My 'Back Country' trip through Colorado

[Hill Bill E.]

I just returned from an 11 day trip to, and around in, Colorado.

Most of our days were on dirt, running the Mountain Passes, with one day of strictly blacktop, in order to meet up with the TrailDamage.com crew for a day of trail riding. Enjoy!

HB

Pappy and I headed out for Colorado around 12:40 Sept 3rd.

We headed striaght for his brothers place just outside of Denver.

First day, we made it to Avonco, IA, taking I-35 south to I-80, then west.

The ride through Nebraska wasn't to bad, at least the smell wasn't

We rolled into Danny's at 2:30 pm Sat, had some coffee, and hit the road!

Danny had some overheating issues with his EB, but we blocked the hood open, and made it to the campground on Kenosha Pass, with just enough light left to set up camp.

On the way, Danny could only drive about 40 (until the temp started cooling off, it was around 90 when we hit Denver)

So we drove on the shoulder, as to not jam up traffic. Well, I cut off a State Patrol who was coming onto the freeway :banghead:

He lit me up, and at first, I thought I was in trouble! But, he's a Jeeper!
We BS'd for a while, long enough for Dannys Bronco to cool down some

Then he said "Be careful, watch for traffic on the ramps, and have a good trip!" :cheers:

Campsite at Kenosha Pass:

Our 'fix' for the Bronco's overheating problems:

Danny has done everything he can to fix the overheating, new 4 core rad, new T-stat, 7 blade fan, electric pusher fan, all to no avail.

Next is to tear down the motor, and boil the block and clean the heads.

Sunday morning, we broke camp and headed for Mosquito pass.

We stopped by the old 'London Mill'

It's amazing to think they hauled all this stuff up with mules and horses!

 

[Hill Bill E.]

After the mill, we finished heading up Mosquito Pass.

Giant air compressor, it was powered by a huge windmill'

While the trails we ran aren't as technichal as Moab, the scenery is awsome! (there are some great technical trails in CO)

Some beautiful 'hanging lakes', these are all over the place!

We stayed at the 'Iron City' campground, then headed for Mount Antero and Baldwin Lakes on Monday Morning.

You have to give these hikers credit! I was out of breath just walking around on top! Well, it is almost 14,000 feet elevation where the Jeep trail ends!

The winds were well over 80 mph on top, you couldn't stick your hand out from your side!

Not only did the wind almost knock me over after this pic, I almost wasn't able to get back into my XJ! I had to first pry the door open, then wedge myself in, get my knee on the door, and push with everything I had!

Once I got part way into the seat, the wind and door pushed me the rest of the way in, it was crazy!

The switchbacks were awsome! If you don't like the "Edge" trail at the Gilbert/Iron Range OHV park, then stay away from Colorado!

 

[Hill Bill E.]

Near the bottom of the trail, we took the 'Baldwin Lakes' fork. Farther up the trail to Mount Antero, is the 'Brown Lake' and 'Mount White' trails, but we left that for another trip.

Below the Baldwin Lakes trail, is the 'Boulder Mountain' trail, we also left that for another time.

Heading for Baldwin Lakes:

Saw some elk, mule deer, goats, and herds of sheep!

Somewhere along the Mt Antero/Baldwin Lakes run, Danny lost the nut, washer and bushing for his radius arm:

It was really windy, and cold, where we were at. But we used a Hi-Lift jack to pull the radius arm back into place, then used a small chain to hold it there, until we could get farther down the mountain.

We scouted the return trip, hoping to find the bushing, nut and washer, but no luck.

So we stopped for lunch, and Danny found a heavier chain in his rig, which we used to hold the radius arm in place:

Coming down from Mt. Antero trail system:

More wildlife:

We camped again at the Iron City CG.

It was a cool, but beautiful night!

We were able to fit all 3 rigs into a site, and it was only $20 per night ($15 for 2 rigs, and $5 for each extra)

We all slept in our rigs, so this worked out great!

 

[Hill Bill E.]

Tuesday Morning, Danny had to head home, and go to work Tue night.

Pappy and I went in to St. Elmo, a town from the old days:

From there, we took 'Tin Cup' pass, which took us over the continental divide.

We came down upon Mirror Lake:

We hadn't bought our fishing liscences yet, but we were wishing we had!

We then passed through a small town, made up of mostly old, but well kept, buildings. Most still being used as homes or cabins.

We camped at the Amphitheater CG, just outside of Ouray.

I found an arrowhead necklace on one of the trails:

Wed morning took us from Ouray, down the 'Million Dollar Highway' (hwy 550) to Mineral Creek trail, which we took to Engineer Pass and into Lake City, CO.

