Colorado Overland 9/13-9/15
Had a great trip! My SO came in from out of state, so loaded up the truck and headed out. Our original plan was to run Medano Pass, Old Monarch Pass, Tomichi Pass, Hancock Pass, Tincup Pass, Italian Creek, Pearl Pass, and finally Taylor Pass, and with one substitution and one cancellation we stuck to the original plan pretty well. My truck made the trip with zero problems. And a little rain aside everything went very smoothly.
Day 1
Wound up being delayed due to rain and trying to get some last minute things done on the truck. But we eventually made it out the door by about 3pm. Got down to Medano Pass in time to setup camp, grab something to eat and hit the sack.
Day 2
Woke up and headed up and over Medano Pass. Goofed off a bit on the dunes, made the puppy run around and wear himself out.
Then we headed up hwy 17 to 50 to Monarch Pass where Old Monarch Pass starts. OMP was mellow and a nice cruise through the trees. This led us to Tomichi Pass, which was a little bumpy here and there but nothing a stocker couldn’t do. We got to the top looked around for a bit, noticed that a storm was moving in so we decided to keep on going. We got down just in time for the sleet/ hail to start falling. Once we got to the bottom of Tomichi we then headed up Hancock Pass. The sleet was still falling as we got to the top so we didn’t get out and look around. Once we got down to pavement again we decided to just spend the night in Buena Vista at the KOA, and get a fresh start in the morning.
Day 3
Got up early and packed up camp. Decided since we’d done Tincup Pass in the past the we’d just take Cottonwood Pass up and over and save ourselves some time. Got to the top of Cottonwood took some pics. The sun was out and it was a beautiful morning. We then headed down and made our way out to Crested Butte. Saw some classic 60’s Ferrari’s and Mercedes along the paved road.
Pearl Pass starts just outside of Crested Butte. It is a very long but very worthwhile trail. You can expect to take most of the day on this trail, which leads over to aspen. The views from Pearl were outstanding. And I can’t wait to get back to this trail. The trail itself is pretty mild with only a few rocky sections here and there.
Once we got down from Pearl Pass we headed down the road for a mile and then started going up Taylor Pass. Taylor Pass was very scenic as well. The trail has a few obstacles here and there but nothing that caused us any trouble. At one point you actually get to drive down the stream which was pretty cool.
After Taylor Pass we headed back up and over Cottonwood Pass to BV and then made it home for a late arrival.
On to the pics…
Heading down via hwy 96
Awesome Mountains
Entering the Sand Dunes Natl Preserve
Comming Down Medano
Looking through the aspens
Nice and smooth trail
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