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Ouray is Seriously Epic

DatsunX3

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Great pictures @irishtim7. Thanks for posting them. I did Ophir Pass a few years ago in a stock Nissan Frontier 4x4. It did well. How much more difficult are the other trails? Next time I go I hope to have a JL Sport with LSD.
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irishtim7

irishtim7

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Great pictures @irishtim7. Thanks for posting them. I did Ophir Pass a few years ago in a stock Nissan Frontier 4x4. It did well. How much more difficult are the other trails? Next time I go I hope to have a JL Sport with LSD.
Thanks. Most of the trails there are not difficult at all. I found Engineer Pass from the connector down to Ouray to be the most challenging. It was raining and there were quite a few sections where you get off-camber over 20 degrees towards the ledge. My Jeep handled it without issue. It just can be unnerving if you have a thing about heights.

Imogene Pass, which was my favorite and rated most difficult, I found to be pretty easy. I hooked up with a couple of Jeeps for this trail and one of them was a rented stock sport. We had to hook up a winch line to him one time and that’s mostly because he took a bad line and started to get dangerously close to sliding down a smaller gulch.

Black Bear was still closed as was Poughkeepsie Gulch.

EDIT: Imogene is not rated the most difficult in the area. It was just the most difficult rated one I went on. I would have liked to have done Poughkeepsie Gulch but I was alone mostly.
 
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blessidsoul12

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Wow, yeah I thought dang 5 pages of replies in a day, must be an awesome thread! What a disappointment. Anyway, to the OP- looks like an amazing experience and breathtaking views with your JL. Thanks for posting.
 
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SABLE RHINO

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I like the scenery around Ouray and Telluride, but I really don't like wheeling there. What gets me is mainly the tourists. I know, I know... I'm supposed to love everyone and hope they all buy houses here so my property value keeps going up. But in my experience there are too many people who don't know what they're doing on those trails. I don't know if they get distracted trying to text, or looking at the sights, or just trying to reach for a sandwich but they constantly drive off the cliff. And when they're not driving off the cliff they're stopped in the middle of the trail or coming the opposite direction and refusing to move over so nobody can get by... Basically these trails have become like Everest. Sure it's a pretty epic place to visit but the crowds are making it dangerous. I truly think that every time you go there you better be prepared for the chance that you will watch someone die.
Sounds pretty “not technical” or “lame” to me.
 

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The scenery will NOT be as good. The temps will be much better than Moab this time of year. It's mountainous still....but much drier. Most of the trails I know of are hardcore rockcrawling ones...you probably should talk to McPherson Customs in Montrose for conditions/details of the trails you might want to run, but you'll need to fill them in on how your rig is set up. A lot of this stuff isn't exactly "advertised" and I don't want to step on the locals toes by posting up here. Great guys...I wouldn't be surprised if they offer to lead a trip.
U R AWESOME, thank you.
 

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D60

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I was up on California, Corkscrew and Bullion King a couple weeks ago.

Amazed at the number of rental JL's already on the trails. You could tell 'em 'cause there'd be a line of stock JL's with Flower Motors front plates. I guess it's good to be the Jeep dealer closest to Ouray. I almost bought an '18 Rubi from Flower but it didn't have the cold weather group and SWMBO, well, must be obeyed it would seem...
 

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I love the area. Took my JKU in 2015 and then the next year we took the WK2 ecodiesel, which had no trouble on any of the trails except the wall nearly put me on the lid of the Grand, but she made it eventually. Hoping to take the JLU this year.
A couple of shots from Last Dollar Road, one of my favorite easy trails there, but oh so scenic. Both shots are of the exact same spot, just different angles - the WK2 was shot from my drone.
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D60

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I have a slightly different take. What you're really seeing is population growth. The capability of the vehicles in that particular area isn't the issue. As a local, I'm sure you've seen passenger cars on these same roads like I do every summer I've been up there (since I was about 14 years old). It's the number of visitors (as you said).

