7/9 - 7/12 - Off Roading and Camping in Telluride, CO

After 2 years, I was aching to go back to Colorado. Our original plan was to go to the Gunnison area but with the heavy snow pack over the winter, a majority of the trails we were looking at were still closed. So, we made a last minute switch to go back to my favorite place - Telluride! Our plan was fairly similar to my last trip in August 2023: drive down Wednesday, Imogene Pass and Yankee Boy Basin Thursday, Poughkeepsie Gulch into Alpine Loop Friday, RimRocker to Buckeye campground Saturday, then drive home Sunday. But, as we say in the military, the enemy always gets a vote and that's what happened! 

Day 0 - Wednesday

Lou and I had planned to meet at the Quality Inn hotel in Montrose, CO which was about a 9 hour drive for me, so I packed up and got going early. I rolled into town around 6 PM and my route took me right past the Montrose Regional airport. This was the airport that I picked Nina up from back in 2017 the evening before I took her on Black Bear Pass and later proposed at Top of the Pines. Very nostalgic for me! Unfortunately, she won't let me do Black Bear after that experience but the trails in the area are still a close second. Lou arrived about 20 minutes later and we went out on the town for pizza and cannoli's at a local place called Pahgres. It was good pizza for small town Colorado! After that, we called it an early night after a long drive. 

 

Day 1 - Thursday

I woke up at 7 on Thursday to get a run in before we finished the drive to the trailhead. It was a pleasant morning and the hotel had a running path that started on the premises. 

After that, we got some included hotel breakfast that wasn't as good as the views from my run, got gas and a few cans of bug spray, then headed out to the trailhead for Imogene Pass.

Imogene Pass had a shelf road collapse on the backside of the trail so it became an out and back from the Ouray side. That's okay since Yankee Boy Basin started at the same area. We started the climb at 9:45 and were at the summit by 11; definitely the fastest I've ever ran Imogene. Perks of running it early in the year is that the trail was still decently groomed from the snow removal dozers. We stopped at the summit and got good views in!

 

We also made the short hike nearby to see the Fort Peabody Historic Site. It was a military post back in 1904 atop the pass at 13,365 feet between Ouray and San Miguel Counties. At that elevation, it was and is the highest post of its kind in the United States. It was guarded by National Guard soldiers to prevent union miners from returning home after a strike. It was restored in 2010 by the USDA Forest Service and was in good shape when we saw it! The door still worked and the inside had a bench and a bit of snow still.

After checking out the post, we descended back down from once we came. There was a spot low enough to be in the tree line that I scouted on the way up, so we pulled into the spot for lunch and enjoyed the shade. We were meeting up with Mike and he departed late from Colorado Springs so we had some time to kill. We checked in with him on my Garmin inReach and we decided to push ahead with our day plan. 

The last stop on Imogene was one of the 4 old mines. Most of these passes were cut in to access mines. Right next to the mine was a nice waterfall and we took a detour to check it out. It flowed well due to all the snow melt after the heavy winter. We stopped and got a photo, of course. After our brief stop, we pushed out and finished Imogene. That was my 3rd time on Imogene and it never disappoints.

After Imogene, it was on to Yankee Boy Basin. I haven't done this one before but it starts at the same place as Imogene so makes it easy to run both. Yankee Boy Basin was just as scenic as Imogene but the trail wasn't as smooth. About half way up, there is a parking lot for hikers and backpackers to base from. We passed many a few on foot headed to the end of the trail. At the end, there is a 2nd parking lot to stop at to push for the nearby 14,000 foot summit called Mt Sneffels and another trail to start a multiple day back packing adventure. That really isn't my thing but I thought it was pretty cool! After we hit the summit, we started back down and scouted out a few camping spots. Once we had a good spot secured, I messaged Mike our location so he could meet us. 

We rolled into a great camp spot around 4:15 and Mike was able to find us around dinner. Lou set up his roof top tent, Mike sent up his hammock, and I set up my spot in the Bronco. We unwinded over dinner with a few glasses of wine while listening to the babbling brook roll on by. However, we noticed before sunset that the sky was getting smokey and a little hazy. We didn't think much of it at the time but it ended up playing a big role in the rest of our trip. 

