Leaving West Central Arkansas the last week of June pulling a small fiberglass travel trailer. The plan is to spend the first night in Ouray, then scout for a boondocking campsite to use as a forward operating base while driving jeep trails and geocaching. Moving the camp after a few days, possibly to Silverton or Animas Forks, to access other jeep trails and geocaches. The travel trailer has a high lift axle and 15" tires with four shocks, so it will access somewhat rougher terrain to get to a campsite. Jeep and trailer pix at: www.mountainborn.com
Never been there, don't have a clue, but we suspect that being flatlanders we may need to spend the nights at around six ot seven thousand feet in order to rest better, making day trips over those cool passes, ect..
Advice, suggestions and camping information much appreciated.

 

Just got back from there! What an amazing place!!! There's so much to see and do in Durango-Ouray.

(If you do the Durango-Silverton train, take the bus back down, or it's too long of a day. But worth the trip up!)

We camped in La Plata Canyon just west of Durango. It was a good place to start, but not my favorite for looks, and it was pretty crowded already.

For trail info, we used a good book from Charles A. Wells,...

Guide to Colorado Backroads and 4-wheel Drive Trails

Good general info, altho I don't know about some of the rankings for the trails and how difficult they are.

Lots of snow in southwest Colorado, but should be much clearer by the time you get there.

Cinnamon Pass is open (OMG!!!) and Engineers should be as well. But check with the local offroaders and Jeep touring places to make sure.

If you have the time, I would also consider camping above Crested Butte (great town!) on Slate River Road. It is a little high, but by the time you get there, hopefully you will have accommodated a bit. You can get a trailer in there easily, and it gives great access to a lot of things. This road was closed into Marble for us, but I would think it would be open by the end of June. Pearl Pass into Aspen and most others were closed for us, but that would be spectacular!

Have a great time!! Here are some pics to tease you,... You'll lose sleep thinking about this place. It is an awesome area of an amazing state.

Ophir Pass open to the top, but not all the way yet,...



Cinnamon Pass,... Taking off from Engineers,...



Lots of Snow!





Animas Ghost Town



Top of Cinnamon,...



On the way to Lake City,... Bottom of CInnamon,...



Camping on Slate River,...

 

We did some camping somewhere around Mt Sneffels (can't remember the access road/trail). It was around 9K ft elevation, very cool place. We also climbed Sneffels (a fourteener) and it's a cool one to summit.