Moorman Mega Adventure

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 10: Poison Spider. If i had to run a trail again UT it would be this one. It was challenging but nothing crazy. It had several optional obstacles and they were a blast, i did some of them twice. Really just a good time. Crystal was mad at me so we didn't get many pics, lol.

The trail was a huge disappointment for my 10 year old, as there were no spiders to be found, poisonous or otherwise.

We left one of those stupid ducks (i got ducked in Santa Fe) on the grave-site of MJ. I hope she doesn't haunt me for it.

My family started an insurrection after PS because they were tired of "Jeep stuff" so we took the rest of the day off and spent it at some dinosaur park. It was fun.

Smittybilt bumper got a little dinged up. I also bent my Steer Smarts tie rod, but i didn't know that until i got home.

Sponsored

 

[NewJLU2019]

Day 9 addendum, Hells Gate: (Don't judge me)

So you backed up and went higher on the right side wall and went on up with no issues.

 

[NewJLU2019]

Day 10: Poison Spider. If i had to run a trail again UT it would be this one. It was challenging but nothing crazy. It had several optional obstacles and they were a blast, i did some of them twice. Really just a good time. Crystal was mad at me so we didn't get many pics, lol.

The trail was a huge disappointment for my 10 year old, as there were no spiders to be found, poisonous or otherwise.

We left one of those stupid ducks (i got ducked in Santa Fe) on the grave-site of MJ. I hope she doesn't haunt me for it.

My family started an insurrection after PS because they were tired of "Jeep stuff" so we took the rest of the day off and spent it at some dinosaur park. It was fun.

Smittybilt bumper got a little dinged up. I also bent my Steer Smarts tie rod, but i didn't know that until i got home.

Bruce put the duck on your Jeep.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 11: Top of the World. This was our last day in Utah, although i could have stayed a lot longer. The down side to Moab is the camping, it sucks. We ended up staying in a motel for the three nights that we were here...super expensive. It you're going to camp here, tents are not the way to go about it. A trailer would have been perfect though.

Anyway, our last trail in Moab was TOTW. I thought it was easier than expected, Crystal thought it was harder. She took some bad lines and had some trouble where i just breezed through. The only complaint is that about 1/3 of the trail was basically just a dirt road, 1/3 is really bumpy road and 1/3 was pretty awesome with lots of boulders and shit to climb. The really bumpy road part was a buzz kill. it took forever to get over this part. The top though.....I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

On the way to the top

Top

Probably my favorite pic of my wife ever. It's such a long drop off of here.

Coolest Jeep in Utah

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

So you backed up and went higher on the right side wall and went on up with no issues.

Absolutely, you need to climb the wall on passenger or the camber will throw you into the wall. I sort of knew that going in but you really cant see where you're going because its so steep.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 11 Addendum, Top of the World

 

[NewJLU2019]

Day 11 Addendum, Top of the World

From looking it appears to be a good time to go during weekdays early to avoid crowds. I really didn't see anyone around you.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 12 and 13: Ophir Pass. When we completed TOTW we headed over the mountain into Colorado. We spent night 11 in a day-use area west of Telluride. The camping was completely booked up everywhere around Telluride. Several other people camped there as well so we weren't the only outlaws.

We at least got a cool camp site along the San Miguel.

The next morning, refreshed from our trespassing, we found a campsite at Sunshine Camp Sites. This is a USFS camping area a few miles from Telluride. It was nice and quiet but no showers. After we secured our site we went out and found Ophir Pass. At this point it was one of the only trails that was open (or so we thought). Ophir was pretty cool. It's all about views and not technical at all. Here's the thing, i could post about a million pics on both these trails. It was one of the best trail days we've ever had. Unparalleled views, all day.

The way it works is these trails; Ophir, Black Bear and Imogene run between Telluride and Ouray. So you kind of have to run two if you're camped somewhere.

Here's a few from Ophir:

Ophir: west side

Ophir: Weird looking white stuff at higher elevations

Ophir: The top

Ophir: Coming Down into Ouray

After we got off of Ophir we headed into Ouray. Its a very small town. We still thought that Imogene was closed and i was about to break it to my wife that we had to go back on Ophir, lol. We stopped at the Ouray visitor center to use the rest rooms and the they had a big map of all the Jeep trails on the wall. They had Imogene as open. We asked and the nice lady said that it had been open for weeks. Black Bear was still closed. That was great news, we ate a quick lunch and off we went.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

From looking it appears to be a good time to go during weekdays early to avoid crowds. I really didn't see anyone around you.

Like 5 people all day

 

[four low]

Great Adventure ! Thank you for sharing

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 13 continued, Imogene Pass

You have to take Yankee Boy Basin to connect with Imogene. That's a pretty good trail by itself. Everywhere you look it's beautiful. In a nutshell, Imogene Pass is the most beautiful trail I've ever been on. No contest. It was not hard at all, hardly a Jeep trail, but OMG the views. And here are the pics.

Imogene Pass, Ouray to Telluride. Phenomenal!!!!!

Yikes

Just your standard view on Imogene

One of the many abandoned mine sites

Nice marmot, man

Crystal was obsessed with the marmots. Still is actually, she ordered a marmot T-shirt when we got home

Another view shot with an avid marmot fan blocking the pic

Coolest Jeep in Colorado

Second coolest Jeep in Colorado with #1 marmot fan

More mine site

At least we got to see BB Pass from Imogene

Had to drive through this hole in a rock

So that's Imogene Pass. And after 6 hours of being 18" from certain death...

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 14: We planned on hitting Engineer Pass and the Alpine Loop but it rained all evening and we got up to this! Now I'm no sissy but I wasn't about to go up the mountain in a snowstorm.

As the forecast called for rain for the next 2 days, that pretty much wrapped up our Jeep stuff. We packed up and headed to the Great Sand Dunes. It was actually quite a bit of fun. There's a primitive road called Medano Pass that we wanted to take but we didn't have time. Maybe next time.

We passed through the Black Canyon National Park. We had never heard of it but it looked super cool.

Sand Dunes

Coolest hat in Colorado

Cool view

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Day 17: Home at 12:38AM

The rest of the trip was driving through East Colorado , Kansas , Missouri , Illinois because Crystal missed a turn , Kentucky, Tennessee and finally back into Georgia. Almost 5,500 (x2) miles of fun and adventure. We learned a lot on this trip and look forward to next year. I think we're doing the Rubicon.

 

[NewJLU2019]

Day 17: Home at 12:38AM

The rest of the trip was driving through East Colorado , Kansas , Missouri , Illinois because Crystal missed a turn , Kentucky, Tennessee and finally back into Georgia. Almost 5,500 (x2) miles of fun and adventure. We learned a lot on this trip and look forward to next year. I think we're doing the Rubicon.

I need to wrap all this up and keep it for a future trip. I can save the info.

Sponsored