Day 2 - Friday

We had a busy day planned for Friday so I told the group to plan for an early wake up. However, Mike took that a little too seriously and woke me up around 4. Him and Lou were up occasionally during the night due to smoke in the air. I also didn't sleep well due to the high altitude but the smoke didn't bother me since I was in the car. I didn't question Mike as he is the Colorado expert and we didn't have access to any additional info, so we packed up and rolled into a cute little coffee shop called Ouray Ice House at 6am. 

Turns out, a lightning strike hit a tree in Montrose the afternoon before which was upwind of us. There was no way to know or plan for that but we made the right call to head into town. We spent about an hour at the coffee shop checking out the situation and pulling wind reports and we concluded that it was safe to continue with our trip as planned. 

First stop was Alpine Loop! Another fav of mine! We hit the trade post in Ouray, got some stickers and gas, and headed over. The plan was to enter on Mineral Creek then turn on Poughkeepsie Gulch to enter Alpine Loop and exit Animas Forks. It would be a full day with around 120 miles of off roading.

Mineral Creek sucked about as much as I remember but we got through it in an hour. Poughkeepsie was much better and very scenic! It was after the coffee shop and during this time that we started to notice that both Mike and Lou were dragging a bit. Mike was doing a little better but Lou was struggling a bit. We thought it was dehydration during this time and Lou made a serious effort to get hydrated.

We got to the part of Poughkeepsie where the obstacle called the Wall was. Since we were pressed for time and not feeling well, we decided to bypass. Not long after the Wall, we arrived to the end of Poughkeepsie around 10. Poughkeepsie ends at the split between Animas Forks and Alpine Loop so we turned on Alpine Loop and started our big loop. We were in the clouds for a portion of the trail last time I did it so it was going to be a new experience being able to see the surroundings.

About a mile into the loop, we stopped at Hurricane Pass. Mike and I both got out of the car but Lou didn't. It gave Mike and I a chance to talk about what we think was going on. When we put our heads together, it was obvious that Lou was suffering from altitude sickness. Considering we were at 12,000 feet all day previously and were planning on being 12,000 feet or higher the next 36 hours, we needed to make a change. Our best bet was to turn around, take Animas Forks out, and we could be in Silverton in an hour. That's exactly what we did; we were at lunch by 11:30. 

We stopped for lunch at Handle Bar Saloon where apparently Wyatt Earp worked back in the day. It was an interesting place with centuries of history. The folks were nice and the food was good. Lou didn't eat but was starting to feel better. Long exposure to altitude will get better within a day or so but smoke inhalation can take a few days to recover from. The two together can be a tough combo but Lou feeling a little better was a good sign, although still unlikely to recover within 24 hours. 

We talked it over and he decided to call it and head to Durango and get a hotel room for the night. Mike and I said our goodbyes as Lou headed out. We later learned that Lou was feeling better and pushed all the way to home that day and made a full recovery within a few days. Mike and I discussed it and given our current location and some of the fires in the area, we decided to head over to Telluride. 

Since we were in Ouray and needed to get to Telluride, we turned towards Ophir Pas which is a shorter drive than the long drive on the highway. We've done Ophir Pass so off we went! We had a full day of time ahead of us so we took our time and stopped at all the scenic views. During the pass, we saw on the map a waypoint for Opus Hut so we decided to take a short hike to check it out. We discovered it was a bit more than a hut but actually a cabin you can rent. I want to come back in the future! 

At the top of the pass, we stopped out to get a few photos and noticed some locals with fishing poles hiking up a trail that we didn't even see. Mike called out and asked if it was worth it and they said yes, so up we went! It was only a 0.3 mile hike to Crystal Lake but we were already at 12,300 feet and it was a climb right up scree. I'm pretty sure my heart rate was 180 the whole time but the locals were right - it was worth it. The guys said that the lake does get stocked, but we didn't see them catch anything.

After Ophir, we drove through the town of Ophir and made the short drive to Telluride. It was around dinner so we parked in the parking garage and took the gondolas into town and saw a few elk buck laying in the grass. We walked around a bit and got dinner at Smuggler Union Brewery. After that, we got back in the trucks and headed out to Last Dollar Pass. This was an easy dirt road but had plenty of camp sites to check out. It was getting late but we were hopeful we'd get a spot. 

On the way to Last Dollar, we circled the town of Telluride including the airport. I've landed at Telluride airport a few years prior and had an interesting experience. It was cool to see it from a new perspective. We quickly learned that we were a little late to Last Dollar as all the spots were taken. We bombed through the 40 miles and enjoyed driving this scenic trail during the sunset. We finished around 10PM, aired up, and decided to drive north to Montrose and get a hotel for the night. This would shorten the drive home the following morning. 

