2011 Ouray, CO - Day 6 The Jeep Trails

Day 6 started the biggest part of our trip - the Jeep trails that connect Ouray to Silverton and Lake City.  We had decided before going that we wanted to rent a Jeep and drive these rocky roads that show some of the lesser seen areas of Colorado: uninhabited mountain areas, old mining towns, beautiful waterfalls and views, and sheer drops inches from the side of your vehicle.  For those of you who are runner friends, this Jeep trail we are taking is a portion of the Hardrock 100 miler, a ultra marathon in Colorado.  And for the record I will not be running that race...ever!

Uncomphagre River

We left fairly early in the morning, stopped by the bakery in Ouray to get something yummy to eat (a delicious cheddar and bacon scone for me) and headed to the head of the Jeep trail.  The head of the trail includes some parking areas for ATVs and for Jeeps that have been altered past standard road driving.  Heath and Sandy had tried to talk me into riding ATVs on the trail - I said I would rather be in a Jeep - more car around me...I quickly found out that the small width of the ATV is actually preferred as you don't have to get as close to the side of the trail (aka hug the inside edge of the mountain!)  The first mile or so of the Jeep trail was probably the worst of the entire drive.  There were tight switch backs, narrow lane, and large rocks protruding up from the road ready to jam into the bottom of the car.  After this area the roads became tamer, there were less sheer drops, and it was easier to sit back and enjoy the scenery.
The views from the Jeep trails were amazing.  We started by driving along the Uncomphagre River (which is the river that feed the waterfall next to the highway we visited earlier in the week).  There were several waterfalls and dams as we climbed in elevation beside it.  After we rose above the river area we started seeing the peaks of the surrounding mountains and the diminishing trees as we came up to the tree line.  We also saw several old mining towns along the roads.  It was crazy to wonder how these miners were able to make their ways to these villages without the use of cars and ATVs - these were really remote areas and most of them built into the side of mountains.  The danger of working in the mines was only compounded by the travel to get there.  Even though we passed and got passed by several people on the road - there were very few people in general on the trails.  Most of the time you really felt like you were out on your own.

After about 2 hours of driving we made it to our first pass of the trip - Cinnamon Pass.  As we climbed out of our warm Jeep we were hit with the winds and colder temps of being at a +12,000 elevation.  Brrrrrrr.

American Basin

As we headed down the pass we realized that we were a short 5 minute drive from the American Basin so we took a slight detour to see this basin.  This is where the people were - and obviously from the look of their vehicles they did not take the same road as us to get there!  We took a few pictures, but unfortunately the wild flowers were not at their full peak so it was not a beautiful as many of the postcards show it.

Slumgullion Slide

The remainder of the trail was relatively uneventful.  Eventually the trail became a paved road as we got closer to Lake City and we were able to make up some time that we spent going 10 mph in the beginning miles.  We stopped at a campground to make sandwiches and eat just outside of Lake City.  After lunch we headed toward our short overnight campground location.  Along the way we passed San Cristobal Lake which is the second largest natural lake in Colorado.  It was created when there was a natural earth flow (rock slide I'm guessing) called the Slumgullion Slide from a near by mountain both 700 and 350 years ago.  Reminents of the rock slide are still evident on the mountain side and scientist are able to calculate the years by the age of the trees along the side of the mountain.

Lake San Cristobal

We drove up a pass on the nearby highway to get our first real view of Uncomphagre Peak - our main hike we would face tomorrow.  Wow - I think we might be crazy!!!!

Uncomphagre Peak - center of the picture

We then headed into our campground.  It was a cute little RV park beside the river in Lake City.  There was only 1 or 2 tent sites and ours was right on the river.  It was a beautiful view and a great back drop for our tent.  The people at the park were so generous.  That night they were having a potluck dinner and invited us to join, even though we didn't have food to share.  Since we had plans to visit Lake City we said thank you but that we would probably pass.  After our Lake City outing we got back and as we sat by the fire getting ready to cook hot dogs they walked over with plates of leftover food - soup, potatoes, roast... they told us to eat up!  We were just amazed that they were so ready to adopt us into their group after a few hours!  We will definitely visit their campground on every trip.  During dinner a deer started walking into our campground, apparently she is the camp mascot.  She was very tame, drank and ate out of dog bowls and visited several different sites. So cute.  Early to bed was the theme of the night so that we could get up at 4:50 and get ready for our trip to Uncomphagre, so there ended our evening.