Very, very early Sunday met a buddy in South Park (Fairplay) for a day of light, high-altitude Colorado wheeling.

First was a run up Mount Bross. It's the third "fourteener" accessible by vehicle* in this state. The other two are crowded toll roads with gift shops and tourists. This one had just us and a very fit jogger who ran all the way to the summit.

*Jeeps only

Mount Bross:

















Then Mosquito pass. This is the highest through road (over 13,000 feet) in Colorado, and it was closed near the top by a big snow bank. While there I helped un-stuck a local in a durango who attempted to "bust through" the snowbank but really just nearly slid off a cliff. First time I used my winch, and it started snowing! Unfortunately, I didn't want to bring my camera out in the snow and was too busy with recovery to get that, but here are a few from that pass.

 

great pics. Looks like you had a good time.

 

Nice pics! And this is exactly why I want to move back to CO.

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Nice.

For those of you who wheel at higher elevations, are there any precautions you take if you take children (or can you even take them if they're not from around there)?

Reason I ask is that when we were in Hawaii, we tried to drive to the Observatory atop either Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa (can't remember which now) and they would not let children under like 8, I think, go past 8,000'.

What's up with that?

 

I think It has something to do with altitude sickness. First time we took a big family ski trip to wolf creek 4/7 of the kids under 10 got it real bad the first night but none of the 18 adults were affected. I'm not a doctor though, just my experience

 

Excellent pics and damn nice jeep.

I starting to think that people in CO know something the rest of us don't. Know where I am going when I retire

 

What a beautiful place.

Thanks for sharing

 

Great pics, will have to add that one to my list.

 

Yeah, it's definitely due to altitude sickness. How much time is normally sufficient to acclimate to a new altitude? I realize it's not a hard and fast rule, but in general.

 

I love this trail! I've been up there probably 15 times. I hiked that 14er and then once I got all the to the top, I didn't see why I couldn't get to the summit in my rubicon, so I've been doin that ever since. You usually get some funny looks from hikers that come up from the Kite Lake side, finally reach the summit, and there's a few Jeeps up top with their owners drinking a beer at over 14,000 feet. Had quite a few ask for a ride back down