Colorado plans Silverton July 22nd-26th

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Was on Imogene today. The off camber section above upper camp bird has become highly dangerous to all but ohvs as you climb and sweep right. Heading up you can stay high and right on the rock, but because it's not open to through traffic you have to turn around and come back down.

This means that if you're descending from the telluride side and take the right-side line the likelihood of rolling - and continuing down to lower camp bird hundreds of feet below is very high.

It is still closed to through traffic but I can only recommend running from ouray until someone reports this section has been improved.
 
I've finally got ham & GMRS operational! :)

CB was installed, and now is halfway uninstalled, I'm going to have to redo it, because I'm just not happy with how it turned out. :confused:

Still lots of little things to be done, and I'm running out of time. At least I haven't decided to repaint it, at the last minute ( @kelly saad )
 
AlpineAccess said:
Was on Imogene today. The off camber section above upper camp bird has become highly dangerous to all but ohvs as you climb and sweep right. Heading up you can stay high and right on the rock, but because it's not open to through traffic you have to turn around and come back down.

This means that if you're descending from the telluride side and take the right-side line the likelihood of rolling - and continuing down to lower camp bird hundreds of feet below is very high.

It is still closed to through traffic but I can only recommend running from ouray until someone reports this section has been improved.
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You're referring to the section that starts up closer to Yankee Boy/Governor Basin, crosses the water crossing and then meanders thru the trees along the ledge before intersecting Imogene "proper"? The part I'm asking about is the area I have circled in "red" below. The "yellow" highlighted section is what I refer to as Lower Camp Bird. Just want to make sure I'm the same page.

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BuckeyeFan said:
So I just (paid a shop to) replaced my engine mounts, front upper and rear control arms. 2006 at 179k, pretty easy life. If you haven't, I highly recommend it, my truck is remarkably smoother and quieter now, and the rubber didn't even look too bad.

So I was wondering if anyone wants my old control arms. If you could replace the bushings in them and then just swap them out it would save you some down time, I suppose. They are in good shape, a little rust, but they'd last forever in a nicer climate. I can bring them to Silverton in July. Free to a good home.

Before I cleaned them off:
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Maybe someone will want them. I've got that exact same pile that's been sitting around outside for a year. I can't seem to make myself toss them.:meh:
 
geanes said:
You're referring to the section that starts up closer to Yankee Boy/Governor Basin, crosses the water crossing and then meanders thru the trees along the ledge before intersecting Imogene "proper"? The part I'm asking about is the area I have circled in "red" below. The "yellow" highlighted section is what I refer to as Lower Camp Bird. Just want to make sure I'm the same page.

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Negative - that section is a piece of cake.

I'll put up a screen shot of the spot when I can. We still have a few more days this round and this is easier to do from a computer.
 
AlpineAccess said:
Negative - that section is a piece of cake.

I'll put up a screen shot of the spot when I can. We still have a few more days this round and this is easier to do from a computer.
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Yeah, that's why I was wondering. Never felt any danger on those sections. I assume you're talking MUCH higher up on the trail up by or even above Poser Rock it sounds like.
 
geanes said:
Yeah, that's why I was wondering. Never felt any danger on those sections. I assume you're talking MUCH higher up on the trail up by or even above Poser Rock it sounds like.
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It's a real shame we didn't clear this section, it is a very easy trail, but erosion (snow and/or overuse) has turned this small section somewhat technical. It was later in the day, and we weren't feeling it. We were coming up from the Ouray side, and took the northern connector as we had gone up to hike blue lakes pass earlier in the day.

We assume this section will be improved to bring the gravel shelf back up to level very soon. Currently, it is nearly all medium to high camber solid rock with 1.5ft of gravel on the outside edge of the turn facing downhill. Proceed with caution if you're in an IFS vehicle - the articulation deficit on a descent here could be catastrophic.

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It's hard to see in this image but it is only about a 25' section right at the "26A" label below the Imogene Creek designation. We didn't grab a picture of this section, but would appreciate if someone is out there soon to take one and post it up to see if its been improved. We only saw side by sides complete it while we were there.

On other fronts, snowpack looks to have another couple weeks. Would anticipate that mid to late July the streams are going to be much lower. Water crossings on Imogene should be very tame by mid July. Sneffels Creek crossing barely touched our rockers.
 
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AlpineAccess said:
It's a real shame we didn't clear this section, it is a very easy trail, but erosion (snow and/or overuse) has turned this small section somewhat technical. It was later in the day, and we weren't feeling pushing it here. We walked it, talked it over, and are glad we didn't push it here. We were coming up from the Ouray side, and took the northern connector as we had gone up to hike blue lakes pass earlier in the day.

We assume this section will be improved to bring the gravel shelf back up to level very soon. Currently, it is nearly all medium to high camber solid rock with 1.5ft of gravel on the outside edge of the turn facing downhill. The nearest stop would be the tailings pond, over a thousand feet below. Proceed with caution if you're in an IFS vehicle - the articulation deficit on a descent here could be catastrophic.

View attachment 2347082

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It's hard to see in this image but it is only about a 25' section right at the "26A" label below the Imogene Creek designation. We didn't grab a picture of this section, but would appreciate if someone is out there soon to take one and post it up to see if its been improved. We only saw side by sides complete it while we were there.

On other fronts, snowpack looks to have another couple weeks. Would anticipate that mid to late July the streams are going to be much lower. Water crossings on Imogene should be very tame by mid July. Sneffels Creek crossing barely touched our rockers.
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Ah, know it well. Sounds like it's as it has always been. Rescued a Tacoma there 3 years ago.

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geanes said:
Ah, know it well. Sounds like it's as it has always been. Rescued a Tacoma there 3 years ago.

