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Tour of Colorado 2022: 9 days & 1,200 miles through Colorado with no schedule, itinerary, or accommodations. Just a guy a girl and a trail with a list of destinations and a loosely planned route.

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Click here for part 1

Get brought up to speed on the first 5 days that lead us here!

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Day 6: We had a lofty goal for the day. We were aiming to hit Corkscrew Gulch, Hurricane Pass, California Gulch to get to Animas Forks, and then Engineer Pass into Lake City. It was going to be a lot of seat time so we hit the trail earlier than usual. We couldn’t have dreamed up some of the stunning views that were awaiting us.

Our jaws dropped as the colors came into view.

Morgan silently admired the view for a long time.

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*Morgan here, and my adage is this: Ryan commented on this trip that the trails we took begged the question–how many people on this planet will get to see this in person? We were in the select few of the “statistically insignificant” to have ever seen these places. I count myself incredibly lucky and we definitely didn’t take this for granted.*

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This was one of the most beautiful landscapes we had ever seen.

The scale of everything was so massive it was a challenge to take it all in.

Just when we thought it couldn’t possibly get any better… this happened!

On top of the world.

We made it to Animas Forks, a well preserved ghost town that was abandoned over 100 years ago. In its heyday, the mining town had a hotel, saloon, post office, and a population of 450 people. Nestled in a valley of the San Juan Mountains at 11,200 feet above sea level, this town was uninhabitable during the winter months. The residents would migrate South to Silverton every year and wait for Spring. A historically bad blizzard once dumped 25 feet of snow on the town in one shot. That’s 300 inches!

Once again, the weather turned. Cloudy skies and on-and-off light rain turned into a downpour. We set off to conquer Engineer Pass in an all out storm with visibility much worse than the pictures let on.

A steep, muddy trail with hard rain that caused water to flow down it like a stream, made for quite a bit of puckering. We were uneasy, but the Nitto Ridge Grapplers continued to handle everything we threw at them. Try as she might, Mother Nature couldn’t best the 4Runner.

The sign marking the top of the pass was a welcome one. The summit formed a natural barrier that the bulk of the storm couldn’t overcome.

The descent was wet, but the rain stayed light.

With tense bodies and conditions clearing up we stopped to stretch our legs and have a snack. We could hear heavy water flowing nearby and decided to check it out. We followed the sound down a steep traverse of wet rocks.

Our efforts were rewarded.

The road remained dirt but became more and more maintained as we closed in on Lake City.

Lake City was… different.

It turned out to be an RV-ers paradise. A haven of endless campgrounds, generic sports bars, and side-by-sides as far as the eye could see. We stopped at a highly rated BBQ restaurant but quickly moved on when the menu failed to impress and left next to nothing as far as gluten-free options for Morgan. We found ourselves in the parking lot of Climb Elevated Eatery for about 15 minutes waiting for them to open for dinner. Stopping in that early we were able to get seated without a reservation. I’m glad we did because that place was a hidden gem, and I don’t just say that because it was the first non-snack food we had eaten all day. The cocktails were fantastic, the food was phenomenal, and with the exception of the owner’s tendency to loudly berate his staff and chat it up on personal calls well within earshot, the atmosphere was pleasant. Overall, it was a lovely dinner experience but we had seen enough of Lake City and beelined it out of there in search of Cinnamon Pass.

It had been a long day and we were tired. As a result, we started to get careless. We made a turn onto a trail we never should have made. The trail was steeper and rockier than anything else we had encountered on this trip so far. There were switch-backs with off camber eroded holes in the slick mud.

It was very slick.

The occasional stream had eroded the trail and left a crossing of boulders behind.

The 4Runner barely squeezed down the trail, the path was well worn by significantly smaller side-by-sides and ATVs. We hugged the inside wall of the trail while the placement of the outside tire landed dangerously close to the muddy edge of the drop-off. It was higher stakes than we wanted to deal with in the moment but it was too narrow to turn around.

