7th Annual Colorado Jeep-CJ Trail REPORT

[BusaDave9]

The 7th Annual Jeep-CJ trail ride was a success. We had people come from everywhere from California to Maine. Everyone had a great time.

I want to thank everyone for coming and I especially want to thank Posi, Hagar and 007 for leading some of the trail rides. This year we used Ouray as our base.

Here is an interactive map of the trails I lead participants on. Keep in mind that there was another trail ride every day except Monday that I did not lead. This map defaults to the terrain view. I like that view because I think it is hard to see slopes and ridges in the satellite view. Change the view to see details.
This map uses all the Google map features. You can zoom in and use any view you want. Go to the upper right to change the view.
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=15d5a59907ed8872f7&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes

 

[BusaDave9]

Monday Aug. 14, 2017 - Engineer Pass

Monday Aug. 14, 2017
Engineer Pass

Here's a GPS map of our route Monday the 14th:
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=160b5599f5ff8b8d1f&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes

This is the only day we all rode the same trail. We left Ouray and headed 3 miles south on highway 550. There we turned off onto Lower Engineer Pass Trail (also called Mineral Creak Trail). We shifted into 4WD Low as the trail started off very rough with rocks.

Later the trail smoothed out and went along a shelf road.

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We took a break at the fork for Poughkeepsie Gulch

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The weather was great all week. Or at least it was much better than expected. I kept my top down all week. Monday was the only day that had any rain. It would rain a little and then stop. At noon it started to rain so I
decided to turn into Mineral Point. This is an old mining camp. My plan was to have lunch inside a cabin so we could stay dry. By the time we pulled over the rain stopped and we ate outside.


This is Chuck's, I mean Posi's, '77 CJ7 .



This is one of the old mining buildings at Mineral Point.



Here's Bill's 1980 CJ5

A line of us leaving Mineral Point











At the top of Engineer Mountain we headed to Engineer Pass lookout. This is also called Oh Point on maps. This year there was a new sign calling the lookout "Odem Point". I've never heard of that name before and I don't know what it means.



This next picture is of Rad, Chuck (Posi), Bobby and Blacky.


Here on Engineer Pass Lookout we all lined up for a group shot.



The next picture is of Niagra Peak.






Here's a cabin and waterfall in the Animas River Canyon.

We followed the Animas River Canyon down to Silverton.


In August there was still a snow bridge over the Animas River.

 

[BusaDave9]

Tuesday Aug. 15, 2017 - Black Bear Pass & Imogene Pass

Tuesday Aug. 15, 2017
Black Bear Pass & Imogene Pass

On Tuesday there were to choices for trail rides:
1. Black Bear Pass & Imogene Pass
2. Maggie Gulch & Minnie Gulch

I lead the larger group over Black Bear Pass. Hagar volunteered to find two trails he has never been on before. He lead up Maggie Gulch & Minnie Gulch.

Here's our GPS route over Black Bear and Imogene Pass
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=160b7599f60e692573&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes

Here's Chuck's (Posi's) 1977 CJ7

and Lloyd's 1972 CJ5

We stopped at an overlook that was above highway 550.


Here we could see 550 north (above) and 550 toward the south (below)


We had a ledge to climb. There was an easier bypass but no one took that route.
Here's Michael's (007) red 1977 CJ7


Phil's (Shooby) yellow 1978 CJ7

and JR's 1974 CJ5

Posi's 1977 CJ7

Bobby's spooled TJ


PistolDave's 1977 CJ7

Curt's (IPlaybass's) 1979 CJ7


The next stop was at the summit of Black Bear Pass

Telluride is far into the next valley.


A group shot of the New Englanders, Rad, Chuck, Bobby and Blacky.

Then we started our way down toward Telluride.



Next we encountered this rock ledge that was very off camber.


We found that there were 2 paths you could take through this section. Some of us, such as Curt (IPlaybass) above, stayed far to the right. Jr and others went down the middle (below). This worked out fine as long as you kept your jeep pointed down the ledge to it wouldn't tip too much.



Carol did a great job of driving Bill's 1980 CJ5 down this obstacle although I didn't get a picture of her.
Going next to the waterfall was also a bit off camber.



















After refueling up in Telluride we headed back via Imogene pass.



This next picture is the Social Tunnel (called the Bullion Tunnel on some maps). I don't remember if it was Bill or Carol that was driving the 1980 CJ5 here.

Here's a wagon train bringing ore through the same tunnel in about 1910

This next picture is looking back at Black Bear Pass. You can see the trail zigging and zagging down the mountain side.










