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Colorado Questions: Telluride, Silverton, Ouray, Montrose areas...

FleshEater

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I apologize for ditching the Arkansas thread. Those of you who posted information gave me a lot of good stuff for a future trip. However, we've decided on Colorado again, because the last time we didn't get to experience the mountains as much as we'd hoped for.

We're getting ready to book a cabin in the Montrose area. It's all that's left at the moment. It says it's about 1 hour 20 minutes north of Telluride. But, I'm assuming there's some decent trails to hit up near Montrose.

On the topic of trails/wheeling spots, I have to ask if you all know of any easier trails to hit. I really want to do Imogene Pass, but the wife is not too keen on this idea, as she's been watching YouTube videos with me. Not sure if the pass is that narrow, or if the GoPro just makes it look like that. :laughing:

We'll be staying Monday through Friday, and leaving Saturday morning. Should be plenty of time to experience western Colorado. Not sure what else there is to do out there, but I've got the ghost town-like area in Animous Forks marked down, maybe Ophir Pass, Yankee Boy Basin, and so far that's about all I've found that will fit the wife and kids' comfort levels.
 
When are you planning on going some of those trails don't open till after the 4th of july
Yankee Boy is pretty easy trail
 
When are you planning on going some of those trails don't open till after the 4th of july
Yankee Boy is pretty easy trail

Mid-August.

Forgot to mention that we're going to hit the Alpine Loop as well. Looks like less cliff edges for the wife.
 
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A good little day trip is to take Black Bear Pass down into Telluride and then take Immogene Pass back over to Ouray. There are a bunch of trails over in the Animas Forks/alpine Loop area - Poughkeepsie Gulch, Corkscrew gulch, California Pass, and Hurricane Pass to name a few. these are all what I would consider easy and scenic trails.
There are some more difficult to extreme trails just outside of Montrose - Die Drying, Cactus Ridge, Scratch & Dent, Boulder Canyon and others.

Mid-August you should be good to go as far as the snow being melted and the trails being open.
 
I really want to do Imogene Pass, but the wife is not too keen on this idea,

Imogene is actually pretty tame. Black bear is pretty easy too. The stair steps can be a little unnerving for some but as long as you know what you are doing it's not an issue.
 
Flesheater, are you bringing the tracker or do you have something else for trail bashing? I live in that general area. Imogene is nothing in the tracker, I actually prefer the tracker over anything I’ve taken over it. If your chick is afraid of heights ie cliff edges and no guard rails then black bear won’t be fun. Everything else planefixer mentioned is fun. Can’t go wrong with the alpine loop.

The only trails I know of closer to Montrose are hard core buggy trails.
 
Montrose is about the closest "legit" town there. That and Durango have decent amenities. If you need an auto parts store or food, you going to Montrose or Durango.

If you going the cabin route, might as well try to get into Ouray or Silverton. They are dead smack in the middle of all the action. Its nice NOT having a 1.5 hour drive each way to the trail head everyday. I'd vote Silverton. We stayed at the Ouray KOA (big AF canvas wall tent, fawk it is a cabin) which was very legit (for my father and I). Drive to and from the trails was cake. Also the trails in the morning on the weekday are quite deserted which was nice. Silverton has decent amenities downtown and can somewhat handle people. Ouray cannot but seems like Ouray has more housing options.

Fuck Telluride. Its all uppity and whatnot. Now if the womenfolk require a fancy lunch, then this is your spot. They do have a cool museum there that is awesome. I do recommend that if you are passing through. Pretty much you gonna start all your trails in Silverton or Ouray...or on highway 550 in between.

I did alpine loop, Poughkeepsie gulch (the "wall" is optional, bypass is scenic AF and you can walk down to the wall to watch the show), black bear pass, Imogene pass, and a few others in a stock Land Rover LR3. I did Ophir pass in a stock newer Jeep Cherokee (with no low range, that sucked) as well as corkscrew. The trails aren't hard, but often times you can't see where TF you going. Example, black bear, there is one spot that is a little bit of a descent. No problem but at the bottom there is a big fuck hole, if you put a tire in that hole, you can flop (and its where most the dipshits flop on that trail). With a spotter, you can easily straddle it. Same with Poughkeepsie gulch, on one ascent, I can't see shit. So get help and prevent driving off cliff.