As conditions worsened the focus shifted to ensuring our safety, and thinking about taking pictures was all but forgotten. The rain got heavier, the trail got sloppier. We made it through the really sketchy stuff but then the skies went dark and the storm started to unload with fury. I think this might have been Mother Nature holding a grudge over getting bested on Engineer Pass. She was pissed! Making our way up the trail it looked like we were fording a river upstream. The sheer volume of water was unreal. We pushed on until we got to a large clearing. We found ourselves at a ghost town. Had it not been the middle of a severe thunderstorm, it would have made for a pretty cool place to camp. We just wanted to get out of there. We continued to the unnamed trail that we had seen on our map. We were heartbroken to see it was a hiking trail for foot traffic. We were nearing our breaking point and tensions were running high. We had a decision to make: sleep inside the 4Runner for the night and hope the water didn’t wash something away or uproot trees that would leave us stranded, try to wait out the rain and drive down in the dark, or backtrack down the way we came right now while hoping the storm would let up. We went for the latter of the 3 and started an intense white-knuckle ride back down. The storm did eventually let up, light returned to the sky and the rain slowed to a drizzle. The trail conditions had declined into a mushy, sloppy mess.

We made it out of there completely exhausted and took the first opportunity we could to set up camp.

Morgan massaged the tension out of my neck and shoulders and we crawled into our North Face One double bag. Exhausted, we cuddled up tight and crashed hard. This was a day we will never forget.

Day 6 Overview: Uncompahgre National Forest —> Brown Mountain —> Corkscrew Gulch —> Hurricane Pass —> California Gulch —> Animas Forks ghost town —> Engineer Pass —> Uncompahgre Wilderness —> Red Cloud Peak WSA —> Whitmore Falls waterfall—> Late lunch/early dinner in Lake City at Climb Elevated Eatery —> Cinnamon Pass —> Gunnison National Forest—> Wager Gulch —> Handies Peak WSA —> Cinnamon Pass —> Sherman Townsite —> Cataract Gulch —> Camped at 9,600 feet.

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Day 7: At this point in our trip we had completed 6 days on the move living out of the 4Runner, the last of which was long and very intense. We hadn’t “showered” with actual soap and water since the lake. It had been cold, wet and rainy for days. The sunshine Colorado is known for proved elusive. We were mentally and physically tired, packing up camp in the morning drizzle, on an offshoot of Cinnamon Pass, 9,600 feet high in the middle of the San Juan Range of the Rocky Mountains.

We continued our way up Cinnamon Pass. The trail posed little challenge but the views continued to impressed. It was a welcomed break in intensity.

After 3,000 feet of ascent, we hit the summit.

The descent down the other side dropped us back down into Animas Forks again (seen on the bottom left).

From there we continued South to Silverton.

The Alpine Loop scenery was the gift that just kept on giving. Every bend in a trail revealed more mind blowing visuals. It never got old.

We arrived in Silverton.

We stopped at a small coffee shop for some much needed caffeine. The rain stopped while we relaxed inside.

That gave us an opportunity to walk around a bit and see the town. Silverton was a lovely but quirky little mountain town. We both enjoyed our visit.

Remote towns always come up with resourceful ways to recycle. These old train cars has been joined and converted into a house.

Next on the agenda was Ouray, via the infamous Million Dollar Highway. A 25 mile stretch of narrow 2-lane road winding through the mountains along a cliff edge with no guardrail. Nicknamed “Highway To Hell”, it’s regarded as “The Most Dangerous Road in America”.

Wait a minute, do my eyes deceive me? Is that… blue skies in the distance?!

We stopped at a scenic overlook to check out the waterfall. The Jeep on the bridge really gives it a sense of scale.

The blue skies over Ouray in the distance proved to be a highly effective source of excitement after days of rain.

The temperature rose and the roads dried as we approached the edge of town.

The first warm, dry place in days!

We parked on the side of the road and stopped for lunch on the patio of a busy little restaurant. A family eating lunch at the table next to us were admiring the 4Runner and struck up a conversation asking us about our trip. It was fun to share our story with a group of strangers eager to hear more. From there we walked around the town a bit, went to a few shops, and found our way into a cool bar. We sat down at the bar and ordered a pair of drinks that were their own in-house special recipes. Again, strangers next to us struck up a conversation. We chatted with them for a while, sharing stories of adventures past and present. We learned for the first time that the month of July is “monsoon season” in the San Juan mountains. If you’re not familiar with Colorado, weather forecasts are pretty meaningless. A hot Summer day in the mountains can turn to snow at night, and during the Summer, the forecast will call for rain every day because at some point, a quick mountain storm is likely to quickly roll through in the afternoon. This meant seeing rain in the forecast for our trip was something we totally skimmed past. We had no idea monsoon season was possible in Colorado. They also gave us a little tidbit about a waterfall just a stone’s throw away. That would be our next stop, but first, I had to get a picture of the “hippo splatter zone” sign on the back of the taps… if you know, you know.