Lloyd's orange 1972 CJ5

PistolDave's 1977 CJ7


We stopped at Tomboy Mine. This used to be a town at an elevation of 11,509 ft. Tomboy is one of the highest ghost towns in the United States (source Wikipedia)




Here's a picture of Tomboy in about 1900






We continued on to Imogene Pass.



The distant mountains in this next picture are Lizard Head, Mt Wilson and Wilson Peak
This next picture is looking back toward Telluride although the view of the town is blocked by a ridge on the right side of this picture.



We stopped at the top Imogene Pass







Just after leaving Imogene Pass we pulled into a short spur for the view.

Here's the view of the Red Mountains. That's where Corkscrew Pass is.

Potosi Peak (with the flat top) and TeaKettle mountain.

TeaKettle Mountain no longer looks like a Tea Kettle since it lost it's "spout" in the 1990's.



Then we started our decent toward Ouray.
We took a rest here. At this next fork we went to the right. This was a short cut that lead to Camp Bird Mine. If we were to go to the left the trail would have taken us to the top of a big cliff that overlooks Camp Bird Mine.





The trail dumped us out right into Ouray.

 

[BusaDave9]

Wednesday Aug. 16, 2017 - Wednesday Aug. 16, 2017

Wednesday Aug. 16, 2017
Bear Town site & Kite Lake


Wednesday the two choices for trail rides were:
1. Bear Town site & Kite Lake
2. Corkscrew Pass

I took about half of the jeepers up to Kite Lake. Chuck (Posi) lead the rest up Corkscrew Pass.

Here's a GPS map of our trip to Bear Town Site and Kite Lake:
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=160b8599f61f3a998b&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes

We drove to Silverton and then headed to the mining site of Howardsville. From there we headed up Stony Pass.





After Stony Pass we continued down the eastern side. This area is the source of the Rio Grande River. The same Rio Grande that forms our border with Mexico.

We took a break before crossing Pole Creek.





Shoobie added an orange roll cage since I've seen his CJ5 last year.

A motorcyclist that tried to cross the river before us took a spill into the creek. I crossed to see if he was okay.


Carroll and Bill crossed Pole Creek in their brown 1980 CJ5

Shooby's yellow 1978 CJ5


Next Lloyd crossed Pole Creek in his orange 1972 CJ5

JR's black 1974 CJ5

Jim's '47 CJ2a

MrIPlaybass crossed in his 1979 CJ7

We didn't go very far before we had another water crossing. This time it was the Rio Grande River.













The trail got steeper as we got closer to Kite Lake.




When we arrived at Kite lake JR found a rock he had to climb.




Here's Bill's jeep sitting next to Kite Lake.



I took a walk around Kite Lake taking pictures.










Then we left Kite Lake, going back the way we came.

... and back across the Rio Grande





This is Canby Mountain just before reaching Stony Pass.



We stopped at the summit of Stony Pass with Canby Mountain in the background.





On our way down from Stony Pass we encountered a JK with a flat tire. They were having trouble changing it. The hydraulic jack they had wasn't up to the task. Lloyd removed his HiLift jack from his hood and it wasn't long before the tire on the JK was replaced.

 

[BusaDave9]

Thursday Aug. 17, 2017 - Picayune Gulch, Placer Gulch and Corkscrew Pass

Thursday Aug. 17, 2017
Picayune Gulch, Placer Gulch and Corkscrew Pass

On Thursday these were the two choices for trail rides:
1. Poughkeepsie Gulch & Corkscrew Pass
2. Picayune Gulch & Placer Gulch & Corkscrew Pass

I lead the group over Picayune Gulch & Placer Gulch.

Here's a GPS map of our route through Picayune Gulch, Placer Gulch and Corkscrew Pass:
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=160b9599f6318c344d&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes

Our group first drove 23 miles from Ouray to Silverton. In Silverton we headed north almost to Animas Forks Ghost Town. From there we turned left up Picayune Gulch. This started off as a steep narrow trail.


We stopped at Treasure Mountain Mine.


We noticed how some of the mining buildings were old log cabins that were decaying due to age yet others seemed to be "only" a few decades old and in much better shape.






At the top of Picayune Gulch we continued down the next valley. This was Placer Gulch. Placer is a type of mining that uses water. Mining with a gold pan is low scale placer mining. Water and gravel are sloshed around in a pan to let the lighter rocks spill out and the heavy gold is supposed to stay in the pan. A larger scale of placer mining is to use a sluice box as shown in this picture.



