Saturday, August 1 through Wednesday, August 5, 2015
| Tom, from the jeep group, planned a four day trail trip to southwest Colorado. I decided to join in and Ken decided to join as well. We tacked on a "Day 5" with another from the jeep group who just wished to visit one specific trail. As for Colorado Trails and Colorado in general, the southwest mountains are special. Days 2 and 3 have some stellar photos. Day 2 is a large photo set and that page is divided into sections if you wished to break it up. Enjoy! In the below map, we traveled in a clockwise fashion. Each day is a color. We would travel from Fort Collins to meet the group in Conifer and continue southwest of Denver on US-285. From there it would be highway to a bit southwest of Buena Vista to the town of St. Elmo. From there we'd be on trail up-n-over the mountains to Pitkin Colo to close the day in Gunnison. WHAT A DAY!! Much of the day was well overcast and dreary looking. Where it counted the clouds became a great accent instead of a hindrance. This trail set leads to another big name day. In the middle would be a quick stop at the town of Telluride Colo, I've never been there so it was curious to make the quick pop in and out via the mountain route. While the area mountains are riddled with mine activity - most long closed - these trails, specifically Imogene, have a large collection of old activity to poke about. The Uncompahgre Plateau - a curiosity of mine. The group was interested to check it out so we made a visit. It seems the main roads are automobile accessible though there are some trails. Some look to be property line access and aren't overly interesting. Perhaps another visit or two to check out more is in order... Well, this day, sadly would be a disappointment. The jeep, near the beginning of the trail would break its right rear leaf spring. Trail repairs and a trip home. |