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Looks like the same spot but is not in the same condition as your picture. We would have attempted it if in the above condition.

The gravel shelf has eroded and is around 1-2 feet lower and 1 to 1.5ft wide. The pad by the grey jeep does not allow for the turn in onto the rock face. I anticipate it will be restored to this condition soon as there is some match sticking in the area indicative of a slide.

Good work on the Tacoma, he was lucky to have settled where he did. Also lucky to have had a busy trail for a dynamic pull like that.
 
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Couple of other trail condition notes:

Ophir: It has been really smoothed out. Lower sections on Telluride side were graded. We passed an Ophir resident in a Subaru Forester on the shelf section, and he had plenty of clearance. It will get more interesting as the year goes on but for now I'd expect a nice drive with great views and nothing technical at all.

Yankee Boy/BLT: we hiked the last 3 miles to the blue lake trailhead rather than drive it. It was a nice warm-up before hiking Blue Lakes Pass and scouting the Sneffels approach. Notes from this part of the trail in relation to vehicle traffic: a number of jeeps without lockers were struggling a lot due to runoff loosening rock. The last half mile of the jeep trail to the trailhead was impassible due to snowpack by the lake.

Engineer: clearing operations did an awesome job up top. Nothing of interest. MB Mine had a washout that was shored up temporarily with timbers but was still giving way. Common issue and likely already addressed.

Very impressive avy damage on the lake city side of Engineer, notably the deposition zone's flaring way up over the roadway. Must have been epic.

Imogene: Status changed while we were there to open.

Town Vibes: we wore masks in town as both our state and the individual counties are requiring it for now.

Ouray: busy, most things open except the hot springs and pools. Sheriff Conrad's guys monitoring entrances. Locals wearing masks, no one else was. Restaurants, bars, businesses open as usual including lots of indoor seating.
Telluride: busy, some businesses not open yet. The town closed two lanes, and restaurants/businesses are doing outside seating and customer engagement. Locals are really sticking to wearing masks and distancing guidelines as well as limiting people in stores. We could feel a palpable tension in Telluride between locals wearing masks and taking precautions and what felt like the vast majority of visitors not abiding by any posted rules. We saw no enforcement.
Lake City: Local businesses staff wearing masks, no one else following guidelines.

Obviously I'm no one to tell anybody how to live or anything; just know Ih8mud members are looking for ways to have positive interactions in the communities that they frequently vacation in and this context might help with that.
 
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Couldn't reserve a campsite but managed to get in at the Avon. Feels wrong to not be camping, but we had been counting on being able to stay at Kendall mountain and didn't look at anything else.

Also, the 100 is on light duty until it gets sold, so we're bringing the 200 just to round out being cushy.
 
I may make the run down to Ouray area around this time, would be cool to connect with a few of you and put faces to forum names.

One of the days I am planning to summit Sneffels if anyone is up for a 14er.
 
Something to keep in mind- fire bans still in effect down here, and if you're camping remember even in the middle of July, it still gets chilly at night at 9500', so dress appropriately. Over the last couple of weeks we're up to about 10 or so new fires in this corner of the state. (All appear to be contained, but the one of the Navajo rez has blown up to 9000 acres last I heard.)

Please wear masks. We just had a spike (relatively speaking) in cases in La Plata County, and one outbreak can shut down small towns like Silverton, Ouray and Telluride. The line to get tested here is getting longer and longer everyday, and I wouldn't be surprised to see restrictions increase over the next few weeks, especially after 4th of July weekend. Keep an eye on durangoherald.com and local facebook groups (silverton chamber of commerce maybe?) to stay up to date with the shenanigans going on.

And even if you guys keep this informal and unoffical, don't think for a second that the locals still won't connect you with the event.
 
shutupkaren said:
Something to keep in mind- fire bans still in effect down here, and if you're camping remember even in the middle of July, it still gets chilly at night at 9500', so dress appropriately. Over the last couple of weeks we're up to about 10 or so new fires in this corner of the state. (All appear to be contained, but the one of the Navajo rez has blown up to 9000 acres last I heard.)

Please wear masks. We just had a spike (relatively speaking) in cases in La Plata County, and one outbreak can shut down small towns like Silverton, Ouray and Telluride. The line to get tested here is getting longer and longer everyday, and I wouldn't be surprised to see restrictions increase over the next few weeks, especially after 4th of July weekend. Keep an eye on durangoherald.com and local facebook groups (silverton chamber of commerce maybe?) to stay up to date with the shenanigans going on.

And even if you guys keep this informal and unoffical, don't think for a second that the locals still won't connect you with the event.
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All good points. On the latter one, I've been in dialogue with Inga and others in Silverton....as have Chris and Stan. We've made it clear and they all understand that this isn't anything associated with Hundreds in the Hills and is not an organized event. I've had some discussions with them to explain that many of us were still going anyway as our vacations had been planned back in January, but would not be organized other than meeting up in the morning at the filling station to head out to the trails. Everyone is responsible for their own accommodations and meals and there will be no group events in town such as dinners, etc. If more than 10 rigs show up at the filling station in the morning to run trails as a group, I will break it up into separate groups so we maintain no larger than 10 in any group. I have a feeling there will be lots of us doing different trails each day and not many large groups. They were all perfectly fine with that and welcomed the influx of money into the local economy. Good thing about this is that everyone I've ever met that attends HIH have been responsible and careful folk. I don't see there being any problems associated with our unorganized presence. Having said that, just like when visiting someone's home, follow their house rules. If they require masks, wear masks. If they say no more than 10 people together in a closed space, then do that.

This is really no different than a bunch of FJs being in the area at the same time or Jeeps, etc.
 
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