Morning Trail Out of Ouray

[Von Hayek]

I'm going to be spending two nights, one full day in Ouray with my brother in early July. I'm looking to take him out on a trail on the morning and be back in Ouray by lunch at the latest. Any recommendations? I am more interested in scenery, wildlife, and solitude than a gnarly trail. Though a gnarly trail that could be done alone to get to the scenery would be fine.

 

[Road Apple]

Here are some of the iconic trails in the area. Imogene, BlackBear, Ophir, Yankee Boy Basin, Governors Basin and a few others that are on the West side of Red Mountain Pass or the Ouray and Telluride side of the pass.

The East side of the pass is commonly known as the Ouray, Silverton and Lake City side of Red Mountain Pass. This includes Mineral Creek, Engineer, Poughkeepsie Gultch, California pass, California Corkscrew, Hurican Pass, Cinnimon Pass and the cool ghost town know as Animas Forks. Stoney Pass is not difficult, the views are outstanding, the summit of the pass is on the Continental Divide and is where the Rio Grande River starts as a trickle from the snow pack. Not a quick drive though.

I would stay away from BackBear Pass. The switchbacks are tight, with huge drop offs, and the top section feels a little tippy. There’s a difficult section of Poughkeepsie Gulch you’d want to avoid for difficulty, called the Wall, but it does have a bypass.

Yankee Boy Basin is close. Wrights Lake is a nice destination for a day trip. Depends how fast you drive. Yankee Boy connects to Imogene Pass if you decide to have a longer drive into Telluride over a 13,000 foot pass. Amazing views !! You could have lunch in Telluride and drive the road back to Ouray.

Governor’s Basin is fairly close, off of Yankee Boy as well, with beautiful views, wildflowers, waterfall seen across the valley, and interesting rock formations at the top. One of my favorites!! Much nicer than Wright’s Lake in my opinion. This is a less commonly traveled trail, so this is where I often find solitude. Stay away from nearby Sidney Basin, which has more difficult trails.

You’ll want a mapping app. OnX is my current favorite. Easy to use. You can load the trails and route you want to drive ahead of time. Nice to use a tablet for a wider view of the map. The colors on the map below are my own selections, not showing difficulty.

 

[Von Hayek]

Here are some of the iconic trails in the area. Imogene, BlackBear, Ophir, Yankee Boy Basin, Governors Basin and a few others that are on the West side of Red Mountain Pass or the Ouray and Telluride side of the pass.

The East side of the pass is commonly known as the Ouray, Silverton and Lake City side of Red Mountain Pass. This includes Mineral Creek, Engineer, Poughkeepsie Gultch, California pass, California Corkscrew, Hurican Pass, Cinnimon Pass and the cool ghost town know as Animas Forks. Stoney Pass is not difficult, the views are outstanding, the summit of the pass is on the Continental Divide and is where the Rio Grande River starts as a trickle from the snow pack. Not a quick drive though.

I would stay away from BackBear Pass. The switchbacks are tight, with huge drop offs, and the top section feels a little tippy. There’s a difficult section of Poughkeepsie Gulch you’d want to avoid for difficulty, called the Wall, but it does have a bypass.

Yankee Boy Basin is close. Wrights Lake is a nice destination for a day trip. Depends how fast you drive. Yankee Boy connects to Imogene Pass if you decide to have a longer drive into Telluride over a 13,000 foot pass. Amazing views !! You could have lunch in Telluride and drive the road back to Ouray.

Governor’s Basin is fairly close, off of Yankee Boy as well, with beautiful views, wildflowers, waterfall seen across the valley, and interesting rock formations at the top. One of my favorites!! Much nicer than Wright’s Lake in my opinion. This is a less commonly traveled trail, so this is where I often find solitude. Stay away from nearby Sidney Basin, which has more difficult trails.

You’ll want a mapping app. OnX is my current favorite. Easy to use. You can load the trails and route you want to drive ahead of time. Nice to use a tablet for a wider view of the map. The colors on the map below are my own selections, not showing difficulty.

View attachment 3641903

View attachment 3641916

This is fantastic. Many thanks.

 

[Trigger6]

Here are some of the iconic trails in the area. Imogene, BlackBear, Ophir, Yankee Boy Basin, Governors Basin and a few others that are on the West side of Red Mountain Pass or the Ouray and Telluride side of the pass.

The East side of the pass is commonly known as the Ouray, Silverton and Lake City side of Red Mountain Pass. This includes Mineral Creek, Engineer, Poughkeepsie Gultch, California pass, California Corkscrew, Hurican Pass, Cinnimon Pass and the cool ghost town know as Animas Forks. Stoney Pass is not difficult, the views are outstanding, the summit of the pass is on the Continental Divide and is where the Rio Grande River starts as a trickle from the snow pack. Not a quick drive though.

