5: The Great Colorado Expedition of 2012, pt5...Yankee Boy and Governor Basins

Ranger Joe

Feed the Rangers, not the wildlife!
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
46
Quick links to all trip reports in this series:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

Greetings again, and welcome to Episode V of the Great Western Expedition of 2012. Today we follow the intrepid Liberteers on the second day of the Ouray Jeep Jamboree, as we take it easy and head up into Yankee Boy Basin and Governor Basin.

_D2C4193.jpg

The road out of Ouray was pretty tame, but included this neat rock overhang.

_D2C4206.jpg

Yet more mining ruins.

_D2C4217.jpg

Yet more waterfalls.

_D2C4246.jpg

Allegedly, this is the waterfall found on Coors beer cans.

_D2C4265.jpg

The view back down the valley towards Ouray. Also seen in this shot is a "shake and bake" tour truck.

_D2C4273.jpg

The road up got a little more difficult once we passed the pit toilet...heck, we saw several regular cars at the pit toilet parking area. This Grand Cherokee got high-centered on one of the rocky sections of the trail...had the driver taken a better line, he would have made it without a problem.

_D2C4285.jpg


_D2C4299.jpg


_D2C4302.jpg

We parked at the top of Yankee Boy Basin and had lunch. Linda decided to look for rocks (that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

_D2C4304.jpg

There are a couple of hiking trails that continue on beyond the mountains.

_D2C4317.jpg

I found myself a nice flat rock to sun myself on as I attempted a Jedi mind trick on a fellow Jamboreer..."Those are the M&Ms I've been looking for..."

_D2C4321.jpg

The official Group Photo of the Jeep Jamboree Day Two Yankee Boy Basin Bunch.

_D2C4325.jpg

After lunch, a nice rock nap and some M&Ms, we turned around and headed back down out of the basin.

_D2C4360.jpg


_D2C4368.jpg

On the way back down, we were delighted to see some of the local wildlife...the elusive Mountain Shelties!

_D2C4371.jpg


_D2C4390.jpg

On the way up to Governor Basin. This route was a little more difficult than the route up to Yankee Boy. A little steeper, a little narrower, and very scenic.

_D2C4425.jpg

With the price of gold what it is, some of the old mines have been reactivated.

_D2C4430.jpg


_D2C4463.jpg

The view back down the valley to the Camp Bird Mine, another soon-to-be-reactivated mine.

_D2C4482.jpg

We returned to the Ouray Community Center for dinner (which, to be honest, was nowhere near as good as the past two Jamborees we've been on...the restaurant that catered the JJ in previous years closed up, so another restaurant was brought in to provide breakfast, bag lunches and dinner...you could patch a tire with the roast beef, and you needed a rock hammer to get into the baked potato...but I digress). Each place setting had a JJ survey sheet and this brochure...

_D2C1422_shelf_roadcopy.jpg

...Linda noticed that the image on the cover looked kinda familiar...it was the same image she has as her wallpaper on her computer at work. I shot the image on our first Jamboree in 2009 on the Ophir Pass shelf road, and provided the image to the Jamboree as part of their photo contest (and also signed away all rights to the image, which allowed them to use it without cutting me a check.) I don't mind, really, but it would have been nice to have added a credit line.

In our next episode, we head north via Owl Creek Pass and set sail for Carbondale, near Aspen, and a date with the Devil's Punchbowl and Schofield Pass.