I'd recommend a decent highway 4x4 vehicle, like a modern SUV on AT tires. Trails aren't that difficult but you need low range and some clearance. However the weather can turn to crap quickly. We were passing a group of SxS that had no cabs on, just as freezing rain started. I just rolled up the windows, turned on the heated seats and carried on. The SxS people were not having fun anymore.

Pretty much all the trails there are single-vehicle width with many places to pass. On the weekends I can see that being an issue. Usually people adhere to "ascending vehicles have right of way" but it is the general public...Try to hit trails in the morning on a weekday. Fewer people. We did Poughkeepsie Monday morning and we saw a group of 3 jeeps...that was it. Black bear we saw 4 other vehicles all morning. We did Imogene pass in the afternoon and it had a bit of a crowd but not too bad. The final ascent up is one way but you can see to the entire way up. Most of the switchbacks there and throughout the area are extremely wide so you just wait for the other vehicle to clear before continuing. Being patient will solve many problems for you. I could see all these trails being an ass pain on the weekends with that place being full.

That is another thing, many trails are on legit cliffs. So you GOTTA pay TF attention. If you drive off, it'll hurt the entire time.

When you go out for the day, plan on being self sufficient for the day. Fuel, food, etc. There just aren't any amenities close/reasonable. Ouray has only a handful of restaurants and the lines were always out the door. On top of that, the food was expensive and bland. We did lunch somewhere and after that, we decided sammiches and cookies on the tailgate was a better offering.

Overall, yes go but try to get a closer in cabin if you plan on doing trails for more than a day or two. Black Bear pass is my favorite trail, its so beautiful up there. The "steps down" isn't hard, keep it in the ruts and don't drive off the side. Same with Poughkeepsie.

But yes, go. Use the 4x4. Its an amazing time. Bring camera.

43869843575_4dbc19fb16.jpg 0807181235 by Max Thomason, on Flickr

30908762608_6a672c070b.jpg 0807181425c by Max Thomason, on Flickr

44060158594_5f78130045.jpg 0807181000a by Max Thomason, on Flickr

44761684901_d20826afc5.jpg 0805181407 by Max Thomason, on Flickr
 
We did a whirlwind 2 day trip. Stayed at a cabin at the Ouray KOA which was nice, worked with our 2am arrival, and had parking across the street for trailers. We did the alpine loop 1 day and black bear/ immogene the next. If you don't like shelf roads black bear might be intimidating though 100% doable with a decent driver in a stock rig. We don't remember immogene being shelfy or intimidating at all though we were used to wheeling in Colorado/ Moab every weekend.

Years back I had the fuel pump in my tow rig die just after we got to the top of the road to the bottom of the black canyon of the Gunnison. It was ok though nothing that amazing. Colorado national was a much more scenic and if I had to pick 1 I'd pick Colorado national monument.
 
My wife was terrified on imogene when by the drop offs. There are fucking dozer tracks where we are driving and I’m trying to explain that if a steel track didn’t slide off, a bfg isnt. We were 10’ away from the edge. Still white knuckles. If your wife is terrified of heights or doesn’t trust your driving ability at all it can be a little rough, but the trail itself is a freaking cakewalk that is plenty wide to pass people in a ton of spots and extremely scenic. I’ve done it three times and the two times without her were excellent ha ha. Alpine Loop is cool as well, ophir is very tame. Love that area and will go back in a couple years
 
My wife was terrified on imogene when by the drop offs. There are fucking dozer tracks where we are driving and I’m trying to explain that if a steel track didn’t slide off, a bfg isnt. We were 10’ away from the edge. Still white knuckles. If your wife is terrified of heights or doesn’t trust your driving ability at all it can be a little rough, but the trail itself is a freaking cakewalk that is plenty wide to pass people in a ton of spots and extremely scenic. I’ve done it three times and the two times without her were excellent ha ha. Alpine Loop is cool as well, ophir is very tame. Love that area and will go back in a couple years

My mom is the same way started up Yankee boy and she got freaked out even when I went and laid down and showed her that the edge was was over 6 feet away.

