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09-16-2012, 12:55 AM
This trip went a little different than our others. After some of the events early on I decided to take advantage of having my keyboard-equipped tablet with me and documented some of it as we went. Some of the stuff in parentheses was added after the fact, but most of it was written in camp. We left Denver Saturday 9/8 at 7AM and returned home at 2AM 9/15. I'll post up the diary of sorts first, and then come back with pics.
Tuesday
So far this trip has not been going anything like we planned. The drive out on Saturday went well, we got the Jeep and camper down to Ouray and our site at Amphitheater Campground without issue. Keith and Kyle were only going to be down for Saturday and Sunday, so we wanted to make sure that they got a fair amount of trail time in compared to the drive time to get here. So Saturday evening we were looking for quick hitters, close to Ouray, lots of scenery, challenge unimportant. We headed south towards Ironton and made our way up Corkscrew, over Hurricane, and stopped at the top of California Pass to turn around. Beautiful scenery, and we'd likely make it back to camp before dark. We got to see Lake Como, the extraordinary colors present in the mountains in this area, some fall colors already, and a few thousand sheep. We re-summitted Corkscrew, and then things started to go south. On one of the switchbacks I had to make a multi-point turn. I went to put the Jeep in reverse and heard a god-awful noise come from somewhere in my drivetrain. I was able to reverse back and make the turn, but something in my drivetrain was EXTREMELY pissed off at me. I shifted the t-case through all ranges and modes hoping it just popped out of gear or something, no dice. The noise was absolutely horrendous in 4-Lo, and marginally better in 4-Hi and 2WD. This lead me to think something either with the input bearing or sun gear area of the t-case, or output side of the tranny, as the noise was dependent on engine and transmission speed, not wheel speed. Being that nobody carries spare transfer cases with them and the sun was setting, we limped back to camp. I have never heard a vehicle make such a horrendous noise and still somewhat carry on under its own power. We had planned on Black Bear and Imogene the next day, and that was now absolutely not going to happen.
I didn't want to ruin Keith and Jeremiah's weekend, so we hung out at camp Sunday morning while they went and ran Black Bear. Keith had graciously agreed to come back and pick me up in Ouray and drive me up to Junction where our tow rig and trailer were parked. That was 400 miles I wasn't anticipating. After a long afternoon and evening on the road, we had safely shuttled the Jeep back up to Junction and got the truck, sans gooseneck, back down to Ouray so we could continue our adventures. This was more of an exploring vacation than a wheeling one, so while we were bummed, at least we got to stay on vacation! The truck, we thought, was more than capable of escorting us through the San Juans and SW Colorado.
Monday morning was exactly how a day on vacation should go. We started the day with coffee and tasty treats at Mouse's in Ouray, and after meandering around town a bit ended up on the rooftop patio at Ouray Brewery where we enjoyed quite a few tasty barley beverages. We met a group of BMW drivers from all over the country who were out touring the area and enjoying the handling characteristics of their vehicles, which were vastly superior to anything we had on this trip. Pam drove us back to camp, where I slept off my San Juan IPA induced buzz. After naptime, we decided to take the truck up Red Mountain Pass on Hwy 550. When we got to the top I couldn't help but stare towards Black Bear. We've run the trail before, but in 2010 when we were up here we did the entire eastern half of the trail in a torrential downpour, so we didn't get to enjoy any scenery at all. Pam knew at this point she couldn't keep me from at least attempting it in the tow rig, and it's got 4-Lo, so it's supposed to do this stuff right? It was a gorgeous trip up to the pass, and quite uneventful given my F250's 70psi tires and bone shattering suspension. On the way back down I managed to scrape up one of the nerf bars for good measure. Freakin' hard core! We made it back to camp, cooked up some chili and outrageously good dutch oven cornbread (although I am petitioning to now call it corncake, it's way better than bread is supposed to be).