Day 3 - Saturday

We woke up normal time, got the free continental breakfast and decided to check out the quilt show they were having in town. Why not. When we showed up, they didn't allow drinks and Mike had just popped open a monster so we walked across the street to the Montrose Botanic gardens. Worth looking! 

Once we went into the quilt show, it was all elderly ladies and they were excited to have two young men in there. We were instantly celebrities! We took about a hour to browse all the quilts and we learned a lot before placing our vote. I voted for this awesome gnome themed one. 

After the quilt show, we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways. Mike got home before me around 3PM and I got back around 6PM. Although it was a shortened trip, we had a great time. 

Takeaways:

-Check for smoke and fire hazards next time

-Bring some friends and reserve Opus Hut

-Come back to hike Mt Sneffels

-Continue to be willing to allow the plan to change, even though it's annoying

-Skip Mineral Basin, although I already knew that, all the other trails were great

-Look into camping spots at lower altitudes to mitigate altitude sickness

Files:

Imogene Out n Back

Yankee Boy Basin to Camp

Poughkeepsie to Animas

Ophir Pass
Last Dollar

2/16 - Hiking Hidden Forest to the Hidden Cabin

A hike that has been on my bucket list for a long time is seeing the Hidden Cabin off of the Hidden Forest road in the Desert National Wildlife Range just north of Las Vegas. The cabin is originally dated back in the early 1900s but had been restored back in 2020 by an Eagle Scout project and supposedly had an outhouse as well. This is a longer hike but I was confident that I was up for the challenge after our recent success in hiking in New Zealand.

The trailhead of the hike is actually about 25 miles up a gravel road so the day really starts at the Desert National Wildlife Refuge Center just off of Corn Creek road. This is a cool wildlife center that has a few exhibits on the history of the area and is a sanctuary for birds. Highly recommend checking that out if you ever have the chance. This is also the end of pavement so this is where I aired down before the 25 miles. I elected to go to 28 PSI but I should have lowered it to about 20. It was a bumpy ride! 

The 25 miles gravel road is groomed and well marked. AWD or 4WD is not required nor is high clearance but I would recommend a tire with a higher ply rating to prevent tears or slicing. The further up Alamo road you go, the less traffic you will see so prepare to be on your own for repairs. I brought, as always, a floor jack and tools just in case I had to swap out a tire. It took me 38 minutes from the Wildlife Center to the trailhead. I'd plan on at least an hour in a normal car.

Once I arrived at the trailhead, I noticed another vehicle so I knew I wouldn't be the only one on the trail today. After that, it was time to get loaded up and off I go! I always start my Gaia app, my Garmin watch, and the Garmin InReach so I can accurately capture the data. The InReach gives me piece of mind when I'm out by myself so that Nina can track my progress from home despite me having no cell phone service. Plus, she can reach me via text if something comes up.

The trail to the cabin is 5.5 miles up and 2,170 feet of ascent. This averages out to about 400 feet up per mile and it was a consistent climb the entire ascent. The trail was easy to follow and I encountered no scree rock nor any slippery terrain. However, I did encounter snow for the last two miles, about 1-2 inches deep around the 4 mile mark and about 3-4 inches for the last mile. I did the hike in normal hiking boots and that was fine; I did not need any snow specific gear. 

I came across the outhouse first and it was nice, clean, and had a good view. Next, was the cabin. It had 3 picnic tables outside and was complete with a table, windows, and a wood stove. Very cozy! This was the destination for my hike but this was where the turnoff for the summit push for Hayford Peak starts. It's another 2.5 miles up and 2,500 feet. It's on the bucket list for the spring but not today! After a short break at the cabin and a cliff bar, I was headed back.

The way down was a straight shot right down the hill just the way I came up. I was glad I had trekking poles to keep the pressure off my knees a little bit. On the descent, I noticed that the sun set behind the hill on one side at 2:45PM despite the official sunset time at 5:25PM. This was a friendly reminder to always start early and plan ahead when in mountainous regions, otherwise you may find yourself hiking when the temperature drops quickly and it gets dark rapidly. 

