I spent last week touring the San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado, away from the computer keyboard. We spent a memorable night on a cliff-side campground above Lake San Cristobal, near Lake City. The lake is very close to the place where infamous Alferd Packer snacked on his comrades to get through a tough winter, providing a valuable lesson on the limits of self preservation. The precarious site gave us some pause with the kids, but the views were well worth the trepidation.
Wupperman Campground
The following morning we took off from Lake City to Ouray via the Alpine Loop four-wheel drive trail over Engineer Pass. The route cuts off a considerable drive-around via paved roads, but it’s technical and hair raising in spots with one-lane rocky patches along cliff edges. The trail is within the limits of my Toyota 4Runner, but I did some extensive research prior to departure in order to ease some concerns. One of the most helpful preparations was watching a full-length YouTube video of the route.
Engineer Pass View
Getting to the summit of Engineer Pass wasn’t an issue at all. We met a couple in a similar vehicle though that tried to discourage us from going all the way to Ouray. I had scouted things out, the weather was good, and knew that the last two miles would be a bit hairy. We forged ahead with some white knuckle driving, and tried to appreciate the views without concentrating on the sheer drops at the edge of the trail.
We got behind some German tourists in a rented GMC Acadia that really made us nervous. This vehicle is all-wheel-drive with a fixed rear axle rather than independent rear suspension. We crept behind them for quite some time and witnessed them sliding along on three wheels dangerously close to the cliff edge. The group often got out and ran in front of the vehicle in order to lighten the load for more ground clearance. We finally got around them, and right before some seriously treacherous terrain that makes me wonder about this group to this moment. There are warning on all the maps that 4WD is mandatory, with good reason.
Descent toward Ouray
This was my first Colorado back country 4Wheeling experience, although I’ve lived in the state for 18 years. I’ve long favored hiking or mountain biking over motorized transport, and think that I’ll probably tend to stick to that option for the most part. But the state is large and mostly remote, and I’ll certainly take advantage of some of these well-established trails in the future.
When we got to our hotel in Ouray the publisher of FunTreks Guidebooks had set up a table to sell books, maps and DVDs of back country trails. I found the combination of a map and video to be really helpful for this type of adventure. I think there’s a good entrepreneurial business opportunity here for a device that combines maps, video and GPS for the off-roading crowd.