I can see daily limits and then eventually, outright closures....but that's not b/c of overuse, it's b/c that is the real goal of environmentalists and most government agencies. It's easier to close than manage public lands.
Take that a step further and I've always been fascinated (and annoyed) by how San Juan NF defines management - specifically, they seemingly won't "allow" a difficult trail. All you have to do is do nothing and let nature take its course.

I mean something like Holy Cross or the Iron Chest of old would NEVER be permitted down here, and I don't understand why. They're quick to mention Poughkeepsie but really....c'mon man let's not insult each other.

Basically, I'd love to see way LESS maintenance on 90% of the "trails" here. Local clubs will step in when things become flat-out impassable
 

offcamber

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Take that a step further and I've always been fascinated (and annoyed) by how San Juan NF defines management - specifically, they seemingly won't "allow" a difficult trail. All you have to do is do nothing and let nature take its course.

I mean something like Holy Cross or the Iron Chest of old would NEVER be permitted down here, and I don't understand why. They're quick to mention Poughkeepsie but really....c'mon man let's not insult each other.

Basically, I'd love to see way LESS maintenance on 90% of the "trails" here. Local clubs will step in when things become flat-out impassable
They know that there is more money in the easy trails. The local rental Jeeps can do them and if they allowed more difficult trails, it would mean the more risk of more accidents and complicate things. The first time we came to the area and saw the trail ratings it was so confusing. From what the local description of Poughkeepsie I was expecting it to be hard. Then we did it and while the wall is challenging, it's literally the only place on the trail that you couldnt do in a subaru...
 

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oh and ~15 years ago I saw URaBus Outbacks just before Jaws I on Blanca....I honestly don't understand how their clutches or torque converters survived.

Around the same time navigation sent a friend over Ophir in a Honda Civic 'cause it sure looked like the shortest route from Silverton to T-ride....and she did it. Not sure how her brakes survived the descent toward Telluride there
 

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offcamber

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oh and ~15 years ago I saw URaBus Outbacks just before Jaws I on Blanca....I honestly don't understand how their clutches or torque converters survived.

Around the same time navigation sent a friend over Ophir in a Honda Civic 'cause it sure looked like the shortest route from Silverton to T-ride....and she did it. Not sure how her brakes survived the descent toward Telluride there
Now THAT is funny! And that was before Apple maps?
 

D60

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They know that there is more money in the easy trails. The local rental Jeeps can do them and if they allowed more difficult trails, it would mean the more risk of more accidents and complicate things. The first time we came to the area and saw the trail ratings it was so confusing. From what the local description of Poughkeepsie I was expecting it to be hard. Then we did it and while the wall is challenging, it's literally the only place on the trail that you couldnt do in a subaru...
Agreed but that $ doesn't necessarily trickle to the Forest Service and they're the ones always bitching about not enough $, too much work etc

This is why they tried "Fee Demo" 20 years ago - charging to go into Yankee Boy. That didn't work out.

I understand we all pay for public lands with our taxes but when the Forest Service cries broke I want to give them a list of 20 things they simply DON'T HAVE TO DO, from literal street signs on Bolam and Scotch Creek to replacing vehicles every 3 years to seemingly thinking ANY erosion anywhere must be immediately quashed (it's kinda Mother Nature's thing)

Basically the governing bodies need to chill and be reactive when truly necessary rather than pro-active.

And it's just become "the norm" down here. No one THINKS about any other way. But if we went 20 years with less maintenance then one day someone started grading all the trails people would ask "why?"
 

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Returned from there yesterday. Did Cinnamon and Engineer passes as well. Unfortunately a rental Jeep, but fun and beautiful anyway.
 

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@D60 (and others), can you recommend a rental shop anywhere in the San Juan that could also provide a guide? I'm going to be up that way early October to do some photography, and I'm pretty much going to be a noob at wheeling. Was hoping to find someone that could help me develop some solid basic skills while taking in some great scenery.

I'll be based out of Pagosa, but plan to be all over SW Colorado. I was specifically thinking of some of the drives mentioned on this thread.
 

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