Tuesday we packed up camp in a light rain and made our way down to Silverton. We got to see the aftermath of an accident the Bimmer guys told us about the day before, looked a tanker truck decided to not make a turn, oops. (We found out a couple days later the driver actually died in the wreck, a sobering reminder of how dangerous the roads can be down there, even in decent weather) We got to Silverton at 10:15, M416 in tow, and figured we'd run up to Animas Forks to kill some time before a planned lunch at Handlebars for delicious Honey-dipped fried chicken. The trip was uneventful, until we were almost to Animas Forks when we saw stuff fall out of the bed of the truck. D'oh! The tailgate on the tow rig has a tendency to fall off on rough roads. I walked back a bit to try and find it and came across a side by side who saw it, and was gracious enough to pick up my ammo can full of vehicle fluids and carry that up, as he didn't have room for the tailgate. Turning around the truck with M416 attached would be a bit tricky at this point, so I unhooked the trailer, and pushed it off to the side of the road.
Quick rewind for a minute for some background info. As we were leaving Denver Saturday morning, we heard some weird noises coming from the rear brakes of the truck. I peeked at it, everything looked okay and we could still stop, so we didn't worry about it.
As I'm making my way back down to get the tailgate, I notice the brake pedal wanting to go all the way to the floor and almost no stopping power. That might be okay in Kansas, but I'm trapped in the middle of some of the nastiest mountain passes in the USA. I pick up the tail gate, ratchet strap the piss out of it so it doesn't come loose again, and find a wide spot to check out the brakes. Sumbitch. There's fluid all over the inside of the right rear tire. Something in the caliper gave out and caused it to leak fluid. Not a game ender, just a game changer. Vice gripped the soft line and went on our way. Animas Forks was awesome as always, and we got a chuckle out of the "Absolutely NO Semi Trucks" sign on the way up. (reference:http://i31.tinypic.com/f1mrs2.jpg)
The honey fried chicken at Handlebars was indeed delicious, and we headed off towards Durango. On our way out of Silverton we noticed a dragging noise coming from the brakes, considering one was completely pinched off from the system, I figured again, nothing to worry about.
The drive to Durango was great. It had been 20+ years since I had been down this way and I won't let it go that long again. We stopped at a Napa Auto Parts in town to grab our needed caliper, and after making a phone call to a guy from MallCrawlin we had a place to turn wrenches indoors, as it was threatening rain most of the afternoon. Troy hooked us up big time, and we had the brakes apart in no time. Only problem was we didn't get enough parts . . . .
The inner pad was COMPLETELY gone, and the rotor had a 3/8" deep gouge on the inside. Troy helped me out in a huge way and gave me a ride back to Napa where I got pads and rotors I needed and we were able to get her going again in no time. Help from people like Troy is what really makes me proud to be a member of the wheeling community, the guy only knows me as a screen name on a bulletin board, and he goes out of my way to make sure I can get home safe and that my vacation can continue on. Huge thanks to Troy and all those like him.
We left Durango, now complete with stopping power, and heading up to La Plata Canyon to try to find a place to camp for the night. No dispersed camping for us tonight, we just needed a quick one night stop. There's 2 campgrounds a few miles into the canyon, Snowfield and Kroeger. We had heard good things about Kroeger and headed that way, only to find it closed. It looks like a great site too. So we turned around and went back a little bit to Snowfield. Mostly empty, so that always makes things a bit easier. And Snowfield is what we will call home for tonight.
Thursday Morning
A day with no mechanical failures! Hooray! My cell phone is pretty much dead though. A touch screen phone isn't all that useful when the touch screen doesn't work. And of course I had full topo maps for the whole area loaded on to my phone in BackCountry Navigator Pro. Oh well. Next time I'll put the maps on the tablet too.
Our campsite at Snowfield was pretty nice. There were only 2 other sites occupied, and we were all pretty spread out so it was like having the place to ourselves. It didn't get too cold there overnight, but it looked like it rained or snowed most of the day in Wednesday in that area. There's hills blocking our view from our current spot, so not sure on snowfall, but we'll know soon as we're headed back that way.
