America’s Great Continental Divide

[moto-treks]

Back to the trip:

Gus (gnel) left the group after Engineer Pass to drive to the Denver airport so that he could pick up his wife. The plan is for them to rejoin in a few days. With that in mind, we decided to slow down a bit and spend some time near Lake City, CO so that they could join before the next segment of the Rover track.

George, Marie and Duke (Eugene15) made the difficult decision to call it the end of their trip just prior to the Alpine Loop. We said goodbyes and wished them a safe return home. We will miss their company.

Roadside camp after crossing Cinnamon Pass.

 

[moto-treks]

Gus and his better half meet us in Lake City and it was off on the Rover trail again. Cowboy had a engine check light appear and after about 45 minute of trying to get my internet enabled code reader to work cowboy decided to head to Del Norte and get it checked out. Most of us believe he just wanted to return to Creede for BBQ.

we made our way over Cumberland Pass

Through Tin Cup

and ended up at the Taylor Park Reservoir for the night.

I had been a little concerned that we would have problems finding places to camp especially in the more popular areas but it turned out that was not going to be a problem.

 

[Jupiter58]

Glad you are going back through with detail! No problems with the van on any of the passes?????


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[moto-treks]

Glad you are going back through with detail! No problems with the van on any of the passes?????

The lack of cellular coverage and time kept me from updating the thread in real-time. My wife and I are still traveling but at a much slower pace so I’ll be able to fill in the details.

We had 2 vans with us, Joe (joefromsf) drove a Ford E350 with a 4x4 upgrade and Greg (gvb40) drove the Sprinter. Both vans did remarkably well. The E350 did all the trails with the group including the passes. I’ve traveled with other 4x4 E350s and they are very capable for these type of roads. Greg decided to avoid the alpine loop and the Elwood trail.

 

[moto-treks]

The next day it was off to Breckinridge via Como and Boreas pass. Cowboy had made it back from getting his engine fault code analyzed (BBQ run). The engine checked out okay but someplace along the way his AC had stopped working so he was excited to be going to an area where he might be able to get that fixed. As Gary had posted earlier, he had developed a hole in his exhaust pipe so there was the possibility of that being repaired too. And finally, Joe had noise coming from his catalytic converter and wanted to get that looked at.

But, before we reached Breckinridge we had to cross Cottenwood pass and work our way back to the “bicycle” CDT the the Rover track was finished at Buena Vsta.

Heading back to the “bicycle” CDT on the big road

which, after a few turns onto more interesting roads ended up on a two-track through a cattle ranch

Lunch stop

 

[moto-treks]

Gus's wife, Susan, had been asking me if the route was going to go near Como, Colorado as her grandmother had lived there as a youngster. I had no idea where Como was but it turned out the CDT goes through Como on the way to Boreas Pass.

Como was a major train depot between 1979 - 1937 bustling with hundreds of people working for the railroad. Trains traveling between Denver, Leadville, Gunnison, and Breckinridge all passed though Como.

Susan's grandmother would have been in elementary school and most likely attended this schoolhouse

After walking around the town and talking to some of the locals we took off for Boreas Pass and our 20th Continental Divide crossing.

and down to the old railway to Breckinridge

 

[moto-treks]

Breckinridge turned out to be a 3 day layover as two members needed to look into fixing their vehicles. Joe spent one of the days driving to Denver for two new catalytic converters and Cowboy started looking for parts to fix his AC. A few even made it to REI for camping supplies. I ended up washing the Jeep while Greg had his front windshield repaired due to flying rocks.

Otherwise we just hung out enjoying the day.

Gary, having only 4 weeks for the trip, decided to head home a bit early (maybe to repair his cat) so we said our goodbyes and he was off.

 

[driller]

Jeff, I would really like to thank you for the help and assistance when the jeep decided to go up in smoke. Spent 3 days at the ranger station dealing with Jeep. Finally got a ride to albuquerque to catch a flight home, once home grabbed my truck and drove back to El Rito and towed the jeep back home. The jeep was at dealership for a month. I got it back on a Friday and had it sold on Saturday. Now im in a Land Cruiser.

Thanks Again.

 

[moto-treks]

Glad to hear you made it out of El Rito. Now, you just need to get that Land Cruiser ready for the next trip.

 

[cowboyjack]

Well… I’ll add my two cents and thank Jeff and Wendy for LEADING the trip. I’m not sure why anyone takes on leading these trips, but I, for one, am eternally grateful!

 

[cowboyjack]

Glad you came over to the dark side! Bwahaha. Congratulations on the Cruiser.

Jeff, I would really like to thank you for the help and assistance when the jeep decided to go up in smoke. Spent 3 days at the ranger station dealing with Jeep. Finally got a ride to albuquerque to catch a flight home, once home grabbed my truck and drove back to El Rito and towed the jeep back home. The jeep was at dealership for a month. I got it back on a Friday and had it sold on Saturday. Now im in a Land Cruiser.

Thanks Again.

 

[moto-treks]

I’m not sure why anyone takes on leading these trips

We're sick-os ?

 

[gwittman]

And leaders get to stay out of the dust.

 

[moto-treks]

After our rest in Breckinridge it was then off to Steamboat Springs.

CowboyJack had his AC parts delivered but needed some AC juice installed. It looked like the best pace for that was Steamboat. The shop wanted a cold engine to work on so he took pavement to Steamboat. The rest of us took off on the CDT. The tracks I had to steamboat were different than what I rode in 2013. These tracks took us onto a road that slowly turned into an ATV trail that was filled with downed trees. I was glad we didn't have a chainsaw as I'm sure that would have lead us into a multi-day tree clearing exercise. A quick review of the roads in the area backed up with the satellite views on my Garmin Overlander had us on a new road to Steamboat. Just before getting to Steamboat we took a detour to Red Dirt Reservoir to spent the night.

The next morning we made our way to Steamboat

Ya just never know what you'll find at the gas station.

At Red Dirt Reservoir Tino learned that his rear brakes needed new pads. He was able to find a shop in Steamboat that could help out. In a little over an hour he not only had new pad but also new rotors.

Our dog Kuparr had eaten something at the reservoir that didn't agree with him. He was acting strange enough that we went take him to a Vet. Luckily, the vet didn't discover anything majorly wrong so we left with a few cans of special dog food that was easy on the stomach. Whatever he ate did come out later that day in one of the largest piles of poo he'd ever produced and by the next morning he was back to himself.

Unfortunately, Cowboy still needed to do some work on his AC so he stayed behind in Steamboat with plans on meetup in Rawlins, Wyoming.

 

[Ace Brown]

While passing through Como a few years ago we got a lucky break. We bumped into a lady that helped with caretaking of the train depot. She gave us an unofficial tour of the repair shop that is normally only open to special groups. Most of the equipment used to repair the locomotives was still there and looked to be in good shape. We also checked out the big turntable used to turn cars around. We were surprised to find that it was turned by hand using big bars. It was a very enjoyable side trip.

Great trip report Jeff. Thanks for all the detail and photos. Seemed like y’all had more than your fair share of vehicle troubles, but I guess on a trip this long it’s not unexpected.


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