The first time we went into Engeneers it was with a 64 F-100 2 wheel drive I was walking it over one boulder at a time in granny gear till the radiator annouced it didn't like this. There was a water fall coming off the rock by the trail so we just popped the hood and pulled under it. We pulled off unto the tailing pile by the creek and camped for a couple of days. That was in 1974. Went back in 2007 there were no boulders to crawl over, the tailing had been dug out.
I was disappointed this time I had showed up with my FSJ Crom on 37s and I believe I could have driven over it in my mom's stock Explorer.
 
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Flesheater, are you bringing the tracker or do you have something else for trail bashing? I live in that general area. Imogene is nothing in the tracker, I actually prefer the tracker over anything I’ve taken over it. If your chick is afraid of heights ie cliff edges and no guard rails then black bear won’t be fun. Everything else planefixer mentioned is fun. Can’t go wrong with the alpine loop.

The only trails I know of closer to Montrose are hard core buggy trails.

Doing a small lift and bigger tires on a 4th gen 4Runner for this trip. The Geo will be staying here, unfortunately.

My kids would most likely lose their minds on those cliffs as well...nervous wife, kids freaking out...no way I'll be able to concentrate on those dangerous spots. Kind of want to avoid any of that.

Also, everything is booked up solid around Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride. That's why we're stuck in Montrose. It's a bummer having a 1.5 hour drive to the trails, but not the end of the world.
 
My wife was terrified on imogene when by the drop offs. There are fucking dozer tracks where we are driving and I’m trying to explain that if a steel track didn’t slide off, a bfg isnt. We were 10’ away from the edge. Still white knuckles. If your wife is terrified of heights or doesn’t trust your driving ability at all it can be a little rough, but the trail itself is a freaking cakewalk that is plenty wide to pass people in a ton of spots and extremely scenic. I’ve done it three times and the two times without her were excellent ha ha. Alpine Loop is cool as well, ophir is very tame. Love that area and will go back in a couple years

When I see far away footage of Imogene Pass, it definitely looks wider than the GoPro tells on the front of a hood.

Some videos it looks like you're right on the edge. My hope is that once we get out there, I can slowly break her into the idea of trying it. :laughing:
 
The most annoying thing I have found about this area is that most of the videos for the tamer trails are from the overland group, who think a bump is INTENSE. You can’t get a single bit of information from what they say. It’s as if they’re gearing these comments and videos to people who have never seen a dirt road before. One guy called a puddle a mud bog on the video I was watching for Crystal Mills area (I think that’s what it was called).

Thanks for the info guys and I’m pretty sure I’ll talk the wife into trying some of these shelf road passes before we leave. :laughing:
 
I apologize for ditching the Arkansas thread. Those of you who posted information gave me a lot of good stuff for a future trip. However, we've decided on Colorado again, because the last time we didn't get to experience the mountains as much as we'd hoped for.

We're getting ready to book a cabin in the Montrose area. It's all that's left at the moment. It says it's about 1 hour 20 minutes north of Telluride. But, I'm assuming there's some decent trails to hit up near Montrose.

On the topic of trails/wheeling spots, I have to ask if you all know of any easier trails to hit. I really want to do Imogene Pass, but the wife is not too keen on this idea, as she's been watching YouTube videos with me. Not sure if the pass is that narrow, or if the GoPro just makes it look like that. :laughing:

We'll be staying Monday through Friday, and leaving Saturday morning. Should be plenty of time to experience western Colorado. Not sure what else there is to do out there, but I've got the ghost town-like area in Animous Forks marked down, maybe Ophir Pass, Yankee Boy Basin, and so far that's about all I've found that will fit the wife and kids' comfort levels.

When I see far away footage of Imogene Pass, it definitely looks wider than the GoPro tells on the front of a hood.