We spent yesterday in Mesa Verde. It was good to see all of that stuff again, and Pam had never been before and we both kinda geek out on that sort of stuff. The last time I had been to Mesa Verde was on that trip 20+ years ago. I remember being able to do a bit more there then, as far as climbing around the ruins and such. The ruins are certainly amazing and stunning, and if you're in the area and have never been, you certainly need to go.
In talking with Troy a couple days prior, he had mentioned that McPhee Reservoir was VERY low. That was our intended campsite for last night. By the time we were done with Mesa Verde and fueling up and such in Cortez, it was getting to be a little too late to really change our plans any, so we headed up north of Dolores to McPhee. He was right, it's low! Maybe not quite as bad as Ridgway that we had seen earlier this week, but pretty bad. The good news though, almost nobody was camped there. I'm pretty sure the deer have outnumbered people 2:1 within 1/2 mile of our campsite the whole time. Not too bad for having flush toilets. There's a short hike that leaves the campsite and goes up to an overlook above the boat ramp. 360* degree views up there, pretty incredible. We could see the Blue Mountains west of Monticello, Mesa Verde, and the Lizard Head area near Telluride all from one spot.
It was a nice clear night as well, so we got to see a good amount of stars for the first time on the trip. We were walking around the campground loop in the dark looking at the stars, and of course I had to shine my flashlight up in the air and wave it around making light saber noises. After making a Space Balls reference, "I see your Schwarz is as big as mine" and actually getting a chuckle out of my wife, it was one of those moments where I realized how lucky I am. How many women would actually enjoy gallavanting across SW Colorado not having seen a shower in almost a week, AND laugh at my cheesy jokes? She also put up with my hissy fits after the Jeep and truck both had their mechanical issues. Whatever it is I'm doing to keep her around, I better keep it up!
Our next challenge was to figure out where to go for the last 2 nights of our trip. Nothing was ever really firmly put in place, and not having the Jeep was certainly going to impact our plans as we've had about enough mechanical failures this trip, we don't want to push the truck anymore than we need to. We spent a good portion of the afternoon discussing 2 options we had come up with, both spots we had been before. Hamburger Rock just outside of Needles District over in UT, or Alta Lakes just south of Telluride. We loved both spots before and after comparing pros and cons it really came down to a draw. Later we came up with a 3rd option though, and we've decided to go with that one. One of the spots we've wanted to check out in the Ouray/Silverton area is a campsite near Clear Lake. I believe the official USFS name is something along the lines of Mitchell Creek, or Mineral Creek, not really sure, but I know how to get there and that's what matters, right? Even if we can't do any real wheeling, we both still love the Ouray/Silverton area. And when we left that area on Tuesday, the fall colors were really starting to come through already. We'll probably visit the Hot Springs in Ouray, and most definitely spend some time sampling local brews in Silverton and Ouray.
There's a couple other animals that seem to call McPhee home too. Last night we heard a bunch of coyotes, probably within 200 yards of us. But this morning as I've been typing this I've been looking up and watching the jackrabbits run around. They're funny lookin' little bastards. We have TONS of regular bunny rabbits around our house, usually at least 2 or 3 in the backyard at all times. Odin (our dog) loves chasing them, kinda curious to see how he would react to these guys? Knowing him, he'd start chasing one and not stop until he caught it, aaaaand that's why he's at home and we don't take him on these trips yet!
Time to go pack up camp.
