Colorado Road Trip : May 2010

[Darkanion]

For the week that included Memorial Day, I decided to take some vacation time and get away for a few days. During that time, I went from Texas to Colorado to Utah.. back to Texas.

This was my first real road trip in my new Outback and I have to say it did very well. I think I made a good choice!

Day 1 : Phantom Canyon and the Shelf Road :

Going up Phantom Canyon Road, just after the 2nd tunnel :

As close as I got to snow that day... :

I believe this was on the Shelf Road, coming back down towards Canon City (It seemed a lot steeper, walking up and downing it.. and driving up & down it.. than how it looks in the pictures..

) :

Another view, to see what I was actually parked on :

Light passenger front tire :

Continuing on down the Shelf Road.. the view looking down, out the driver's window :

 

[Darkanion]

Day 2 : Salida to Gunnison, with some detours and turn-backs

:

Heading up Marshall Pass, a little south of Salida, CO :

Same spot, just looking in a different direction :

Oh! Oh! Oh! My first snow in the Subie!

(It was actually more ICE than snow, but it 'looked' like snow, so I took a picture of it!

Little did I know what was to come........) :

About 20 minutes later, on up Marshall Pass.. road block! :

It was more of a mess than it looks like in this pic.. It went around the bend a little, had kind of a 'valley' melted out of the middle of it, and then more snow, as it disappeared around the bend.. Someone (Forest Service, I presume) had come along and drove poles down into it, to try to keep people from trying to cross it. Personally, all the icy snow would've kept me from trying it, even without the poles!

:

So, I tried some other stuff that didn't work out well.. and then went to another area (up north of Pitkin, Colorado) to try a pass that I felt "sure" would be clear... It wasn't.. :

So, I decided it was time to go get a room somewhere and hit the internet to see if anything I had been considering for the next day was actually even passable!

 

[Darkanion]

Day 3 : Crested Butte area :

The next morning, I left Gunnison and headed up to Crested Butte..

This was my first clue of how the day was going to go (that snow sure looks awfully low on the mountains, especially the one to the left) :

I went through Crested Butte, got on Slate River Road, and headed towards Paradise Divide. This picture was taken shortly after I got on Slate River Road (it must be nice to own your own private lake) :

I took a slight detour to get down closer to the river. "Normally," this is a water crossing area.. "Normally" the water isn't anywhere near this deep!

:

I got back on the main route and continued on towards Paradise Divide. Then, I came across this downed tree. It was over to the side of the road and there was juuust enough room for me to squeeze by. So, I did :

A few minutes after the tree was a water crossing (that I don't think is ordinarily there) from water cascading down from the mountain and across the road. I stopped and took pictures of it. But, this picture was more scenic from that stop. So, I'm posting it instead :

Yet a few MORE minutes and I crossed another, bigger water crossing from water cascading down the mountain and across the road... :

...and then I came across this snow... You can see the tire tracks, where I tried to cross it "properly." The ATV's that had gone through it were actually slightly off-trail and I'm pretty sure that was a Bureau of Land Management truck parked just behind that tree, up the road a bit. So, I made two "on trail" attempts at it, backed out, and went elsewhere.. No point in risking a ticket! :

I tried getting to Schofield Pass next.. This was taken along that route :

...but, after going a few miles, I found out it was closed, too... :

So, I went back to Crested Butte and headed across Kebler Pass. This is where I stopped for lunch and listened to the bullfrogs croak at one another in the creek down below :

As I was coming up 133 towards Carbondale, I came across this waterfall that I had never noticed before, just shooting off the side of the mountain, down into the river :

A shot of the river rushing by :

...and another waterfall I had never noticed before :

The next day took me to Utah. I'll start another thread for that..

 

[SubaCool]

Nice dude!! I like the format I'm interested in hearing about the Phantom Canyon some more. Do you have gps waypoints for the route you took? Or can you point out on Google maps which roads/trails you took? That might be something worth checking out on the August trip I'm planning

 

[Darkanion]

Nice dude!! I like the format I'm interested in hearing about the Phantom Canyon some more. Do you have gps waypoints for the route you took? Or can you point out on Google maps which roads/trails you took? That might be something worth checking out on the August trip I'm planning

Thanks! Yeah, the format is a carry-over from the emails I send to my parents, friends, etc.

I don't have the GPS info on it, but it's real easy to find. I came up from Hwy 50, just outside of Canon City. Here's some info on it : https://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=232 It is a REAL easy route. I saw BMW sedans and things like that out there. The Shelf Road was similar, as far as difficulty goes.. Real easy. But, they were both a nice drive, with plenty to see..

TD also has info about Shelf Road on there, too.

 

[frogstar7055]

I'm so jealous.

 

[Darkanion]

I'm so jealous.

Thanks (I think..?)!