The drizzle returned as we made our way to the waterfall.

Then came the moment we had been dreaming about. A very long, very relaxing soak in a mineral hot spring, in the sun.

Followed up by showers. For the first time in a week – hot water, flowing shower head, normal soap, shampoo and conditioner, real, actual showers! It was glorious. Smiling and renewed, we set out to find camp. We found it over a water crossing along a stream, next to a waterfall.

It was Friday, and like we do every Friday, we popped some bubbles.

We felt like a million bucks as we began working on dinner.

It was fantastic!

After dinner we explored the stream for a little bit and watched the sunset while we enjoyed each other’s company, and our bubbles.

We cleaned up and got ready for bed. The red lights did a great job of preserving our night vision and not attracting bugs while our Thermacell actively repelled them.

The Nemo Roamer sleeping pad felt even comfier than normal that night.

Day 7 Overview: Gunnison National Forest —> Handies Peak WSA—> Red Cloud Peak WSA —> Cinnamon Pass —> American Basin ACEC—> Animas Forks ghost town —> Alpine Loop Byway —> Silverton—> Million Dollar Highway—> San Juan National Forest —> Chattanooga Historic Site —> Red Mountain Pass —> Uncompahgre National Forest —> Bear Creek Falls —> Ouray —> Cascade Falls—> Ouray Hot Springs —> Uncompahgre Wilderness —> Camped at 8,650 feet.

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Day 8: Having slept like rocks to the white noise of a waterfall, we woke to warm air and sunny skies. We made our way back down the mountain.

After a stop for breakfast in Ridgeway we continued North, excited for our first visit to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Upon our arrival we were promptly greeted by some local residents.

We made our way around Rim Drive Road, stopping at every overlook to hike out a short way to the canyon’s edge.

“Morgan, look here and smile”

That’s more like it!

Natural beauty surrounded by natural beauty.

A seat with a view.

A rare photo of me.

Once again, a storm began to stalk us in the distance.

This is known as Painted Wall.

The rain snuck up fast.

With rain coming down at a rate faster than it could run off the road we made our exit from the park. We outran the storm and made a quick stop at an Old West style town we had spotted from the road.

We turned our focus to reaching Aspen in time to explore a bit. We wanted to have a nice dinner to mark the last night of the trip and still have time to find camp in daylight.

The rain caught us. Again. We rolled into a soggy Aspen.

It was here we finally found trip-worthy bottle of tequila to bring home, a highly rated and hard to find bottle of Mijenta Anejo Gran Reserva.

We went with Clark’s Oyster Bar for dinner, to celebrate on this final evening of our trip. This is where it all came full circle via a bottle on their bar that nobody else seemed able to get their hands on at the time. A trip that was kicked off on the first day with a neat pour of Fortaleza 2021 Winter Blend Reposado, wrapped up the last night with a neat pour of Fortaleza Añejo.

Sitting at the bar enjoying another top notch meal, we chatted with the bartender, and people-watched. The Dudebroski next to Morgan relentlessly trying to brag his way into impressing the clearly uninterested ladies on the other side of him was fun to watch for a while. To my immediate left was an old man who sat down with his daughter and granddaughter. They ordered burgers and fries and a bottle of wine that prompted the beverage director to personally bring it out and discuss it with the gentleman before pouring a glass. Suddenly, something came up and his company had to leave. He stayed at the bar, sipping his wine. Morgan finally asked him about the bottle. “It’s great, here, this glass is yours” he replied as he slid Morgan the untouched glass that had just been poured for his daughter, along with the bottle so we could see what we were drinking.

We ended up chatting with this guy for at least half an hour. His wife had been a wine importer for decades and they had been collecting wine just as long. As the conversation progressed he and the awesome woman bartending provided a lead and some directions to dispersed camping in the mountains outside of town. After one of the best dining experiences we’ve ever had we made our way out of town via Independence Pass.