09-16-2012, 12:55 AM
Thursday Afternoon
The drive out of McPhee was uneventful, and no mechanical issues! We had been debating which way to head over to Mineral Creek (who knows where I got Mitchell from), through Durango, or up through Rico and traverse Ophir Pass. Having just driven through Durango a couple days prior, we opted to head up Hwy 145 and follow the Dolores River until we reached the turnoff for Ophir Pass. I forgot how poorly marked it was, and we had to turn around at the turn off for Alta Lakes. The fall colors through Ophir looked like they were going to be hitting their peak fairly soon, and it made for a gorgeous, and easy, trip over to 550. A couple of the switchbacks were about as narrow as we could get away with, didn't help any that we're in a crew cab F250 with a trailer in tow. It took us a bit to make it out of the trees and up to the summit, as several vehicles coming down didn't quite grasp the whole "uphill has the right of way" concept, and I wasn't about to go head to head with a flatlander when I had a trailer behind me that is a major PITA to back up.
We headed south on Hwy 550 and made the turn back west to head up to Mineral Creek campground and found a great spot nestled right up against the South Fork of Mineral Creek. The area definitely got some rain since we left on Tuesday, but its pretty dry out here so you won't hear me complain about it. We spent the afternoon in Silverton sampling the brews at Silverton Brewery before heading back up to camp. Tonight will undoubtedly be our coldest night yet, as tree line is not far above us, and fall is certainly in the air.
Saturday Night
We've been back home almost 20 hours now. Thursday night at Mineral Creek was indeed cold. Maybe mid-20's. Not horrible for camping, but when you're not used to those temps yet it can be a little chilly. Friday morning we slept in a bit, and then cooked a nice breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. We took our time cleaning up, basking in the great day Friday was turning out to be. We headed back in to town and revisited Mouse's for Scrap Cookies and caffeine, and then headed up to the Hot Springs. Our last real shower had been Saturday morning before we left, so we were both a little ripe and a good hot shower and some time in the hot springs and was very refreshing and rejuvenating.
As we hung out at the Hot Springs we started to notice something. A TON of people were coming into town. We had almost lost track of what day it was, and people were coming in droves to view the fall colors for the weekend. As we headed back over Red Mountain Pass for the 5th time in a week, the number of people down there really began to take hold in our minds. We were in a traffic jam going up the pass, with a bunch of people who had no business driving such a road. It was turning out to be a perfect recipe for us. Pam wasn't looking forward to the cold that night, and I go on these trips to get away from the general public, not hang out with them. When we got back to camp we noticed a few more sites occupied. We talked about it for a few minutes, and having accomplished most everything we wanted to on the trip, we decided to pack up an head for home. We were packed up and back to 550 by about 5:30, and had 367 miles to home, and still had to make a pit stop in Grand Junction to get play Shriner's Circus with trailers and the Jeep.
Once we were back over Red Mountain for the 6th time, Pam took over and drove up to Junction so I could try to get some shut eye. We had contemplated getting a hotel in Junction somewhere, but figured we could grab some Z's in one of the many rest stops along I-70 if needed. It was quite a mess getting the trailer re-loaded, we had to unhook the M416 from the truck, hook the gooseneck to the truck, unload Jeep from gooseneck, attach M416 to Jeep, back Jeep and M416 onto gooseneck. By about 9:30 we were cruising down I-70 with a bag full of Wendy's and some energy drinks. Once I got settled in, the drive was much easier than I anticipated given how late it was. Coming down Vail Pass though the truck started acting up again though. The Service Engine Soon light came on and it seemed to be a bit underpowered. We made it up Eisenhower without major issue, but Floyd Hill was about 25mph slower than normal. Just before the El Rancho exit on 70, I went to pull over to find out WTF was going, and the engine died before I even got to a stop and wouldn't fire back up. The truck has had a small oil leak from the high pressure oil pump that gets worse when running it hard, so I checked our oil level and sure enough it was low. I had filled it up before we left our campsite in La Plata Canyon, and luckily had bought another jug of Rotella at Napa in Durango. That seemed to be what she was thirsty for as she fired back up and the SES light went away and we pulled up to the house at 2AM. OMG exhausted.
The trip was great. Got to hang out with some old friends, met some new ones, and saw some of the most amazing scenery in our great country. I'm already looking forward to planning our trip for next year, and getting the Jeep ready for it.
