Colorado Overland Trip

Just returned from a 7 day trek through Colorado. My buddy flew into Denver on Sunday, there we gathered supplies and headed to the trails. Below is a quick list of the trails we took, but there were several other trails that we found just poking around CO.

Day 1 - Drove from Houston to Amarillo. Camped at Amarillo KOA.
Day 2 - Drove From Amarillo to Denver. Picked up my buddy at the Denver Airport. Picked up supplies in town and hit the mountains and slept at the base of Red Cone.
Day 3 - Red Cone/ Webster Pass / Radical Hill / Trail to Montezuma - Set up Camp in valley of Mosquito (From Fairplay) **Sinclair in Fairplay has showers. $8**
Day 4 - Mosquito Pass (The pass was snowed in just past the pass. Had to head back down mountain. Left Mosquito and stopped at Fourmile Park for lunch. Did some exploring.. Left Fourmile for St. Elmo. Set up Camp at the base of Tin Cup Pass
Day 5 - Tin Cup Pass / Cumberland Pass. Set up camp at Matterhorn Gulch (side trail of Engineer Pass)
Day 6 - Engineer Pass / Mineral Creek / San Juan Chief Mill area trail. Camped at Ouray KOA to take advantage of Showers
Day 7 - Black Bear Pass / Drove to Albuquerque, End of Trip
Day 8 - Dropped buddy off at ABQ Airport, I drove back to Houston.

The weather was perfect during the day, but sleeping in the mountains was quite chilly and a little sketchy without a fire. We called a couple of different numbers for trail conditions. Some of them said a fire was OK, some said the ban was state wide, and then some said as long as you had a dedicated fire ring. I wasn't sure exactly what qualified, so we just played it safe but make no mistake, it was frigid at night. The coldest it got was to the high 20's. We had an absolute blast and I'll add to this if I remember anything else.

 

I'm currently in Colorado/Utah for my first time. It's beautiful country out here! Unfortunately I had to leave the Taco at home, but plan to drive it out here in the future! Too much to see to not do it!

Also, where is that last photo?

 

The last photo is on the Telluride side of Black Bear pass. It's near the town...one of the last few switchbacks.

 

Sweet! I was out in July and can’t wait to return

 

We definitely had a blast. The only trail I wanted to do but didn't was Imogene. By the time we finished Black Bear, taking Imogene would have caused us to back track to Ouray, putting us in NM even later that night. But as far as the trails we did do, I enjoyed them all about the same. Day 3 sticks out as probably the best mix of fun challenges with good scenery.

 

Did tincup in my stock OR, made me want a lift tho! I need to get on some of those trails next summer

 

Wow! Those are incredible photos. I think we'll definitely be back, but it may be a while. Next year's trip is to Moab.

Google Pixel 2. I'm no photographer but they turned out OK.

 

Any reason for avoiding Moab other than the frequent visits? It always seemed like an off-road paradise to me. Like CO, just different scenery.

 

Wow awesome! I was out there with a buddy last weekend. Second time I've done the Alpine Loop (Cinnamon/Engineer pass). Saturday night we headed up through Ouray to Alta Lakes. It was a good time. My buddy had been out on the trail since Wednesday, but I had work on Monday so I headed back. What day of the week were you doing Engineer Pass? We got stuck behind a group of tourists (kids, no less) that rented a jeep. And then screwed over 12 people (6 coming up, 6 going down) because they jumped the gun and started down the road without seeing other people coming up, or knowing it's pretty much one way...

How was black bear pass? I hear it's super tight, and I thought it was pretty much recommended only for jeeps (but hey, I'm new at all this).

That tent looks excellent. How do you like it? How much was it? What model is it?

 

thank you for not making a fire even with conflicting info and not risking it. thank you for turning around at the snow line and not driving off trail just to keep going for your trip. we need more visitors like you

 

Especially this year. Never realized just how many irresponsible, inconsiderate, destructive jackoffs were in the world until everyone decided to go camping.

 

Did Engineer Pass on Thursday. Black Bear was technically simple. The fear comes from the consequences of a mistake. I had no issues at all and I consider myself a mature novice. A lot of people talk about a particular switchback not long after you start your descent. I had my buddy spot me, and I did it as a 3-point turn...which was a lot quicker than several JK's in front of me. I really like the tent. It sets up and takes down easy, and it seems to be well made. The Model is a ROAM Vagabond with the Annex. I didn't use the annex on this trip, but bought it for my kids when they come with me.

 

Great thread! Thanks for sharing. Just came back from there. I did Engineer and Cinnamon but decided against Black Bear based on internet reports - glad to hear it went well.

 

As I'm settling in back at home, I've been mulling over the trip in my head, trying to remember my "ah ha" moments and use them to improve next year's trip. I'll list out my equipment and how I feel it worked or could be improved on. Maybe you guys have some suggestions/thoughts.

