I bought my Cruiser about five years ago. Before that, I was into the adventure motorcycling world, but I’d had a child, so I thought maybe a Cager would be better for me. Over the years, I did some updates to it, sliders and roof rack and some chrome delete, but if I’m honest, it was a Frappuccino runner. I went to the coffee shop and back, picked up my kid. It was a grocery getter, and if I’m honest, I felt like a poser.
I’d always wanted to do one of the big trails. Imogene Pass is the Cadillac example. Well, with my wife’s permission, I finally did it. I went from Austin to Durango and then up to Imogene Pass to Telluride. I’ll be honest, I was kind of terrified going up there. Everyone says you got to bring too much gear and too much water, and maybe you’ll die or fall off a cliff, and I was going by myself, so I wasn’t so sure.
The first part’s pretty easy. It’s a paved road, then a practically paved road, and then it starts getting a little bit dicey. You go over a tiny little bridge into the woods, and then you go to this granite slab, and it’s not really sure where you’re gonna go after that. I turned around a couple of times because I wasn’t even sure what to do, and the Jeep just kind of poked ahead and went down this part of this slab and into the woods, and I thought, well, anything this Jeep can do, I can do too.
So I followed him, then I asked him if he’d ever done it before, and he said, oh yeah, it’s pretty easy, and I followed his lines, and after a while, I got some confidence. I forgot to turn on my central lockers, but it turned out it didn’t matter, even though it was raining and the pass is pretty much all rocks. There’s not a whole lot of mud. I never really got into trouble. I never got stuck once. The thing’s pretty easy, actually. You just got to watch out for the cliffs.
Overall, I’m so glad I did it. I was intimidated by the four-hour time window, people say, but even with stopping and taking pictures and dicking around, it only took about three hours. It’s a wonderful trip, and everyone should just do it.
I’d always wanted to do one of the big trails. Imogene Pass is the Cadillac example. Well, with my wife’s permission, I finally did it. I went from Austin to Durango and then up to Imogene Pass to Telluride. I’ll be honest, I was kind of terrified going up there. Everyone says you got to bring too much gear and too much water, and maybe you’ll die or fall off a cliff, and I was going by myself, so I wasn’t so sure.
The first part’s pretty easy. It’s a paved road, then a practically paved road, and then it starts getting a little bit dicey. You go over a tiny little bridge into the woods, and then you go to this granite slab, and it’s not really sure where you’re gonna go after that. I turned around a couple of times because I wasn’t even sure what to do, and the Jeep just kind of poked ahead and went down this part of this slab and into the woods, and I thought, well, anything this Jeep can do, I can do too.
So I followed him, then I asked him if he’d ever done it before, and he said, oh yeah, it’s pretty easy, and I followed his lines, and after a while, I got some confidence. I forgot to turn on my central lockers, but it turned out it didn’t matter, even though it was raining and the pass is pretty much all rocks. There’s not a whole lot of mud. I never really got into trouble. I never got stuck once. The thing’s pretty easy, actually. You just got to watch out for the cliffs.
Overall, I’m so glad I did it. I was intimidated by the four-hour time window, people say, but even with stopping and taking pictures and dicking around, it only took about three hours. It’s a wonderful trip, and everyone should just do it.
