Colorado/Utah summer 2021

[tex]

Guess I will start from the beginning for this trip. Plan was to camp more than I did, and hit some more tails than I did, but with no reservations or concrete plans things are bound to go a little different than expected.

Started off in Idaho Springs the first morning and the plan was to hit up a fly shop about 2 hours south. Ran into some other Toyotas in Breckenridge and stopped to chat for a min. They were running Mosquito Pass and invited us to tag along. Great trail that is not too technical but make sure your 4 low works for going down. At the top the elevation is 13,185 feet.

 

[tex]

Made it to a section of river below 11 Mile Reservoir to do some fishing. The scenery along the river is beautiful and the fishing was pretty good. All of the established campgrounds pretty much require reservations so we found a spot on some BLM land that had a few too many people nearby for my liking.

 

[tex]

Next morning we did some more fishing till the sun got a too high and we retreated into Buena Vista for some food and beer at Eddyline Brewery. Planned to find another camping spot this night, but that didn't happen since we needed to be closer to Denver to run some trails with a buddy. Altitude sickness hit and I was down so no trails with the group that we had planned. My buddy got an earlier flight home and rested up 1 more day at my brothers house before heading across the state to Creede. Found an awesome campsite on the Rio Grande. While here I did the Bachelor Loop above Creede, visited the Last Chance Mine museum along the route, fished a few lakes, and then headed to Lake City to visit a brewery.

 

[tex]

After the brewery in Lake City I made my way back towards Creede to pick up the road that turns into Cunningham Gulch and Stoney Pass. This route goes up past the Rio Grande Reservoir, Continental Divide, and then ends in Silverton. I had found a good looking camp site on Google Earth but when I got to it someone was already there. I kept going and camped in a small spot near Kite Lake. I did this trail back in 2012 but now it sees much heavier day use from side x sides.

 

[tex]

Reaching Silverton I made my way north along the Million Dollar Highway to Ouray. Nice lunch on the rooftop at Ouray Brewing and the plan was to keep going north to Montrose to pick up the Rimrocker Trail to Moab, but with temps 95-100 I opted to go straight to Moab for a hotel with a pool.

I ran 7 Mile Rim solo the first day while waiting for my brother to get into town. Its a great trail with just enough challenging spots to keep the excitement. I cant stress enough to use 1 of several offline map apps to keep you on the trail and dont end up lost.

 

[tex]

With my brother getting in town from a long drive we relaxed for the evening and came up with a game plan to hit Top Of The World the next day. What a great trail! Ledges and obstacles are plenty. Used the locker once but that could have been avoided with a different line or stacking a few rocks. The views up top are UNREAL. Pictures do not do it justice.

 

[tex]

All in all this was a great trip and I logged a touch over 3000 miles. Truck did well but I wish there was a bit more power, 1 more gear in the transmission, and a few more gallons in the fuel tank.

 

[Silverback]

Great pics!!

 

[Anathollo]

Looked like a great time!

 

[TacoXpo]

Man, I could use about a month of that. Work may be taking a breather for a few weeks - I need to take a trip. Thanks for the inspiration.