92Shawman's 1992 3VZ-E SR5 Pickup

Camp that night:
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Birds!
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Went up Yankee Boy Basin to the base of Mt. Sneffels. Fantastic views, and we were even visited by a fox! Kinda thin-looking...poor guy.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Had a surprise thunderstorm when we stopped in Ouray so we hung out for a bit then decided to make our way up Mineral Creek to Engineer Pass and the Alpine Loop and hope for the best with the weather.

Blue skies at this cool waterfall:

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Storm's-a-comin'!
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

 

With mixed forecasts of thunderstorms starting anywhere between 9am and noon the next day, we weren't sure if we wanted to continue to plan on hiking Handies Peak like we had originally. I still wanted to finish the Alpine Loop, though, and with the peak right off of the loop we decided to see how the weather looked in the morning.

Entering American Basin off of Cinnamon Pass:

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Camped at the trailhead:

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Weather looked pretty good so we started the hike at 6am.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Ptarmigan!
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Clouds, but not super threatening so we continued above tree line and above the cliffs.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

EXCELLENT weather at the top!

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Handies Peak view by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

The timing was perfect, and we were most of the way down when the summit was covered in clouds. By the time we got down the skies were clear again but it was also quite warm, so we had the perfect mix of cool and clear!

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Had a visitor while we were resting back at the trucks!

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Just passing through

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

 

Made our way up Cinnamon Pass:

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

A photo characterizing the trip...just missing the ATVs
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Stopped in Animas Forks
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

California Pass:

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

 

Hurricane Pass:

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Corkscrew Pass:

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Dropped down to Ouray for gas on the way north, stopping by the waterfall overlook:

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Then went up to Owl Creek Road to cut from Ouray towards Gunnison. Started out just as a place to find a campsite but it was actually a pretty nice trail with some different scenery.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Ended up at a campground at Silver Jack Reservoir. Not as scenic as we were hoping, but not bad.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

 

The next day we were planning on going up Pearl Pass but there were reports of huge thunderstorms coming towards the area so we went farther away from them and into the depths of ATV hell and did Timichi, Hancock, and Tincup passes.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Timichi Pass

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Kinda funky angles on the hillsides coming down towards Hancock!
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Continental Divide at Hancock Pass!
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

And again at Tincup Pass!
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Camp for the night just down from Mirror Lake:

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

 

From there we made our way towards Crested Butte via Italian Creek.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Nice views from the top of American Flag Mountain. Fortunately for my memories I didn't get the hordes of dirt bikes in any of my photos up there. ***Another Pro tip: STAY THE $@#%*&^ TRAIL! There's a reason the Forest Service closes trails...to protect the land that they manage. If the users of the trails are degrading the surrounding environment and causing too much of an impact, they will close the trail to prevent further damage. PLEASE keep these areas clean and stay the trail so they can stay open for years to come.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Went down to Crested Butte for gas and to evaluate the weather forecasts to plan for Pearl Pass. We decided to head partway up to find camp then re-evaluate in the morning and run it if the weather looked good.

Camp:
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

The weather was perfect so we ran the pass

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Very glad we did! Because both ends of the pass trail were closed to OHV use, there were no ATVs. We didn't even see any other 4 wheelers, and the weather was so good!

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Even saw Rosy-Finches! Only found in alpine habitats like this.
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

The rest of the day was spent driving from Aspen up towards Breckenridge.

 

I hate you

 

Camped along the Swan River just East of Breckenridge.

The Chosen One...
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Went up Georgia Pass. Saw some more wildlife!

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Then down and around towards Guanella Pass Road, which brought us back north on our way to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

When you park to get these pictures, apparently you have to be careful not to park right in front of a small trailhead on the side of the road, in line with all of the other vehicles pulled over. Some guy that we parked in front of was returning to his car right when we were leaving ours to walk around and said to his friends, "Of course someone blocked the trailhead!" Then in reference to our plates, "Caleefoooorniaaaaa!" We were right there next to our vehicles and called out, "How are we blocking the trailhead?!" ... *crickets* ...

Oh Colorado, such a strange mix of people

 

Drove up to Grand Lake and camped in the Arapaho national forest outside of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Junco!
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Chickadee!
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Did a hike in the park that went from Milner Pass to the Alpine visitor's center. Quite a scenic 4-mile hike! Perfect for a quick day hike in the park, especially since we could park one vehicle at each end and hike between them.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

RMNP Milner Pass by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Elk!
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

 

At the top of the hill above the alpine visitor's center:
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Made our way through the park, past a huge herd of elk. The rangers had to herd the people away from the elk.
Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

In Estes Park we decided to split up so I could go check out the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins and Timmy could get a head start on his drive out to the Sierra Nevada to fish for a day before he met up with @deadhed61. I don't know about his camp, but I'd like to think I had the better spot

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

Spent the last day in CO checking out the campus and then made my way home! Split it up this time, stopping in Fishlake National Forest outside of Sevier, UT to camp.

Untitled by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

The rest of the drive home was HOT. Man the cold temps in the mountains were nice! The 109*F temps going through Mojave SUCKED. And the icing on the "Welcome back to Southern California" cake was this lovely view...

Blue Cut Fire by Kevin Shaw, on Flickr

The Blue Cut fire, which ended up destroying 105 homes and 216 outbuildings in 36,274 acres, had just started that morning. Google had warned me that the 15 was closed at the fire and had re-routed me onto highway 138. I happened to tune into a local 2m ham repeater (Keller) and found out that everything there was closed. Instead of finding out the hard way by following Google and going down 138 I ended up going out to Santa Clarita and then through downtown LA. So much fun at rush hour on a Tuesday. But I made it just fine, so I'm counting it as a success.

Aside from the dumb end to the drive back, it was a phenomenal trip, @at_olw! Can't wait for the next one.

 

It was a great route! You seemed to have a great trip, too.

Isn't not having kids great?

 

Bennett says fuck you.

 

*Gasp*
Isn't he young for such language?

 

Acorns fall close to the tree. Or some shit like that.

 

I can't speak for Timmy's first night up there, but all the nights I was there we had pretty epic spots by lakes.

Awesome photos man!


Right about here is where an ATV caused us to almost slide down the hill into the lake a couple years back. The trail had just opened, so there was a ton of snow

 

Thanks!

Yeah I've heard that story a few times now. So shitty!

 

Killer good photos. Thanks for sharing them. Enjoyed the commentary as well.

 

Thanks! You made me want to go back to VotM sometime soon with your photos... desert season is just about here!

 

Oh? He's a little young for that...allow me. "Fuck you"

 

Fantastic photos Kevin! Thanks for taking the time to share. What a great trip

Also, fuck Tomichi Pass.