Westbound and Down: The LGAA planning thread

That sounds cool. I know my wife would definitely be into finding a small AirBnB for part of this trip.

I was talking with my wife’s cousin and they were basically saying there could be snow on those trails as late as the beginning of June.

 

I like a house idea, but i also might want to camp as much as I can.

My coworkers are saying they have snow in the mountains now and for a while, and the ski resorts are already open, for a few weeks.

I know I shouldn’t be thinking about work, but I might need to break off for a few hours, and have dinner with some of them. Near the Highlands Ranch area

 

I guess to chime in on camp/house situation.

Ideally thinking in terms of a 2 week trip

The trip would be fun to wheel and camp (or overland expedition) whatever we want to label this thing they call getting Outdoors these days. Anyway giving it some thought I think it makes sense for the first half of the trip to be focused on camping/wheeling expedition caravans, camping in groups. Then second half Airbnb and maybe smaller groups or independent hikes with your girlfriends... In my case wife and daughter.

This way we get some down time to ourselves. Then maybe reconnect on the drive back if timeframes work out.

 

If I go, I MAY camp, that's a big MAY. I don't particularly like it. I like showers and beds and electricity. that being said, how far from civilization is all thee trails and passes or whatever it is out there?

I have a couple guys I know out there. But they are near Denver, which is 6 hours away. the one guy is big into snowboarding though and maybe he's been to telluride? What's the general area that this is being planned for? what section of the state?

 

Most of the ones @Roody and I are interested in are all in the same city/province

http://www.ouraycolorado.com/things-to-do/4x4/famous-trails

 

There's a site I have saved on my computer that stays updated on the condition (snow levels, open/ closed) on what I believe to all of the passes in CO. I'll be sure to post the link when I get back to my computer as I am currently at lax.
So sweet to see this title pop up! It's a great idea.

 

LAX like the airport? sounds like you had a good Thanksgiving!! I like visiting Cali

 

This might sound ridiculous but this trip one way is 2200 miles. Do you oil change at a stealerhsip before the trek back?

 

oil change before and use synthetic? not sure if thats good to do or not if you're previously using regular, but cant ya run synth for like 5k miles?

 

Not to get to far off the topic but I run the cap requirements. Which entails every 5k. I’m sure I can figure this out. I was just googling travel times and was kinda surprised it was another 3+ hours past Denver

 

I change synthetic between 4-5k miles. We can have an oil change party before we head home

 

Change before you leave and when you get back. Leaves about 600 miles of trails while you are there. Could always change it there if you feel inclined. It can pretty easily be done anywhere with our trucks.

 

Parking lot oil changes before heading back wouldn't be terrible. I run synthetic so should be OK but obviously it depends on where I am in the oil's life cycle.

Re: places to stay-- we could plan the trip so as to camp where we have to and stay in other places when possible. I'm with Mark, I much prefer a real bed and running water etc but for the purposes of this trip I'm happy to sleep wherever I have to. Will probably outfit the inside of the 4R so as to make it easy to sleep inside it...

 

I think expenses will be different for everyone on how they will choose to stay or who the stay with etc. probably a minor tweak 6 months before we depart to really nail down.

Are we going to stick with the aforementioned province/city?

And where is @Chux he would make an excellent guide and all around solid guy to have in on this

 

I mapped a route for a couple of options for different parts of the Northeast. I looked at the Philly/Baltimore areas. A decent route would be along RT 70. I didn't see anyone tagged in the OP that was further south than Maryland yet,. The guys north of this area (NYC and CT) have 2 decent options, Take the same Rt 70, or a more northern trek along Rt 80 which goes through Chicago.

For the Philly/Baltimore guys, it's about 30 hours and 2006 miles from Philly. It would be Rt 70 all the way. Columbia, Mo would be a logical place to stop after about 15 hours of driving, but could push to Kansas City, Mo for 16.5 hours of driving. From Kansas City, you're looking at 14 hours to Telluride, Co.

For the guys coming from NYC and north of that, it's about 32 hours and 2162 miles. Des Moines, Iowa is 16.5 hours from Albany on the RT 80 route. then another 15.5 hours to Telluride. Keep in mind I started my directions from Albany, NY for these guys.

Or we can all convoy along Rt 70 instead of being in 2 different groups. both ways that I mapped had options to go Rt 70, but it was slightly longer for some guys.

 

Chi town for some deep dish! I’m in af

 

The more I look at videos, think about the trip, check out a map, and think about how much fun this will be, the more I actually want to commit to this. I was on the fence before but now I can say I'm IN barring any life changes.

 

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/black-bear-pass
https://www.alltrails.com/parks/us/colorado/uncompahgre-national-forest/off-road-driving

 

I want to camp most of time. I would like a hotel half way thru so I can wash my arm pits and ass. I am not an "overlander" so I might need a list of things to pack.

 

I had breakfast in Ouray. Sxs and jeeps everywhere. It was a really cool town. A few of my pics were from red mtn.