Colorado Trip Reports

And some more

 

yup the weather up there was pretty nice today. A little windy at 13k feet though.

 

Went to Clohesy Lake today. One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

 

Eagle Rock in Pike national forest is open and lightly traveled. Went in the AM after breakfast this past saturday and no one was on it.

Trail is probably sitting at a 7 rating at the moment and would only recommend it to those running 35s and lockers. I think 33s could make it but you will be banging around a bit, make sure you have armor.

Trail is a loop and runs in one direction, I think it took us 3 hours to get through and we stopped a few times.

 

Ya I have an offroad book and it even said it was pretty heavily used. Maybe we just got lucky and hit it at the right time, literally no one there but us.

 

Monday, on the drive from Oceano Dunes to Hermosa Beach, our throats got a little parched and we had to stop by an old stage coach station:

Cold Springs Tavern is outside of Santa Barbara in a canyon off of Hwy 154. It was worth the visit.

 

It's all about lines I run it on 32s and rear locker those bypasses on the big climb are new.

 

Bypass has been there for years. If anything the bypass is worse than it used to be.

The track is wider now whoch helps but otherwise you are stuck on the line given in some spots.

The guys I was with were on 38s and still got hung up in some spots. Ya you can do it in 32s and 33s but you’ll have to work at it and bang around a bit.

It’s not a trail I would go around and recommend to do on 32s unless you’ve done it before and have a ton of experience or plan on taking the bypass which negates the whole point of the trail.

It changes frequently and the trail changed for us as we were on it has boulders were shifted lose and moved.

The climb up for the first 1/3 of the loop is the toughest part. After that it’s pretty easy.

 

Pics in the book are much different as well. I will try and get a ton of pics in a couple weeks as we plan on running it again. OR you all can just run it with us!!!!

So there is a bypass in the beginning of the main hill where the crux is and it pretty much runs the whole length of the climb and when the trail turns to a sharp right is where it comes out.

There is a second bypass after that, that seems generally unused but you can see people use it. There used to be a single track that when up over a 2.5' boulder that previously a lot of people had to winch over, that is now a double wide track where people just go around it.

The most common quotes that weekend were, "I don remember this" "This looks different" "This wasn't here before"

 

I dont recommend it unless your ready to scrape and bang on things. But pick your lines and your good, only thing I bypassed was the hard left with the 2.5ft boulder there.
The length of the tacoma helps in so.e cases and hinders in others.

 

Pasting this link here cause I posted to the wrong thread:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/upcoming-colorado-events.187907/page-937#post-18699583

 

Hmmm ... I bet you can guess where this is:

 

Texas?

 

The loop on the Alpine Tunnel?

 

Y'all can't be serious with such a dead giveaway right smack in the middle of the shot.

 

Right smack in the middle of the shot above (post 3963), is the hydroelectric plant at Bridal Veil Falls.

I ran Black Bear pass Friday morning into Telluride followed by Imogene pass Friday afternoon towards Ouray.

Black Bear was pretty straight forward climbing up to the summit. On the way down, there was a gnarly section just before the famous switchbacks. There were some self described "Crazy Canucks" riding their 1000cc Adventure bikes, by far the largest bikes I saw on both Black Bear and Imogene. At the gnarly section they each held on to one bike and rolled it down then climbed up to get the other. I love how the Tacomas crawl in 1st gear 4 wheel low. Made the gnarly section easy. At the switchbacks, I made a four point turn on the first, a three point turn on the second and a two point turn on the third while the rest were regular turns.

Imogene pass is at the end of N Oak St in Telluride. I drove right past N Oak St. the first time. I encountered Telluride Blues Festival traffic. Imogene is more technical then Black Bear and just as scenic. The 360 degree view at the summit is unforgettable.

Posting only a few of the many pictures I took. You've got to go and see for yourself if you haven't already.
Black Bear:




Imogene:


That's the end of my ~2000 mile excursion through Escalante, Utah; Pismo Beach, California; and Silverton/Ouray, Colorado. I have many more great memories to cherish.

 

I only know of one Black Bear pass. The one shown on this map. I started at the Hwy 550 entrance and drove to Telluride.

 

Oh I misunderstood - I don't know if this helps, but it was just after this poor picture of them and I think in the third picture above just around the corner.



I didn't get a picture of the gnarly section.

 

I attempted this when I was there. Unfortunately it was after my clutch line failed so it was my electric crawl box doing all the work. I made it until my back tires hit the root and wall. I would have needed some momentum to bump the root and maybe get up but I doubt it. The only line we were able to get the front up was straight at it, then cut driver and let that tire climb just to the left of the crack and then cut back to the passenger side.

My roommate tried in his 3rd gen 4runner and did the same. His hitch was digging in so his rear wheels weren't doing anything. He gave it hell. Surprised he didn't break anything.

Maybe next year I'll make it back.