Ouray Area Run 7-5/7-6

[mrboyle]

Ouray Aera Run 7-5/7-6

I met up with Gerald Gerrett on the first leg of his world wind wheeling tour. He arrived at my parents place in Colona, CO late Friday 7-4. After a shower and a good night's sleep we got up and headed out at 8:00 a.m. A quick stop for fuel and ice and we were off to the trail head on Engineer Pass. We took Engineer Trail to Poughkeepsie Gulch. Crossed Poughkeepsie and continued across California Pass down California Gulch to the ghost town at Animas Forks. We stoped for a quick lunch then headed across Cinnamon Pass to Lake City. From Lake City we took Engineer back across to where we started. The entire time spent on the trail(s) was 9 hours and covered aprox. 75 miles. (This is significant to me, since this is the longest continuous time I have spent behind the wheel, due to my Narcolepsy)
The fun didn't end there. We met again Sunday (7-6) morning and headed to Black Bear Pass. The trail was short but extreemly fun. After we finished Balck Bear we stopped in Telluride and Gerald aired up and headed off to Moab for the next leg of his world wind tour.
As for me, I hadn't had enough, so instead of taking the black top home I decided to take Imogene Pass back to Ouray.
This was the most 4wheeling I have ever done in my life (oh yea, I forgot to mention I did Yankee Boy Basin on Friday before Gerald arrived) and I had a blast. We didn't take a wole lot of pictures, but there are some. Unfortunately, most of my picks were taken with my film camera (battery died on my digital), but as soon as I get them back I'll post them.
Untill then here is a link to the few I did get with the digital: http://public.fotki.com/mrboyle/explorer_4x4_trips/alpine_loopblack/
I'm sure Gerald will add to this, but He said not to expect to see him on the boards for a week or two (he has to make up for all the work he skipped out on )

 

[mrboyle]

Oh yea, forgot to mention, I ran every trail and only had trouble once. On Poughkeepsie there is one major obsticle that makes the trail. There are three wasy to tackle it, the Right (easiest but still challenging), the middle (a two step waterfall) and the left (hardest). I attempted (aginst the recomendatons of others) the middle. I walked up the first step, but as I was attempting to climb the second my rear tires were sitting in the water running down the falls. I couldn't get traction and Gerald had to strap me the rest of the way up .

 

[hvac man]

It sounds like fun I should have gone. Instead I worked on my ranger

 

[GJarrett]

Mike, thank you so much for you and your famiy's hospitality! It saved our butts since there were NO places to stay or camp that night.

Ashli and I had a wonderful time with you and your father. Are we going to be able to talk him in to going on Black Bear next time? Glad to hear that you didn't fall asleep on Imogene Pass after we split up.

That area is probably my favorite one in the entire U.S. I gotta find an excuse to move there

Check this post in a day or so. I'll edit it and add in a link to photos once I get them loaded.

 

[mrboyle]

Gerald,
One thing you did miss was the snow on Imogene. I'm not talking about snow on the ground either. While at the top of the pass it was actually snowing.

 

[GJarrett]

Photos are up.

http://www.explorerforum.com/data/showgallery.php?cat=3187&ppuser=101&papass=&thumb=1

I didn't take that many photos since I had run these trails before and already have lots of pics, but there are some good ones in this batch. Hope you enjoy them!

PS. Mike, your photo link doesn't work for me. I can't see any of your photos You could do like I just did and learn to use the Elite Photo Gallery and post them here I'll bet we could see them then

 

[mrboyle]

Link is fixed. I just use that site since I have a subscription and have all my other photos there (including the pics of the house being built).