F/R Locked TRD Sport DCLB Build & Colorado Wheeling

Been messing around w/ making a preset for my photographs to speed up the editing process. Played around with this current version of the preset, which is supposed to give a warmish, film vibe. What are thoughts on this style of edit vs what I traditionally have done for trip report photos on here (e.g., kept mostly as shot, but adjusted some coloring, lighting, and sharpness)? Open to all feedback & would appreciate any input on what you specifically like, dislike, or would change.

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Nate,

This looks pretty good imo. If I were to present photos like this I would do my best to make it my 'brand' so to speak. I have a YT friend (Greg McCahon - Cycling the Americas) who uses a 'deeper' version of what you have done for all his IG stuff, and people seem to like it.

I still mainly do individual photo edits, as I enjoy making the truck the focal point of every photo it is in, but that's just me.

 

Hey Michael,

Thanks so much for the feedback! Glad that you like the vibe. I just checked out Greg's IG and absolutely love the look & feel of his photography. I might do some tweaking to my preset based on his style, as I like how his photographs still feel pretty authentic to the scene & capture the colors better. Also, he's living an incredible life. Running the Pan-American Highway has been a dream of mine too, though I’ve always pictured it on a motorcycle rather than a bicycle. He's an absolute beast for doing it under his own power.

Totally agree that using the preset to increase my "brand" is important and one of my other goals of working to create a more standard look & feel of my photos. I do love editing my photos individually, so maybe I'll just leverage the preset for IG and continue doing the one-off edits for TW (pending motivation, lol).

 

Long overdue day 4 post from this past September's week long wheeling, camping, and fly fishing try with my dad.


Day 4: Lake City > Animas Forks > Silverton via the Iconic Engineer Pass


For our fourth day, the agenda was to take one of Colorado’s most epic historical passes - Engineer Pass - from Lake City, pit stop at Animas Forks to see one of Colorado’s best preserved historical mining towns, and make our way down Silverton and eventually take the Million Dollar Highway to Ridgeway.

Engineer Pass is part of the “Alpine Loop Back Country Byway”, which is a 63-mile network of four-wheel drive roads that connect Lake City, Ouray, and Silverton. These roads traverse through the epic San Juan mountain range, peaking at heights up to 12,800 feet while showcasing old mines, ghost towns, and tons of natural beauty.

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Originally, these were paths used by Native Americans who lived the region. In the 1880s, these trails were widened and used to access silver, gold, lead, and zinc mines (more on this history later), but today they serve as incredible avenues for exploring Colorado’s great backcountry.

To start the day, we cooked up a delicious, hearty breakfast, cleaned up camp, and loaded the truck to head out.

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Since we had already ran Cinnamon Pass the prior day, we opted to head directly up Engineer Pass, which begins almost immediately on the backside of Lake City. The road begins very wide & nicely graded and and quickly drops you to the first point of interest along the route - the Ute-Ulay Mine.


First, I want to provide some true, but sad history about this mine. Miners first made their way into the San Juan Mountains in 1860–61, but it was not until 1869 that valuable minerals were discovered and not until 1871–72 that mine development took place. The Treaty of 1868 put the San Juan Mountains within a Ute reservation that encompassed almost the entire western third of Colorado. Although off limits to non-Indians, prospectors and miners entered the region. The growing mining activity drew the attention of the Utes, who were unhappy about the incursions but not openly hostile.

Eventually, the Ute-Ulay mine was staked in 1874 after the Brunot Agreement between the Nuche (Ute) and the US government was established in 1873. The agreement took 3.7 million acres from the Ute Reservation in western Colorado. Over the next decade, the Utes were eventually force-marched to Utah in 1881 (source). I highlight these facts not to start an argument, but to highlight the true history of the area. Although it’s cool to explore these spaces today, in my opinion, it’s important to remember how the land we all call home was at one point taken from others & that we have the responsibility & privilege to share, value, respect, and protect these now public lands.

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After exploring the mine, we hopped back into the truck and made our way further into Engineer Pass. The road steadily gains elevation, but remains very easy albeit rough at times. The views are absolutely stunning. It’s definitely worth hoping out of your vehicle to grab pictures throughout.

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After about an hour of driving, we were getting close to reaching the summit of the pass. The views of the surrounding San Juans from the top are absolutely incredible. It’s literally 360 degrees of world class mountains as far as your eye can see, with 14,000 ft peaks dotted throughout.

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After snagging some much needed “prove it” pictures at the top, we started making our way down towards Animas Forks. As we descended, the road gets narrow and has a lot of exposure. The exposure paired with the two way traffic and a narrow road is not a great combination for inexperienced drivers (of which there are many given there are tons of rental outfits in the surrounding areas) OR a poorly maintained rig. Having a mechanical failure on this section of the road would put you in a bad place. My dad - not a fan of heights - didn’t love this portion, haha.


As we meandered down to lower elevations, we came across something spectacular. A massive flock of sheep grazing their way across the alpine meadow. My curiosity got the best of me and I immediately had to google this when we got back to service. The background to these flocks - which I had seen previously on 14er backpacking weekends - are as follows. Ranchers work with the Forest Service to obtain permits to graze their flocks on designated areas. Once permits are obtained, the ranch families drive their flocks across miles of the remote terrain, guided by riders, horses, and dogs, all moving towards the carefully managed grazing areas. The sheep rotate between multiple designated pastures as part of a grazing plan designed to sustain plant diversity and reduce fire risk. A sheep in these flocks will make this journey seven or eight times in their life, commonly knowing the route as well as their human counterparts. So. Freaking. Cool. Seeing the ranchers (sheepboys? cowboys?), their backcountry camp setup, their horses, and the free-range sheep made it feel like we were back in time.

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The following picture made me think of the old Microsoft screensavers. The sheep look copy / pasted, lol.

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After watching the sheep for a while, we climbed into the truck again and arrived at Animas Forks. Animas Forks was established in 1874 as a silver and gold mining hub and grew to a peak population of about 400 and even had general stores, saloons, boarding houses, and a post office. With its altitude of 11,200 feet, the town saw incredibly harsh winters that brought avalanches and extreme cold. In 1884, the residents even endured over 25 feet of snow & had to dig tunnels between their houses!

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All the buildings are open to walk, so my dad & I explored the incredibly well preserved site. It was really cool to get a feel of what life was potentially like back in the day living up there.

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Some detail shots of the buildings.

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My personal favorite house was the William Duncan House, photographed below. Obviously a pretty remarkable house given the elevation and the fact the he and his wife built it themselves in their late 20s.

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After some very cool exploration, we conducted our final load-up into the truck before heading down the rest of the trail to Silverton.

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This was by far my favorite day of the trip.

 

After putting a couple thousand miles on the truck with no sway bar I feel like I’ve got a good impression of how it feels.

At slow speeds around town it feels more or less the same to me as it did with the sway bar. Slightly more roll in corners, but not too noticeable.

At highway speeds it feels almost spongey. I don’t love the feeling of driving at highways speeds without it. I feel like I have to be more engaged with the drive and more focused on having consistent inputs and taking bends slower since it dives more.

Offroad it is wonderful. It’s less jarring when on fire roads / rough graded stuff bc there’s no torsion from the sway bar pushing the force across the truck. The independent suspension truly does its job. On slow, off-camber stuff it’s incredible too. The truck feels less stiff thanks to the additional articulation and I was able to take a line on fins and things that has required both lockers previously with only with the rear this time.

I’m considering tossing it back on for majority of the time and removing for wheeling specific seasons or weekends.