The rain had stopped, the skies cleared, and the brilliant sun of the late Summer evening made the trees glow a bright golden yellow. It was beautiful.

The road narrowed at times down to the width of a single vehicle with no center line. This is not a one way directional route.

We found the recently suggested trail and navigated our way down in search of our last campsite of the trip.

As the sun faded for the day we found our home for the night.

We capped a great day with the package of gluten-free macaroons that we had picked up in Aspen and called it a night.

Day 8 Overview: Uncompahgre Wilderness —> Uncompahgre National Forest —> Breakfast in Ridgeway—> Black Canyon of the Gunnison Wilderness —> Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park —> Rim Drive Road —> Gunnison Gorge NCA —> Grand Mesa National Forest —> West Elk Loop Scenic Byway —> McClure Pass —> Gunnison National Forest —> West Elk Wilderness —> White River National Forest —> Top of The Rockies Scenic Byway —> Redstone National Historic District —> Dinner at Clark’s Oyster Bar in Aspen —> Independence Pass —> Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness —> Collegiate Peaks Wilderness —> Camped at 10,700 feet.

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Day 9: Another beautiful morning.

Knowing we were heading home and wouldn’t be reopening the tent in the near future, we hung around a little bit longer than normal in the morning to ensure the sun had a chance to fully dry it out from the overnight drizzle.

I made coffee and whipped up a skillet of all the breakfast ingredients we had left.

We navigated our way back out.

We continued up Independence Pass.

With each other 24/7, well technically 24/9, through bad weather and rough terrain, but still happy as can be.

From the summit of the pass we set the GPS to take us home.

After 1,200 miles and 9 Days, we returned home. The front door was still locked.

Day 9 Overview: Collegiate Peaks Wilderness —> Top of The Rockies Scenic Byway —> Independence Pass —> Twin Lakes National Historic District —> San Isabel National Forest —> Fremont Pass —> White River National Forest —> Eagles Nest Wilderness —> Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness —> Arapaho National Forest —> Slept in our bed at 5,400 ft.

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This expedition was incredible. It had it all. Adventure, danger, history, and nature. New things, new places, good food, good people, and unbelievable views. What more could you ask for?

Well, a lot.

This is where I feel it’s important to mention that this was not the trip we set out to take. We had bigger plans. We were going to stop at a wine bar in Buena Vista that we had been wanting to check out. We were supposed to see the 4 Corners tourist trap and make our first ever visit to Crested Butte. We were supposed to drive Imogene Pass out of Telluride and then take Black Bear Pass to drop back in. We planned to stop at Slow Grooving’ BBQ in Marble and take the trail out to the iconic Crystal Mill. We missed out on a lot of different things, for a lot of different reasons. There will always be variables outside of your control, but your emotions are not one of them. Your emotions are one of the few things that you and you alone control. You can choose to stay fluid, roll with the punches, make the best out of it and enjoy the ride. Or you can choose to get caught up on everything that doesn’t go your way, allowing negativity to creep in and ruin the whole experience.

We missed out on a lot of things, we learned 9 straight days with that much seat time is awful, and reaffirmed that camping in the rain sucks. But we chose to adapt and enjoy the ride. The result was a truly unforgettable adventure that we will never forget.

Adventure doesn’t follow a script.

• 1 State: Colorado
• 3 National Parks: Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison
• 9 National Forests: Pike, San Isabel, Rio Grande, San Juan, Uncompahgre, Gunnison, Grand Mesa, White River, and Arapahoe
• 12 Wilderness Areas: Lost Creek, Sangre De Cristo, Great Sand Dunes, Weminuche, Lizard Head, Uncompahgre, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, West Elk, Hunter-Fryingpan, Collegiate Peaks, Eagles Nest, and Ptarmigan Peak
• 16 Mountain Passes: Kenosha (10,000 ft), Red Hill (9,993 ft), Currant Creek (9,485 ft), Medano (10,040 ft), Wolf Creek (10,856 ft), Lizard Head (10,222 ft), Ophir (11,789 ft), Red Mountain (11,017 ft), Corkscrew Gulch (12,244 ft), Hurricane (10,338 ft), California Gulch (12,931 ft), Engineer (12,800 ft), Cinnamon (12,620 ft), McClure (8,770 ft), Independence (12,095 ft), and Fremont (11,319 ft)

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