Black Bear Pass - with Ophir pass
 

One of this year must do's was Black Bear Pass.

The first Black Bear trip was we're we met ColoradoJeepWife/Rockyblue (Jenny and Tom) and their family in the town of Ophir to begin our journey. Both Ophir pass and Black Bear pass were new trails for both families.
Ophir is a very easy pass and is very pretty. It puts you onto HWY 550 about 10 miles north of Silverton which makes for a nice rest stop before heading to Black Bear Pass. Ophir pass is used a lot along with Imogene pass in conjuction with Black Bear pass while staying in Telluride or Ouray. They are both very pretty passes with Ophir being the easiest and fastest return route. The hwy via Ridgeway or last dollar road are other routes to close the Black Bear Loop.

Since my daughter sat in the back and wanted to do Black Bear from the front she talked me into doing it twice. (she says Jeepin just isn't the same setting in the back seat)...:dontknow2:
So Monday morning before she headed back home, we jumped in the jeep and took the highway thru Ridgeway and Ouray to Black Bear. I think we were the first ones down Black Bear that day, yes we did it solo...

Black Bear Pass.
You always hear about the steps and switch backs which are awesome on their own but what I never read about was the beauty of Black Bear pass before you get to the area were you first see Telluride. Black Bear is now one of my favorite passes of Colorado.. albeit I still have a lot to do. Pearl Pass, Schofield, Yankee Boy basin, and Poughkeepsie gulch are the my other favorites.

I put together 4 videos from both trips.
For the most part they will cover the entire trail of Black Bear pass and part of Ophir pass.

My videos are mostly from my GoPro and show the view from the Jeep and the difficulty of the trail with some added pictures of scenery..... no music yet - but you can turn on the radio and enjoy some music while you watch.... :thumbsup:

Hope you enjoy them. they should play back to back - approx 54 mins of video.
http://youtu.be/wA19ixPGozc

I love Black Bear. The views are just incredible. Should be going down it about two weeks from today.

You have the same problem I had with my go pro. Your mounts are creating a vibration noise. I added a little bit of foam tape between the mounts. Yea its a little tight, but 0 noise.:wink:

We just ran Black Bear in the rain and I won't be doing that again...ever.

Nice video! Thanks for sharing. I was down there earlier this summer. We stayed in Ouray, and ran Ophir and Imogene one day. We didn't do black bear. Maybe next time.

I did that last year... In the snow and rain... Made for a bit more adventure and pucker factor on the shelf roads!

Did it this last August. It was awesome

Black bear videos
 

One of the Best Black Bear videos I have ever seen (and i've seen quite a few of them on the net). Great job and Thank you.

Great video, thanks.

Does anyone have inside info on these trails, our club is planning a month long trip out west, and any info will be appreciated...trail maps, campsites, etc. Thank you