Tolsons' Discovery Travels: Tue, Sep 18th - 4-Wheeling Over Ophir and Imogene Passes

Today we rented a jeep from "Switzerland of America, Inc." in Ouray. We headed out at 7:00 a.m. for a day of 4-wheeling! We took two different trails: Up and over Ophir Pass (11,789 ft) into Telluride and up and over Imogene Pass (13,114, ft) back into Ouray. Here are some descriptions of how I felt: WOW for all the beauty, COLD as we encountered ice and SNOW, FEAR for all the sheer drop offs on these one-lane "paths" around the mountains, and white knuckle FEAR getting up to the top of Imogene Pass in 6 to 8 inches of SNOW, two jeeps had made it, but the jeep just ahead of us had turned around and met us as we got up to the last high climb. They said that they couldn't make it and had to back down to a turnaround and would have to go back to Telluride. They said they were slipping so much backing up that they were sliding close to the drop off! Well, as the first two jeeps watched us from the top, Chuck put it in low gear and was determined to make it so we wouldn't have to back back down. I was thankful that God wasn't ready for us today! This was the only part that I don't ever want to experience again! I'm sure it wouldn't have been quite so scary if it hadn't had snow on it!

Here's an early morning view of the aspen on the way up Red Mountain Pass on our way to the beginning of Ophir Pass Trail.

Ophir Pass - 11,789 ft

Here we are at the top of Ophir Pass. What a beautiful view, but wait until you see just what's around the corner! See below.

Here's picture of the entrance to the "Waterfall Ranch" in the small town of Ophir. We saw ranch entries similar to this one all over Colorado. Some of them were quite beautiful.

http://www.narrowgauge.org/4x4/html/ophir.html Additional pictures taken of Ophir Pass

Telluride

Just as we were about to drive thru Telluride again, we noticed a field of prarrie dogs AND a coyote trying to get some lunch! There were several Magpies flying around the coyote too.

I think I could watch these little guys all day. Of course they were making quite a racket with that coyote around!

Imogene Pass - 13,114, ft; the second highest vehicular mountain crossing in CO!

The aspen were beautiful along the first part of the Imogene Pass trail.

Hope you can make out the trail in this picture. This was the relatively easy part of the road. At this point we didn't know just where the pass was up there on that snow covered mountain so we didn't stop to think that maybe we'd be driving in it!

Can you tell where the trail is over against that rock wall? We couldn't either looking across at it, but it was there when we reached this area!

Sometimes we had to stop and get out and check the trail ahead because when we came up over a ridge Chuck had to maneuver around some big boulders so he wouldn't hit the bottom of the jeep.

Here we are getting up above the tree line and seeing more snow.

Half way up to Imogene Pass, we stopped at the Tomboy Ghost Town and ate our picnic lunch.

Tomboy Ghost Town - http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/co/tomboy.html I'm sure glad that I didn't see this website before we went 4-wheeling up this pass! This person has some wonderful pictures of the Ghost Town and the pass. Per this site "Imogene pass road is rated a 4/5 out of 5 as far as 4-wheel drive difficulty and danger and is also the second highest pass in Colorado."

A look back down at where we had come. Almost to the top and the snow!

This was the part of the climb that was so terrifying! If you look at a point almost in the middle of the picture, that is where, when we climbed up to this point, we had to pull in and then backup and turn around just to be able to make the last run up to the top because the curve was so sharp! This last climb had to be at a 12 to 14% grade.

Here's another look at the road we came up! It's like an upside down "V" with that stick being in the middle of it.

Chuck and I at the top of Imogene Pass--I may be smiling for the camera, but I was shaking inside! The gentleman that took our picture asked me if I was cold or scared becauce I was shaking so much! The wind had blown the snow off the very top area. We still had one more snow-covered road to maneuver before we headed down the other side of the pass. I'm lucky I didn't pee my pants!