The truck:
Ground clearance was fine. I have 2.5" of lift on 33"s. I have a few skid marks on the sliders, but I think my skid plate is fairly clean.

I left the sway bar in place and definitely had a few situations where I could have used the extra articulation. Maybe I'll remove it for the next trip.

I aired down to 25psi for most trails and left it there. I found that my mini dc compressor just takes too long to air up, so rather than stopping to air up when I hit pavement, I just kept it at 25 unless I knew I needed lower (a la Black Bear descent, I aired down to 16). Next trips solution may be an ARB, but that seems costly for such little use. These types of trips will only happen once or twice a year as any good off-roading is a bit of a drive from Houston. The cost may not be justified.

Equipment:
I have 2 cheap-o plastic containers that I bought specifically for this trip. The we're beat to heck by the time I got them home. I now see why people spend $200+ for HD cases like Pelican or Roam. Not saying I will...as I can buy a lot of $8 ones before it approaches the ROAM stuff, but I get it.

I carried the following equipment in the bed and was out of room:
Tool Bag
Axe
Shovel
(2) Aquatainer 7 gallon water jugs
1 HDX container from Home Depot (Food)
1 Sterlite box (equipment, propane cylinders, coffee pot, lantern, pots and pans, etc)
Coleman stove
(2) camp chairs
Mr. buddy Heater
Battery powered mini shop vac (I hate sandy tents)
Mini dc compressor
Misc.recovery gear (tow ropes, d-rings, etc.)

That being said, perhaps a roof rack would aid in carrying some of this. Maybe after I reach the destination, throw the stuff I don't use at every stop (tools, extra water container, etc) up top and keep the constant essentials in the bed for easy access.

The RTT worked well. I have no complaints in this department. It was quite cold at night, but I managed to keep warm. The first night, I didn't layer up enough (I'm from Houston, I know nothing of sleeping in the cold) but I figured it out and got warmer with each night. In hindsight, I think I would have benefited from setting up the annex and putting the Mr. Buddy in the annex to warm the tent. We fashioned a way to hang it in the tent, but I didnt feel comfortable sleeping with it on and it was difficult to get enough ventilation in such a small area without opening all the vents. I'd probably have felt a bit more comfortable with a CO2 monitor handy.

Showers were an obstacle. Finding truck stops or KOA's/campgrounds that would let us shower was somewhat difficult and just problematic in general. Oftentimes, we'd have to go out of our way to get a shower, so that sucks. An on-board shower would be nice, but I simply can't justify it after one trip. Maybe after a few years I'll design and build one, but for now, I'll keep an eye out for the truck stops.

I have MAXSA Recovery Boards but I didn't need them at all (better to have and not need than...) I wanted them to slide under the bed rack in between the cross bars and the bed cover, but they don't stack well enough to do this (only 1/4 too tall!) So I mounted on them on the bed cover and twist tied them to the back cross bar. They never moved. Worked fine. They're easy to get to if needed and don't hang off the back.

Bed Rack:
KBVooDoo Hi Rise Steel cross bars. No complaints. I was able to mount my Hi-Lift to the side, and it supported the tent well.

Moving forward, I'd like to figure out a way to mount my shovel and axe to the opposite side without it interfering with the RTT when open. Maybe this would mount to a roof rack.

Interior:
I folded the back seats down completely to take advantage of the rear cubbies and the flat sides of the back seat. For the first time in my life, it didn't seem I had enough cup holders (I feel like a woman saying that). It seemed each cup holder had something in it. Perhaps an overhead molle panel or something like this would help reduce the constant clutter. Here's the equiemt in the back seat:
45Qt ice chest
My clothes bag and my buddies
Toilet paper
Pillows (removed from tent when folding up)
Rain gear on clothes hooks
Misc stuff...flash lights, bear spray, 9mm, maps, books, etc.

I could use a few tips/tricks for food cooking and storage when camping around Bears. It seemed like most of the preventative measures didn't really work with the RTT camping model. Some things said don't sleep where your food is...make sure it's locked up in you vehicle 100 yards away, etc. That doesn't really work when sleeping in you truck with all the food. I dunno. I'm not crazy worried about it, we had no problems, but it'd be nice to get a few tips in this department.

That's it in a nutshell I think...I know some of you will read this and say "duh, why do you think we have all of this crap on our trucks" but I think it's good to make a run without it all and then decide what you need specific for what you do. It's all about having a good time and learning. I felt like this was a good first trip and I look forward to Overland trip #2. Moab.

 

check out a waterport for a shower. got mine from costco and was a deal even though it wasn't on sale. heating the water can be kinda tricky, but for a quick rinse at camp it does great.

 

10-4. I'm actually thinking of just building one out of 4" PVC with a filler tee/hose spicket. Then buying one of those tankless propane water heaters on Amazon. Probably less than $300 all in. Of course, I'll need on board air to pressurize the vessel at that point....$$$$