Please provide some help and tips for a trip to Colorado later this month (Telluride, Ouray)

[MoreGone]

As the title says I will be going to Colorado later this month. The plan isn't very far along and I would appreciate some help, tips or suggestions.

• What I know - We will arrive in Telluride early morning Friday, July 24th. We will leave Monday the 27th. There will be 4 Jeeps, 3 of which are well built and the 4th being a lifted Renegade Trailhawk.
• What I want to do - as many epic trails as possible. Black Bear Pass, Imogene etc
• What I could use help with - I would totally appreciate a route suggestion that considers what trails could be ran on a given day along with suggestions of areas to camp, dispersed (preferred) or maintained.
• What I don't want to do - Plan a single trail for a day to find out it took 3 hours and have excess down time that could be spent on other trails.

Back story - I am usually the group leader for trips and such. But this trip is being organized by the newest offroader, the Renegade owner and he isn't really pulling together concrete plans. He will be on a longer 2 week trip visiting friends in Denver, and towards the end of his trip will rendezvous with us in Telluride. He thinks he will arrive in Telluride Wednesday and figure it out. Though I think we could still have a great time, I am a project manager and not entirely comfortable winging a multi-day trip out of state during a pandemic with no plan. So I am going to do my thing and try and plan the trip hoping not to step on his toes.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have a lot of Research to do but also don't need to reinvent the wheel. This community is awesome and I hope to benefit from some of your experiences.

Thanks,
Morgan

 

[Neal A. Tew]

Many will leave Telluride via Imogene and come back via Black Bear. That would make a full day trip. (Or replace Imogene with Ophir).

Another fun day would be to take either Ophir or Imogene over to 550 and then do Corkscrew, Hurricane, California to Animas Forks. The downside there is you are a long ways from Telluride via pavement. That's the bummer with staying there as opposed to Ouray which is more centrally located.

You could also do Imogene to Ouray to Mineral Creek to Engineer and Cinnamon, but again you're a pretty good distance from your lodging after all of that.

Do you have some firm reservations or are you disperse camping?

 

[MoreGone]

Many will leave Telluride via Imogene and come back via Black Bear. That would make a full day trip. (Or replace Imogene with Ophir).

Another fun day would be to take either Ophir or Imogene over to 550 and then do Corkscrew, Hurricane, California to Animas Forks. The downside there is you are a long ways from Telluride via pavement. That's the bummer with staying there as opposed to Ouray which is more centrally located.

You could also do Imogene to Ouray to Mineral Creek to Engineer and Cinnamon, but again you're a pretty good distance from your lodging after all of that.

Do you have some firm reservations or are you disperse camping?

Thanks for the reply.

We would prefer to disperse camp. Hitting 'town' between trails would be enough to keep us stocked up and fed though we can go days in between. I am trying to find the rules for camping in the area. I have found a couple options on FreeCampsites.net which I am saving as back ups. But if we could camp along the trails somewhere I think that would be amazing.

I understand that some of the trails are one way? I am not finding a lot of info on which routes are one way and which way it is. Is there an 'official' website for the area?

My buddy is under the impression that Black bear Pass might be too much for his Renegade. Any thoughts? We did a 2.5" lift and it has proven very capable here in the Arizona deserts.

 

[Neal A. Tew]

Black Bear is the only one way trail. You must take it towards Telluride (except one day a year for special groups).

The biggest camping issue is fire restrictions and knowing which district you're in at the time because you may travel between 3 different ones.

I suspect your buddy's renegade would be adequate. It's usually a pucker and risk factor more than actual difficulty. Do Imogene and see if you're up for more.

 

[old_man]

If you have a female with you, you have to stop at Mouses Chocolates, on main street. https://mouseschocolates.com/ In Ouray. They roast their own coffee and have awesome chocolates. Grab some of their "scrap" cookies for the trail. They weigh almost a pound and contain the broken chocolates from whatever they made yesterday. Remember to take an extra shot of insulin. This will earn you some serious brownie points.

 

[MoreGone]

If you have a female with you, you have to stop at Mouses Chocolates, on main street. https://mouseschocolates.com/ In Ouray. They roast their own coffee and have awesome chocolates. Grab some of their "scrap" cookies for the trail. They weigh almost a pound and contain the broken chocolates from whatever they made yesterday. Remember to take an extra shot of insulin. This will earn you some serious brownie points.

Good tip. This is a dudes trip but all the things you described are my vices (sweets and coffee). I just dropped a waypoint on my map lol