Six Passes in Two Days

[taatmk]

Traveled from Salt Lake down to Telluride, Colorado for some mountain pass runs. Visited Hell's Revenge in Moab for a warm up. While in Colorado, we traversed the infamous Black Bear Pass, Ophir Pass, Engineer Pass, Hurricane Pass, California Pass and Imogene Pass. First up was Black Bear Pass. It was a blast! Take it slow and sure, and you do ok. Its not to be taken lightly. Using the MFC lift, it handled every obstacle just fine. I did bend my front license plate in half going down a very steep step at the beginning of the infamous "Steps" section. This is a fun trail, but a little bit scary too.

We had a snow storm roll in as we arrived at the pass itself. It was still snowing as we decided to head down the Telluride side. It quickly dissipated and amazingly had clear blue skies on the descent over the Steps and switchbacks.

[taatmk]

Ophir Pass and Engineer Passes
We traverses Ophir in both directions. Fairly easier going east to west, but a bit tougher going west to east as you hit some deep depressions in the shale rock going uphill.

While on top of Engineer Pass, another early Autumn snow squall moved in and clouded over the view. Great scenery nonetheless.

[taatmk]

Imogene Pass is the second highest traversable pass (by automobile) in Colorado. Its at 13,144 feet. Once again, clouds rolled in at the summit. It is a bit easier going the Telluride to Ouray direction as near the top on the Ouray side, there are some deep depressions and mogul like bumps. This was the last pass on the first day. We began it at around 3:00pm, so we had to hustle to beat the loss of daylight.

[taatmk]

California and Hurricane Passes are between US Hwy 550 and the ghost town of Animas Forks. They were the two most mild of all of the passes we crossed. Animas Forks is a fun little ghost town. In its hay-day in the 1880's, it boasted over 450 residents.

[Sombeech]

Great shots, I keep meaning to get here one of these next Autumn seasons. I'd love to get some aerial shots.