Can I do Engineer's Pass/Alpine Loop (Southern Colorado) in my Ram 2500 Crew Cab 4x4?

[High_Country]

I searched and couldn't find anything applicable, so here goes:

Can I do the Alpine Loop in southern Colorado (including mainly Engineer's Pass, Cinnamon Pass, and perhaps Stony Pass) in my 2011 Ram 2500 Crew Cab Short Bed Diesel 4x4 Auto Trans?

It is BASICALLY stock with the exception of slightly oversized (285/75/17) Toyo Open Country AT II Extreme. It came from the factory with a limited slip rear differential, 3.73 gears.

My plan is to have all sorts of tools and gear - you know, shovels, high lift, recovery straps, etc. and I'm working on a winch.

Mainly, what I'm interested in is, can this vehicle physically fit and maneuver on these trails? From the research I've done on the trails, I'm thinking so, but I thought I'd ask you guys for some real world experience / opinions.

Thanks!!!

 

[Black Dog]

I've never driven them, but from what I understand the problem with larger vehicles usually comes to the switch backs and not having a tight enough turning radius. I'm sure someone has done it before, you'll just have to back up and take a second swing.

 

[DaJudge]

Yes. There will be a couple of tight switchbacks (may have to back up once to get around them) but most of the loop is straight or rather long curves.

 

[Monterorider]

I know some Power Wagon owner done those trails so fitment should not be an issue. It's always nice though to have a company of similar rig.

 

[1stDeuce]

I just ran those again last summer. You shouldn't have any problems. Engineer has a bit of an off-camber spot at the start, just up from Hwy50, but that's about it. You might consider dropping the tires to 25 or 30psi to make the ride a little better, but that should be all that's necessary. Have fun!
Chris

 

[Saline]

We have driven it in our extended body Sportsmobile without issue. Beautiful drive!

 

[Rovertrader]

I would avoid Black Bear, though I watched a family in a Suburban do it...
And just to tease a bit:

 

[colodak]

Warn used to have a pic. of a Grand Wagoneer taken on a shelf section of either Engineer or Black Bear for their promotional material.

 

[High_Country]

I really appreciate the responses guys. I don't mind having to do a three point turn around a switchback or two. (Side note - these new Ram's have a surprisingly tight turning radius for what they are)

It sounds like the biggest consideration is a few tight turns rather than, say, ground clearance, or breakover angles, or steep hill climbs clawing for traction or getting high centered or something like that. Have I got that right?

Thanks again for all the input. I'm super excited to get out there and try it.

To those that have been - can a guy camp along the route (either in designated camping areas or true back country camping) or is camping prohibited?

Thanks!

 

[98dango]

I ran it 3 times in each direction last year in my long box.dysfunction.4" lift and 235-85-16. We had a blast many great places and wonderfull camp spots.

 

[Abel Villesca]

There are some great camping options on the Stony Pass side and headwaters of the Rio Grande. I've taken note of camp sites on Cinnamon, but they were pretty close to the road.

 

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

Warn used to have a pic. of a Grand Wagoneer taken on a shelf section of either Engineer or Black Bear for their promotional material.

Is this the picture you are speaking of? It's well known that it's "Photo shopped," but that was before the digital age, so we can call it "Post negative processing" probably achieved via the piecing together of negatives or photos. Have you been on either of the trails in question and recall a section like this? Killer ad then and still today though.

 

[Carlyle]

I've seen that before, would certainly tighten the lower sphincter even if it was anyway close to real.


I wonder how I would fare on Engineer?

 

[Martinjmpr]

Engineer and Cinnamon (Alpine Loop) are very easy trails. I think they're rated either 2 or 3 on the 1-10 scale used by Traildamage.com.

I've never seen a "trail" like the one depicted in the Warn ad. Obviously it's a manipulated photo, I'm guessing the right side of the picture was cut off to show an imaginary 'cliff' when the real trail was probably just a rough road.

The narrowest/scariest trail I've been on in CO was Schofield Pass and even Schofield was at least 2x the width of the one in that picture. What makes Schofield scary is that the trail angles down so you feel like you're hanging off the end and there's a steep (though not sheer) dropoff on the downhill side that ends up in a big river fall area called the Devil's Punchbowl.

For reference, here are some Schofield Pass pictures (and though they aren't my pics - our camera died just before we headed down - I can confirm these are accurate depictions of Schofield):







As for the Alpine Loop itself, you could probably do it in a 2wd truck. I think a lot of people have. Both Cinnamon and Engineer are basically just well graded dirt roads except for the western-most 5 miles or so, and then they are narrow, twisty (but still fairly smooth) trails. Wife and I did Engineer pass in my bone-stock 2007 4runner, which even had the factory running boards.

 

[locrwln]

^^Cool pics.

I'm glad this was asked, because I really want to do those roads in my rig, but I wasn't sure if there would be a problem. Looks like I should be good to go.

Jack