Kansas to Colorado

[85badger]

I'm new to this site as a poster but have been checking out posts from time to time and I really enjoy the stories, trips and pics that I have read. After reading a few, I decided to post up a report of a trip we did a few years back (2009), in the thought that maybe it would help someone else plan a trip of their own.

Our trip starts out in Wichita, Ks, I initially told the wife that we'd leave when I got off of work (5:00pm) but I get a little excited when it comes to trips to the mountains, so I called her and said I was coming home, we are leaving early, the time now is 12:00. Needless to say she was't very happy with my new plans but we sped up the packing and left for Colorado in my 1995 Toyota Land Cruiser with 185,000 miles.

Driving from Wichita isn't a very eventful trip however, we always stop in Lakin, Ks to take a few pictures with my daughters favorite sign. My daughter just happens to be named Lakin, it is something we don't miss.


We drive most of the evening, taking the shortcut on highway 10 from La Junta to Walsenburg. This is a very unpopulated road so at this point I'm hoping for no breakdowns. I gas up in Walsenburg and head over La Vita Pass, we drove until we got to Alamosa, where we checked into a hotel for some well deserved rest.

Storm on the plains


Day 2, we head out for Lake City and over Engineer Pass, not a hard trail and one that I'd been on years ago, so I knew what to expect. In fact, so easy that we once passed a very old couple in a 94 cadillac deville coupe, pearl white with chrome wheels, going down the other side. He said he missed a turn in Lake City….no kidding!! We stop for lunch before heading down Mineral creek into Ouray. We visited a few shops before heading toward Durango where we were staying at Durango Riverside resort, just north of Durango. We really enjoyed our time there. We rented one of the little cabins near the river, awesome views, nice pool and best of all a heater! I've camped out many times in the mountains, it gets cold!

Wagon Wheel Gap


Engineer Pass




Lunch on the trail


Home for a few days


Day 3, The Durango Silverton Train trip. I highly recommend it. However, I must admit that I almost missed the train with my family on it. I dropped them off to pick up the tickets, then I would park, but I was unable to find a parking spot. Finally I talked to a local and he said that I needed to park in the train parking lot or else I'd get towed anywhere else. Meanwhile the train is doing it's final whistle blows as I come running from the lot. My wife didn't know what to do, go without me or not, anyways I made it, barely!! I will never forget that! The train makes for along day, so we decided to take the train to Silverton and the bus back. We ate at the Brewery and I had a few beers in Durango, then we headed back to the campground. No pictures to add at this point...

Day 4, Ophir Pass into Telluride. Ophir pass is a great trail, again very easy and very scenic. Once in Telluride, we found a nice park to have lunch (cold, leftover Chinese from a day or two earlier) near a creek, very relaxing. From Telluride we took Imogene Pass to Ouray. This is a great trail, again, not a hard trail but the shelf parts of the road are not fun to pass people from the other direction on. We managed and made it to the top.

Start of Ophir Pass


looking down on the town of Ophir

 

[85badger]

Telluride


Lunch


Black Bear Pass from Imogene Pass Trail, I've always wanted to drive Black Bear Pass, but decided to pass on it this time since I wasn't with a group and didn't want to get into a bad situation. I passed this time but won't next time!


a slightly doctored pic, can you figure it out??


Kids playing around


Near the top of Imogene Pass


Imogene Pass


Going down the other side toward Ouray (hang on!!)


The plan was Ophir Pass to Telluride, Imogene Pass to Ouray, Hot Spring Pool for a few hours then back to campground. But as we are coming down Imogene, the sky's darken and then lightening. We pulled up to the pool as a flood of people are leaving….Pool closed! We waited for a while and hit an Ice Cream parlor but the pool didn't reopen. Put that on the list of things for the next trip. We head back down the million dollar highway to the campground. On the way down we get stopped in a traffic jam, seems a motorcycle lost it around the corner, major injuries, I had heard that the highway was dangerous, guess they were right. We were well up the mountain so we couldn't see anything due to the traffic. I also remember coming to a stop and noticed that my left front wheel was smoking and smelt terrible. I looked up the line of traffic a few vehicles and noticed an old FJ60 was doing the same. I just blew it off, must be a Toyota thing….found out after we got home that the inside wheel bearing seal let go, must have been all the heat from the grade coming down.

Day 5, Mesa Verde, great little break from wheelin and fun for the kids. They really enjoyed going into the rooms and climbing the ladders. Back to campground.





Day 6, Aug 9th, The plan was go to Silverton, take Stoney Pass to Creede, visit and do a few trails with a friend that has a cabin there but I just wasn't feeling it, Stoney Pass is a long trail that I'd never been on and we would be in a time crunch if we took it, so we skipped that and headed to Durango. From Durango we headed over Wolfe Creek Pass and into Alamosa again. This time to pick up dinner and a surprise Birthday Cake/cupcakes for my son, he was turning 9.

We left Alamosa and headed for the Great Sand Dune National Park. We drive up into the canyon a bit to an area where you can park and walk a short distance thru the creek and onto the sand. Everyone always loves coming here, fun for everyone! The day is getting late so off we go up Medano Pass. This is a great trail and perfect for getting to and from the wet mountain valley. (However in 2012 the last creek crossing was extremely deep, so something to watch out for.) I was glad we skipped the Stoney Pass at this time, it was starting to get late and we hadn't made it to my dad's side of the family cabin near Westcliffe, up near Alvarado Campground.

We had a great time celebrating my son's birthday in the meadow area near the creek while enjoying the fire. Turns out though, cupcakes don't fair well while 4x4ing across the mountains!! They were trashed!

Day 7, time to head home, I wasn't looking forward to the 8-9 hour drive but we made it home safe and sound!

I might try to add more photos, this is all I had on my phone, so I know I have more at home on the pc.

Thanks for reading my post! Hope you all enjoyed, I know we did and I am ready to go back!

Since the trip I've made a few modifications to the Land Cruiser. I put on a set of 35" Goodyear Duratraks, Front and Rear Bumpers, Winch and Slee sliders. It now has 207,000 on it and just last summer (2012), we did Medano Pass again.

 

[roverrocks]

Western trips are good especially when you take your young'uns to interesting and beautiful places. Nice.