More old mining camps. This building had 3 bunks in one room!

Starting on Engineer Pass, from Mineral Creek trail:

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[Hill Bill E.]

One of the many rails, used for the small mining carts:

Mine buildings:

There are many active mines all over CO,

We were able to drive up to this one:

Most have locked doors just inside the entrance, and many are private and posted. Please respect the private property.

We drove up into the clouds, which were just above treeline, at 11, 500 ft.

Of our entire trip, this day was the worst weather. It was overcast and drizzly most of the day, but the sun did come out late in the day.

Top of Engineer Pass:

Sheep herders 'chuck wagon'

The trails were awsome! I loved all the switchbacks, and you can see forever!

 

[Hill Bill E.]

I think this would make a great NSW4x4 club house!

We may have to increase dues though, they want $649,000 for it :drunken:

We stopped for lunch at another old gold mine:

By this time, we had picked up our fishing lic. It was $21 for 5 day, non resident. Not bad at all!

The fish were great! We caught a few nice brookies here:

Great fishing for a little mountain stream at 11,000 feet elevation!
We then headed to Lake City, and had a cup of coffee at the 'Mocha Moose'

We camped at Lake San Cristobal, just outside of Lake City, where I latched onto a nice rainbow!

We fried up all the fish for dinner!

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[Hill Bill E.]

Thursday morning, we left 'Wupperman Campground' outside Lake City, and headed for Cinnamon Pass.

Where we ran into a group of rental Jeeps (I lost count at 12!)

Unfortunatly, these guys, more than 40 of them, had no trail etiquette, and even worse manners.

We had 2 JK's come up on us fast, so we pulled over to let them pass. They got by us, and stopped. Waiting for the rest of thier 'crew'

Once past us, we figured we'ed take it slow, let them get ahead of us.

No such luck. They stopped just up a ways, for a group photo. They blocked the entire trail.

We managed to squeak through, with them only having to move 2 Jeeps.

We put on some speed, hoping to outrun them.

But, they caught us at Animas Forks Ghost Town:

As you can see, they once again parked all 'willy nilly', and made it impossible for us to leave.

Instead, we waited them out, and went a different direction.

Animas forks was really cool, with a lot of buildings still standing.

I think this was the Boss Mans house:l

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[Hill Bill E.]

From Animas Forks, we took California Gulch into Silverton.

It was lunch time, so we stopped at a park in Silverton, popped our hoods, and retrieved some hot Raviolis and Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli soup. We reloaded the engine bays with some Chili for dinner.

While eating lunch, we could here the steam whistle of an old coal fired train. So we went and found it. One of the Silverton & Durango 'N' guage trains:

Also heard this big Ram tow rig from over 6 blocks away!

From Silverton, we once again hit the 'Million Dollar Highway' heading north. But only far enough for "Black Bear Pass"

Black Bear pass is a 2 way trail in the beginning, but the drop into Telluride is a one way down only.

Summit:

The drop into Telluride is one of my favorite trails! I like it as much as Cliff Hanger in Moab.

Pappy is already around the right hand curve!

Most of these switchbacks require a 'two point turn', meaning backing up is a for sure thing. Here's a JK going around one of the turns:

No room for errors on this stretch:

 

[Hill Bill E.]

The bottom of the trail is pretty easy:

We drove through Telluride, and found the start of Imogene Pass:

From Imogene, you can look across at the switchbacks of Black Bear Pass, that we had just decended:

Imogene was one of the most scenic trails we did, in my opinion:

Around 5:30, and at 12,464 ft elevation, we stopped for coffee!

Afterwards, we headed for the summit of Imogene Pass:

On the way down, we ran across this cool red Sportsmobile:

 

[Hill Bill E.]

It was getting dark on this side of the mountain:

We cuaght another trail, and headed into Ouray, where we once again stayed at the Amphitheater campground:

Most of the sites were set up for tents, so we had to level the Jeeps for sleeping inside:

Friday Morning, we ran into Ouray:

We got gas, and aired up our tires for the trip north;

We drove for 6 hours, and about 300 miles, to Idaho Springs, CO.

We went by way of Hwy 550 from Ouray to Montrose, then Hwy 50 through Gunnison to Salida/Ponch Springs, where we took 285/24 north past Buena Vista to Leadville, and then hwy 91 north to I-70.

We found a hotel in Idaho Springs, where we replaced 2 u-joints on my rear driveshaft, before grabbing a shower and finding some dinner.

In the morning, we headed for Downieville, where we met the TrailDamage crew at StarBucks, and headed out for a trail ride with them.