09-16-2012, 12:59 AM
Alright, now on to some of the pics.
Heading up Corkscrew
Jeeps at the top of I believe Corkscrew
Sheep
You can see Keith and Kyle coming up down below
Hurricane Pass
California Pass
Jeeps at the top of California
Heading back towards 550 before the t-case issue
09-16-2012, 01:02 AM
Great colors on the way back to 550
Our view from campsite 15 at Amphitheater
Deer visiting camp
Well then what else is it??
New mounts for the lift springs that work MUCH better than the old ones that broke last trip
Saw this guy on our way up Black Bear
Some of the scenery we missed in the rain storm our last trip over BB
We made it!
Do it.
09-16-2012, 01:06 AM
More Black Bear Scenery
You mean to tell me nerf bars aren't rock sliders?!?!?
Heading down Red Mountain Pass towards Silverton
Trail fix for the brake issue on the tow rig
Animas Forks
09-16-2012, 01:09 AM
Mesa Verde
Damage from a fire in 2000 I believe
Overlook at McPhee looking towards the Blue Mountains, Monticello UT, and Needles District
McPhee looking towards Lizard Head and Telluride
Ophir Pass
09-16-2012, 01:11 AM
Our campsite at Mineral Creek
Fall colors. Crazy to see how much they changed in just a few days.
Cutler Creek. Fed not by snowmelt, but by tears of a certain Bears QB.
Still got some stuff to go through from the other camera and the GoPro, but that covers most of it.
09-16-2012, 11:42 AM
Looks like you guys had a good time despite some setbacks. I'm really bummed I couldn't make it.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2
Last edited by ajmorell; 09-16-2012 at 07:01 PM.
09-17-2012, 10:05 AM
Looks like a great trip despite the setbacks. Thanks for sharing the pictures! One of these times Kim and I will make it.
09-20-2012, 08:20 PM
It was a great trip, Kyle and I had a great time. From our Vantage Point it was a fast and furious trip but well worth it. We drove out Sat AM 7-8 hours with Dave and Pam and the we all ran Cork Screw etc Satruday afternoon. Then got up early and ran Black Bear with Jeremiah and his family before heading back to Highlands Ranch on another 7-8 hour drive. Great trip and a primer for longer trip next summer.
Dave's Tcase was a PITA for him, however if it was going to go, it could not have been a better time and place for it. Rather than later in the week when logistics would have been more more difficult. I am glad the rest of your trip was basically uneventful.
So Dave, did you drive the Super Duty down through Telluride or turn around at the top of the pass and return to Quray? The switchbacks down into Telluride would have been a tight squeeze with a 4 door F250.
09-22-2012, 11:43 AM
Amazing pics. Were planning a trip to Colorado late next spring for some wheeling and camping. But one of these days I will be taking a fall trip out there. Sucks that you had some trouble, but it looks like it was a successful and rewarding trip in the end. I'm completly jealous.
I'd feel bad if I didn't warn you that most of the Colorado high country is covered in snow until around mid June to july, depending on the trail and sun exposure obviously. Oh, and depending on how much snow we getOriginally Posted by ZoPHaR
09-22-2012, 01:07 PM
Keith, we turned around at the top of Black Bear and went back to 550. No way was I going to try to navigate that thing through the switchbacks. If the power steering pump was in better shape and there were other people with us I may have given it a shot.
Found the t-case issue too. The needle bearings for one of the planetary gears disintegrated. Lots of debris in the case, going to give it a good thorough cleaning and slap some new planetaries in it and call it good.
09-22-2012, 01:31 PM
I know, I used to drive out there all the time and go skiing multiple times a year at A-Basin, Keystone, and Breck. Just haven't had time or money to do that for a few years. But my brother bought like 3 acres out that way last year and put a big camper out on it. So at some point probably late June, or maybe towards the 4th of July were planning a guys camping/wheeling trip. It'll be my first "real" wheeling ever. Just gotta fix a driveline vibe and DW on my WJ before then.
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