2007-07-12: Imogene Pass

[OLLIE]

Up in the Rocky Mountains there is a trail that runs from Ouray, CO over the mountain to Telluride, CO called Imogene Pass. This trail has to be the best trail I've run to date. This trail takes you to an altitude of over 13,000 feet. I will be running Imogene again this year during the second annual FJ-Cruiser Summit in mid July. Here are some pictures of the trail from that day. We had an overcast rainy day and it added an incredible contrast to everything.

Airing down at the trail head.













































The Summit
























Me and my mom...



Bridal Veil Falls near Telluride, CO. We would be doing the run the fllowing day that would be taking us down those switchbacks to the left of the falls. That run is called Black Bear Pass.



The sun shining down on Telluride as we near the trail's end. The green swaths you see coming fown the mountain on the other side of the valley are the Telluride ski slopes sans snow.



I would HIGHLY recommend this trail to anyone. It can be made in a 2WD with fairly good ground clearance providing that it is dry out.

[mbisson]

That was a great trip. We plan on doing it again this July. It catch you off guard how fast you get out of breath at 13,000 feet.

[cruiserlarry]

Wow - Those pics are fantastic... I can't wait 'til I can take some time off and check out the trails in Colorado....

[Frogeye]

Imogene is a must do trail ride. Next time I do this trail, I want to take it much slower and explore the mines etc. Looking forward to July.

[FlyingWil]

Did you run this in July?

[OLLIE]

Did you run this in July?

Yes we did... Running it again this July if it's open. There has been much more snowfall than previous years so the passes may not be cleared yet.

[FlyingWil]

Did you run this in July?

Yes we did... Running it again this July if it's open. There has been much more snowfall than previous years so the passes may not be cleared yet.

The snow made me question it... Loved the pics BTW...

[mbisson]

I can't remember which trail it was, but they were still snowboarding.

[Arkarch]

Yes we did... Running it again this July if it's open. There has been much more snowfall than previous years so the passes may not be cleared yet.

I have heard the same from my local Colorado sources - record snowfall this year in the Ouray area. And they have had at least one more, maybe two more small dumps in the past couple weeks. I could see the very snow-covered San Juans from my route to Moab from Arizona last week - quite beautiful! I am bringing my own snow shovel.

I'll be coming into Ouray the afternoon of July 19th in prep for the Touareg Rally July 21-25. I heard the FJ Summit goes on to the July 20, so if anyone is in town the night of July 19 or July 20 give me a yell. I have a condo rental at the Alpenglow at 2nd/5th (sorry, full); several of our crew are at the Warehouse and up a street one block at another home. The Touareg group is limited to 22 - its a family vacation for many, so we like to trail together (two groups that merge at lunch), party together, and not deal with organizational issues. A few of us may scout the trails on Sunday before our normal outings.

We appreciate all the shovelling the FJ guys will do

Some pix in albums - including my 2007 trip to Ouray (Imogene, Engineers, Gov Basin, Cin-Cal-Hurricane passes, Yankee Boy, Ophir, Eureka) and a most recent trip last week to Moab (Hells Revenge, Fins, part of Porcupine, and La Sal Forest trek).... http://picasaweb.google.com/kf6vom . I'll post up regular photos here once I get a few from others tomorrow.

(its my post #1 - time to work on a sig, appearing below really soon.)

[Arkarch]

Imogene is a must do trail ride. Next time I do this trail, I want to take it much slower and explore the mines etc. Looking forward to July.

Mine building exploring is quite fun... in that direction, there is Tomboy on the Telluride side. Not far from the water crossing near Camp Bird is a large two story bunk house on the north side that is all canted over - lots of fun to take bizare photos that look like people are defying gravity. The water crossing itself is worth an hour of water play.

Most of the more explorable mining areas are on the Alpine Loop, especially the stamp mill and mining ops along and south of Engineers Pass. Dont forget American Basin on the other side of Cinnamon!