Here’s a map I made in Google Earth with all my tracks in the San Juans up until this point. Hopefully next year I can add even more GPS tracks to the map 
Click the map for a larger image.
On Sunday morning we got up early and headed back through Silverton and up Cement Creek Road to Gladstone. From there, we headed up into Prospect Gulch.
Headed up Red Mountain #3 from Prospect Gulch
View down into Prospect Gulch
Red Mountain #3
Next we headed back to Gladstone and took a trail that looped around Cement Creek Gulch and met back up with Hurricane Pass.
Amanda and I headed down for what most likely is out last San Juan trip this year to check out the fall colors. While there were definitely some nice colors out in the mountains, it seems as though the peak of the season is still another weekend away. Since I will be in Moab next weekend with NAXJA, this was our only chance.
On Saturday morning, our goal was to check out some of the trails just west of Ridgway, then make our way to Telluride via Last Dollar Road, and then hit up a few short trails on our way over to Silverton where we setup camp along South Mineral Creek. The skies did not cooperate with us very well this day, as there were numerous scattered storms in the area, so I did the best I could taking pictures with my P&S.
We started out along Dallas Creek
Mount Sneffels
Then we headed up to Box Factory Park
Passing through the Double RL Ranch
Fisrt off, I would like to point out that my tires are in sad shape. They all need to be replaced as soon as I can afford to do so. I have put them through a lot, and it shows. Anyways, I need them to last me through 9 days in Moab next week, so I had to put on my good spare tire and buy one new wheel and tire (yes, I finally replaced that wheel I bent in Moab last year).
I got my new tire mounted on the wheel after work, but since I not longer have my bear breaker/tire changer, I had to do it the old fashioned way to get my Airsoft BB’s inside.
Breaking the bead
In goes 8oz of BB’s
Hopefully the other 2 tire will last through one more San Juan Weekend and 9 days in Moab….then I can replace them.
Gothic Road (Crested Butte, CO)
Gothic Road is an easy graded route that takes off from Mount Crested Butte and heads up to Schofield Pass. This road travels past the town of Gothic and then passes under Gothic Mountain before reaching a nice picnic area and campground. Shortly after the campground is the trailhead that leads up to Rustlers Gulch.
Soon you will reach a short spur trail on your left that will take you down to Emerald Lake. This lake offers some great photo opportunities and a nice place to stop for lunch as well. Just past Emerald Lake is Schofield Pass at 10,707 feet and the the intersection with the Paradise Divide trail. If you plan to continue on to the Schofield Pass trail, a high clearance 4×4 vehicle with low range is recommended.
While this trail is suitable for a passenger vehicle, it is included here because of the great views along the trail, and the fact that it is an important access road to other trails in the area.
Please feel free to leave your comments and post your pictures from Gothic Road below.
Gothic Road KML Track
(Right click and ‘Save Target As’)
Open file above in Google Earth.
I have not been very happy with the maps I have been using for my trail writeups, so I spent some time working on better maps with more waypoints added this evening. I’ll be working on updating the trail writeups over the next few weeks/months as well as posting better Google Earth KML files.
Here’s a few of the maps I have completed this evening 
Click on the smaller maps above for a larger version.
After spending over $800 this week on diesel, I have finally managed to get my other Jeep over here to Grand Junction. I also managed to get a few other tools and parts that I had to leave behind, too.
Loaded up for the trip home
Well, my hotel room is just about cleaned up, and I’ll be starting my way back to Colorado in a few hours, after I pickup my trailer and a few other things at my parents house.
Check out my Twitter updates on the right side of the screen if you want to keep track of where I am
…and don’t worry, I’ll be heading to the San Juan Mountains next weekend for my last trip of the season, and I’ll be posting new pictures on my site here after then
When I write-up my weekend trips and trails on my website here, I like to use the mountain range name to help identify the area that I am in. While I know where these ranges are located, it has been brought to my attention that not everyone does.
Because of that, I have found a map of Colorado that shows where all of the major mountain ranges are located. Hopefully this will help out your explorations in Colorado or when you are following along with mine
I may go though in the future and add some more features to this map, but this one should suffice for now.
Well, I got my 1992 Jeep Cherokee loaded onto my trailer today and ready to head back to Grand Junction on Saturday. I’m sure my parents are glad to finally have it out of their driveway
Winching it up onto my trailer
Loaded up and ready to go
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