Hey Guys,
I want to plan a ride out to Colorado, I live on the east coast. I will trailer the Jeep out to Colorado.

My expectations, I want to be able to travel Alpine Loop, Ophir Pass, and Black Bear Pass while visiting.
1. Time allowance, can each trail be completed in a single day? Leaving some time for sight seeing along the trail.
2. Places to park a truck and trailer?
3. Hotels available in the area of these trails?
4. Trying to determine direction, which order to ride each trail without back tracking. Looks like Alpine Loop makes just a loop back to Lake City.
5. I have gpx files for all three trails, any online resource where I can overlay each file for planning?

 

You are going to have a great time on that trip! Hotels, AirBNB, and VRBOs in the Ouray area can be hard to get this time of year without some advanced reservations. Seems I just saw BleepinJeep's videos this last week from the area and he mentioned having to stay up in Montrose cuz they coudn't get a hotel in Ouray. That's a pretty decent hike after a long day of wheelin'. You're not going to bring Imogene back from Telluride? IMO, that has some of the best views.

 

I think it will be epic for sure. We are probably 2 years out from doing the trip so I got time to plan. One reason for delay I’ll need to upgrade my truck within the next 12 months, gotta get a 2500. I watched all three of Matt’s videos on BleepinJeep.

My first concern is just which trail to take first, second, and third so we can plan hotels, and routes.

 

We did the Alpine Loop many years ago. We stayed in Ouray first night. Then up Engineer Pass and Poukeepsie Gulch and on to Lake City and stayed there. Then through Cinnamon Pass, exploring Animas Forks and stayed in Silverton. Then we went from Silverton via Corkscrew back to Ouray and home. That was a nice way to do it. We did it in August and had monsoon rains every day around noon, they passed through quickly.

 

thanks that helps a lot of figuring out route and where to stay each night. Did ya ride Ophir trail?

 

If you don't already have one, the FunTreks books are great for the Colorado and Moab areas. I move pretty swiftly, and find it usually takes me the low end of their suggested time to complete something, and that still includes some stoppage time to enjoy the scenery. Usually the time allotment windows are a couple hours wide, and I can see how if moving in a big group where everyone is taking pictures or whatnot, how people can easily get to the longer end of their time estimate. All that to say how long they say it will take is pretty accurate. They do give you some information for free on their website and it's a good resource even if you don't buy the books or the downloads. For example, they allocate 2-3 hours to do Black Bear -

https://bit.ly/3gCKLs6

Black Bear over to Telluride, stop for lunch or to walk through town, then bring Imogene back makes for a great day with plenty of time to stop along the way. You can see a ton in that area in a 2-3 day span. I'd almost tell you that for driving as far as you will be, that you have to take an additional week and pop over to Moab since you'll be so close. If you don't stay a night in Lake City, definitely make it a place to stop for lunch and such.

Since you have a truck and trailer to park, AirBNB/VRBOs might be better options. There are a lot of condos in the Ouray area that rent out. I've stayed in the Hot Springs Inn before and it was fine....river right out back. The parking lots at the hotels get very full which makes parking something like truck and trailer a bit difficult IMO. Do not overlook stopping to see Cascade Falls in Ouray. Literally a park and short walk up to see it, but it's got great picture opps,

 

No, didn't do that or Black Bear pass. Just the Alpine loop.

 

Oh man. I am planning the same. Road trip from NY to CO. I have been wanting to do this for a while now. Let us know how it goes for you..

 

Most likely it's going to be 2022 for me, or summer of 2021 if I'm lucky.

 

So you’re not camping? Such as pulling the Jeep behind a class “A”? If you’re camping Ridgway State Park not overly crowded water and electric hookups, plus huge reservoir to boat or fish on. Close to Ouray and not as far as Montrose. Another thought is rent a camper from the area. Outdoorsy has plenty of choices to rent from. Might save you some scratch.

If you like mining history make a detour to Creede, CO. You can take Stony Pass from that side straight into Silverton. I also recommend Arrastra Gulch in Silverton for some more cool as hell mining history and derelicts.