San Juan stays and eats

[LSJKU]

To clarify a few things.
We are not camping.
The wife and I are not big fans of Telluride as it was very touristy and reminded me of Gatlinburg, but we are with people who have never been in the area. I know the gondola lift is free but crap up top is pricey. I thought they had zip lines around there but they don't answer phones or email, so...
When it comes to over night stays we are not afraid to spend money. When I start looking at hotels my head starts spinning. I try not to focus on all the negative reviews because some people you'll never make happy, but not knowing anything about any of them I am looking for what yall enjoyed or thought was worth the money. The last trip we stayed in Silverton at the Historic Alma House.

My friends enjoy lively bars. The wife and I both prefer a more quiet setting with a good bourbon.

We are no strangers to the elevations, water, oxygen cans, etc but keep the advice coming please.

There is a cool-looking bar in Ouray. It's on the top of a building in the middle of town. I've never been inside, but it looks to be "lively" and "laid-back" at the same time. And i never knew the name of it. Sorry, but you will not miss it.

About the only "fast food" in Ouray is the Subway. I don't recall there being much more than that. My memory tells me it's mostly touristy "restaurant" type stuff.

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[Zandcwhite]

I might be different, but if I'm not wore out after a week long adventure trip I feel like I wasted too much of it. I want to go hard sun up to sun down, drink around the camp fire, and repeat at 1st light. Sure I'll be dragging ass at work the following week, but it's well worth it. I know people who wasn't to sleep in, short around all morning, get one 2-4 hour trail in, and call it a day. Ib won't wheel with those people. That's fine if it's a local day trip. If I'm driving 1,000+ miles to get to an area I want to explore as much as possible. Run as many trails as I can. I can sit in a camp chair and chill at home, on our desert property, or anywhere else.

 

[LSJKU]

I might be different, but if I'm not wore out after a week long adventure trip I feel like I wasted too much of it. I want to go hard sun up to sun down, drink around the camp fire, and repeat at 1st light. Sure I'll be dragging ass at work the following week, but it's well worth it. I know people who wasn't to sleep in, short around all morning, get one 2-4 hour trail in, and call it a day. Ib won't wheel with those people. That's fine if it's a local day trip. If I'm driving 1,000+ miles to get to an area I want to explore as much as possible. Run as many trails as I can. I can sit in a camp chair and chill at home, on our desert property, or anywhere else.

Well, I do agree with you. I am an early riser and like to get after it. I'm not good at lazing around camp.

That said, I acknowledge there is quite a bit of difference in "visiting" an area and "living nearby." Most the time things don't go as planned on trips, and that can lead to undue stress for some. While living in the area, if something went amiss on an adventure, I always had "next weekend" to make a course correction and do it again, if I chose to.

just sayin'.

 

[73TAWM]

I've already told them that we get up, pack the cooler with drinks and lunch, hit the trails and pull in at night for dinner. It's how we do it because we want to adventure and take as much in as we can. Only get out there every few years since it's such a long haul.

Not really interested in fast food either.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Well, I do agree with you. I am an early riser and like to get after it. I'm not good at lazing around camp.

That said, I acknowledge there is quite a bit of difference in "visiting" an area and "living nearby." Most the time things don't go as planned on trips, and that can lead to undue stress for some. While living in the area, if something went amiss on an adventure, I always had "next weekend" to make a course correction and do it again, if I chose to.

just sayin'.

That's all the more reason to push the pace a bit when visiting an area. If something major goes sideways on the 4th day of a moab trip, we've probably already got 6+ trails in. If we spent those days lazing around we'd have half of that? I had a buddies wife tell me she spends the last day of every vacation (resort people not off roaders) doing laundry so she doesn't come home with a pile of dirty clothes. I'll burn my suitcase before I waste the last day of vacation doing laundry. Might as well come home a day early and do your laundry at that point.

 

[cheapjeepJL]

@73TAWM are y'all sill heading out to san juan with the wildfires and smoke? we are starting to look at alternate vacation spots if conditions continue to worsen prior to our 7/24 arrival date. the issue is most of Colorado is covered in moderate smoke from the maps/news reports.

 

[73TAWM]

@73TAWM are y'all sill heading out to san juan with the wildfires and smoke? we are starting to look at alternate vacation spots if conditions continue to worsen prior to our 7/24 arrival date. the issue is most of Colorado is covered in moderate smoke from the maps/news reports.

We are heading out of Missouri on 7/18. So far the only thing we are slightly concerned with is our one night stay in Ridgway. It appears the fire could get close to Ridgway by then. So far the only route that could effect us is the Owl Creek Pass, we were planning on taking that from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison down into Ridgway on our second full day in CO. The rest of the trails in that area seem to be unaffected. According to OnX, the smoke from that is not reaching the trails we all love.
I think a lot of folks are panicking due to things they see on Facebook but you can't believe everything you see. I am also following the fire details from the Watch Duty app. If you haven't used that yet I would highly recommend it. I get a notification every time something changes or is shared. I see no reason for us to change our plans, at worst we'll need to reroute our path in and could possibly see an issue with our Ridgway stay but with everyone cancelling in that area (according to FB) we should have ample choices for a last minute overnight stay.

