Ophir + Imogene = 1 day?

[willieself]

We're going to just miss you. We leave Austin on the 31st but aren't going to be in Ouray until Aug 2nd. We're taking the scenic route to Colorado Springs to visit from friends that just moved there.

First night is in Big Spring TX. Wanted to make the first day of driving an easy one and have wanted to stay at Hotel Settles since I noticed it on a previous trip to NM.

Second night is Sante Fe. Might find some trails there. Was disappointed to learn there are no Badge of Honor trails in NM! But mainly another stop just to break things up. Probably go to Meow Wolf, which is pretty cool if anyone is looking for something to do in Sante Fe.

Third and Fourth nights are Ouray. Originally was going to be 1 night and then take Alpine Loop to Lake City, but wanted to do Ophir and Imogene so added the extra night. Still too scared to do Black Bear. If it's closed I'm going to tell everyone I had planned to do it, but couldn't ;-). If time allows, we'll checkout Ridgeway.

Fifth night will be Creede to checkout Bachelor Loop and the underground mining museum.

The onto Colorado Springs via Great Dunes National Park and will stay with friends for a bit.

Heading to Denver for a day trip to Dive with Sharks at the aquarium. Hoping Casa Bonita is open to the general public so we can take the kiddos there (ok, I want to go too).

Heading home a little more directly, but stopping to check out Palo Duro and spend the night so it's not such a slog.

Then home and back to work :-(

You probably weren't interested in that level of detail, but I'm pretty excited about this trip and can't stop thinking about it!

john

That is gonna be a great trip..all but the stopping in Big Springs part!!! LOL I say that because I have to be in Big Spring once or twice a week for work... Its great you have the time to break the trip up like that. Hardest part of going to Ouray or Moab is just getting out of Texas!!! We usually make Albuquerque or Santa Fe the first day, makes the second day a little easier.

If you have never done it before, your gonna love that drive between Santa Fe and Durango as well, beautiful country. Any time we go to Moab, we alternate between that route and taking HWY 550 from Albuquerque all the way into Durango. Post lots of pictures!!!

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[Zandcwhite]

Hit Ophir early from the west to beat the circus.

Better yet, run Black Bear and Imogene. You’ll have the right of way pretty much the entire way.

We were camped off of last dollar, ran Ophir west to east, came down black bear pass, went back over imogene and were eating tacos in ridgeway by 5pm on the way back to camp. Did poughkeepsie and engineer pass on the second day. None of those trails are tough enough to need lockers or a spotter. Even with lots of stops for pictures or cold beverages it's an easy day.

 

[Rangemaster]

Pics or this did not happen.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Pics or this did not happen.

 

[WantToWander]

The trip was amazing, and as everyone mentioned, doing Ophir and Imogene with a break in Telluride, worked out great. 2nd day was Alpine Loop from Ouray, to Animas Forks via Poughkeepsie Gulch across Engineer Pass to Lake City. 3rd day was Creede (Bachelor Loop and old mines) and onto Colorado Springs to visit Friends that moved there recently. Here's some pics:

Leaving Texas and 100+ degree heat behind. Managed to get 17mpg by keeping it around 75mph even with the AC blowing. But once I got the picture, I sped up a bit and mpgs dropped considerably. 15-16mpg for 85mph with the AC blasting was typical. No heat issues.

First night was Big Spring Texas, which got some laughs here when I mentioned it as part of the plan. But there's a really cool hotel there that I wanted to try, and it also broke the trip up so it wasn't too much driving in a day:

Hotel Settles outside:

Hotel Settles lobby:

First day was Ophir Pass. Aside from a couple of day trips to Hidden Falls Adventure Park this was my first real off-roading experience, so I was pretty happy that it was an easy one. Still some amazing views:

After lunch in Telluride, and some fun gondola rides, Imogene pass:

Second Day, Poughkeepsie Gulch. Being new to off-roading, we skipped 'The Wall'. Watched too many YouTube videos of people having a bad time on it. I was still surprised how hard parts of it were. Especially the first part from Ouray before even tuning onto PG. And the bypass for the Wall had some pretty big steps too (I'm still on 33's).

Looking back at Lake Como:

We tried flying our drone around the lake, but it was too windy.

The road from Animas Forks to Engineer Pass was a little intimidating. A bit more technical than what we'd done so far, and some pretty steep drop-offs. Although they made for great views.

Overall, a fantastic trip. I have some new wheels and 35" tires waiting to be installed next week. Next trip I might work up the nerve to try Black Bear Pass and The Wall.

Only had one minor issue. A couple of times the Power Steeting Hot warning popped up. First time on Imogene at around 12,000', but otherwise not doing anything crazy. Just going slow, didn't have lockers on, stock 392, stock wheels and 33' tires. It happened again on PG the second day. Had the lockers on that time. Neither time did it seem to have any impact on steering effort. With the lockers steering was a little harder at slow speed, but no difference with the PS Hot warning light on or not. Same on the first day, no lockers. Easy steering with and wthout the warning light on.

Other than that, the Jeep got us from Texas, up the mountains, across to Colorado Springs, and back to the 100+ degree heat in Texas. 2000+ miles and lots of smiles!

Looking forward to the next adventure!

john

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