Trip Report: Denver, CO to Orange County, CA via scenic route - June 2015

This is cross-posted in toyota-4runners.org.

After a great trip from California to Denver and being able to spend some quality time with my wife's family, it was time to leave and head back home. Unfortunately I was without my wing-man son as he and our daughter were staying for a few more days in Denver and would be flying home later in the week. I also remedied our broken bicycle hitch rack (which broke along the White Rim Trail on the way to Denver) and was able to replace it with a very used and rusty Thule T2 rack that I purchased via Denver's Craigslist. Although rusty, dirty, and covered with a gazillion stickers, it was a sound rack and very sturdy. After re-loading up with fresh supplies as well as both mtn bikes, I left on 25 June and headed to Ouray. I had plans to drive the "easy" roads as per Charlie Wells' Colorado Trails book as I didn't have anyone to meet up with, even after posting my trip plans on the following forums: toyota-4runners.org, ultimateyota.com, expeditionportal.com, and toyota120.com. I did get great suggestions of roads and trails to hit along with a great website which gave weekly updates on trail conditions.

The trip to Ouray was beautiful! I decided to forgo Interstate 70 and took the scenic Hwy. 285.

This is Mt. Princeton coming into Buena Vista from Hwy. 24/285.
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There was a huge reservoir in Curecanti National Recreation Area along Hwy. 50 fed by the Gunnison River. I took a bathroom break at Red Creek campground and took a quick drive along Red Creek Road (Rte. 723).
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The hill behind me is named Tenderfoot Hill.
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At the west of the reservoir are the Dillon Pinnacles which were a site to behold.
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I reached Ouray, CO in the afternoon which was amazing. My motel had a great view of the amphitheater and a waterfall.
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I found out that the sun goes down late in Ouray and so I took my first excursion to the Red Mountain Mining District. As you'll see from the pictures, there were mines everywhere along this pass. I don't know the names of all of them and I didn't take pictures of all of them either.
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The trail ends at Hwy 550 and then starts again a little further south but in between is the infamous Black Bear Pass Rd. The website (Ouray Scenic Jeep Tours & Jeep Rentals) noted that it was closed still but I decided to see how far I could go before having to turn around. It is rated "moderate" until after the pass where it is rated "difficult" at the "steps". I wasn't going to attempt any of that by myself anyway but was hoping to get a view of the steps in person. All of the youtube videos of it look insane.
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I had to hug the snow on this section as it was a drop on the other side.
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This was the end of the road as there was a huge snow drift covering the road.
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Coming back down was also an adventure.
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Once completed, I continued along the Red Mountain Pass road which was incredible. It climbed upwards and passed Longfellow Mine with a deep vertical shaft. I dropped a rock through the grate and didn't hear it hit bottom.
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This gate was to a cabin you could apparently rent out. It didn't look too appealing, unless you like rustic cabins.
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The road pressed on and got muddier by the minute from the snow melt. The ridge climbed over 12,000 feet at times offering incredible views!
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I would love to see the snow plow that made this possible!
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Brooklyn Mine
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Once I exited the trail I headed south along Hwy. 550 back to Ouray. This is the remains of the Treasury Tunnel at the Idarado Mine.
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This is Bear Creek Falls. After this I headed back to Ouray to get gifts for my wife and kids and to hit the Thursday night outdoor music festival and beer garden that was going on.
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The next day I planned to drive the Ophir Pass over to Telluride and the Last Dollar Road before continuing onto Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. When I was in Ouray the day before, I met some guys that were interested in doing Ophir Pass too and they recommended starting early since you didn't want to contend with people coming from the opposite direction. I concurred and so we left Ouray at 5:30AM the next day. It was nice to not be alone for once.

