Considering a ride the week after Independence Day. Are restaurants and lodging open? Masks required everywhere? Mesa verde open? Any gotchas in the telluride/Durango/ouray area?
I don’t know the answer to that question but I will say what I always say... if you get a chance, go to Silverton and rent some off road vehicle and get up on some of the passes. You could do engineer, California, corkscrew cinnamon, or some combination of the above and see more of the Rockies than many people who live there ever will. It’s pretty amazing. That is all.
I don’t know the answer to that question but I will say what I always say... if you get a chance, go to Silverton and rent some off road vehicle and get up on some of the passes. You could do engineer, California, corkscrew cinnamon, or some combination of the above and see more of the Rockies than many people who live there ever will. It’s pretty amazing. That is all.
Yup, the passes are pretty epic. But note that some of those roads are steep, rocky, (narrow) shelf roads with tight switchbacks. You see lots of very off-road SxS up there. I'm sure any rental company would provide guidance on difficulty ratings.
I found some of it kinda sketchy on a dirt bike, mostly the fear of dealing with rock gardens on shelf roads. I hate rocks. Those would be bad places to sail off the edge. The tamer roads could be done in a Subaru with some care. We stayed in Ouray. I thought it was a pretty cool town.
I don’t know the answer to that question but I will say what I always say... if you get a chance, go to Silverton and rent some off road vehicle and get up on some of the passes. You could do engineer, California, corkscrew cinnamon, or some combination of the above and see more of the Rockies than many people who live there ever will. It’s pretty amazing. That is all.
Yup, the passes are pretty epic. But note that some of those roads are steep, rocky, (narrow) shelf roads with tight switchbacks. You see lots of very off-road SxS up there. I'm sure any rental company would provide guidance on difficulty ratings.
I found some of it kinda sketchy on a dirt bike, mostly the fear of dealing with rock gardens on shelf roads. I hate rocks. Those would be bad places to sail off the edge. The tamer roads could be done in a Subaru with some care. We stayed in Ouray. I thought it was a pretty cool town.
I'm pretty sure the ones I mentioned, with the possible exception of 2 very minor spots on Engineer, are all pretty tame and they're accessible from the road (2?) that goes north out of Silverton without having to trailer anything. Notice I didn't suggest Black Bear or even Ophir for the very reasons you suggested. Even if a quad or sxs or bike isn't desirable for vacation purposes, a half day in a jeep would get you over all those passes without much pucker factor. We stayed at the state park in Ridgeway just north of Ouray.
Fantastic riding around Ouray. my wife and I statyed there and did most of the passes (Ophir, Immogene, California, Cinnamon) on the 1190 is was fantastic scenery and most of it was fairly do-able with the exception of a few short sections where she would have to walk a hundred yards or so.
We've stayed in Ouray a couple of times and always rented Jeeps to go do some of the passes. I can't recommend it highly enough. The rental outfits have extensive knowledge of the passes and always offered good advice based on experience level/adrenaline-seeking.
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Leaningtree to the white courtesy phone, please.
NVM, my son doesn't want to go with me
Go by yourself! Take lots of pictures and when you share them with your son, be sure to add in, "You could've seen this yourself, neener-neener-neener."
take your daughter
srsly. frickin 15-year-olds
Go by yourself! Take lots of pictures and when you share them with your son, be sure to add in, "You could've seen this yourself, neener-neener-neener."
LOL
Vacation time is at a premium so I try to take a kid with me when possible so the wife is more amenable to my being away. I'll go another time, once this boy pulls his head out of his, uh... video games.