crested Butte, but that road will have to wait until another day and a few more mods. Here are some pictures of the RV park, and the local school.

 

[JCMatthews]

Day 7

Pctures of our self guided tour of the old mill where the stone was cut for the Lincoln Memorial and also for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

 

[JCMatthews]

Day 7 cont. Marble Co. / Home

I woke up knowing it was time to go home. He had enjoyed our time. However, something was telling me to go so we did. The trip home was not without beauty and a little excitement. You can see by the picture that we had some fun getting out of the fast lane and onto the shoulder of the road. It wasn't too bad and I was able to patch the hole relatively easily once we got home. We've been home for a while now, and we are busy planning a fall trip in Canyonlands somewhere.

 

[RockyMtnFamily]

There are two OHV roads leading south out of town. One travels over a pass to Crested Butte, but that road will have to wait until another day and a few more mods.

The locals have a tendency to scare tourists away from taking Schofield Pass as they do not like cleaning up after the inattentive drivers and it is better for their tourism industry if you let them drive you. I drove this pass twice in my Jeep and did it again two Summers ago in my T100 with a rear locker. I went over Lead King Basin and was nearly to the punchbowl when it dawned on me that I forgot to lock in the hubs. It really is not that hard of a road, but is narrow and demands your attention.

Kevin