This is near the top of Ophir Pass at about sunrise. The snow plows sure did a good job up here. I wish they would have done Black Bear Pass too.
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I decided to take my mtn bike as I wanted to try some trails in Telluride as there is a free gondola ride offering free downhill runs. Unfortunately, I was pressed for time and wasn't able to but it did give me a chance to test out the new bike rack on some trails.
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At the top!
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Now for the drive down. You can see the other guy's red Jeep behind me in the last picture. Speaking of that, I honestly saw lots of Jeeps in the Ouray parking lots but mostly Toyotas (4Runners, Tacomas, and FJs) and Nissans on the trails.
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Lots of aspen trees and stream crossings near the end.
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This is along a graded road called Ilium Road; connecting Ophir and Telluride. It allowed me to keep my tires aired down all the way to Telluride.
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The Last Dollar Road to Ridgway did not disappoint. As promised in a couple of Colorado books that I own, this is a famous road to get pictures of aspen trees, flowers, landscapes, and cool fences.
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This enduro rider was kicking back on a sweet viewpoint checking out the view. I would have driven to the top too but he was hanging out.
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Flowers were in bloom as far as the eye could see.
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More aspens. These were all leaning in the same direction.
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Flowers and more zig-zag fencing.
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I finally reached Ridgway, aired up, headed back to Ouray, packed up, and headed south. This is at South Mineral Creek, just north of Silverton. This is a great spot for open camping as there are no designated spots.
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On to New Mexico I went. I passed through Silverton and Durango and was getting excited to see Shiprock again. I came here in 2007 with my son and was blown away by this mammoth rock which protrudes 1700 feet out of the ground. You can see it from as far away as 50 miles. When you come around the corner and see it for the first time, it's amazing (to me at least).
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Getting closer
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Closer still. If this rock looks familiar to you, Michael Bay used it in the beginning of his Transformers movie where the soldiers are supposed to be in Iraq when they're attacked by a metal scorpion. When I saw that in the theaters, I was like, "That's not Iraq!"
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I decided to stay back about a mile as it is sacred to the Navajo and I was in Navajo Nation now. In 2007 we drove right up to it. The large rocks shown next to it in the picture above are about the size of a house compared to a truck.

These volcanic ridges jut out from different sides of the rock and you can climb on them to get different perspectives.
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Shooting in the opposite direction. The paved road goes right through the volcanic ridge.
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I started getting desperate with other photo ideas as I didn't want to leave.
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Happened upon a skull wired to a nearby fence which gave me some more options.
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Anyway, I finally had to leave. This is the Thumb.
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As I made my way into Arizona, I saw this butte up ahead with a lookout point and antennas on top. My map showed a dirt road going up and so I decided to go for it. It was sweet! No one was up there but there was a shelter with sleeping quarters plus the lookout station.
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You guessed it. It gave me another couple of shots of Shiprock and the Thumb. This time I was over 2000 feet higher than it.
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My last night was in Chinle, AZ and then I was driving home the next day. Along the way to the Mummy Cave ruins at Canyon de Chelly, I came upon a lost and starving pit bull walking along the highway. I pulled over and gave him some food and water. He ate everything and was in bad shape with mange. I ended up forgetting about seeing Canyon de Chelly that afternoon and decided to rescue this dog and get him to a shelter, either tonight or in the morning on the way home. I made room for him in the back, placed a blanket down, and lifted him in. After a long search and with the help of the local police and my daughter back home searching for rescue shelters over the internet, I found someone who took in the dog. It was 10pm by the time I handed him off. As I found out that night, there are numerous feral dogs and cats in Chinle but I was super stoked that I was able to help out this one and I hope he's doing better now.
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The next day I decided to get up early and see Canyon de Chelly after all. This is Spider Rock.
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White House Ruins
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At the visitor center the next day I found out that the Navajo believe dogs and cats are bad luck and they're not allowed in houses. When you get to Chinle, there are horses, cows, sheep, dogs, and cats walking around on paved and dirt roads. There are no fences between many of the farms so they're free to walk wherever they want. The larger animals are branded but they walk around freely.

This is the abandoned church where I dropped off the dog the night before. It was pretty eerie at night as there were no lights on in the entire area. I was pretty frightened knocking on people's doors at night.
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On the way home near Flagstaff, I saw a pink 4WD tour bus. The back of it says Pink Jeep Tours | Sedona Tours, Scottsdale Tours, Las Vegas Tours, and Grand Canyon Tours. but this doesn't look like a Jeep to me.
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And no trip is complete without stopping along Route 66 and some random town. This was in Ludlow where their claim to fame is Dairy Queen and an old cafe. Not to mention lots of trains and abandoned buildings.
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Need another son? I would not even sass back!

Awesome trip! I am saving the last 2 posts for lunch time tomorrow!

Great trip report. You really covered some ground and saw a lot of great places.