Colorado Drives

[Aldaron]

This question might be for IntrepidXJ and any other Colorado peeps, but I'm headed to Colorado this weekend for my long weekend, and I'm wanting to drive some nice high altitude backroads. I've been looking at IntrepidXJ's pictures, and I got the bug to check out some of the places. I've driven over Cinnamon Pass and Hagerman Pass in the past few years, and I'd just like to do more roads like that.

I don't want anything that's going to kill my stock Xterra, because my wife has told me I have to make it last another year (or maybe I DO want to kill it...). I'm planning on spending the weekend in the Ouray and Telluride areas.

I'm also planning on spending a day hiking to the Highland Mary Lakes outside of Silverton unless someone has a better suggestion.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[IntrepidXJ]

A nice loop out of Silverton is to take the Animas Forks Road to Animas Forks, then continue up California Gulch to California Pass and Hurricane Pass. From there you can continue down to Gladstone and then back to Silverton, or take Corkscrew Pass over to highway 550.

Another option would be to take Ophir Pass over to Telluride and then Last Dollar Road back up to Highway 65 to Ridgway and then Ouray (or you could always take Imogene Pass from Telluride to Ouray, but it's a bit rougher).

I know you said you already did Cinnamon Pass, but you could combine it with Engineer Pass to complete the Alpine Loop between Silverton and Lake City.

Those are just a few of the quick recommendations I can think of off the top of my head that make nice loops. There are a ton of dead end roads to explore out of Silverton that would keep you busy for a while, too. I've driven most of the roads and trails in that part of the San Juan Mountains.

Besides Highland Mary Lakes, you could check out Ice Lakes Basin as another option...I did it as an overnight backpack a few weeks ago, but many people dayhike it , too.

Hope that info helps a little, if you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask...and if you want any GPS tracks for the roads around Silverton and Ouray, I have plenty of them on this page under the San Juan Mountains: http://www.myxj.net/blog/colorado-gps-tracks

 

[Aldaron]

Cool...thanks for the info!

I actually thought about Ice Lake Basin first, but the elevation profile looked pretty brutal. Is it not that bad?

And I do wish I could drive over Imogene...while I've done very exposed and steep trails before, I really don't like death-gripping my steering wheel as I imagine how far I would roll before I came to a stop if I slipped off the road. Of course, I've never had any problems, but from what I've read about Imogene, it would probably scare me more than I feel like dealing with.

I do like just exploring roads, and I haven't explored much of that area, so I'm probably going to wish I had more than a long weekend!

Thanks for the ideas...now I need to hunker down over the maps and figure out this weekend.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

I actually thought about Ice Lake Basin first, but the elevation profile looked pretty brutal. Is it not that bad?

If you drive up the road to Clear Lake to the end of the first big switchback there is a small parking area for a few vehicles....this is the upper trailhead to Ice Lakes basin....it knocks about 500 feet of elevation off the hike...just get there early to get a parking spot. I didn't find the hike brutal, even with my pack on.