Arrived today in the mail.
Also have a Colorado Gazetteer and my dad's 1987 printing of The Colorado Pass Book by Don Koch.
I'm curious about getting from Lake City to Ouray on my first main start of the adventure portion of my trip.
From Lake City (where I used to live) there are two main options and then a few sub-options.
1. Engineer Pass - This route starts right in Lake City, and is very easy to follow. Just follow the signs for engineer pass. Just past the summit of the pass you can choose to head straight down to Hwy 550 (to Ouray) or you can head south to Animas forks (where you'll also end up if you take option 2)
2. Cinnamon Pass - Take Hwy 149 south out of Lake City about 2 miles and then head south on County Road 30. This will take you all the way up to Cinnamon Pass. On this route you'll pass Lake San Cristobal, and American Basin. Just past the summit of Cinnamon you'll drop down into Animas Forks.
From Animas Forks you have several options: south on CR 110 to Silverton and then Ouray via Hwy 550. You could head north to pick up the west side of Engineer pass down to 550, or you can head west up California gulch which will take you over Hurricane pass and Corkscrew gulch and eventually down to Hwy 550. Additionally from the top of California gulch you can head north down Poughkeepsie gulch which will end up connecting to the far west end of Engineer pass very near Hwy 550.
So... depending how long you want this to take and how much rough road you want to see, and how much scenery you want to see you have many choices.
Poughkeepsie gulch is quite gnarly, so if you don't want to trash your rig or don't have much lift stay away.
To get the most scenery and about a 5 to 6 hour drive I would suggest this:
Take Cinnamon Pass, and stop at Lake San Cristobal if you like (only 10 min from Lake City), then continue up CR 30 all the way to the summit. If you want you can take the fork to American Basin (great views here) just before the Cinnamon Pass summit. From the summit you'll drop down to Animas Forks. Take California gulch west. Here you will find fantastic scenery, and will end up at nearly 13,000 ft elevation at the summit (just about the highest place you can drive to in the county). From here you'll begin heading down, and you can take either Poughkeepsie gulch or Hurricane Pass. Assuming you prefer to not damage your vehicle, I would take Hurricane when connects to Corkscrew gulch and will deliver you safely to Hwy 550 just south of Ouray.
Check out
TrailDamage for more info and pictures.
