Events/Trails CO family trip 6/28-7/11 (1 Viewer)

[phishtaco]

Family trip to CO in a few weeks,(un)fortunately it will be July 4th week. Cincy>Denver>Telluride >Ridgway>Salida>Cincy
GX470 Fox suspension and 285/70/17 Terra Grapplers.
Planning on hitting Last Dollar Road on 7/1 on our way into Telluride from Denver
7/3 Imogene Pass from Telluride to Ouray then up to Ridgway St Park
7/6 Ridgway to Salida, not sure what trails to try there yet.

Is Imogene going to just be a giant cluster? Is this trail going to freak my wife out? I know I’ll be allright but first time wheeling out west with drop offs. I’ve been to Harlan, Winrock, most of Old Tellico trails but all were in my Tacoma or FJ40.
Is Ophir pass worth it? Less crowded?
We are only doing a few trails but we will be traveling solo so I can’t get to crazy and I want the fanily to have fun.

 

[GXO]

Imogene won't be freaky at all. Pretty easy trail with a couple of spots. Nothing you will have any trouble with.

 

[GXO]

Stop at the top and they will be so happy you did it. 13,000 feet in the snow in July is awesome.

 

[phishtaco]

Thanks Dan. They can always walk right.

 

[fourleggedfish]

If you’re headed to Salida, a great side trip for the family would be to head up the trail to Mt. Antero. You can drive up almost to the top, and hike a very short way to the peak (14,275ft.) You can tell all your friends you hiked a 14er on vacation. Yeah, it’s cheating, but technically.....

The trail up is mostly rocky, but baby-head sized, so no crawling. Make sure to stay left at the creek as the trail to the right does get pretty burly. This is totally doable in your rig, so no worries.

When you’re back down, head up the forest road a couple of miles to St. Elmo, a really cool ghost town with an operational general store. Super cool little spot.

Anyway, have a blast in CO. There isn’t a boring drive to be had (until you hit the plains!).

 

[fourleggedfish]

On related note, if you do head up Antero, plan to get a somewhat early start. In general, it's a good idea to be off the mountains (the highest peaks, at least) before afternoon. We lose a few people every year to lightning. Not an issue when your're wheeling, but get your hiking done early. It gets to be more of an issue when the monsoon starts in mid-July, but something to be aware of.

 

[NMBruce]

Doing Imogene from Teluride to Ouray, there are places before the mine that your wife might have problems with, but the long part just before the summit, she will be on the mountain side. The Ouray side is better for people who don’t like the cliffs. As for snow at the top, this year will be a maybe, we had a very dry winter, our local mountain, Wolf Creek got about 200” less than normal. Make sure you check fire restrictions, as we are already going into stage 2, but monsoon season should be around the corner and we are hoping for a lot of rain

 

[GonzoShinyPants]

Those are great trails. Take warm clothes, it's cold at 14k feet.

 

[Docwyte]

Just be aware to yield to uphill traffic, particularly motorcycles. Really sucks on a moto when the downhill vehicle doesn't yield.

 

[phishtaco]

Looks like there maybe some strict fire bans going on. I hope they get some rain so the kids can enjoy a campfire.

 

[GXO]

Forecast shows rain coming in Thursday. Monsoon season to the rescue!

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

National forest to close in Colorado because of fire danger

 

[fourleggedfish]

National forest to close in Colorado because of fire danger

Yeah, it’s been super-dry in southern CO, especially the SW. Check here for a map of current fire bans. Camping really stinks without being able to have a camp fire.

Pro-tip: some counties will allow propane cookstoves and “appliances” to be used, even during a burn ban. Some people are using small propane fire-pits in these areas as a campfire substitute. Carefully check each county’s restrictions before using one of these devices. Most importantly, just don’t be dumb. If there’s a fire ban and it gets windy, put out any fire, gas or otherwise.

Here’s hoping for rain.

 

[phishtaco]

We are staying in a yurt at Ridgway. I’ll check it out.

 

[NMBruce]

Ouray shows a good chance of rain, 80%, Silverton 50%, Durango 20%. As of midnight tonight, the San Juan National Forest is going to Stage 3, closed to everyone, Rio Grande National forest is going to Stage 2, as far as we know here, Uncompahgre National forest is still at Stage 1.
HWY550 from Durango to Silverton is closed at night and a follow me car during the day. Winds have been very high and the fire has double twice in the last 4 days. Per the Forest Service in Pagosa, the fire fighters are only working to protect homes, I was told over 500 evacuated and letting the rest of the fire burn in the forest, they estimated containment around the first of July
Here is a picture (#1j going into Durango from the south on HWY550, for those that don’t know the area, normally you see a mountain. Picture #2 is by the house in Pagosa and I am looking at Pagosa peak, a 13,000 foot mountain. That is smoke from Durango, about 50 miles direct flight.

 

[NMBruce]

Here is some trail information

See below for updates to Ouray Jeep trails:


Uncompaghre Forest Trails Include:
Yankee Boy Basin – OPEN
Governor Basin – CLOSED with snow pack
Imogene – Partially Open to summit on Ouray side. Lots of snow in upper elevations!
Owl Creek – OPEN
Engineer – OPEN all the way over to Lake City
Last Dollar – OPEN
Corkscrew – OPEN
Brown Mountain Gulch – OPEN
Hurricane to California – OPEN

OPEN San Miguel Forest Trails Include:
Imogene – Telluride side has not been reported as being fully open
Last Dollar Pass – OPEN from both sides
Fall Creek – OPEN

San Juan Forest Trails (temporarily closed)
Ophir
Kendall Mountain
Lime Creek
Black Bear (although it’s not open yet anyways)
Entrance to Stony from Animas Forks
Mineral Creek into Animas

 

[NMBruce]

More reading
416 wildfire update: Blaze grows to more than 22,000 acres
From this article;
The National Weather Service forecast for the area includes a chance of thunderstorms and showers from Thursday through Sunday, but that likely won’t bring enough moisture to reopen the forest, said Cam Hooley, SJNF spokeswoman.

“The weather at the end of this week is probably not anything big enough to make much of a difference,” Hooley said. “It will all be based on the weather; my best guess is whenever the monsoon moisture arrives, we’ll be able to get out of the closure.”

The monsoon season in southwestern Colorado typically pops in mid-July.”


Here is more information and some pictures
https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...juan-nf-to-close-to-all-use-this-week.194393/

 

[phishtaco]

Thanks for the link, I will keep my eyes on it. Hopefully it gets better in the next week or so.

 

[NMBruce]

Thanks for the link, I will keep my eyes on it. Hopefully it gets better in the next week or so.

I hope so too and that you get to come out here and have a great trip, I love these mountains

 

[Webguy]

Post by a friend on another forum:

I'm going to visit someone on their private property tomorrow (to help with some fire mitigation). I have to drive on a FS [Forest Service] road to get there. I am having to get written permission from FS Office, carry a fire extinguisher, shovel, and 5 gallons of water in my vehicle as well. Just to drive down a gravel road to get to someone's home. This is serious. They wouldn't go to these measures if it weren't absolutely necessary. There are substantial fines and jail time waiting for those who break the fire restrictions- right now (because of Stage 3 closure) if you are caught on National Forrest land (even just driving down a FS road) without permission and applicable precautions, you have a MANDATORY appearance in FEDERAL court.
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