Another Silverton Colorado Trip Mid-August

[Robie]

We have a weeklong trip to Silverton planned for mid-August.

The following trails on our to do list:

• Imogene
• Ophir
• Black Bear Pass (if open)
• Stoney Pass
• Alpine Loop
• Animas Forks
• Engineer Pass
• Cinnamon Pass
• Last Dollar Road (maybe)
• Yankee Boy basin
• Monument Valley
• Then Muley Point

Anyone have recommendations for what order to run them?

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[hoch]

I’d first look and see if there are any major Jeep or UTV events in the area. Last time I was there, there was a Jamboree. Totally messed up our plan so I had to scrap it all. Still had lots of fun.

Out of the list, I’d def do Imogene, Engineer, BB, and Yankee Boy. Ophir was ok but would be near the end of my list.

 

[andy29847]

Monument Valley last in case you run out of time. The Valley of the Gods is at the base of Muley Point and is a free ride.

Muley Point is a great place to camp. If not camping, you can see the same view from the top of the Moki Dugway.

Last Dollar Rd is scenic, but it is just a dirt road unless it is raining. If it is raining, you do not want to go there.

Stoney Pass is a long drive. It's fabulous, but it takes a while. You can come back by Cinnamon Pass or go around on the mostly paved roads. It would be hard core to retrace your way back over Stoney.

The Alpine Loop includes Engineer and Cinnamon. You can see the best parts of these without going all the way to Lake City. The east sides of both passes flatten out after you get off the mountain.

There are 3 ways into Animas Fork that I have ridden. North from Silverton is easy. Off 550 at Ironton, then over Corkscrew, Hurricane, and California Pass is the way I like the best. Third is from 550 near Ouray, up Mineral Springs (also called Lower Engineer). Mineral Springs is the most challenging route - on par with Black Bear and Imogene. If you do most of your list you will see Animas Fork several times. You don't really need to have it as a destination.

Ophir and Imogene seem to go together well. Do Ophir first and then you can stick your nose up Yankee Boy as you come off of Imogene.

Black Bear and Last Dollar is reasonable and you can spend some time in Telluride.

Silverton, Engineer, Cinnamon, Mineral Springs is a long day.

Silverton, Stoney, 149 to the Blue Mesa Cut-off, the BMCO to Hwy 50, and back to home base is a full day. You can go back over Stony or go south at 140 to South Fork, Pagosa Springs, Durango, Silverton. The north way is a little shorter.

 

[txj2go]

It depends a lot on your style- how you run trails and if you are camping or staying in town.
We drove from Durango over Ophir to Telluride, stayed the night there. Next day we went Imogene to Ouray and stayed there. Next day we went Engineer or Cinnamin (I forget which) to Lake City and camped out outside of Lake City. The 4th day we went back Engineer or Cinnamin to Silverton. I wanted to do Stony Pass the 5th day but my girl voted against it.
If you are doing a trip like this you might do Cinnamin and Engineer first to get used to the area, then take Black Bear to Telluride and Imogene back to Ouray. I've been up Stony Pass from the Silverton side and back down to Silverton. There is a short interesting trail on the east side of Silverton that goes up to a good lookout directly above the town. There is a trail southwest of town, just dirt road, to some interesting high altitude small lakes. From Silverton towards Engineer/Cinnamin you go to Animas Forks which is an interesting ghost town with lots of old buildings to look at, and there are other roads in that area to explore (per Andy's list I think this is Corkscrew, Hurricane, and California Pass ) such as heading to the beginning of Poughkeepsie Gulch trail.

 

[Robie]

Thanks for the replies so far - great info! We're not camping but staying at a motel in Silverton.

 

[73TAWM]

If you get the OnX off road app, you can use that to plan your route to and from each trail. You might already know that, but it helped us plan our day to day travels so we could go from one to the next without back tracking. Can also download the entry and exit points from a laptop/desktop to your phone for when you're out of cell service. If you have android auto or apple car play you can run it on your dash screen like navigation.

 

[Chrisbayridge1]

We have a weeklong trip to Silverton planned for mid-August.

The following trails on our to do list:

• Imogene
• Ophir
• Black Bear Pass (if open)
• Stoney Pass
• Alpine Loop
• Animas Forks
• Engineer Pass
• Cinnamon Pass
• Last Dollar Road (maybe)
• Yankee Boy basin
• Monument Valley
• Then Muley Point

Anyone have recommendations for what order to run them?

My only recommendation is regarding Cinnamon Pass and Engineer Pass/ Alpine Loop, and that is start at first light because the SXS traffic is nuts in both directions in the early afternoon I guess they are late sleepers ?

 

[Windshieldfarmer]

Definitely check the local events schedule. A couple of years ago Engineer pass was all but closed due to a mountain bike race. This was in August. Imogene and Yankee Basin are my favorite from a scenery perspective…. Have fun! I hoping to make it out there in two weeks….

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