NOA - Colorado's San Juans - Black Bear, Imogene & Other passes & gulches

[Nikson]

The next morning...

We slept great, it was calm & chilly. Fresh air kept us asleep until sunrise woke us up...
Vlad wanted to take sunrise pictures, while I just stayed inside the tent, not wanting to get out of the warm bag...

Breakfast time...

Seems like every mile we went further, the skies were more & more welcoming...

Top of the Black Bear

no regrets about going here at this time of the year... wonderful fall colors were mind blowing...

coming down towards the Bridal Veil Falls & the switchbacks

Telluride ahead...

couple of shots that SORTA show the scale of how small we really are vs NATURE

Descend to Telluride on the switchbacks was a bit of a white knuckle, it was our first time down this road, although I think I would be same way on the next time around that way as well...

ever wonder how some of the guys on full-size rigs go down this way?

We sure did...

Couple of corners were really tight, but sure are still doable...

Falls were beautiful

Telluride welcomed us with great weather & lower elevation, we could actually breath almost "normally" now... Not very used to that thin high-elevation air.

 

[Nikson]

Telluride - Imogene Pass

after a quick lunch at the local Bistro (didnt like the service at ALL - could have been just us I guess) - we headed out of town and up to Imogene Pass.

Our plan was to get to Tomboy Mine and break camp there, have a good "self-cooked" dinner and capture the sunset, since it was the west slope of the hills, with perfect view...

Time after time as I think about it - I wish we didnt rush as much as we did (although we tried to take our time)

way up to Imogene was a lot better than one on Black Bear, although any reasonable 4x4 even stock should be fine.

looking back at the Black Bear switchbacks

once again - the grace of the falltime... Aspen trees were welcoming

our camp at Tomboy

Sunset was great, just as we predicted...

various interesting findings... too bad the site got ran down, and never gotten preserved, lots of lost history.

as we agreed, it was the best steak one could have... with a Biolite grill on aspen firewood chips.

the videos cover both Black Bear & Imogene Passes (completely) with some extras... will go into that detail on the next part.
they are multilingual, so skip it if you dont like that :smiley_drive:

 

[mph]

Awesome shots...Crazy lighting...The San Juans are an awesome mountain range. Glad you got to fully enjoy it! Check out the Tomboy Bride book...A great history of the Tomboy Mine.

 

[c_mack9]

Wow, I'm wanting to do a 2 week trip there at the same time next year! I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread. I do have a few questions, what were the night time temps like? How bad were bugs at that time of year? How well did your fuel budget workout? Can you camp anywhere along those trails and do you need a permit? Are showers and garbage dumps easy to find? is it safe to tent camp on the ground, are there problems with bears or other animals? We'd like to camp as much as possible, just need help with the details. Thank you!

 

[Nikson]

Awesome shots...Crazy lighting...The San Juans are an awesome mountain range. Glad you got to fully enjoy it! Check out the Tomboy Bride book...A great history of the Tomboy Mine.

Will have to look into that... sure am hoping that I'll make it that way in 2016. We figured it would be a bit overwhelming to go every year there, although I'm thinking that we might hit different area of Colorado next trip.

 

[Nikson]

Wow, I'm wanting to do a 2 week trip there at the same time next year! I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread. I do have a few questions, what were the night time temps like? How bad were bugs at that time of year? How well did your fuel budget workout? Can you camp anywhere along those trails and do you need a permit? Are showers and garbage dumps easy to find? is it safe to tent camp on the ground, are there problems with bears or other animals? We'd like to camp as much as possible, just need help with the details. Thank you!

I'll try my best...

what were the night time temps like?
cold/estimate in low 30s/high 20s

How bad were bugs at that time of year?
Bugs, what bugs... never had an issue

How well did your fuel budget workout?
Not sure on the question, we paid for whatever fuel we used up, up over the passes never needed to use a Jerry can, topping it off while in any of the towns like Ouray, Silverton, Telluride was plenty to keep us going.
Another thing I noticed is that in the higher elevation (once up top of the pass) sounded like fuel tank was releasing extra fumes/fuel tank cap was making funny noises.

Can you camp anywhere along those trails and do you need a permit?
we camped where we wanted, usually found a spot where there was already a firepit, and some kind of natural water source (creek/lake, etc.)
as far as my knowledge, dispersed camping is allowed in that area. Having a RTT and quick setup for kitchen helps, since you dont have waste much time for looking at that perfect spot to break out the tent.

Are showers and garbage dumps easy to find?
We used creeks on the go for the most part of the Colorado, while in UT, stayed at an RV Campground, but those are also available in CO as well.
The way we packed our food & kitchen, we had very little trash that we could have either burned in the pit, or just dispose at the next gas stop.

is it safe to tent camp on the ground, are there problems with bears or other animals?
For the most part I would say so, but do use caution. Over the high elevation, and above tree line I would guess its very little wildlife, but once in the woods, might be different story.
During our trip, we came across a younger mountain lion, while only 1/2 miles from our "secluded" spot (at least what we thought) was bunch of ground tent campers with little kids/pets, which had us a bit concerned.
I always carry some sort of a firearm, thus feel a bit safer, plus making sure that you dont leave anything "tasty" at the camp site, unless its necessary - prevents extra issues.

Hope I answered most of your questions

 

[c_mack9]

Thank you for your help! On the fuel budget question, I was wondering how well the money worked out. My vehicle gets similar mileage but was hoping the fuel would cost less than $1,000.

 

[Nikson]

Thank you for your help! On the fuel budget question, I was wondering how well the money worked out. My vehicle gets similar mileage but was hoping the fuel would cost less than $1,000.

If I recall correctly, our round trip to CO from OR was about that much,

again, its a simple math of figuring out your total mileage, etc., and getting your MPGs matched - gas prices are a bit lower now than they where few months back as well. Around actual CO passes, we probably went through 1 tank total, +/-