Once I was back to the car, the total hiking distance was 10.86 miles and 2,170 feet. It was about 2+30 up, 30 minutes at the cabin, and then another 2 hours back to the car totaling 5 hours on the trail plus an hour on either side for transit. My total time for the day was around 7 hours. Totally worth it to have a great hike with a cool destination that isn't crowded and somewhat close to the house. Stay tuned for a future endeavor up Hayford Peak! 

 

Files:

Drive to the Trailhead

Hike up Hidden Forest

1/27 - Wheeler's Pass

After many discussions with a few folks at work, we decided it was time to get out of the office and head out to get some dirt on the tires! Two of our friends were new to wheeling and had never been, so we picked an easy trail that was still enjoyable - Wheeler's Pass. I've done it at least 10 times before at this point so I was very familiar with it and able to spot our friends as needed. We had myself, another buddy and his wife in a Bronco, another buddy and her husband and brother in a stock Tacoma and another guy with his girlfriend in a stock Colorado. It was a good group and ready for a good day on the trail! 

We met up at 0800 at the Lowe's parking lot before driving out to the trailhead, about 50 minutes away. Once we arrived, both Broncos aired down while the Tacoma was already a little low on PSI and the Colorado stayed at highway PSI since we were concerned about damaging his baby highway tires. Once we got rolling, it took about 2+30 hours to arrive at the top. There were a few instances where I stopped to spot others through a rougher patch but we all rolled through well. Thankfully, we came across no other groups! 

At the top, we got a quick group photo and decided to push on over the ridge and descend into Pahrump on the other side. It is always windy at the apex, so we didn't stay long. I did notice that the sign that's usually there was missing. Weird! 

Once we reached the bottom of the hill, we stopped for about an hour while I grilled up some brots and burgers. Winston, of course, got some food too. 

After we finished out the trail, we all met up at a local gas station to air up, hit the bathroom, get a few snacks and head home. Another great day on the trails in the books! 

Files:

Wheeler's Pass

12/28 - Hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, New Zealand

On the 5th day of our trip in New Zealand, we planned to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, which is regarded as one of the world's best day hikes and also puts the hiker at the base of Mt. Ngauruhoe, also known as Mt Doom! This was the primary reason we traveled to New Zealand and I was very excited. 

During this portion of our trip, we stayed in Rotorua to be closer to the trailhead for this hike. Even with that, we were still a two hour drive from the parking lot but I packed all of our food, water, and electrolyte packets the night before. This hike is a through trail so Nina got us shuttle tickets so that we would park at the end, then catch a shuttle to the beginning. The shuttle tickets sell out weeks in advance so we were fortunate to get the 8:30 time slot. After the long drive, we arrived around 8:15 and caught the shuttle to the start. Very excited!

Right from the start, the trail was very clearly marked and easy to follow. Everyone was going the same direction so you couldn't get lost. What struck me the most about this trail is the people we were hiking were all serious hikers and traveled from all over the world to do this hike. We did too! The hike starts off with a slow gradual incline across some plains - I named these the Plains of Mordor. Just passed the plains were our first view of Mt Doom! It felt very surreal. Good thing I brought my own Ring of Power! 

Throughout the ascent, we noticed not only how well the trails were maintained, but also, how well everything was labeled. This is one of the signs that they had throughout the trail to show how far along you were, and how much further is needed to go. They also posted stats of historically where during the hike was the highest number of rescues needed. Without any access to additional food or water during the adventure, this was a stark reminder of how big of a day this was going to be! At this point, the gradual climb turned into a less-gradual, more steeper climb. After all, the trail is called an 'Alpine Crossing' for a reason, so I assumed there was a mountain for us to cross. Let us begin!

When we thought was near the end of the climb, offered us the closest spot to Mt Doom that we would have. It was cool to be that close for where the movie was filmed. Viggo Mortensen, the actor who played Aragorn, chose to walk to the sets, sometimes for days at a time, in his attire and sword so that his character would look traveled. Having now traveled the same steps, respect for him for choosing to get his steps in rather than take the helicopter like the other actors. We stopped here to take in the views, have a quick snack, hit the bathroom (they had drop toilets every 3-4 miles) before continuing. Once we arrived here, we realized it was a false summit and the real climb had yet to begin.

As we continued, we crossed a short plain and noticed how windy it was becoming. This was a concern because we (I) was already pretty sunburnt at this time and now we were adding wind burnt to that too. No bueno. As we pressed on, we came to the base of the actual climb up a long but steep ridge towards the no-kidding summit. This was a little morale crushing but we regrouped, rallied, and made the decision to push on hoping it would all be downhill once we passed this last peak! 

