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I'll be taking my 14 FX4 to Colorado next month. Naturally while there, I'll be doing a lot of trails. I have done this many times before, but I have always been in a Wrangler or Grand Cherokee.
Those that have taken their trucks in these areas and have been on Imogene, Ophir or the Alpine Loop, how did your trucks handle? With the exception or Nitto Terra Grapplers, my truck is stock.
I and a trail partner are going to do about all the passes *except Black Bear Pass* (the local sheriff wants to close it 'cause too many accidents). Besides, even a SWB F150 is not recommended. Ophir, Imogene, Alpine Loop/Engineer Pass are all on our radar.
You may consider a set of skid plates. You have an ELD? If so, you should be able to do almost everything in 2wd. But avoid using ELD locked on the slide area of Ophir. I've been asking a lot of questions on www.expeditionportal.com
Oh, and sad news: the Animas River was just polluted with 1 million gallons of crap from a gold mine, thanks to EPA workers. The whole river is orange through Durango
I and a trail partner are going to do about all the passes *except Black Bear Pass* (the local sheriff wants to close it 'cause too many accidents). Besides, even a SWB F150 is not recommended. Ophir, Imogene, Alpine Loop/Engineer Pass are all on our radar.
You may consider a set of skid plates. You have an ELD? If so, you should be able to do almost everything in 2wd. But avoid using ELD locked on the slide area of Ophir. I've been asking a lot of questions on www.expeditionportal.com
HTH, and have a great time!!!
We always manage to do Cinnamon and Ophir. I'm going to do the full Alpine Loop this year from Silverton to Lake City and back. I've never done Poughkeepsie Gulch before, I'm going to give it a shot this year. I'm running 285/55 Nitto Trail Grappler G2's and a 2" level that I just got a few weeks ago.
When are you going to be in town? I'm leaving Saturday morning, Sunday is when I'll start with my adventures.
I absolutely CAN'T believe what the EPA managed to screw up. The quality of the Animas River has NEVER been an issue. Now they go up to Silverton and start screwing with a 150 year old gold mine that hasn't been an issue and now they've screwed up one of the most valuable and precious resources of the area. I read an article where the President of the Navajo Nation is planning to stick it to them in court... Can't blame the guy.
On a side note, I recently picked up this book with a vast majority of the trails in the San Juan Area as well as other parts of Colorado. Very detailed, might be worth picking up if you still have the time.
Good luck to you guys! If you see a silver FX4 with Texas plates and a "Brave Bully Rescue" decal in the bottom left of the back left window, be sure to wave at me.
Just did Black Bear and Imogene in a basically stock 1 ton Dodge Cummings with manual tranny without any problems.
Black bear is the stupid ATV's and motorcycles tearing up **** and the novice drivers panicking and trying to turn around....
If you can drive and have a decent truck/gears and now how to use low range you won't have any problems.
Never been on Black Bear, but I've heard plenty or horror stories. All I can base my opinion upon is what I've heard over the years... But doing that in a stock 1 Ton sounds impressive.
My truck is an FX4 with the locking rear 3.55s, 2 inch level in the front and Terra Grappler G2s 285/55.
Postponing the trip for a few weeks. I had my gallbladder removed Wednesday afternoon and I'm still in a ton of pain. Can't imagine bumping my *** down a mountain right now, it's all I can do to move out of bed.
I've had my eye on that book. I've been plotting a number of Garmin GPS routes on MapSource so I can download them right to the Garmin. Plus I've got a lot of feedback from the guys on expedition portal. Right now, Black Bear is threatened with closure. Another factor that eliminates it from our list, is that our trail partners will be dragging an adventure trailer, which makes 3+ - point turns nearly impossible. Not worth it.
Bummer about the gall bladder! But better now than whilst on the trail somewhere!
We're leaving out September 13 from SF Bay Area. Night 1 will be Ely, NV. Night 2 : who knows. We're thinking Moab and then overlanding from there over to Gateway, CO, then down to Telluride. Should be there by the 16th or so.
If you see a Sterling Gray FX4 with a cap and a Tepui RTT on top, be sure to wave! :-)
Last edited by STingray1300; 08-16-2015 at 01:10 AM.
I've had my eye on that book. I've been plotting a number of Garmin GPS routes on MapSource so I can download them right to the Garmin. Plus I've got a lot of feedback from the guys on expedition portal. Right now, Black Bear is threatened with closure. Another factor that eliminates it from our list, is that our trail partners will be dragging an adventure trailer, which makes 3+ - point turns nearly impossible. Not worth it.
Bummer about the gall bladder! But better now than whilst on the trail somewhere!
We're leaving out September 13 from SF Bay Area. Night 1 will be Ely, NV. Night 2 : who knows. We're thinking Moab and then overlanding from there over to Gateway, CO, then down to Telluride. Should be there by the 16th or so.
If you see a Sterling Gray FX4 with a cap and a Tepui RTT on top, be sure to wave! :-)
That sounds like a hell of a trip. That would be an absolute blast.
I'm off for 6 weeks because of the surgery, my girlfriend is also a paramedic, and an RN on top of that. Assuming she can get a shift at the FD covered and one of her ER shifts handed off, we should be up there the 2nd week of September.
Best of luck with your trip! Update here every now and then with pics and progress, will be neat to follow. I ordered a new Go Pro so I can do the same.
07-17-2015, 01:10 PM
Durango/Silverton Colorado
