From East to West for a Month.

Yuke

Adventurer
This past summer my wife and I headed west for a month with our dog and our JKU. I have been meaning to put together a trip report for a while now, so here it goes. Our trip encompassed the last two weeks of August, and the first two weeks of September in 2019. I had two main locations on my mind; the alpine loop and moab. I have wanted to visit Colorado for a while now, and it's simply a crime to head out west in a jeep without visiting moab. Our thoughts were that we would do moab on the tail end of the trip, to avoid the heat as much as we could. Inevitably it would be hot, but we would try to minimize that as much as possible. Along the way we planned to visit as many national parks as possible. I definetely tend to leave my trips a bit unstructured, as I beleive sticking to an agenda takes the fun away. The initial plan was for my wife to fly out and meet me along the way, spend about a week with me, and then head back to work. She just graduated nursing school, and we did not expect her to be able to take the time away. Ultimately, the timing ended up working out perfectly. She was still on the job hunt, and we decided it was foolish not to just pump the brakes on the search, so she could come along for the entire ride. I am blessed to get some good time away from work at times, and it was exciting to know she would be coming along this time. Most of my extended trips have been with a core group of guy friends. The reason I mention this is, she pretty much planned this entire trip, on the fly, from the passenger seat and it was one hell of a trip!

We took our time on the way out and headed south from Massachusetts to Maryland first. We stopped in to visit some friends, and then quickly turned west. For those who haven't made the trip out west yet, the plains portion can be brutal, but it's beautiful in it's own way. The excitement to get to Colorado was just so high, all I wanted to see on the horizon were mountains.



As we crossed into Colorado I had to take the stereo typical sign picture. We entered in the SW corner of the state, as our plan was to head to ourway, and I wanted to get off 70 as soon as possible. The drive along 400 and 50 proved to be scenic, and a very welcomed change of pace through farmland opposed to a major highway.



We were excited to hit Colorado to say the least! Our sights were set of Great Sand Dunes National Park. However, we were tired and needed to call it a day. We found John Martin State Park / Reservoir on the map and headed there for camp. I was surprised upon arrival. The terrain was not what I envisioned in Colorado. There was no snow, no mountains in the distance. If you told me I was still in Kansas, I would beleive you. However, this place was unbeleivably beautiful. I suppose that the fact that we had the place all to ourselves added to it. Only one vehicle was within eyesight, a sprinter van in the distance. As I type this I wish I had driven over to say hi and learn about thier adventure, meeting people is one of my favorite aspects of traveling. However, the quiet was nice. I read reports of great fishing in the reservoir, but the wind was too strong to break out the fly rod.

We set up camp and enjoyed a quiet evening and likely one of the best showing of stars I have seen.









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One of the things I wanted to try to learn on this trip is night photography. I have never tried it, and I figured I would have plenty of time. The stars at John Martin State Park were absolutely INSANE! This is the best I could muster.

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Yuke

Adventurer
The next morning we woke up and headed for Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Jake my pup loves his "treehouse" which we call our RTT. I suppose it's the husky in him enjoying his vantage point.



At the entrance of Great Sand Dunes National Park.



We stopped to check out Zappata Falls on the way in to the park. It's a nice little hike, but the road up is somewhat brutal. We were stuck behind a small SUV drving at a snail's pace the entire time. It's a graded road, and you get that teeth shattering washboard effect for a few miles unless you air down. The hike was very short, but nice.



 

Yuke

Adventurer
Great Sand Dunes National Park was beautiful. We checked out the dunes for a little bit. I wanted to hike to the top but it was too hot for us.

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We looped through the campsite in the park, it was crowded, very crowded. Behind the park, there is a 4wd only track called Medano Pass. Our plan was to head down the pass, hoping one of the dispersed sites was open. We were in luck, we came across many open sights. The track does have a bunch of small water crossings along the way. The water was very low this time of year. It would have been fun to have some high water!

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We did not pass any other vehicles along the pass, and we selected a camp site towards the back side of the trail. It was wide open, we some nice views.

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The soil here was like soot, reminents of a forest fire from years before. Jake painted himself black, and had a ball.

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Yuke

Adventurer
The track out the backside of Medano Pass proves to be scenic and quiet, we only passed one other vehicle.

