Monthly trip, May 9th, Bishop’s Castle and the Ophir Creek area
- Thread starter LCPilot
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We had five generations of Land Cruisers, plus a GX470, on this trip as shown in the previous post.
Our first stop was at Bishop's Castle where we explored most of the structure including climbing the tallest tower to the apex. Since I was last there, all of the balconies encircling the castle have handrails but it can be a bit unsettling walking around seeing through the grating. Plenty of information is available online for this excellent attraction.
We then went to the Ophir Creek road and aired down. TK470 was voted to be our trail leader and led us up toward St. Charles Peak where we encountered two large downed trees that had to be sawed and winched off the trail. We ate lunch at the road terminus on the peak.
From there, TK470 led us to the trailhead on the backside of Greenhorn Mtn. This is the mountain that he circled in the photo taken from his house ease of COS. We overlooked a tremendous valley and the Sangre de Cristo, Spanish Peaks, and Mt. Blanca, the view rivaling the best of Colorado.
Then, we made a large loop toward the west going down into that valley on a very steep trail and headed back up on the east side of it. One of our trucks ran low on fuel, so our resident Mr. Fixit figured out how to pump gas from his LX450 into a jug. Four gallons was added to the FJ-40's tank, enabling it to make it back to Florence on our return trip.
We aired up in the dark, made it to the Carl's Jr. in Florence just before they closed, and headed home, with a couple of us not arriving until 11:30.
It was a long day where we covered an estimated 80-90 miles on dirt and we saw fabulous country and trails. Thanks, TK470, for leading us on a beautiful and exciting journey! We decided that we need to back to this area for more exploration.
Our first stop was at Bishop's Castle where we explored most of the structure including climbing the tallest tower to the apex. Since I was last there, all of the balconies encircling the castle have handrails but it can be a bit unsettling walking around seeing through the grating. Plenty of information is available online for this excellent attraction.
We then went to the Ophir Creek road and aired down. TK470 was voted to be our trail leader and led us up toward St. Charles Peak where we encountered two large downed trees that had to be sawed and winched off the trail. We ate lunch at the road terminus on the peak.
From there, TK470 led us to the trailhead on the backside of Greenhorn Mtn. This is the mountain that he circled in the photo taken from his house ease of COS. We overlooked a tremendous valley and the Sangre de Cristo, Spanish Peaks, and Mt. Blanca, the view rivaling the best of Colorado.
Then, we made a large loop toward the west going down into that valley on a very steep trail and headed back up on the east side of it. One of our trucks ran low on fuel, so our resident Mr. Fixit figured out how to pump gas from his LX450 into a jug. Four gallons was added to the FJ-40's tank, enabling it to make it back to Florence on our return trip.
We aired up in the dark, made it to the Carl's Jr. in Florence just before they closed, and headed home, with a couple of us not arriving until 11:30.
It was a long day where we covered an estimated 80-90 miles on dirt and we saw fabulous country and trails. Thanks, TK470, for leading us on a beautiful and exciting journey! We decided that we need to back to this area for more exploration.
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Perfect summary Vic, I had a great time out there. Thanks for the camping suggestions, found a great spot and woke up early to complete Phantom road back up to the Springs before heading up to Denver. Sorry for poking the camera everywhere, but here's a Dropbox folder with pictures from the trip. With the way the weather is looking, we should have a long wheeling season.
Thanks for sharing the pics.
COS80
SILVER Star
WORST green tea ever!