Blue Fox
Forum Member
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2009
- Messages
- 198
- Location
- Durango, Colorado
- Car Year
- 2005
- Car Model
- Forester XT - 2" Lift
- Transmission
- 5MT Dual-Range
Black Bear Pass in my 05 XT
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMnjxtPVu3o"]Black Bear Pass Subaru Forester Off Road - YouTube[/ame]
"The Most Dangerous Jeep Trail in Telluride" - According to the locals.
Well, here's the FIRST off-road video of my 2005 XT 5-Speed MT. Took me a while, and I was on shorter trips in the past, but nothing like my old videos with my 04 XT (even though the car looks about identical, lol.) - HINT: The last 1/3 of the video was the s**t scary bit.
So on Sunday, we decided to conquer Black Bear Pass. This was listed as a "High Ground Clearance, Short Wheel Base, 4 Wheel Drive vehicles ONLY!" trail. And we were reminded of this a couple times on the trail. This trail connects HWY 550 between Silveton and Ouray to Telluride on the other side. It's actually faster to take this trail than to continue on 550 through Ouray, Ridgway, etc. to get to Telluride. (Though, it's a just a tad bit more "aggressive". I'd say.
My car is COMPLETELY stock. Suspension is stock with 138,000 miles on it. Stock sway bars are STILL attached, air pressure in the tires are around 45 PSI. The only modification is HEAVIER steel wheels with the larger 215/70 R16 BFGoodrich All Terrain Tires.
For the most part, the trail was easy going. The start of the trail was quite steep, and since I have a 5-Speed with NO low-range, I had to keep speed or I would stall. Larger tires, no low-range, an 10,000+ elevation doesn't bode well for low end power. So I had to keep the RPMs around 3000 to maintain adaquate power, and if I did, it was great. But that's nearing 18 MPH, and on rough, rocky roads that is a ROUGH ride and mentally straining to avoid sharp pointy boulders sticking out of the ground.
At the beginning of the video, I start up this very steep, VERY rough rocky hill. It was extremely steep, very jagged, and had a very sharp dropoff on the side. Trail is a couple feet wider then the car itself. I've been in the situation before when you stop on a rocky, loose surface, and try to backup down the hill to attempt it again. The car gets a mind of it's own, and is nearly impossible to steer. With a drop off to the right, I didn't want to be put in that situation. So, a few clutch dumps and just shear hoonery got me up that hill. Don't recommend doing that unless you REALLY know your vehicle and wheel placement.
We continued on, and once we actually got up the mountain, it was fairly flat with some hills and rocky terrain to traverse, but nothing I haven't been through before. We got to the summit of the pass (12840ft). We took another trail that dead ended, and that would take us to 13,000 ft, but it was VERY loose rock, and the car had no power to climb it, so I turned around and continued back down Black Bear towards Telluride.
We came up on a Jeep who was stopped in the trail a couple miles later. There was a fork in the road, and he went right (the easier "bypass" way) instead of down this steep rockface. You can even see it in the video. I decided "I'll do it!". So I did, and didn't even scrape. Wheel placement is everything.
We did a few more maneuvering around some obstacles on the way down to the waterfall......where I literally thought I met my match and would have to be winched out. It was a steep decline, extremely rocky, and tested my nerves to the limit with wheel placement. The trail was banking TOWARDS the dropoff, and all I could see was Telluride in the distance over the dropoff in front of me.....a few thousand feet down. It was nerve racking.
After we managed to get through that bit, it was easy doing down the countless switchbacks to Telluride. The video is a tad long, and tried to add in some of the stupid humor of the trip. I wanted to show the trip from beginning to end, so that's why it's 17 minutes long, lol.
Enjoy. :biggrin:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMnjxtPVu3o"]Black Bear Pass Subaru Forester Off Road - YouTube[/ame]
"The Most Dangerous Jeep Trail in Telluride" - According to the locals.
Well, here's the FIRST off-road video of my 2005 XT 5-Speed MT. Took me a while, and I was on shorter trips in the past, but nothing like my old videos with my 04 XT (even though the car looks about identical, lol.) - HINT: The last 1/3 of the video was the s**t scary bit.
So on Sunday, we decided to conquer Black Bear Pass. This was listed as a "High Ground Clearance, Short Wheel Base, 4 Wheel Drive vehicles ONLY!" trail. And we were reminded of this a couple times on the trail. This trail connects HWY 550 between Silveton and Ouray to Telluride on the other side. It's actually faster to take this trail than to continue on 550 through Ouray, Ridgway, etc. to get to Telluride. (Though, it's a just a tad bit more "aggressive". I'd say.
My car is COMPLETELY stock. Suspension is stock with 138,000 miles on it. Stock sway bars are STILL attached, air pressure in the tires are around 45 PSI. The only modification is HEAVIER steel wheels with the larger 215/70 R16 BFGoodrich All Terrain Tires.
For the most part, the trail was easy going. The start of the trail was quite steep, and since I have a 5-Speed with NO low-range, I had to keep speed or I would stall. Larger tires, no low-range, an 10,000+ elevation doesn't bode well for low end power. So I had to keep the RPMs around 3000 to maintain adaquate power, and if I did, it was great. But that's nearing 18 MPH, and on rough, rocky roads that is a ROUGH ride and mentally straining to avoid sharp pointy boulders sticking out of the ground.
At the beginning of the video, I start up this very steep, VERY rough rocky hill. It was extremely steep, very jagged, and had a very sharp dropoff on the side. Trail is a couple feet wider then the car itself. I've been in the situation before when you stop on a rocky, loose surface, and try to backup down the hill to attempt it again. The car gets a mind of it's own, and is nearly impossible to steer. With a drop off to the right, I didn't want to be put in that situation. So, a few clutch dumps and just shear hoonery got me up that hill. Don't recommend doing that unless you REALLY know your vehicle and wheel placement.
We continued on, and once we actually got up the mountain, it was fairly flat with some hills and rocky terrain to traverse, but nothing I haven't been through before. We got to the summit of the pass (12840ft). We took another trail that dead ended, and that would take us to 13,000 ft, but it was VERY loose rock, and the car had no power to climb it, so I turned around and continued back down Black Bear towards Telluride.
We came up on a Jeep who was stopped in the trail a couple miles later. There was a fork in the road, and he went right (the easier "bypass" way) instead of down this steep rockface. You can even see it in the video. I decided "I'll do it!". So I did, and didn't even scrape. Wheel placement is everything.
We did a few more maneuvering around some obstacles on the way down to the waterfall......where I literally thought I met my match and would have to be winched out. It was a steep decline, extremely rocky, and tested my nerves to the limit with wheel placement. The trail was banking TOWARDS the dropoff, and all I could see was Telluride in the distance over the dropoff in front of me.....a few thousand feet down. It was nerve racking.
After we managed to get through that bit, it was easy doing down the countless switchbacks to Telluride. The video is a tad long, and tried to add in some of the stupid humor of the trip. I wanted to show the trip from beginning to end, so that's why it's 17 minutes long, lol.
Enjoy. :biggrin:
