Advocate I
So, we got back from CO earlier this week. We had planned on starting home on Thursday but decided to head back on Monday instead. We were all pretty dusty and felt that we explored and camped enough for our first official overlanding trip. :) The roads/trails in green are all the ones we did and red were ones we planned but didn't do yet. The blue loop is the overnight backpacking trip my wife did with her mom and cousin...
Our first night was spent at the Kendall Mountain Lodge (former hostel) in Silverton since we were getting in late. The next day we drove to the end of Bandora Mine Rd and found some amazing campsites to stay at once my wife's mom arrived in a couple of days.
Then we headed up to Clear Lake, that was a great drive as well.
After that, we headed up Last Dollar to find a spot for the night and found a nice, quiet spot off the main road near the summit.
The next day we headed into Telluride for some lunch, I also needed to get an additional pad for the RTT as well as a better pillow. The RTT has a 3" pad but I needed something with a bit more padding and support. After leaving Telluride we headed back to Bandora Mine to set up camp for a couple of days.
After a couple of days there and meeting up with my wife's mom and wife's cousin, we headed back into Silverton to restock on ice (12v fridge is definitely next on the list), have a meal, and then look for a spot to camp for a couple of nights that was somewhat close to the Highland Mary Lakes trailhead. After exploring a couple of gulches we decided it was too late in the day to look for a good spot and ended up at the Eureka Campground. They had a couple of nice spots, so we set up and the following morning I dropped my wife, her mom, and my wife's cousin off at the Highland Mary Lakes trailhead. I didn't snap any pics of it, but when we got up to the top of Minnie Gulch I noticed that my wife's cousin had a rock about the size of my index finger stuck into the tread of her front tire and it had punctured it. It was quite impressive! Definitely not something that was going to get plugged. So, at 11,500ft we changed her tire. After dropping them at the trailhead around 10:30am I headed to Silverton so I had cell service and found Discount Tire in Durango had the tires she needed in stock (replaced both fronts since they were worn a bit with ~25k miles on them). Got there around noon and got back to camp in Eureka around 5:30pm. Discount Tire was BUSY.
The following day I headed back to Highland Mary trailhead and picked them up, then we picked my truck up from Eureka and headed back to Silverton to regroup and figure out the next plan. Ultimately, my mother-in-law decided she was just going to spend the night in her Roadtrek and then head for home in AZ the following day while my wife, her cousin, and I decided to look for a spot. On a Sunday night. Headed for Alta Lakes, what a great area. Packed, though. Not a single spot, not even along the road near the campground. We ended up deciding to head for Last Dollar again since there were numerous spots along the way and we were sure to find at least one open. Anyway, we ended up at the same site as the first night we camped, which was fine. Great spot. The next morning we packed up camp and my wife's cousin headed home to Utah while we headed to Ouray to spend the night in a room with a good shower and so we could stay clean for more than a few minutes. Ouray was very picturesque but man the restaurant hours are jacked. Even when some places said they'd be open they weren't. Some that were opened ended up closing early and sending customers away. Strangest thing...
So, we woke up Monday morning and headed for the Alpine Loop. Rather than going back to Silverton and up to Animas Forks I decided we'd head up Corkscrew Gulch and over Hurricane Pass to get to the Engineer Pass portion of the loop. That was an amazing drive, though a bit long. We all agreed that it was worth doing but probably won't do it again, at least not for a while.
Once we got to Lake City it was almost time for dinner so we stopped at the Packer Saloon and Cannibal Grill. I had the "Grilled Chicken Sammy" and it was AMAZING. Easily the best chicken sandwich I've ever had. Can't wait to go there again!
At this point the plan was to head back to Silverton for the night and then start heading home on Tuesday instead of Thursday, but being that was about a 3 hour drive from Lake City and then ended up adding 2 hours to our drive home vs where we were in Lake City we decided to just head east that evening instead. So, we drove to Colorado Springs and spent the night there, got up the following morning and hit the road around 8am. We decided to just push through and we got home to east central Illinois right about midnight on Tuesday.
We all agreed that it was an amazing trip and we were both happy to be home and wanting to still be in Colorado. I was happy to have a few days to unwind, organize a bit, clean my truck, and prepare for going "back" to work on Monday. We're already thinking about where to go on our next adventure. I'm thinking Michigan's UP or the Great Smoky Mountains for a short (weekend) trip to see the fall colors.