Some videos it looks like you're right on the edge. My hope is that once we get out there, I can slowly break her into the idea of trying it. :laughing:

If you think your wife would freak out with IP then she’d definitely lose her shit on BBP. BBP was far from a difficult trail even though we caught rain going down the staircase but the psychological mind fuck going down the staircase and the switchbacks leaves you a bit white knuckled for someone that’s never run it like our group. My wife sounds similar to yours prior to our trip that’s why I limited her viewing of pictures and videos of the harder stuff we wanted to do. IP is not difficult or scary, offers phenomenal views, but can get a little sketchy since it’s a 2 way road meaning depending on the side of the mountain you’re on you may have to pull over.

Ophir Pass was extremely easy, we ran it with some rain and heavy fog/ clouds. Telluride was a hipsters wonderland. Silverton was a really cool town. Ouray was great...stop at Maggie’s and have the patty melt :smokin: I’d try Animas Fork into Engineer Pass so you can at least see Poughkeepsie Gulch. The drive out to Clear Lake (I think) was beautiful and an extremely relaxing ride. Being out of Montrose really puts you off way out of the way. Be prepared to drive on the road a good bit. Any chance of camping for a couple of days to enter thru the south side?

I envy you. I want to go back here so bad but my wife said beach trip this summer. Hopefully head out to the Rubicon next summer. In the end, my wife and kids loved this place and enjoyed the whole trip and I’m happy I was able to give them that experience. My wife in the end did extremely well and only had some mild anxiety and even helped spot me down the staircase. She never exited the vehicle until Moab :laughing:


::::you can read my trip report on post 108 and have videos of IP AND BBP::::
https://irate4x4.com/chit-chat/6273-co-ut-wheeling-trip-gasp-in-cc/page8
 
I am SOOOO glad someone started this thread. We are going to Silverton the last week of July for the first time and plan to ride trails about 3 days of our 5 day stay. We are going to spend 1 entire day fishing and the non fishers will be shopping, and then we are planning to do the scenic train ride on another day. I am in a very similar boat as the OP as far as knowledge of the area, and we have a group going with us and my parents do not want to do any scary cliff driving. I told them we are for sure doing Alpine loop and Imogene pass. I was going to post asking the same questions as far as any other dusty, scenic roads that we can do. Our group will be in SXS, but my wife and I will have a tote that will go in the bed of our Canam that will literally have everything from rain gear, to snow gear..

Are the lakes along the trails actually worth fishing, or does anyone ever catch fish on them? We plan to spend one entire day fishing the streams, but I am wondering if it would be worth throwing some tackle in the canam and hitting a lake or 2 while we are riding (our group is full of fishing people).
 
Just avoid blackbear. I always try to convince people that it’s not technically difficult (not hard to do) but that doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. It becomes difficult and dangerous when you have people who are scared, that changes everything.

There is one narrow spot on Imogene that’s about 30 feet long and the road is a bridge made out of railroad ties covered in gravel. I think railroad ties are 9 feet wide. It’s not slanted or otherwise dangerous. However, people who are panicky about heights are always feeling like they are falling off the edge. I’m still learning to be empathetic towards other people’s fears.

For our first official date, I took my fiancé from Silverton over Ophir pass, had lunch in Telluride, over Imogene, over Poughkeepsie back into Silverton. She didn’t know me well yet and still had a blast. Took a thousand pictures and handfuls of wild flowers. The railroad tie bridge made her nervous so she just stared at me as we crossed instead of looking out her window. She says I can never get rid of the tracker :smokin:
 
Wife and I did Imogene in my 100 when it was bone stock. That's by far my favorite trail out there. Bring layers because the weather changes drastically and rapidly.

We had a great BBQ about 1000 feet below the summit a couple years ago after getting caught in a crazy storm at the summit that blew snow and hail under our tires. The views were incredible while we cooked some smoked sausages overlooking the valley before the long shelf road.

Maggies is good eats, the Ouray brewery has a very decent burger and their Mexican Lager is tasty. There is some saloon/steak house that is a lot of fun with ok food. The St Elmo hotel has great breakfasts for a hotel.
 
