Ophir Pass/Alta Lakes-Imogene Pass and Black Bear Pass- 3 Day Off-road Adventure

My buddy and I decided to partake in a 3 day adventure in the Telluride area. He has been really wanting to get into the Overlanding scene and has been looking at the new 3rd Gen Tacoma TRD OR. So we decided to take out my 3rd Gen 4Runner and see what she could do. Our 1st stop on the list was Ophir Pass and camp at Alta Lakes.

We decided to take the long way to get the Ouray and go through Cottonwood Pass and down. This way would an extra hour to our drive, but neither one of us had taken that Pass. The top of the Pass was pretty cool, turned out to just be a well maintained dirt road, but offered some great scenes.



Next stop: Ouray and then the Million Dollar Highway to Ophir Pass.

Ouray is a pretty cool little town, definitely was worth the stop.



Now we are off to the Ophir Pass on the Million Dollar Highway. This highway felt a little sketchy with no sway-bars in the rain




After 6 hours of driving, we finally made it to Ophir Pass

At the summit




Going down the summit was at least a little fun







The town of Ophir, which used to be a supply hub for all the mines in the area


Now that Ophir is done, we are on our way to our camping spot at Alta Lakes






4Runner camping


Quick review: This trail was extremely easy, but pretty beautiful drive. Not sure if I would do this trail again, except as a way to get to Alta Lakes. It could have been because we were already on the road but overall wasn't too impressed with the trail. Seeing the town of Ophir was kind of cool though.

Up next: Telluride and Imogene Pass

 

Day 2: Telluride and Imogene Pass

After we broke down camp we decided to head down to Telluride and spend part of there day before we would hit up Imogene Pass. Telluride is a pretty cool town, and the free Gondola is an added bonus.

Leaving Alta Lakes


The beginning of Imogene Pass: We started in Telluride



Looking at Black Bear Pass and Bridal Falls





At the top of Imogene 13K feet up









Heading down:




The stream crossing. It is a lot stepper than it looks. The Wrangler in front of me smacked his tail pipe and I smacked my trailer hitch



The campsite for the night. We camped on a nice cliff face that you could see down into the old mining town



Our little visitor


I would highly recommend doing Imogene in reverse, starting in Ouray. It's a lot more technical starting in Ouray.

 

Day 3: Black Bear Pass and Last Dollar Road

Here is a shot of my KO2's at the beginning of Day 3. They held up great, tackled everything we threw at them.


This was a cool "Rescue" truck at the bottom of Imogene


The beginning...



A cool flex spot we found before we started to head down the other side of Black Bear Pass


Heading down



Telluride



The point of no return


Looking down Telluride


Well this looks fun





We made it


Bridal Falls



Our camping spot on Lost Dollar Road

 

I had this trip planned bit had to back out. I will do this at some point thanks for posting pics. I love that part of Colorado.

Blue

 

Never been, need to go.

 

I love Colorado. Good writeup. I still gotta do BB.

PS, it's Last Dollar Road....

 

Beautiful adventure. Hope to go back one day

 

Oops I'll fix that

 

The only real mud we saw was on Last Dollar Road and that's because we went exploring past the campsite. It was a blast of a trip and I highly recommended going to that area. August was a great time to go.

 

There's always mud on that road, in between the birch trees and Telluride.

 

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the 3rd gen 'Limited' is only a trim package and the tranny is still part time 4WD with transfer case.

 

From 1996-2000 the "Limited" 4Runners had the normal 4-Hi and 4-LO. In 2001 they got the "mulit-mode" Transfer Case which allowed from 2WD, 4-HI, 4-HI(locked) and 4-LO. Honestly I ran a lot of the rails in 2WD and 4-HI with the E-locker locked. Only used 4-LO on certian parts of Immogene and Black Bear Pass.

The KO2's held up awesome. They climbed everything without issue. I got through all the mud holes without worry. I think they are the best all around tire out there.

 

Nice 4runner and awesome pictures thank you for sharing. Got to hit that area up soon. Looks like you went in August. Is that the best time to go?

 

Trails open mid June I believe. It kind of depends on the year and what kind of winter we had. I try to go later so there is more snow melt and less trail blockage. Trying against this August if I can get it off.

 

Cool thanks for the information. Is there allot of places to camp along the way? Sorry for all the questions. On the bucket list for me as well this summer.

 

This was awesome

 

For Imogene we took a side trail and found the perfect camping spot. But there seemed to be plenty of camping if you are willing to look.

 

Did you feel safe enough traveling with just your rig alone?

 

I was traveling with a buddy and I did. The first spot we camped at there were a few others but it was super spread out. The spot at Imogene we were the only ones there. Heard some ATV's go past but that's about it. Last place(Last Dollar Rd[?]) was tight but everyone kept to themselves. I also carry everywhere I go.

 

Awesome pics man! Only part of Colorado I have not been is Durango and Telluride area. These pics make me want to go this summer! Wife and 2 young kids will have to be in tow though the all guy trip days are over for the most part-at least the long ones! Does your 4runner have anything more than standard 2 inch lift? I think mine is 2 to 2.5, I am not sure if that counts as a "high clearance vehicle".

 

Mine has 3" in the front and 4" in the rear and I had no problems. I scrapped the trailer hitch twice, once on Black Bear and once on Imogene Pass. We are going back and taking my buddies stock TRD OR Taco, and with good lines I don't think he will have any problems. Your 2" lift should be fine on all the trails I went on.

 

Do you have full body skid plate? BTW whats the deal with the one way down road in those pics, it says arrange for vehicle pickup?? Surely there is a way out from there right?

 

Just stock skid plates. Most of Black Bear Pass is two way except the switch backs. After the switch backs it drops into Telluride. I believe that sign is for hikers, as the trail ends in Telluride.

 

Pertaining to dirt bikers who are not street legal. They can do BB but once at the bottom they have to be trailered through town because they can't operate on roads.

 

Makes more sense. Didn't see any dirk bikes or motorcycles on the trail when we went.

 

Amazing Views! Being from Michigan I would love to do that trip. Oh, I love the fact that you guys were supporting the 2nd amendment! Nice AR's I have a Nice AR pistol that Is in my 4Runner when I am in it!!

HDHP

 

It definitely a trip you should take your lifetime. The whole area is absolutely beautiful. You can see one of my trip report threads when we ran a few trails in the same area. Thanks! I have since tax stamped it and it is now an SBR, but I wish I would have kept it a Pistol. They are super handy when out on the trails.

 

Maybe next year! I do have 20 vacation days in 2020!

 

I would highly recommend any trail in the area. Alpine Loop is absolutely amazing. I really want to do it again next summer.

 

Maybe we could hook up and you can be the "Trail Guide" If all goes well I will have a CZ Evo Micro 9mm with me. Check it out!..............
https://www.pewpewtactical.com/cz-scorpion-micro-brace-review/

I drove down to Georiga and picked up a 05 Sport V8 with 187K miles. I am going to post what I have done to it so far. I have done the main maintenance and I hope it will be Up For the task. I am going to post it in the 4th Gen section. Maybe this weekend after I get don doing some more work on it... Have a good one!


HDHP