Ouray overland trip august 7-11

[Brad]

We are actually leaving wed the 6th late afternoon. Planning on driving for a couple hours before finding a campground just for the first night, probably around monarch pass. The rest of the trip we will be off grid so to speak, no campgrounds as we are a completely self reliant vehicle. Thursday am we are going to head down to the alpine loop and running it. Probably camp somewhere along the loop or at the end of one of the close by trails. We are keeping this fairly open at this point as we are unsure what will be open. Wanted to head to black bear with a Imogene return trip back towards ouray or just explore more of the really cool trails in the area.

Wondering if anyone else is interested?

[Chris]

I will be going there myself at some point but can't plan that far ahead right now. Everything will be open unless there's a rockslide of something like that. It will be hard to be off the grid in that area though as there's not a lot camping along the Loop that I recall but there is not too far out of the area. You have to do Black Bear & Imogene while there, a great combination.

[AdventureReady]

Boy that sure sounds like a fun way to start the season. I'll keep that in the back of my head, I don't know exactly when I'll be back up.

[Robert B]

could be great fun but my only issue is most shelf road trails that say narrow or even normal ones are too small for my truck to drive on

[glacierpaul]

I cannot go, but you and Jenn have a great, safe trip!

[Chris]

Hey Brad, Barb and I will be getting there late Saturday and staying until Wednesday. We'll be in our tailer at the KOA.

[Brad]

We had to cancel as Neil went undefeated in his summer tennis league and is in the finals that same weekend. Sorry I did not update this thread.

[Chris]

I'll take some pics!

[Brad]

Please do!

[JKscotty]

How was the trip? I'm planning a trip to this area next week and looking for some advice on routes/trails. Also open to company if anyone is free.

[Chris]

That trip never panned out Scott but I was there a week ago. Happy to answer any questions you have. We did the Alpine Loop with side trips to Mineral Springs and Engineer Pass on day one. Day two was planned to be Yankee Boy Basin but we got sidetracked by Imogene Pass where we spent all day driving every spur along the way. Next was to be Black Bear followed by Imogene again the opposite way we did it but a thunderstorm rolled in when we above the switchbacks at Ingram Falls and we had to bug out before it reached us. Good thing because it was a torrential downpour. That was okay but we wanted to spend some time at the Tom Boy mine. We wanted to hit some ghost towns off Cinnamon Pass and rather than drive to Silverton we did the Alpine Loop again but pretty quick rather than our usual slow pace. Again we got rained out after reaching Animus Forks but that's life in the mountains.

How long will you be there? We spent 4 full days (5 nights) but would have stayed longer if we hadn't awoken to heavy rains after night five. There's a lot to see there and we never got to the Red Mountain area either.

I love Ouray!

Pic dump: http://chrisin.co/index.php?album=Ouray%202014
Run Report: http://www.frontrange4x4.com/forums/...hp?21925-Ouray!

[JKscotty]

Thanks for the quick reply and detailed info, Chris. Looks like a great time despite the rains. I'm not sure yet how long I'll stay yet, but sounds like I'd need at least 2 or 3 days to run the main trails in the area.

[Chris]

Happy to help! I love the area and know it pretty well so if you have any questions just ask.