A good little day trip is to take Black Bear Pass down into Telluride and then take Immogene Pass back over to Ouray. There are a bunch of trails over in the Animas Forks/alpine Loop area - Poughkeepsie Gulch, Corkscrew gulch, California Pass, and Hurricane Pass to name a few. these are all what I would consider easy and scenic trails.
There are some more difficult to extreme trails just outside of Montrose - Die Drying, Cactus Ridge, Scratch & Dent, Boulder Canyon and others.

Mid-August you should be good to go as far as the snow being melted and the trails being open.

This. One obstacle on Poughkeepsie is mildly challenging if wet, otherwise all the trails around Telluride and Silverton can be run in a stock Grand Cherokee. My parents ran Imogene and the Alpine loop in a stock Overland. Black Bear just looks nerve racking at the stair steps due to the width of the trail and the switchbacks are tight, but is not technical at all. Pull up to edge, back up, turn wheel, and continue.
 
While in Ouray also check out some of the hiking paths. Cascade Falls is awesome, also consider driving at least part of the Million Dollar Hwy
 
Creepy story stolen from the other site, that was stolen from another site.

This may be very disturbing to some of you. I could never tell this story in person, but it's easier to type it for some reason.

When I and my wife were quite a bit younger, we decided that we would spend the bicentennial outdoors. Yes, July of '76......we're old. We lived in Pueblo at the time, and decided to go hiking, fishing and camp along Lime Creek between Durango and Silverton. There wasn't anything other than brookies in the creek, but they were plentiful and fun to catch.

We left our car by the side of the road along Old Lime Creek Road about 5 miles in from the highway and packed in upstream along the creek with our shepherd, Rebel. It only took us about an hour to get to where we wanted to camp, a nice meadow beside the creek just before a slot canyon that required you to swim to get any further upstream. Either that or take a several mile detour.

We camped uneventfully that night, the third of July, enjoying the sounds of the rippling creek and nature all around us. It was such a nice night that we just slept out under the stars, didn't bother to pitch our little backpacking tent. A little cool, but we had the fire going and our lightweight 30 degree bags, so we were very comfortable.

The next day we had breakfast, packed up and we all swam our way up the creek to the next wide spot with a bit of bank in the canyon, only about 150 yards or so. Now Rebel was never one to turn down a chance to get wet, but we had to do quite a bit of coaxing to get him to follow us up the creek. We fished and splashed upstream a bit, and before we knew it it was lunchtime. We thought we'd fry up some of those brookies but we were in this slot canyon that terminated in a fairly deep pool with about a ten foot rocky waterfall at the end of it.

We decided that I would scale the waterfall and pull the dog and the packs up and then I'd help Maggie get up. It was fairly difficult, even with the help of an old cable left over from a mining operation that was hanging down the side wall of the canyon. It took a LOT of effort and though we finally made it, we looked back down that waterfall and wondered what the heck we were thinking. Rebel was none too happy about it either, and seemed to get more irritable by the minute. We found enough driftwood at the rocky top of the falls to get a fire started and get the fish fried up, but that was about it.

You know the uneasy feeling that several others have mentioned? It was like a switch turned on and we all of a sudden became aware of our surroundings. It grew like a cancer and I actually watched the hair on the back of Rebel's neck stand up. Maggie felt it too and we both noticed that it was getting dark FAST down in this canyon. First thought in my head was a cat, and I actually felt a bit better about that because I figured the cat would leave us be, between the fire and the dog. I told Maggie what I thought and she seemed to feel a bit better, too.

I did not want to get caught in the dark in the canyon, for a bunch of reasons, flash floods etc. I spied what looked like a mine shaft about 2 hundred feet above us, a heck of a steep climb, but it looked like our best bet. We pulled out our flashlights and by the time we reached it it was PITCH black. The dog was a mess by this point, whipping around in circles, whining, yelping and generally being a real pain in the ass. Maggie and I were drenched with sweat and immediately began to freeze. July in the mountains is a weird thing, I have seen blizzard conditions before, but this was like someone turned on the deep freeze.

