July 2014 San Juan Trip

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Well....some good news and some bad news.

Good news: Just accepted a teaching position.

Bad news: New teacher orientation beings the 23rd.

No San Juans for me this year, BUT!, looks like we'll be staying in the Springs area for the foreseeable future.
 
Great new your staying but sorry you won't make it to the San Juans. I think we are going up on the weekend of the 18th if you can come up early.
 
Pops said:
Great new your staying but sorry you won't make it to the San Juans.
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Thanks!

Pops said:
Great new your staying but sorry you won't make it to the San Juans. I think we are going up on the weekend of the 18th if you can come up early.
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Didn't think about that... :hmm:
 
Awesome news on the job and having you guys around longer!
Come on down early...I'll be there probably the 17 or 18th...just depends on if I can take the 17th off work (which I should be able to). I plan on hiking that first week...but will be hitting a few off road trails to get to trail heads. I'll get together a list of places I'm thinking of hiking here soon.
 
Matt...the USFS has Black Bear listed as closed...and here is what the group from FJ Summit encountered...
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Supposedly black bear and Poughkeepsie just opened up yesterday. At least that's the word I got from a friend. All for fun trail leaders are going to be doing pre runs of some of the trails up there. Maybe we can join them on a run or 2.
 
MAN!... I wish I were going. This area has been on my "to do" list even before moving to CO! Sooooooo what to go.

On my way back from Missouri (in the middle of Kansas somewhere), I passed 3 well built FJ's from Florida. All snickered up with FJ summit decals from years past. I really wanted to just pull up behind them and follow them to the fun.

So jealous of you guys.

Have fun and be safe.... but mostly, have fun. :grinpimp:
 
For those going down...I'm heading out tomorrow, still plan on camping at Golden Horn free camping area, and leaving on the 28th. If you need me, my number is 719-252-2408...not sure how cell coverage is, but you can try and call or text. I know a couple of people plan on being down there this weekend, several the next weekend. I plan on doing lots of hiking, 4wd and enjoying the area. Hope to see a lot of you guys down there!
 
karas said:
I did black bear and Imogene today. If the weather clears possibly do something at night to see the stars. Plan on California and corkscrew tomorrow with Kyle if everything goes as planed.View attachment 921965
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Frickin' cool pic!
 
No.A stock fj can do it. Just a novice driver shouldn't. I am not used to these high drives yet and I got boogered up (as usual lately). On one of the 2 scary switchbacks. Other then that just careful tire placement is key. That being said i wont take my jeep up there until i get 33's just to give the jk a little more clearance for piece of mind. Oh ya in one of the puddles is a massive hole I hit the first time I did it in 2012. I was going a lot faster then but I forgot about it and hit it at a slower speed and still hit the hitch hard. The chic in front tried to warn me just as I hit it. The pic is from imogene
 
It was a great trip. If I could, I would live there. The only bad thing about Silverton and Ouray is that it is so busy. I got started late on thursday as the night before the engine on the fj sounded like it was running a little rough. I thought a possible cracked motor mount but after further inspection it ended up being my skid touching my exhaust thanks to wheeler lake. It was already 10:30, I was tired, and I figured the neighbors wouldn't appreciate me pounding out my skid while they were trying to sleep, so I decided to wait until morning. I got up at 6 and started to remove it, and of course its the skid with the most bolts and one tricky one that is near impossible to reinstall. Got that done, packed and headed across town. We got about halfway through the Springs when I remembered I did not pack the tent poles. Man that would have been bad. So we turned around, picked them up, and we were back on our way. I stopped at my sister's coffee shop for my free coffee and then we hit the road to the most beautiful place I have ever been to. We ended up stopping in Montrose to get supplies for the long weekend. Found Kyles camp, but he wasn't there and my dog was making another dog bark constantly so we decided to push on to find a little more secluded place. Further down the road,passed a few more camp grounds, we found a place and set camp up. After we set camp up we were going to go find everyone we came down to meet with. Just as we were about to pack the cruiser up Jess from the fj forums and Mile high jeep member found us. We headed to town to see her camper that her and her dad were staying in and discuss the trails she needed to run for the ALL FOR FUN event she was volunteering to trail lead for. We decided on Back Bear and Imogene since she was hoping her dads Jeep was going to be fixed by saturday for Poughkeepsie. Kyle had already run Imogene and didn't want to do Black Bear so it was just the 2 fj cruisers. We had a great time and I got slowed down by one of the switch backs and Jess got a screw in her tire and it was almost flat. We stopped for lunch on Imogene and plugged her flat. We finished up and went into Ouray so the kids could feed the fish and play on the play ground. We caught back up with Kyle and set a time to meet, and decided on California, Corkscrew, and Hurricane passes for the morning to run. The family and I headed up the mountain to do some star gazing before bed and it was absolutely beautiful out. We met Kyle the next morning and headed out. That trail was just as beautiful as I remembered it. They have this run at the Fj summit and its my favorite. We had a fun time and found out Kyles EXtera has really low gearing. I was really surprised that it came stock that way, Pretty awesome. No Problems on the run this time and the family and I headed back to Ouray with the plan to play and possibly hit the hot springs, but the hot springs were packed. Instead we let them play at the playground and then stopped to eat. The car needed gas so we filled up in silverton and then headed to camp. I gathered up the chairs as the wife got stuff for the smores and we headed down to Kyles camp to sit around the fire. Kids had fun playing in the river and everyone had a smore. We went back to camp a little early because in the morning we needed to pack up camp and head home. The wife wanted to hit a trail on the way home and Kyle suggested Cinnamon pass. It was going to cut milage off the trip but really no time since we were wheeling and its slow going. I am glad we did because coming into Lake City was pretty cool. We got to see a lot of wildlife on the trip such as Elk, Deer, Moose, and Big Horn Sheep. Now for some Pics> Black Bear, Optional Part on the trail
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Still the optional part and the hardest part of the whole trail, but not the scariest. I hit the link skid on this getting up.
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This to me was the toughest part as if you don't hug the wall you could go over. At the summit they have a guy standing there to make sure
you turn.

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