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Medano Pass takes you out of the park to the North. We stopped in Salida, CO to do some laundry and stock up on food. While our laudry was drying, we headed down the street to try some local beer.

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We then continued on Rt 50 west headed towards montrose, where we would turn south towards Ouray. We stopped for the night at Hartman Rocks. This place was super cool, it was just outside of town, and offered some awesome camping and a massive network of tracks for 4x4s, dirtbikes, mountain bikes, etc. It was crowded, but we eventually found an open campsite. I say crowded, but the sites were far apart, so it was nice and peaceful. We ended up with a very nice spot, up on a hill, offering panoramic views of the area.

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Once the sun went down, I tried getting some more star pictures.

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Yuke

Adventurer
Now we get to the good stuff! This was day 8 of our trip when we rolled into Ouray, CO. We woke up and headed west into montrose, then turned south towards Ouray. We did stop in Ridgeway. I setup a guided fishing trip with RIGS. More to come on this later in the write up but they were awesome to work with!

As soon as we pulled into town, I knew this place was special. Mountains towered around the small town, and the streets were littered with kitted out trucks and adventure bikes. Normally when I do drive my jeep around town, it stands out like a sore thumb. It fit right in here and you could tell the whole community was all about the outdoors, and the associated powersports. This was refreshing as it can be quite the opposite out east.

We grabbed lunch at Maggie's Kitchen before heading out. If your in Ouray, this is a must do. The burgers were insanely good.

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After lunch, we headed for the Engineer Pass. The road out of town was a bit wild, one small drift outside the lines and you would be gone!

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Here comes a ton of pictures from Engineer Pass.

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Jake made it a point to play in every snow pile we could find.

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Yuke

Adventurer
On the way down from Enginerer Pass we spotted a nice little camp site off the main road. It was right off the main road, which I am usually against. However, I try to have camp setup before dark these days so we stopped for the night. I was actually a great spot aside from some late night drive bys. It was right on the river.

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The next morning reveiled an surpise. When I shut the door of the jeep I was hearing a clunk that I could not place. Eventually we tracked it down. The windsheild had come unglued! I had it replaced recently, and I went with a guy that was cheaper than most. Turns out was not sealed well and all the twisting and turning of the body finally worked the glass loose. The prefilter of my snorkel was holding it from falling out. It was a thursday on a holiday weekend and we couldnt find anywhere to fix it until at least monday...
 

Yuke

Adventurer
The next morning brings us to day 9 of our trip. The campsite was equally as beaituful in the morning. The sun really helped show the color of the water, and jake made sure to get the paws wet.

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We kept following the road until we came into Lake City. Lake City is a tiny little town, we saw some rental jeeps rolling through, and some UTVs. We got lunch at the BBQ spot in town and then headed off to Cinnamon Pass.

Cinnamon Pass is beautiful!

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greg.potter

Adventurer
More Engineer Pass.

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Got to get to Colorado in the summer one of these years. We tend to head south to the desert states in the spring for a respite from our winters (we still have between 3 and 4 feet of snow in our yard today), and spend the summers locally and into BC. Looks like some fun explorations to be had in Colorado!
 

Tucsontom

Adventurer
Great stuff - my favorite area - Ouray - Silverton and Telluride - best scenic 4 wheeling and camping that I know of. Just avoid the 4th of July! I hope you have more photos coming!
 

Yuke

Adventurer
When we got into Silverton, I decided to inspect a newly devloped noise. I was getting a loud clunk, which turned out to be a brake caliper. My driver side front caliper had lost a bolt. I am not sure how this happened, but I was kicking myself as I knew this would set us back. The only Jeep dealers were hours away, so we we headed into town hoping the hardware store would have something sufficient enough for a repair. I was able to find the necessary botl at Silverton Hardware.

As I walked up to Silverton Hardware, I was greeted by a handsome Great Pyranees. After, a quick game of tug of war, I was allowed to enter.

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We pulled off into a side street and did a quick repair of the brake system. I caught my wife sneaking a picture, in amusement as I buttoned things up. I apologize for the sign language.

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After the repair, we checked out Avalanche Brewing for lunch. The pizza was great, and the beer was good!

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