Mining with a sluice box works just like mining with a gold pan. The heavy gold is stops by ridges while the lighter rock gets washed away.
We didn't see any sign of placer mining in Placer Gulch. The creek in Placer Gulch usually doesn't even have water in it.

On the other hand we did find a hard rock (underground) mine.


After Placer Gulch we headed up California Gulch. There we saw sheep grazing on the grass.



When we were at the top of California Pass we looked down into Poughkeepsie Gulch and saw the other Jeep-CJ group. They were stopped for lunch so we decided to join them.





With all of us together we discussed our options. We could head separate directions but instead we decided to stick together as one group. We headed to the top of Hurricane Pass and then down the other side.
















As we started up Corkscrew Pass we stopped for a break.

Corkscrew Pass dumped us out on highway 550 seven miles from Ouray.

 

[BusaDave9]

Friday Aug. 18, 2017 - Clear Lake & Kendall Mountain

Friday Aug. 18, 2017
Clear Lake & Kendall Mountain

There was much discussion about what trail rides to go on Friday. Although many of us have already gone over Black Bear Pass on Tuesday many wanted to go on it again just to be able to come back over Ophir Pass. Posi leaded that group. I took the rest to Clear Lake.

These were the two choices:
1. Black Bear Pass and Ophir Pass
2. Clear Lake & Kendall Mountain

I lead a group of four up the trail to Clear Lake.
Here is a GPS map of our route to Clear Lake and Kendall Mountain
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=160bb599f63f028e31&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes








On our way up we saw this braided waterfall.




Then we eventually arrived at Clear Lake.




Then we came back down the same route we came up.



There was still plenty of time left in the day. Where should we go next? We could drive to Eureka Gulch. Or we could go up Kendall Mountain. The problem with Kendall Mountain is the trail is narrow and there isn't much room for a big group to turn around. We had 4 jeeps and I was thinking that was doable. Just yesterday I told Posi that his group was too big to go up that trail. With only 4 jeeps I decided we could go to Kendall Mountain.




This next picture is from the top of Kendal Mountain. You can see highway 550 south of Silverton going over Molas Pass. The lake is Molas Lake. In the valley is the Animas River.


The end of the trail doesn't have much room. I was able to park there but the others parked at a nearby fork and walked the rest of the way.

Here's the view looking down onto Silverton.




On the way back down we stopped at the notch to get a view of the other side of the mountain.


Hagar's blue 1947 CJ2a and JR's 1974 CJ5 . Lloyd is taking up the rear in the above picture.

Here's Hagar's blue 1947 CJ2a

Lloyd's orange 1972 CJ5

This next picture is through the notch.


on the way down we stopped at an old rail car that was hauled half way up the mountain to be used as a cabin.




JR is checking out his lodging quarters for next years trail ride.





This ended another year of the Jeep-CJ trail ride.

 

[BusaDave9]

My trail report is not the only one of the 7th Annual Colorado Jeep-CJ Trail Ride.

Check out the other trail reports:
Posi's trail report:
https://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f63/...ep-cj-trail-report-part-2-a-28434/#post245517

BlueRocket's report
https://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f63/ouray-co-8-12-8-19-a-28390/

JR's report
https://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f63/jeep-cj-trail-ride-ouray-co-2017-a-28415/

Pistol Dave's report:
https://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f63/few-pics-7th-annual-colorado-trip-28433/

Hagar's Report
https://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f63/7th-annual-colorado-trail-run-report-pictures-maggie-minnie-gulches-28438/

also check out the "non-trail" pictures that WhatRoad took. These were shot at the 2 towns we visited during the Jeep-CJ trail ride, Ouray and Silverton.
https://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f63/some-non-trail-pics-28449/

 

[Belizean]

Re: Thursday Aug. 17, 2017 - Picayune Gulch, Placer Gulch and Corkscrew Pass

Thanks for putting those up for the ones who couldn't go. Great pictures!

 

[Posi]

Well done Dave! Thanks so much for inviting us all and organizing this trail run it is appreciated by all.

I'll start a thread soon on the trail runs I lead.

Sunday - Poughkeepsie Gulch/Corkscrew
Wednesday- Corkscrew/Red Mountain
Thursday - Poughkeepsie/Corkscrew
Friday - Black Bear Pass/Opher Pass

 

[Lumpy Grits]

:ty: Dave for the time and effort, you put into this report.

LG

 

[Torxhead]

Yeah, thanks for all that Dave. Colorado is really Jeep country.

 

[JR74CJ5]

the price was right for next years lodging there, and it has great views... But the low overhead is a real headache...

Thanks again Dave!