As we climbed towards the summit, we encountered some crazy winds. We didn't have an exact reading but I'd guess 60 MPH. It was enough for where you had to squat slightly moving forward otherwise you'd be blown over. I could Nina wasn't having at this point but she was a good sport and kept moving. Our rain jackets doubled as wind jackets which was helpful. We only stayed at the summit long enough to take a selfie, take a short video, and then push on ahead! 

As Isaac Newton likes to say, 'what goes up, must come down' and down we had to go. This was definitely Nina's least favorite part as we descended on a steep ridgeline, in the wind, in the sun, across some very slipper scree rock. Understandably so, she slowed down considerably during this section, which caused us to consume more water than planned. This had later ramifications when we ran out of water so we couldn't eat any of our snacks which meant we were running on empty and were getting very sore with each step. I broke 5L for me and another 3L for Nina but it turned out to not be enough. Again, I didn't consider the slow down, nor the high winds nor the intense sun. 

After the long descent, we stopped to transition from volcano terrain, to green emerald pools, and more.

As we came down the backside, we had to put a few miles down directly in sunlight where my sun burn got worse and worse. Finally, we entered the forest before the end. We were pretty sore, out of water, and a lot tired at this point but only had a few more miles to go! Again, the trails were well maintained and the Park Service had put in a bunch of stairs throughout to stop erosion. This was great but made for tough steps as our knees were pretty sore. 

Once we were finally past the forest, it was another 3/4 mile to where the car was parked and we were happy to attack the final stretch.

We were fortunate that there was a family selling drinks out of a trailer at the parking lot and they were closing up when we arrived. We happily overpaid for some waters and PowerAde's before getting in the car, swapping shoes to sandals, and headed to get some food. 

Overall, we covered 13.10 miles over 13 hours and 5 minutes and climbed 5,302 feet. This was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime hike and we highly recommend it! 

Files:

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

12/14 - 12/15 - Off Roading in Sand Hollow, Utah

It's been a long time since I did some harder off roading trails, so I was all for it when my good friend Nick from Rogue Overland invited us out to Sand Hollow State Park for 2 days of hard wheeling. Sand Hollow is in St. George and only about a 2 hour drive from Las Vegas so the plan was to meet up with the Vegas gang early Saturday morning, drive out, hit John's Trail Saturday then hit Sliplock Gulch the following day before driving back home. 

Day 1 - Saturday

Saturday morning started dark and early as we meet up at 0600 at the gas station but we rolled out on time and meet up with the group in St George a little ahead of schedule! If you've ever wheeled with the guys from Rogue Overland then you'll know that you don't want to be the one guy running late. The early drive out gave us a good chance to enjoy the sunrise! 

As we met up with the rest of the guys, we headed out to Sand Hollow State Park, aired down, and started rolling down John's Trail. This trail was only about 3 miles long but took most of the day. It was also a bit of a kick to my confidence as I haven't done a hard trail in awhile. It took me awhile to get settled back in! Thankfully for me, I had some experts with me who were patient with me as I figured out how to wheel some of the harder trails again. I felt a lot better by the end of the first day! 

There were a few maintenance issues amongst the group so I started taking the bypasses. There's no ego on the trail and if you're concerned, then take the easy way out! I knew the Bronco was more capable than me that day but I'm okay with it. At the end of the day, it's my daily driver and I didn't take too many risks. 

 

As they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words. That means a video is worth 1,000 pictures. Check out Rogue Overland's video here: Video

After the trail, Nick hosted us to a great dinner as we hung out around the fire. Perfect way to end the day! 

Day 2 - Sunday

Next day was Sliplock Gulch. It was a little longer at 9 miles but had very similar to terrain from the day before and was in the same area. Nick's wife, Vicky, sent us off that morning with home made sourdough and I put them in the Bronco engine bay to stay warm. After the day before, I felt a lot more comfortable this time around. However, this trail was pretty gnarly so I still took some of the bypasses but still had plenty of opportunities to get some good wheeling in! 

Near the end of the trail, we stopped for lunch so I popped the hood to see how Vicky's bread was doing. It was still warm and delicious! 

After lunch, we finished the rest of the trail, aired back up, and headed out different directions back home. Another great trip in the books! 

Files:

John's Trail

Sliplock Gulch