It was a nice trip. I'm going to try to go back in August.. We'll see how well work projects and deadlines cooperate with that. Maybe I won't run into as many closures, either.. :biggrin:

 

[SubaCool]

D'oh! I knew I've heard those names before. PC and SR are part of Gold Belt Byway which is gonna be part of the trip I'm planning in August (you coming?)

 

[mr turbo]

What a fantastic trip report. And the pics....fantastic.
The scenery & colours of the snow capped mountains are just breathtaking

I especially like the pic taken from Slate River Road. I could very easily live there by the lake, thats for sure. :ebiggrin:

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[Darkanion]

D'oh! I knew I've heard those names before. PC and SR are part of Gold Belt Byway which is gonna be part of the trip I'm planning in August (you coming?)

I figured you had heard of 'em... I never had, because I don't live up there.. From time to time, I'll pick up a book recommendation or two, to get new ideas for things to go see on my "next" trip (or trips). Those two parts of the Gold Belt Byway came up this time around.. (and they were on the low end of the easy scale in the book I was looking at, so I figured I was safe. hehehe)

Generally speaking, I take a birthday road trip to Colorado each August on whichever week August 19th happens to be in.. I'm not sure why that date, but.. uhh...

:lol:

I'm looking at your thread and I'm not seeing specific dates set yet. (Maybe I'm looking too fast?) So, I'm not sure if I'll be up for that or not.. My plan had been to keep an eye on that thread and if timing coincided, I was going to let you know I'd be up.

I work as a programmer for a big corporation. Generally speaking, when I want off, I can take off. BUT, if we have big projects going on or tight deadlines, vacations can get pushed around a little. So, I didn't want to say "hey, I can make it for 'x' date" and then maybe something come up and me not be able to make it..

As we get closer to August, I'll get a much better idea as to whether or not I'll be able to stick to my "traditional" birthday road trip.. or if maybe I hold off until September and make a run up to Glacier NP before Road To The Sun gets snowed-in.. I've had that on my list for several years now. I know it's paved, but that's something I've really been wanting to do..

 

[Darkanion]

What a fantastic trip report. And the pics....fantastic.
The scenery & colours of the snow capped mountains are just breathtaking

I especially like the pic taken from Slate River Road. I could very easily live there by the lake, thats for sure. :ebiggrin:

Regards
Mr Turbo

Thank you!

I prefer the colors & terrain of Colorado over Moab. But, both parts of the trip were fun.

The Slate River Road area was very nice. The only real issues on that road were the downed tree and the snow I eventually ran into.. If I had gone a few weeks later, the snow probably would've been gone (or at least melted a good bit more) and I probably could've gotten farther. From what I've been reading, Shofield Pass is in pretty bad shape and may be closed "longer than normal" this year.

If I make it back up there in August, I hope Schofield is open, as I would like to do that whole loop of Slate River Road / Paradise Divide & Schofield Pass.. I will not be doing the Devil's Punchbowl! :lol: But, I'd like to finish more of Schofield if possible. I went down it once in '07 and turned around at a water crossing. I had only had the truck a month and I didn't want to scratch or scrape anything. So, I turned around..

My overall (initial) plan for the Subaru is to finally finish some of the treks I started in the truck.

 

[SubaCool]

I'm looking at your thread and I'm not seeing specific dates set yet. (Maybe I'm looking too fast?) So, I'm not sure if I'll be up for that or not.. My plan had been to keep an eye on that thread and if timing coincided, I was going to let you know I'd be up.

Yeah, sorry about that, but it's fixed now I have a similar thread going on sf.org too and I haven't updated neither in a while I'm a slacker I'm planning on the second weekend in August (08/13-15/2010).

 

[Darkanion]

Yeah, sorry about that, but it's fixed now I have a similar thread going on sf.org too and I haven't updated neither in a while I'm a slacker I'm planning on the second weekend in August (08/13-15/2010).

No problem, man! I thought maybe I had missed it.

I'll keep an eye on your thread. If my dates change, I'll let you know..

Heck, if I'm going to be up there over a weekend, I'll let you know. Maybe we could meet-up for a quick run somewhere..

I tend to travel to/from on weekends and do my running-around during the week. It's nice being out when not many people are. I also like not feeling like I'm holding anyone up by going slow & taking pictures! :lol:

 

[SubaCool]

Heck, if I'm going to be up there over a weekend, I'll let you know. Maybe we could meet-up for a quick run somewhere.

Please do! I won't make you feel like you're holding me back while taking pictures, after all, that's how I roll too :biggrin:

 

[Darkanion]

Please do! I won't make you feel like you're holding me back while taking pictures, after all, that's how I roll too :biggrin:

Sounds good!

I thought about letting you know I was coming up this last time. But, with it being my first time out with the car, I figured I'd start out easy, build-up my own confidence, and work my way up, little by little..

 

[yarney]

Wow great report great pics i had a look at some of the area on google earth there is plenty of mountain track there that look like a lot of fun

Jan

 

[carljwnc]

Excellent report and pics Darkanion!!! Thanks for sharing.