FL to WA and back! An “in progress” 6 week Camping and trails adventure with my wife.

Great Pictures and write up

 

Life is tough, eventually we must all deal with the hard stuff. Hope it continues to improve. I've been dealing with challenges within family last couple years as well. In my

 

WTF am I looking at here? Is that top thing a tunnel through the mountain??

Awesome, awesome trip report by the way

 

Thanks Ross!

The “hole” in the pic is one of about a dozen open mine tunnels along the various passes and trails that connect to and or make up The Alpine Loop. There are many warning signs about entering and most (in my opinion) are actually on private property and are posted No Trespassing. Some of the local guys can explain the mine ruins and ongoing mining activity better that I can ....but believe me, it was all I could do to stay in the truck and not explore some of these holes/tunnels.

 

Ah that makes sense. Guess I was looking at it wrong, weird perspective made it look in picture it like it cut through the mountain (must have been the tree in front of the tunnel)

 

Looks like a fun time.

 

We are planning a similar trip from Michigan to SLC, Moab, and Ouray in fall 2019. This thread is great! Thanks for sharing

 

I just looked at the pic again and it definitely looks like the trail goes right into the mine! Lol.

There were a LOT of “razors” and other four wheelers who seemed to spend a lot of time up there riding around. Could be that that tunnel does go somewhere. Being first timers and trying to cover the marked trails we had planned we did almost no off psite exploration, not even side trails really. When we go back ...we will plan on camping out on the trails where allowed and we’re definitely going to be checking out the off road and off trail hikes and areas.

 

You’re welcome. It was a great shakedown trip for our camper and truck mods. Your trip sounds great! Don’t forget to go through the Grand Mesa area between Moab and Ouray. Jumbo campground is excellent and has power and there are showers at the Mesa Lakes Lodge. It’s a nice respite after the desert and sand. Several trails and forrest road options there too. It adds about two hours time overall ....but we really enjoyed Cedaredge and the Grand Mesa area.