Trip Ideas (May)

Aight y'all,

Texas guy. Few guys in our off road club are talking about a Colorado trip for a week to enjoy some in mid May



We're going to go to the Silverton area for sure. Will probably have two groups, dirt bike group and full size group. Full size, we'll have anywhere from a stock FJ to a diesel swapped Land Cruiser on 37s.

I was hoping to hear from some of y'all locals to hear trails we should hit while we're in the area. If weather allows it, we'll camp every night (college kids, fuck it) but areas for showers would be nice for the ladies. Black bear is a must (hopefully my Aussie on non-manual locking hubs doesn't dick me). Would also like to try Poughkeepsie's Gulch if y'all think a stock FJ can make it.

Thanks y'all!

 

It's highly unlikely anything in that area will be open that early. Not impossible, but highly unlikely. Most passes in that area shoot for Memorial day to open up (with plowing).

Also, Bushducks report is saying there's a signed bypass to the obstacle now?

 

They're not opened year round? That's new to me, had no idea

 

Keep in mind that not only are we 600+ miles north of you, but with Cedar Park being a little over 900' in elevation, Denver at 5,280' alone is 4,400' further up in altitude. Black Bear Pass (12,840') is 11,900 ft higher than Cedar Park. There's not very much open here in May. Just about any road worth the time doesn't open until spring runoff is over in mid-June. It's not unusual for it to snow in the high country as late as Memorial Day. The passes will be closed until late June or early July. Here is what Black Bear Pass looked like on July 11th, 2016. The best thing to do is check out & make Bushducks a favorite on your browser so you can easily check the status.

 

Old picture, but Cinnamon Pass on June 9th in 2005:



And here's Ophir the day before... Note the gray full-size pickup on the left side of the image, and you can just see the cab of the dozer over the snow a bit to the right of it (well you can see them in the full size original anyway). Also pretty easy to make out the point he's gotten to plowing:



Found my old trip report with the edited image to highlight things:



There are three counties that share jurisdiction over the passes/trails in the area (each county has one side of the pass), and they generally all shoot to have some of them plowed open by Memorial Day. They don't always make it. You can look at Bushducks the and see the open date for the past few years. You can usually get some distance up them starting around mid-May, but typically only the plowed ones are open June 1st. Should also give you an idea of what kind of camping you'd be in for temperature-wise.

 

I have a good friend whos in more of the car scene (STI and 700whp trans am) from Pueblo and when he came down here he was astonished at his dyno numbers. Honestly I'll probably honey dick someone into towing me and my buddies Jeep and keep it in 4low the whole time.

That's crazy snow stays out THAT long. I've never wheeled in snow before. Was hoping to catch a bit, but not that much. I suppose end of June is more feasible.

Sounds like May is out of the question. We figured May wouldn't be terrible. We camp in Amarillo in February where it's 0 humidity and blasts below freezing so we all have ways to say somewhat toasty

 

In May go to Moab, then you can come back when are passes open up.

 

I second Moab in May, it is not blazing hot and you can actually sleep through the night without waking up every 20 minutes in a pool of sweat.

 

Trying to make Rock Therapy my first Moab adventure

 

FYI- It sounds like they are moving it to fall in 2017.

 

Interesting, didn't know