For a full day of jeeping you can take Ophir to Silverton, then Cinnamon Pass to Lake City, Engineer Pass to Ouray, then you can choose highway, Camp Bird, or Last Dollar to get back to Telluride. little less than 200 miles round trip. You’ll go above 12,000ft a few times, and even above 13,000. I’d consider these routes pretty safe. My Dad and I rode our bikes on this loop.
I want to do the Via Ferrata too. But I can’t find much info except prices. We are in our 40’s but consider ourselves pretty active. We’ll be bringing Mtn Bikes and riding a few trail too. Maggie, if you do one of these routes would you consider bringing my wife and I along if you have room? I’ve got all the maps you’ll need.
I believe Ophir Pass is easier than Imogene or Black Bear passes; however, you still need to pay attention. The worst aspect of it is on the Ophir side that spans the section of the scree field under the power line. You just need to look ahead for oncoming traffic … since there’s not really a whole lot of room to pass.
Last Dollar is comparable in difficulty.
Another relatively moderate / easy jeep roads is the loop to Dunton that brings you near the Lizardhead Wilderness area. You don’t have to do it as a loop, and can take the entrance about a couple miles to the south of Lizard Head Pass (jeep road is on the north side of hwy).
Sure - our plans are not set in stone yet. All I know for sure is that we will be driving into Telluride on the 19th, staying at a hotel that first night then camping the remainder of the time. Both of us are googling things to do since neither of us have ever been to this area.
Does anyone know about “little Hawaii” trail that is off the Bear Creek trail?
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I believe Ophir Pass is easier than Imogene or Black Bear passes; however, you still need to pay attention. The worst aspect of it is on the Ophir side that spans the section of the scree field under the power line. You just need to look ahead for oncoming traffic … since there’s not really a whole lot of room to pass.
Last Dollar is comparable in difficulty.
Another relatively moderate / easy jeep roads is the loop to Dunton that brings you near the Lizardhead Wilderness area. You don’t have to do it as a loop, and can take the entrance about a couple miles to the south of Lizard Head Pass (jeep road is on the north side of hwy).
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Thank you - I will look that up.
I’ll share MY fishing hole! In dry years, when the runoff is basically DONE by the time we take over Town Park, head to the NE part of the campsites. Yeah, where the two rivers combine by the rocky beach. When the river is down (and probably will be this year) you can smack trout like crazy right there. You gotta get there early enough to beat the kids who jump on rafts and tubes, cuz they DO scare the fish. Or wait until the sun is almost down and the kids are outta the water.
However, most of the time when the Festivarians hit TP, the water is too high to fish there. When that happens, head outta town in just about any direction to find some slower water. Sometimes you need to go far away to find fish-able streams. It all depends on the runoff.
I always call the Telluride Angler fly shop before packing my fishing stuff along with my camping equipment. They’re really good about being honest about the runoff.
John now I know! There’s good fishin’ there? Interesting. Humm or is it yet another fish story :fish
Right now Tride is in a drought. Could change, spring is big snow which means fast rivers.