We were at what looked like the start of a mine, it only went back about ten feet, but there was evidence of fires at the mouth, and they curiously looked fresh. I was too tired to think more about it, I knew we had to get out of our wet clothes, pitch the tent, and climb in our bags before we got serious hypothermia. That was NO fun, let me tell you, having to do all of that by the light of our rapidly dying flashlight. And there was NO firewood anywhere close.

I cursed myself several times for letting things get this far out of control. We finally got the tent pitched right there in the back of this little cave , buck naked as we had no dry clothes left. The sleeping bags were slightly damp too, even though we had stuffed them in plastic garbage bags before our swimming expedition up the canyon. WE FROZE!! It was miserable.

About 1 in the morning I called Rebel into the tent for a little heat. The dog seemed to have calmed down greatly, and with the added heat we drifted off. Sometime during the night I heard something that just about woke me, I was still in a haze, so I fell asleep again immediately. I woke up one other time, because I thought I heard Rebel yip a little bit, but again I was in and out. I put my hand out to pet his head and he licked my hand. I fell asleep again. Maggie later said she fell asleep the same time as I did but never woke up at all during the night.

I woke to the most horrible noise I have ever heard come out of a hundred pound woman. Just the most God-awful shrieks that I have ever heard. I never want to hear that again.

I opened my eyes just in time to see a man at the mouth of the shaft, silhouetted against the morning daylight, looking back at us with the most twisted evil grin I have ever seen on the face of another human. I scrambled to get free of my tightly zipped bag and the little tent while he just crouched there and grinned. When I was just about free, he disappeared. Now, we were granola crunchin' tree huggin' anti-gun nature freaks at the time, so the only thing I had of any consequence as a weapon was my camp knife. I found it after what seemed like hours of searching, but really was probably under a minute. I very cautiously made my way to the entrance, millimeters at a time. The guy was gone.

About that time Maggie started screaming and whimpering again so I rushed back to the back of the shaft. She had struggled out of the tent and was pointing at what used to be Rebel. His head was nearly severed, and the tent and the bags were ruined with the blood all over everything. She had blood all over her, so the first thing I did was make sure she was not injured. Then I checked myself. We were ok,it was all Rebel's blood.

We put on our still damp cold clothes from the night before and then we noticed that our boots were gone. We were in trouble. I had some paracord, so we tied some shirts and towels around our feet and climbed back down towards the creek. We left everything in the mine, except for the knife and some stuff that we shoved in our pockets. It took us 8 hours to get back down to the car, and we were like hamburger. Hands, feet, arms and legs scraped raw, bruised and bleeding. We jumped in, the car started right up thankfully and we left a dust cloud that blanketed the valley as we sped down the rough trail toward Durango.

We limped into the Sheriff's office and we looked like hell. We got our story out, my wife through tears and me talking waaay too fast. but finally got it all out. The deputy said that they would go out first thing in the morning and asked us to stay in town. We had no money for a hotel, so he let us stay in a cell after we showered and changed into prison jumpsuits.

We were there at the jail waiting when the "expedition" returned with the convoy of three trucks. I noticed that all the officers, who were quite wet and filthy, gave us dirty looks as they passed us, and the Deputy that we had talked to the day before herded us back to his office. Then came the interrogation. Turns out that some animal had spread the dog's remains all down the slide to the creek, and he said that there was nothing else there. No tent, no backpacks, nothing. He asked us if we had any drugs. I did not want to admit to him that we had some herb, so I denied it.

It was clear that we were fighting a losing battle. They had come to the conclusion that we were wandering out in the woods high on LSD while a mountain lion had gotten our dog. The bastard even made us change back into our filthy clothes and give back the jumpsuits right then. He told us that he had better never see us again. We left. Maggie was sobbing. I never have been back to Durango.

The thing that I still have nightmares about years later, and I have never mentioned this to Maggie, is....... the second time I woke up when I heard Rebel yelp, was that when his throat was cut?.......and if it was, was it the dog who licked my hand before I fell back asleep?

I still go out in the wilderness, never overnight, out well before dark, only with other people, and always with a big gun. I respect animals, but I fear people.
 
