After 2 years, I was aching to go back to Colorado. Our original plan was to go to the Gunnison area but with the heavy snow pack over the winter, a majority of the trails we were looking at were still closed. So, we made a last minute switch to go back to my favorite place - Telluride! Our plan was fairly similar to my last trip in August 2023: drive down Wednesday, Imogene Pass and Yankee Boy Basin Thursday, Poughkeepsie Gulch into Alpine Loop Friday, RimRocker to Buckeye campground Saturday, then drive home Sunday. But, as we say in the military, the enemy always gets a vote and that's what happened!
Day 0 - Wednesday
Lou and I had planned to meet at the Quality Inn hotel in Montrose, CO which was about a 9 hour drive for me, so I packed up and got going early. I rolled into town around 6 PM and my route took me right past the Montrose Regional airport. This was the airport that I picked Nina up from back in 2017 the evening before I took her on Black Bear Pass and later proposed at Top of the Pines. Very nostalgic for me! Unfortunately, she won't let me do Black Bear after that experience but the trails in the area are still a close second. Lou arrived about 20 minutes later and we went out on the town for pizza and cannoli's at a local place called Pahgres. It was good pizza for small town Colorado! After that, we called it an early night after a long drive.
I woke up at 7 on Thursday to get a run in before we finished the drive to the trailhead. It was a pleasant morning and the hotel had a running path that started on the premises.
After that, we got some included hotel breakfast that wasn't as good as the views from my run, got gas and a few cans of bug spray, then headed out to the trailhead for Imogene Pass.
Imogene Pass had a shelf road collapse on the backside of the trail so it became an out and back from the Ouray side. That's okay since Yankee Boy Basin started at the same area. We started the climb at 9:45 and were at the summit by 11; definitely the fastest I've ever ran Imogene. Perks of running it early in the year is that the trail was still decently groomed from the snow removal dozers. We stopped at the summit and got good views in!
We also made the short hike nearby to see the Fort Peabody Historic Site. It was a military post back in 1904 atop the pass at 13,365 feet between Ouray and San Miguel Counties. At that elevation, it was and is the highest post of its kind in the United States. It was guarded by National Guard soldiers to prevent union miners from returning home after a strike. It was restored in 2010 by the USDA Forest Service and was in good shape when we saw it! The door still worked and the inside had a bench and a bit of snow still.
After checking out the post, we descended back down from once we came. There was a spot low enough to be in the tree line that I scouted on the way up, so we pulled into the spot for lunch and enjoyed the shade. We were meeting up with Mike and he departed late from Colorado Springs so we had some time to kill. We checked in with him on my Garmin inReach and we decided to push ahead with our day plan.
The last stop on Imogene was one of the 4 old mines. Most of these passes were cut in to access mines. Right next to the mine was a nice waterfall and we took a detour to check it out. It flowed well due to all the snow melt after the heavy winter. We stopped and got a photo, of course. After our brief stop, we pushed out and finished Imogene. That was my 3rd time on Imogene and it never disappoints.
After Imogene, it was on to Yankee Boy Basin. I haven't done this one before but it starts at the same place as Imogene so makes it easy to run both. Yankee Boy Basin was just as scenic as Imogene but the trail wasn't as smooth. About half way up, there is a parking lot for hikers and backpackers to base from. We passed many a few on foot headed to the end of the trail. At the end, there is a 2nd parking lot to stop at to push for the nearby 14,000 foot summit called Mt Sneffels and another trail to start a multiple day back packing adventure. That really isn't my thing but I thought it was pretty cool! After we hit the summit, we started back down and scouted out a few camping spots. Once we had a good spot secured, I messaged Mike our location so he could meet us.
Day 2 - Friday
We had a busy day planned for Friday so I told the group to plan for an early wake up. However, Mike took that a little too seriously and woke me up around 4. Him and Lou were up occasionally during the night due to smoke in the air. I also didn't sleep well due to the high altitude but the smoke didn't bother me since I was in the car. I didn't question Mike as he is the Colorado expert and we didn't have access to any additional info, so we packed up and rolled into a cute little coffee shop called Ouray Ice House at 6am.
Turns out, a lightning strike hit a tree in Montrose the afternoon before which was upwind of us. There was no way to know or plan for that but we made the right call to head into town. We spent about an hour at the coffee shop checking out the situation and pulling wind reports and we concluded that it was safe to continue with our trip as planned.
First stop was Alpine Loop! Another fav of mine! We hit the trade post in Ouray, got some stickers and gas, and headed over. The plan was to enter on Mineral Creek then turn on Poughkeepsie Gulch to enter Alpine Loop and exit Animas Forks. It would be a full day with around 120 miles of off roading.