We are all in on the San Juans this year. If we did cancel it could be years before we get back since we are getting ready to spend a small fortune on our new house. My advice is stay the course. I'm sure you'll see smoke from afar if you're going to be at any elevation but so far all of that is staying Northwest.

Right now I'm more concerned with Black Bear being closed. Fingers crossed it'll be open in 2 weeks.

 

[cheapjeepJL]

THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK- I don't have social media so no influence from there.
our air bnb is in Ridgeway lol. may need to look for alternatives further south.

 

[Ratbert]

We are heading out of Missouri on 7/18. So far the only thing we are slightly concerned with is our one night stay in Ridgway. It appears the fire could get close to Ridgway by then. So far the only route that could effect us is the Owl Creek Pass, we were planning on taking that from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison down into Ridgway on our second full day in CO. The rest of the trails in that area seem to be unaffected. According to OnX, the smoke from that is not reaching the trails we all love.
I think a lot of folks are panicking due to things they see on Facebook but you can't believe everything you see. I am also following the fire details from the Watch Duty app. If you haven't used that yet I would highly recommend it. I get a notification every time something changes or is shared. I see no reason for us to change our plans, at worst we'll need to reroute our path in and could possibly see an issue with our Ridgway stay but with everyone cancelling in that area (according to FB) we should have ample choices for a last minute overnight stay.

We are all in on the San Juans this year. If we did cancel it could be years before we get back since we are getting ready to spend a small fortune on our new house. My advice is stay the course. I'm sure you'll see smoke from afar if you're going to be at any elevation but so far all of that is staying Northwest.

Right now I'm more concerned with Black Bear being closed. Fingers crossed it'll be open in 2 weeks.

Holy crap, that looks bad:
https://fire.airnow.gov/?lang=en#10.22/38.0817/-107.6726

 

[LSJKU]

We are heading out of Missouri on 7/18. So far the only thing we are slightly concerned with is our one night stay in Ridgway. It appears the fire could get close to Ridgway by then. So far the only route that could effect us is the Owl Creek Pass, we were planning on taking that from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison down into Ridgway on our second full day in CO. The rest of the trails in that area seem to be unaffected. According to OnX, the smoke from that is not reaching the trails we all love.
I think a lot of folks are panicking due to things they see on Facebook but you can't believe everything you see. I am also following the fire details from the Watch Duty app. If you haven't used that yet I would highly recommend it. I get a notification every time something changes or is shared. I see no reason for us to change our plans, at worst we'll need to reroute our path in and could possibly see an issue with our Ridgway stay but with everyone cancelling in that area (according to FB) we should have ample choices for a last minute overnight stay.

We are all in on the San Juans this year. If we did cancel it could be years before we get back since we are getting ready to spend a small fortune on our new house. My advice is stay the course. I'm sure you'll see smoke from afar if you're going to be at any elevation but so far all of that is staying Northwest.

Right now I'm more concerned with Black Bear being closed. Fingers crossed it'll be open in 2 weeks.

Glad to see you guys are staying the course. The Black Canyon is a "must see," and that drive along Owl Creek Pass has some beautiful scenery. You will not be disappointed.

If you have some extra time, it is well worth the effort to get out of he Jeep and hike a little of the Black Canyon. Some of it can get pretty steep, but it is an awesome life experience!

 

[Ratbert]

Glad to see you guys are staying the course. The Black Canyon is a "must see," and that drive along Owl Creek Pass has some beautiful scenery. You will not be disappointed.

If you have some extra time, it is well worth the effort to get out of he Jeep and hike a little of the Black Canyon. Some of it can get pretty steep, but it is an awesome life experience!

And camp on the north rim if at all possible. My sister questioned why we were setting up camp there for a single night before camping at Ridgway State Park. It all clicked for her as soon as she saw the canyon.

 

[LSJKU]

Holy crap, that looks bad:
https://fire.airnow.gov/?lang=en#10.22/38.0817/-107.6726

That's a great website I never saw before. Thanks.

 

[LSJKU]

Wow! I just checked the COTREX website and Owl Creek Pass is closed indefinitely since June 29th due to the Gold Mountain Fire.

The map/website Ratbert posted made me check my go-to site for trails in Colorado.

edit: I usually use that website to check snow conditions and trail closures. First time I used it to find trail closures due to fire.

 

[cheapjeepJL]

I've seen 3-4 trails closed as of 7/01 on "offroad maps" due to the fires. cannot remember exactly which ones.

 

[cheapjeepJL]

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