OP, if your wife is going to be nervous just go over ophir and have lunch in hipster Telluride and then go back over imogene.
no way in hell mine would have made it through blackbear, and lucky for her when we were there it was snowed in
 
Also, after reading that story about the mutilated dog, I really wish I hadn’t read that story about the mutilated dog. It’s good he made the transition from “guns are bad” to “fuck yes I carry so the next time somebody is crouching at the cave entrance I can start putting rounds downrange”
 
Solid advice in this whole thread. Skip Black Bear for sure.

Take a half day in Silverton and go to the Old Hundred Mine tour, and the self guided Mayflower Mill tour. (if anyone is scared of being in mines/caves/confined spaces might skip the old hundred)
There are TONS of trails that aren't the popular ones. Maggie and Minnie gulches, stoney pass, cinnamon pass, Kendal mtn, red mountain etc. etc. etc.

Worth echoing. Driving all the way from Montrose to the trails every day is going to SUCK (although it is one of my favorite paved roads in the US). Find a place in Ouray, Silverton or Lake City.

We're headed to Ouray for our anniversary this weekend. :smokin:

Silverton is where my heart is. I will be put to rest there.

I can spend days just hanging out in Arrastra Gulch/Mayflower mine area.

Pic of my boy looking out over Arrastra from the Mayflower.

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FleshEater There are a lot of trails in the Montrose area, they just aren't quite as scenic as the trails in the San Juans. As JR4X mentioned, there are some quality hardcore rock crawling trails, but there are also a lot of trails suitable for stock and lightly modified vehicles as well. The other nice thing about the Montrose trails is that there is not nearly as much traffic on them. The San Juan trails are a zoo these days with all the people on them.

Here is a good resource I used when we went to Montrose on vacation a couple of summers ago: https://www.jeeptheusa.com/montrose-jeep-trails.html

We camped up on the Uncompahgre Plateau and ran Escalante Canyon, Robideau, and Tabeguache. We were going to try to run Scratch and Dent and/or Topless on the last day (some of the "hard" but not "extreme" trails), but one the guys in our group had issues with his trailer axle and we wasted our last day running around trying to get it fixed so he could trailer his rig back home the next day.

Escalante Canyon was the most scenic trail we did there and should be easily doable in your rig as long as you don't get caught in a crazy monsoon rain like we did :laughing: The switchbacks got slicker than snot and there was some major pucker factor coming down since it is a shelf road and we were sliding all over the place. If it were dry, I would say it would have been a 2 or 3/10. The switch backs were the most scenic part, but we didn't get any pictures since we were too busy trying not to die :laughing: Things were pretty tense until we got to the bottom.

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Roubideau is up high in the trees (8,000'-9,500') and is easy for the most part, but there are a few loose/steep spots and tight turns. I would say it was a 3/10 difficulty wise.

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Tabeguache is less scenic than the other two we did, and it is mostly easy, but there are two moderate spots pretty close together about half way through the trail. The first is a fairly steep climb with some diff-grabber-sized loose boulders and the second is a rock shelf with some ~12-18" steps. I would put it at about a 4/10 and might be a little more difficult than you are looking for in your 4Runner, especially if you are going solo. If you have 33" tires and a locker you should be able to reasonably make it without too much drama.

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I won't bother posting any pictures from the San Juans since information, videos, and pictures are all over the place for those ones. As others have said, all the trails in the San Juans are easy and can be done in a stock 4x4(the county bull dozes them). The only trail that has any challenge for a modified 4x4 is Poughkeepsie Gulch, but there is a bypass for the main obstacle (the Wall) now.

My recommendations are Black Bear, Imogene, Poughkeepsie, Corkscrew, Yankee Boy, and Stony. It sounds like you should skip Black Bear if your wife is scared of driving on the edge of a cliff. All the trails out there are pretty narrow shelf roads though, but Black Bear is by far the worst.

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Also, after reading that story about the mutilated dog, I really wish I hadn’t read that story about the mutilated dog. It’s good he made the transition from “guns are bad” to “fuck yes I carry so the next time somebody is crouching at the cave entrance I can start putting rounds downrange”

Sounds like a creepy pasta and stole the ending from Campfire Tales.
 
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