Mineral Creek sucked about as much as I remember but we got through it in an hour. Poughkeepsie was much better and very scenic! It was after the coffee shop and during this time that we started to notice that both Mike and Lou were dragging a bit. Mike was doing a little better but Lou was struggling a bit. We thought it was dehydration during this time and Lou made a serious effort to get hydrated.
We got to the part of Poughkeepsie where the obstacle called the Wall was. Since we were pressed for time and not feeling well, we decided to bypass. Not long after the Wall, we arrived to the end of Poughkeepsie around 10. Poughkeepsie ends at the split between Animas Forks and Alpine Loop so we turned on Alpine Loop and started our big loop. We were in the clouds for a portion of the trail last time I did it so it was going to be a new experience being able to see the surroundings.
About a mile into the loop, we stopped at Hurricane Pass. Mike and I both got out of the car but Lou didn't. It gave Mike and I a chance to talk about what we think was going on. When we put our heads together, it was obvious that Lou was suffering from altitude sickness. Considering we were at 12,000 feet all day previously and were planning on being 12,000 feet or higher the next 36 hours, we needed to make a change. Our best bet was to turn around, take Animas Forks out, and we could be in Silverton in an hour. That's exactly what we did; we were at lunch by 11:30.
We stopped for lunch at Handle Bar Saloon where apparently Wyatt Earp worked back in the day. It was an interesting place with centuries of history. The folks were nice and the food was good. Lou didn't eat but was starting to feel better. Long exposure to altitude will get better within a day or so but smoke inhalation can take a few days to recover from. The two together can be a tough combo but Lou feeling a little better was a good sign, although still unlikely to recover within 24 hours.
We talked it over and he decided to call it and head to Durango and get a hotel room for the night. Mike and I said our goodbyes as Lou headed out. We later learned that Lou was feeling better and pushed all the way to home that day and made a full recovery within a few days. Mike and I discussed it and given our current location and some of the fires in the area, we decided to head over to Telluride.
Since we were in Ouray and needed to get to Telluride, we turned towards Ophir Pas which is a shorter drive than the long drive on the highway. We've done Ophir Pass so off we went! We had a full day of time ahead of us so we took our time and stopped at all the scenic views. During the pass, we saw on the map a waypoint for Opus Hut so we decided to take a short hike to check it out. We discovered it was a bit more than a hut but actually a cabin you can rent. I want to come back in the future!
At the top of the pass, we stopped out to get a few photos and noticed some locals with fishing poles hiking up a trail that we didn't even see. Mike called out and asked if it was worth it and they said yes, so up we went! It was only a 0.3 mile hike to Crystal Lake but we were already at 12,300 feet and it was a climb right up scree. I'm pretty sure my heart rate was 180 the whole time but the locals were right - it was worth it. The guys said that the lake does get stocked, but we didn't see them catch anything.
After Ophir, we drove through the town of Ophir and made the short drive to Telluride. It was around dinner so we parked in the parking garage and took the gondolas into town and saw a few elk buck laying in the grass. We walked around a bit and got dinner at Smuggler Union Brewery. After that, we got back in the trucks and headed out to Last Dollar Pass. This was an easy dirt road but had plenty of camp sites to check out. It was getting late but we were hopeful we'd get a spot.
On the way to Last Dollar, we circled the town of Telluride including the airport. I've landed at Telluride airport a few years prior and had an interesting experience. It was cool to see it from a new perspective. We quickly learned that we were a little late to Last Dollar as all the spots were taken. We bombed through the 40 miles and enjoyed driving this scenic trail during the sunset. We finished around 10PM, aired up, and decided to drive north to Montrose and get a hotel for the night. This would shorten the drive home the following morning.
Day 3 - Saturday
We woke up normal time, got the free continental breakfast and decided to check out the quilt show they were having in town. Why not. When we showed up, they didn't allow drinks and Mike had just popped open a monster so we walked across the street to the Montrose Botanic gardens. Worth looking!
Once we went into the quilt show, it was all elderly ladies and they were excited to have two young men in there. We were instantly celebrities! We took about a hour to browse all the quilts and we learned a lot before placing our vote. I voted for this awesome gnome themed one.
After the quilt show, we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways. Mike got home before me around 3PM and I got back around 6PM. Although it was a shortened trip, we had a great time.
Takeaways:
-Check for smoke and fire hazards next time
-Bring some friends and reserve Opus Hut
-Come back to hike Mt Sneffels
-Continue to be willing to allow the plan to change, even though it's annoying
-Skip Mineral Basin, although I already knew that, all the other trails were great
-Look into camping spots at lower altitudes to mitigate altitude sickness
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