I would stay away from BackBear Pass. The switchbacks are tight, with huge drop offs, and the top section feels a little tippy. There’s a difficult section of Poughkeepsie Gulch you’d want to avoid for difficulty, called the Wall, but it does have a bypass.

Yankee Boy Basin is close. Wrights Lake is a nice destination for a day trip. Depends how fast you drive. Yankee Boy connects to Imogene Pass if you decide to have a longer drive into Telluride over a 13,000 foot pass. Amazing views !! You could have lunch in Telluride and drive the road back to Ouray.

Governor’s Basin is fairly close, off of Yankee Boy as well, with beautiful views, wildflowers, waterfall seen across the valley, and interesting rock formations at the top. One of my favorites!! Much nicer than Wright’s Lake in my opinion. This is a less commonly traveled trail, so this is where I often find solitude. Stay away from nearby Sidney Basin, which has more difficult trails.

You’ll want a mapping app. OnX is my current favorite. Easy to use. You can load the trails and route you want to drive ahead of time. Nice to use a tablet for a wider view of the map. The colors on the map below are my own selections, not showing difficulty.

View attachment 3641903

View attachment 3641916

many of the upper passes on these trails could still be impassible in early July due to the large snowfall they had again last winter.

 

[Von Hayek]

many of the upper passes on these trails could still be impassible in early July due to the large snowfall they had again last winter.

Excellent observation. I suppose this is something I need to check on before we depart.

 

[Trigger6]

We use COTREX for GPS on the trails in CO on our iPad. Its not as fancy as some of the others but its free and works well. You just have to make sure the maps are all downloaded and saved on the local iPad before you depart (GPS continues to work on the app even when out of cell signal range)

 

[Von Hayek]

We use COTREX for GPS on the trails in CO on our iPad. Its not as fancy as some of the others but its free and works well. You just have to make sure the maps are all downloaded and saved on the local iPad before you depart (GPS continues to work on the app even when out of cell signal range)

Is GaiaGPS not a good option here? It has been my navigation choice for a long time.

 

[Trigger6]

Is GaiaGPS not a good option here? It has been my navigation choice for a long time.

it may work just fine as well…. just suggesting what works well for me.

 

[Road Apple]

Is GaiaGPS not a good option here? It has been my navigation choice for a long time.

I’ve found Gaia not user friendly, but works fine after downloading what you need. OnX is so much easier!

 

[SpillmanCruiser]

Here are some of the iconic trails in the area. Imogene, BlackBear, Ophir, Yankee Boy Basin, Governors Basin and a few others that are on the West side of Red Mountain Pass or the Ouray and Telluride side of the pass.

The East side of the pass is commonly known as the Ouray, Silverton and Lake City side of Red Mountain Pass. This includes Mineral Creek, Engineer, Poughkeepsie Gultch, California pass, California Corkscrew, Hurican Pass, Cinnimon Pass and the cool ghost town know as Animas Forks. Stoney Pass is not difficult, the views are outstanding, the summit of the pass is on the Continental Divide and is where the Rio Grande River starts as a trickle from the snow pack. Not a quick drive though.

I would stay away from BackBear Pass. The switchbacks are tight, with huge drop offs, and the top section feels a little tippy. There’s a difficult section of Poughkeepsie Gulch you’d want to avoid for difficulty, called the Wall, but it does have a bypass.

Yankee Boy Basin is close. Wrights Lake is a nice destination for a day trip. Depends how fast you drive. Yankee Boy connects to Imogene Pass if you decide to have a longer drive into Telluride over a 13,000 foot pass. Amazing views !! You could have lunch in Telluride and drive the road back to Ouray.

Governor’s Basin is fairly close, off of Yankee Boy as well, with beautiful views, wildflowers, waterfall seen across the valley, and interesting rock formations at the top. One of my favorites!! Much nicer than Wright’s Lake in my opinion. This is a less commonly traveled trail, so this is where I often find solitude. Stay away from nearby Sidney Basin, which has more difficult trails.

You’ll want a mapping app. OnX is my current favorite. Easy to use. You can load the trails and route you want to drive ahead of time. Nice to use a tablet for a wider view of the map. The colors on the map below are my own selections, not showing difficulty.

View attachment 3641903

View attachment 3641916

@Road Apple Think imogene can be done in a new stock GX550 overtrail? I've done it before in a rental Jeep. TIA

 

[matzell]

Yankee Boy Basin is open!

You could take Last Dollar Rd as well.

 

[thatcabledude]

Yankee Boy all the way in and back
would fit your time requirements and should be open at that time.

 

[thatcabledude]

@Road Apple Think imogene can be done in a new stock GX550 overtrail? I've done it before in a rental Jeep. TIA

Yes. Nothing to it.