Looking for recommendations for scenic trails in the Durango, Silverton and Ouray areas. Nothing too technical since I'll have my wife, daughter and daughters friend with me. I've done some research on the forums as well as traildamage.com and have seen Yankee Boy Basin, Ophir Pass, California Gulch and Cinnamon Pass recommended often. We only have a few days allotted for the trails so I want to get the most bang for the buck so to speak. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Engineer Pass and the Alpine Loop will be perfect. Skip phoughkeepsie gulch as it requires lockers and the right line.

Sent from some string and a few tin cans.

 

Thanks, I'll look into those.

 

Mineral Creek route to Engineer Pass is a bit rough, but nothing a stock Jeep couldn't handle. You can still drive to Engineer Pass without taking Mineral Creek. Imogene Pass is another great drive. From Teluride the road is very narrow for a ways, but nothing particularly technical. Gorgeous views (as is all of this part of CO). The Wells' Colorado 4WD and back-roads books is highly recommended as your driving companion. Here's a video of Engineer Pass from Lake City, then down to Ouray through Mineral Creek.

Skip to 1:10 ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1dvPQyn3og

 

I am in Ouray now and Imogene pass is still closed. You can still drive most of the way up but when you get to the second bull dozer you have to turn around because it blocks the trail. Locals said it might not open until July 4. I went to Yankee Boy basin and up to the Dozer on Imogene in my Stock JK with 17 inch wheels without any problems. I plan to do Engineer tomorrow. Black Bear is not open and it is one not recommended for stock vehicles either. I believe Ophir is an easy trail although I haven't traveled on it in a number of years. The Alpine Loop is also a good drive. I don't think there are any really difficult trails on it.

 

thanks for the info... nice video, parts of that looked hairy considering you were all pulling trailers.
Thanks! I just found a website that listed the status of many trails, seemed a lot were still closed. We'll be up there 2 weeks from now so maybe more will be open.

 

If you just watched part 3, that was actually pretty easy. Watch part 1--that was hairy. We are pretty certain no one else has ever pulled trailers up Blanca Peak!

 

Well the trip is over and we saw some beautiful country. A big thanks to all the suggestions, unfortunately we didn't get to do all we wanted to due to time constraints.

After a few nights in trinidad, pagosa and durango, we arrived at our cabin between silverton and ouray tues p.m. in the middle of a rain storm (rained heavy every afternoon in fact). Wanted to go to the nearby red mountain mining area trails but the book said don't try it during wet periods so we heeded the advice and drove up to ouray for a late lunch. That evening we hit the clear lake trail, very scenic and allowed me to get some shelf road experience.



Next morning we ate breakfast in silverton then went to the animas forks townsite. From there we ran california gulch. Here's a pic from the pass.

Attachment 565028

Then to hurricane pass, here's a view of como lake



Finally we drove thru corkscrew gulch. There was some slightly tough spots due to the slick rocks at the switchbacks. By the time we made it to the highway the storms moved in again so we went back to the cabin and grilled steaks.

Next day was short b/c we had to be back in durango that afternoon so we took Ophir pass over to telluride. View from the trail



This is at the bottom (west end by the town of Ophir)



We spent some time in telluride and of course it stormed again. We ran out of time to run imogene so we took Ophir pass back towards silverton and headed to durango.

Definately needed another day or two but with family obligations, that was all the trails for this trip. Can't wait to make it up there again.

Overall, the most difficult part of the trails we were on was dealing with oncoming traffic because the trails were pretty congested.

 

Glad you enjoyed it! Nice photographs.


I can hardly wait for our annual trip up there. 4 weeks for the wife to leave and five weeks for me.!

Sent from some string and a few tin cans.

 

Looks like a great trip! Odd that there are two Como Lakes so close together.


Not to be confused with Como Lake on Blanca Peak ...