Quick links to all trip reports in this series:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
 
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
Ranger Joe 9: The Great Colorado Expedition of 2012, pt9...Epilogue Off Road 4
Ranger Joe 8: The Great Colorado Expedition of 2012, pt8...Mosquito Pass and Webster Pass Off Road 0
Ranger Joe 7: The Great Colorado Expedition of 2012, pt7...hitting the slopes near Aspen Off Road 0
Ranger Joe 6: The Great Colorado Expedition of 2012, pt6...on to Schofield Pass Off Road 0
Ranger Joe 4: The Great Colorado Expedition of 2012, pt4...Poughkeepsie Gulch Off Road 0
Ranger Joe 3: The Great Colorado Expedition of 2012...Black Bear Pass x 2 Off Road 3
Ranger Joe 2: The Great Colorado Expedition of 2012, Pt2...Alpine Loop Off Road 3
Ranger Joe 1: Great Colorado Expedition of 2012, pt1...Great Sand Dunes NP Off Road 2
Dreamer Summer 2012: trip 1: a short visit to a small corner of The Great Wasted Forest of Northern Colorado Backpacking 11
kwc Great Camp Santanoni Hiking & Camping 1
Bob Technology is great ........... General Discussion 0
Mountain Wanderer Hiking the Idaho Centennial Trail in the Great Burn Backpacking 0
J Great to be here! Heading to White Pocket next month... Noobs: Introduce yourself! 8
chandlerwest Great Basin National Park - Wheeler Peak Hiking & Camping 13
Shrubs Thanks for the great reports! Noobs: Introduce yourself! 12
misSOULa The Great Burn Wilderness: Heart Lake Backpacking 3
Perry Great Packraft Deal Gear 2
scatman Little Cataloochee Trail, Great Smokey Mountains National Park - June 3, 2018 Hiking & Camping 13
scatman Lynn Camp Prong Lollipop Loop, Great Smokey Mountains National Park - May 29, 2018 Hiking & Camping 2
Perry Great Deal on Gregory Baltoro Gear 0
Perry Great Deal on Sunto MC2 Compass Gear 0
Wanderlust073 Dayhiking Great Sand Dunes NP Hiking & Camping 4
slc_dan Great Smokey Mountains NP Trip Planning 12
T Pumping the Great Basin on a Handcar General Discussion 14
wsp_scott Clingman's Dome (Great Smoky Mountains NP) Backpacking 0
Nick Desha & Great Bend On The Water 7
TrektheWorld Need to find one great Uintas hike Trip Planning 1
WasatchWill Memorial Day: Another great trip to Torrey Hiking & Camping 11
scatman The Anthony Creek, Russell Field Trails Loop - Great Smoky Mountain National Park, June 10, 2016 Hiking & Camping 13
scatman Gold Mine Loop Trail / Noland Trail - Great Smoky Mountain National Park, June 7, 2016 Hiking & Camping 3
hatchcanyon The Great Traverse Off Road 9
danger02ward Very much enjoy and appreciate all of your great pictures, trip reports, and gear reviews! Noobs: Introduce yourself! 4
dfcooper Great Divide Trail Trip Planning 1
Red Rock Rangers Great Basin National Park Hiking & Camping 10
Vegan.Hiker Great Range Traverse Part 1 Backpacking 19
Dustin Gent great first trek in Utah? Trip Planning 16
Vegan.Hiker Great article about a fellow adventure seeker General Discussion 4
Bob Great Western Trail - Canada Resource Discussions 0
ogg Backpacking Ruby Mtns or Great Basin NP Trip Planning 9
Bob Winchester found in Great Basin NP General Discussion 0
steve Backpacking Great Basin NP Backpacking 18
LarryBoy Utah is great, isn't it? Noobs: Introduce yourself! 6
Lisa Came for some trip beta, stayed for the great community... Noobs: Introduce yourself! 1
mattvogt7 A Great Weekend in July On The Water 10
Jeremy C The Great Bear Photographer General Discussion 5
steve Backpacking Great Basin National Park - June 2014 Backpacking 11
BJett Lower Big Creek - Great Smoky Mountains National Park On The Water 2
Dave Great Basin NP, Aug. 31- Sept. 2 2013 Backpacking 8
Christian Great Basin NP and Crystal Ball Cave, UT Hiking & Camping 16
Dave Kayaking the Great Salt Lake, June 1 2013 On The Water 10

Similar threads

Back
Top