IntrepidXJ's Adventure Weblog

Grizzly Lake (Buena Vista, CO)

Grizzly Lake is a short spur trail off the the main Hancock Road near St. Elmo. While most of the trail is not difficult, there is a ledge at the beginning of the trail that will require a modified vehicle to get over it. I managed to get myself high-centered on this ledge and had to winch up it.

After this first ledge there is a steep narrow shelf road of loose rocks that climbs into Grizzly Gulch. There are very few, if any, places to pass another vehicle in this section, so make sure there are no vehicles coming the other direction before you head up. Once you are past this steep climb, the trails levels out and becomes easier with many more places to pass other vehicles.

Eventually you will reach Grizzly Lake which is very picturesque with the mountains in the background. This is pure Colorado scenery! There are a few camp spots near the lake, and even though I do not fish, I have heard that the fishing is pretty good as well. Remember, you need to return the way that you came.

Please feel free to leave your comments and post your pictures from Grizzly Lake below.

Grizzly Lake KML Track
(Right click and ‘Save Target As’)

Open file above in Google Earth.

Black Bear Pass (Telluride, CO)

Black Bear Pass is a well known trail that seems to be on every four-wheelers list of places to go. It has a reputation of being pretty scary on it’s descent into Telluride, however in my opinion it did not live up to that reputation. While there is one or two places that look a little sketchy, they didn’t bother me one bit when I drove through. However, the great scenery and views along this trail do live up to it’s reputation. I highly recommend driving this trail if you get the chance!

The trail starts out near Red Mountain Pass on US 550 and takes off up Mineral Basin. This basin offers some great scenery including wildflowers and a few small waterfalls. Eventually you climb up to Black Bear Pass at an elevation of 12,840 feet. From that point you head down into Ingram Basin and follow some shelf roads where you will pass Ingram Lake and Black Bear Mine. This is the area where you will get your first views of Telluride down below.

When you start the final and steep descent into Telluride, you will have to drive down an area called ‘the Steps’. This is a very steep and narrow section of road next to Ingram Creek that looks pretty scary as you approach. However, looks can be deceiving and this section is not as bad as it looks. There still is not much room for error here. Once past the Steps, you will cross Ingram Creek and start down the switchbacks into Telluride. The top three switchbacks are pretty tight, but I was able to navigate them with 3-point turns in my Cherokee. The lower you get, the easier the switchbacks get.

Black Bear Pass makes for a great day of wheeling when combined with Imogene Pass.

Please feel free to leave your comments and post your pictures from Black Bear Pass below.

Black Bear Pass KML Track
(Right click and ‘Save Target As’)

Open file above in Google Earth.

Here’s two panoramic pictures I took from the Imogene Pass overlook on Sunday.

Just click on a picture for the full sized version, but be warned that the pictures are very large and may take a few minutes to download.

I headed down with Ryan, Vince, Rachael, Clint and Dave on Saturday afternoon when they rolled through Grand Junction on their way to the San Juan’s from Salt Lake City. We go there just in time to get our tent setup along the South Fork of Mineral Creek before it started raining. We headed into Silverton for a nice Mexican dinner at Romero’s.

On Sunday we headed up to Black Bear Pass and Imogene Pass before heading back to Silverton for some tri-tip cooked by Dan.

Everyone at the trailhead

Headed up through Mineral basin towards Black Bear Pass

Ryan and my Jeep at Black Bear Pass

Our group at Black Bear Pass

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…until I get the full report up

Here’s another panoramic picture I took from the Mount Antero trail

Click on the picture for the full sized image, but beware, it is a very large file so it will take a little while to download.

Last weekend I noticed the bushings in my trackbar were shot. The trackbar I was running was only meant to be temporary so I didn’t want to invest any money into it. Instead, I decided to pickup and install the Rubicon Express Extreme Duty trackbar and bracket.

I also noticed I had a very bad ujoint that I also needed to replace this week. This is how my Jeep sat all week as I worked on it every evening after work.

I am happy to say that I got it back together this evening, and it is ready to head down to Silverton tomorrow with my friends from Utah.

On Sunday before we headed home we headed up to Grizzly Lake.

I managed to high center myself on the very first ledge and had to winch up it.

We passed along this old cabin

…and finally reached Grizzly Lake

Bright and early Saturday morning we headed to St. Elmo before all of the crowds showed up.

After walking around and checking out the cool old town, we made our way back to head up Mount Antero.

Number of switchbacks

We then tried to take the short side trip to Browns Lake.

Headed on the way to Browns Lake

Unfortunately, when we got to within 3/4 of a mile to the lake, we were stopped by a snow drift across the trail.

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This last weekend I headed down to Nathrop to meet up with the Colorado Chapter and hang out for a long weekend. While I was there, I took the time to do some exploring and finish some trails I was unable to last year.

We got an early start on Friday morning and headed up Mount Princeton.

Driving towards Mount Princeton

Mount Antero from the top of the Mount Princeton Trail

After making our way back down we headed up to Hancock Lakes for some lunch.

Passed by the Allie Belle Mine…it’s in a bit worse shape than it was last year

Unnamed mountain from the Hancock townsite

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