 

[Hill Bill E.]

Saturday, Sept 11th. We met up with Pappy's other club, Trail Damage.

We headed back west on I-70, towards the Copper Mountain Ski area. There we hit the rest area at exit 190, and aired down.

We then ran 4 trails, McCallister, Shrine, Ptarmigan and Lime Creek Passes.

There 7 rigs in all, Pappy and I in XJ's, Monica in here new JK, and 4 TJ's of various builds, from Bob's fairly stock rig, to Matt's really built TJ.

Austin pulled trail gunner duty, and ate a lot of dust!

Meeting at Starbucks:

Stolen? Or just a bad day? Hard to tell, but someone ain't happy right now:

We also saw the remains of a hardtop along the same trail.

Trail Damage crew:

Lunch on top the mountain. We're not the only ones who cook under the hood! Monica had a burrito in the engine bay of her JK

 

[Hill Bill E.]

Matt's really nice TJ. He trailered it up from Colorado Springs area, but it's capable of driving on the road:

The drive up this pass was awsome! Seemed like it would never end, just kept going up, up and up!

Two rigs dropped out after Shrine Pass, so only 5 rigs did the Lime Creek Pass.

Lime Creek was my favorite of the day, with great scenery and some technical driving.

It was also the dustiest day we had!

After the day, Monica let us air up from her JK, in which she has the Kilby set up.

Then they headed home, and Pappy and I headed for Silvethorne, then north, looking for a campground.

 

[Hill Bill E.]

We found a campsite just before dark. We ate up our bacon and eggs for dinner, so we wouldn't have to get any ice for the trip home.

We woke up to 26 degrees!! Pappy made coffee and breakfast inside his XJ! While I made coffee, and heated up some pop tarts, at the picnic table.

We loaded up, and headed north.

We went home through Wyoming and South Dakota, just to escape the drive through Nebraska, which gets pretty tedious when you do it 3-4 times a year.

We hit Cheyenne from I-80, and turned north on I-25.

Plan was to hit hwy 85, and head north east. But I was messing around with my phone, trying to find a gas station on 'Google Maps', and missed the exit.

Well, we took the next exit, which was about 7-8 miles up the freeway!

Looking at the Google Map on my phone, it looked like we could head east, on some local roads, and get back on hwy 85.

So, we took off, following the roads on the Google map. Bad idea.

The road kept getting smaller, and smaller. Then it wound through a couple of farms, where the dogs barked at us. We kept going.

I could see 'Indian Springs Trail' on my Google Map, and it ran into hwy 85, just a few miles from where we were.

The road turned into a trail, going through a field, then we came to a gate.

There were no signs, and the road kept going. So, we decided to go through the gate, re-close it, and head for hwy 85.


About this time, a guy in a Grand Cherokee come up behind us. He stops and asks "What'R you boys doin'??"

I explain that we missed our exit, and are trying to get to hwy 85, which should be just ahead of us.

He comfirmed that it was just up a ways, but there was another gate, and it was locked.

He checked his pockets, but didn't have his keys with him, and said we'ed have to head back to the black top, and go south on 124 to I-25, and back into Cheyenne to hit hwy 85.

So we did.


Then we figured we better get gas (good thing to, becuase we wouldn't have made it to the next station on hwy 85!)

Then we thought, it's dinner time! Lets find us a KFC, and get a 'World Famous Bowl' for dinner!!

So, I consult my phone and it's Google Map once again.

AHA! There's a KFC just 7 miles from here! So we're off, in search of dinner.

We follow the Google maps, we see the red and white 'Peak' of the KFC!!

And then find out it's now a Mexican restaraunt!

Strike 3 for Google Maps! (strike one was the trip to Appleton, MN)

Luckily for us, a Jimmy Johns delivery guy stopped by, and said there was a KFC Buffet just a few blocks down the road!

We got our bowls, and headed north once again.

We drove and drove, crossing into South Dakota. We drove past the Black Hills, and found a campground for the night.

Ah, once again, hot showers!

It was a great campsite, and a cool sunrise!

From there we headed home, about a 12 hour drive.

All in all it was a great trip! With the only damage being a couple of U-joints, and a torn off rear shock for me.

Danny had some issues, and Pappy escaped unscathed, this time!

HB

Rest of my pics: http://s828.photobucket.com/albums/zz202/randyjcj2a/Colrado trip Sept 2010/?start=0

Trying to get some video up also.

 

[Streakerfreak]

Very nice trip.

 

[Whitey]

Outstanding trip. I regret that I may not have handled the rental jeeps as well as you did.