Thanks for reading!
Our first night was spent at the Kendall Mountain Lodge (former hostel) in Silverton since we were getting in late. The next day we drove to the end of Bandora Mine Rd and found some amazing campsites to stay at once my wife's mom arrived in a couple of days.
Then we headed up to Clear Lake, that was a great drive as well.
After that, we headed up Last Dollar to find a spot for the night and found a nice, quiet spot off the main road near the summit.
The next day we headed into Telluride for some lunch, I also needed to get an additional pad for the RTT as well as a better pillow. The RTT has a 3" pad but I needed something with a bit more padding and support. After leaving Telluride we headed back to Bandora Mine to set up camp for a couple of days.
After a couple of days there and meeting up with my wife's mom and wife's cousin, we headed back into Silverton to restock on ice (12v fridge is definitely next on the list), have a meal, and then look for a spot to camp for a couple of nights that was somewhat close to the Highland Mary Lakes trailhead. After exploring a couple of gulches we decided it was too late in the day to look for a good spot and ended up at the Eureka Campground. They had a couple of nice spots, so we set up and the following morning I dropped my wife, her mom, and my wife's cousin off at the Highland Mary Lakes trailhead. I didn't snap any pics of it, but when we got up to the top of Minnie Gulch I noticed that my wife's cousin had a rock about the size of my index finger stuck into the tread of her front tire and it had punctured it. It was quite impressive! Definitely not something that was going to get plugged. So, at 11,500ft we changed her tire. After dropping them at the trailhead around 10:30am I headed to Silverton so I had cell service and found Discount Tire in Durango had the tires she needed in stock (replaced both fronts since they were worn a bit with ~25k miles on them). Got there around noon and got back to camp in Eureka around 5:30pm. Discount Tire was BUSY.
The following day I headed back to Highland Mary trailhead and picked them up, then we picked my truck up from Eureka and headed back to Silverton to regroup and figure out the next plan. Ultimately, my mother-in-law decided she was just going to spend the night in her Roadtrek and then head for home in AZ the following day while my wife, her cousin, and I decided to look for a spot. On a Sunday night. Headed for Alta Lakes, what a great area. Packed, though. Not a single spot, not even along the road near the campground. We ended up deciding to head for Last Dollar again since there were numerous spots along the way and we were sure to find at least one open. Anyway, we ended up at the same site as the first night we camped, which was fine. Great spot. The next morning we packed up camp and my wife's cousin headed home to Utah while we headed to Ouray to spend the night in a room with a good shower and so we could stay clean for more than a few minutes. Ouray was very picturesque but man the restaurant hours are jacked. Even when some places said they'd be open they weren't. Some that were opened ended up closing early and sending customers away. Strangest thing...
So, we woke up Monday morning and headed for the Alpine Loop. Rather than going back to Silverton and up to Animas Forks I decided we'd head up Corkscrew Gulch and over Hurricane Pass to get to the Engineer Pass portion of the loop. That was an amazing drive, though a bit long. We all agreed that it was worth doing but probably won't do it again, at least not for a while.
Once we got to Lake City it was almost time for dinner so we stopped at the Packer Saloon and Cannibal Grill. I had the "Grilled Chicken Sammy" and it was AMAZING. Easily the best chicken sandwich I've ever had. Can't wait to go there again!
At this point the plan was to head back to Silverton for the night and then start heading home on Tuesday instead of Thursday, but being that was about a 3 hour drive from Lake City and then ended up adding 2 hours to our drive home vs where we were in Lake City we decided to just head east that evening instead. So, we drove to Colorado Springs and spent the night there, got up the following morning and hit the road around 8am. We decided to just push through and we got home to east central Illinois right about midnight on Tuesday.
We all agreed that it was an amazing trip and we were both happy to be home and wanting to still be in Colorado. I was happy to have a few days to unwind, organize a bit, clean my truck, and prepare for going "back" to work on Monday. We're already thinking about where to go on our next adventure. I'm thinking Michigan's UP or the Great Smoky Mountains for a short (weekend) trip to see the fall colors.
Thanks for reading!
