Looking for others for Canyonlands, UT and Telluride/Ouray, CO trip in Junein late J

[boyfester]

Looking for others for Canyonlands, UT and Telluride/Ouray, CO trip in late June

I'll be heading out to Denver from Orange County, CA with my son on June 17 and we'll be entering Canyonlands, Utah on June 18-19 to complete the White Rim Trail. We reserved a campsite at Hardscrabble A and am wondering if there is anyone that would be interested in running the trail with us? I posted this trip a couple of weeks ago in the Trip Planning section for Mountains and got no responses. I want to spend two days on the trail so we can ride our mtn bikes around as well as do some of the hiking trails in the park. We're not due in Denver until June 20 so if anyone knows any other scenic trails off of Interstate 70 that would be really helpful too.

On the way home, I'll be leaving Denver on Thursday, June 25 traveling through Buena Vista, then onto Ouray, Telluride, and Silverton. Would anyone be interested in meeting up for some trails here too? I was thinking of doing Tincup Pass in Buena Vista and then Engineer Pass and Ophir Pass in the Telluride area based on feedback from people on this forum.

Does anyone know if these passes are open in late June?

 

[chmura]

You should do Black Bear Pass as well. Buy these books on Utah and Colorado.

Utah:

http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Backroa...&qid=1432132880&sr=1-1&keywords=funtreks+utah

Colorado:

Guide to Northern Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel-Drive Trails 3rd Edition (Funtreks Guidebooks): Charles A. Wells, Matt Peterson, Shelley Mayer: 9781934838051: Amazon.com: Books

Check out Expedition Portal you might have better chance finding someone there that is going your direction that can join you. That site is more oriented on adventure travel than a car specific forum like this one.

You

 

[Martinjmpr]

On the way home, I'll be leaving Denver on Thursday, June 25 traveling through Buena Vista, then onto Ouray, Telluride, and Silverton. Would anyone be interested in meeting up for some trails here too? I was thinking of doing Tincup Pass in Buena Vista and then Engineer Pass and Ophir Pass in the Telluride area based on feedback from people on this forum.

Does anyone know if these passes are open in late June?

Possibly but it's going to be a crapshoot. It's been raining in Denver since the beginning of May and it's still raining. Some of the mountain areas have seen more snow in May than they saw over the rest of the Winter - they're measuring snow in feet in some of the front range mountains, but I don't know about the San Juans. Also, this is not light, fluffy, dry mid-winter snow that will melt quickly this is heavy, wet spring snow and will be around for a while.

Mount Evans, which normally opens for Memorial Day, will NOT be open this Memorial day due to snow according to CDOT. They will be opening Independence Pass (12,125') which runs between Leadville and Aspen some time over the weekend though.

Best bet it is to check Bushducks Back Country Adventure to see the latest pass status.

 

[snivilous]

Possibly but it's going to be a crapshoot. It's been raining in Denver since the beginning of May and it's still raining. Some of the mountain areas have seen more snow in May than they saw over the rest of the Winter - they're measuring snow in feet in some of the front range mountains, but I don't know about the San Juans. Also, this is not light, fluffy, dry mid-winter snow that will melt quickly this is heavy, wet spring snow and will be around for a while.

Mount Evans, which normally opens for Memorial Day, will NOT be open this Memorial day due to snow according to CDOT. They will be opening Independence Pass (12,125') which runs between Leadville and Aspen some time over the weekend though.

Best bet it is to check Bushducks Back Country Adventure to see the latest pass status.

Yea but I think by June most of the snow will be gone. For the last few nights we've been getting a few inches of snow but it's so warm out still it's melted by the end of the day before it starts again. Though I live on the eastern slope, I heard the same thing about Evans highway that they've gotten 4 feet of snow.

 

[Keep 'Em Flying]

Last time I did the White Rim Trail was on a motorcycle and rode the entire length in 6 hours.

 

[boyfester]

Last time I did the White Rim Trail was on a motorcycle and rode the entire length in 6 hours.

Things happen a lot faster on a bike. :trophy: I want to make sure I get out an hike though. Pretty difficult doing that in motorcycle boots.

 

[sabangzhi]

You should do Black Bear Pass as well.

 

[TBuzz]

I can't imagine black bear will be open. We have been getting a lot of moisture and the mountains are getting pounded for May. Cinamon pass and Ophir pass were already open to the top from Silverton side for a while. That may have changed for now. If you can't get over to telluride via black bear or Ophir pass you can try Bolam pass. It's near the purgatory ski area and drops you over south of Rico. It's fun but not alpine so the views are different and it will be open sooner than the others.

 

[BigredTEX]

I can't imagine black bear will be open. We have been getting a lot of moisture and the mountains are getting pounded for May. Cinamon pass and Ophir pass were already open to the top from Silverton side for a while. That may have changed for now. If you can't get over to telluride via black bear or Ophir pass you can try Bolam pass. It's near the purgatory ski area and drops you over south of Rico. It's fun but not alpine so the views are different and it will be open sooner than the others.

It will be a crap shoot for trails being open in the Ouray area at that time. Black bear doesn't open typically until July 4th, but given the weather this spring it may be later than that. Ophir and Cinamon will most likely be open, but the higher passes like Imogene and Engineers could be sketchy.

I've tried to run Tin Cup, Hancock and Tomichi passes in late June and found them blocked by snow in Late June. Check web sites like Bushducks.com for conditions before starting out.