Vacation Journal

Today didn’t go as planned.  We got up intending to do laundry first thing, then a short drive, and then some relaxing.  The laundry was full at 8:30, so we decided to go for a long drive.  We did three four-wheel drive trails; Corkscrew Gulch, Hurricane Pass, and California Gulch which took us over two passes above 12,000 feet – Hurricane Pass and California Pass.  It took about 5-1/2 hours including a stop for a picnic lunch.  We got to go right through the Red Mountains, in particular parallel to Red Mountain #1 in the valley at its base.  It was very slow going for about 15 miles of the route.  We did one hairpin turn that went up as steep as any road I have driven.  Then we went through a second hairpin that went up just as steep.  I had already decided that this was as steep as I ever wanted to drive, but that thought only lasted a couple miles because we went up one even steeper.  I was concerned whether I had started fast enough to make it without spinning the wheels, but we did make it without any problem.  As I watched the pickup in front of me make the hairpin turn and start up the hill, I swore that he was going up at a 45 degree angle.  This had to be an optical illusion, because I don’t think a vehicle can climb 45 degrees on a gravel/dirt/rock road.  Whatever it was, it was dang steep.  It didn’t help that the hairpin was so sharp that I had to backup to finish making the turn.  This was the first time I’ve had to do that in my Jeep.  I did it a lot with my F250 and with some other 4-wheel drive vehicles I have rented in the past (especially a Suburban we rented one year to take over the two highest passes in Colorado as well as about 20 other passes – a vacation where we stayed in Crested Butte but tried to tackle as many 4-wheel drive roads as we could in a week).

We stopped for lunch at Hurricane Pass (elevation 12,409 feet) with views of dozens of mountains and a nice blue lake a couple thousand feet straight down below us.  We talked with a guy that arrived by bicycle about the same time as us.  He had started in Silverton, about 14 miles away.  He lives in Glenwood Springs, but spends a lot of time biking or hiking to every high place in Colorado.  He had me take a picture of him and his bike.  He took off for California Pass while we ate.  We met him again at California Pass (12,930 feet).  I took another picture for him.  He took a picture for us.  We all walked up to the top of the small peak near the pass.  That put us close to 13,000 feet.  The views were spectacular, not only at this pass, but for 95% of our drive.  It was on the way to California Pass where we hit the steep stretch of road I mentioned earlier.

We had a good 15 minute talk with the biker before he took off again.  We drove on down to the lowlands (9,800 feet) at Animas Forks and on to Silverton (9,200 feet) where we took the Million Dollar Highway back to Ouray (7,800 feet).  After several days of four-wheel driving, the Million Dollar Highway seems like an interstate.  The slowest speed on it is about 12 or 13 miles per hour in a couple of the hairpins (with 10 mph advisories speeds posted).  For much of our four-wheel drive we were going as slow as one mile per hour up to five miles per hour.  You have to go pretty slow to keep from scraping the skidplates on the vehicle.  When you go fast, the vehicle bounces, because of how rough the road is, and comes down on the skidplates.  On the rough four-wheel drive roads, I’m always in four-wheel low in the transfer case.  Top speed is about 25 miles per hour with the transmission in drive.  It is really geared down.  At 25 mph, the transmission is turning as fast as if we were driving 100 miles per hour in two-wheel drive.  Sometimes I wish it were geared down even more.  The roads are just as steep going down as they are going up.  You learn to really appreciate low gearing.

After our drive, I went to the library to do internet.  Then we did laundry.  Finally we took a bike ride for a couple miles.  We had a well-rounded day.