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Last week I took a camping trip in Southern Colorado in the 2DR MT. It was around a 17 hour drive from where I live. This was the first time I would be putting the truck through its paces. I have done shorter trips but nothing in the elevation.
I arrived and camped in some of the national forests and dispersed sites. The truck made it much easier to reach much further into the national forest especially to some pretty scenic dispersed sites. Some even involved water crossings which opened up so many campsites that may have otherwise been taken by vanlifers etc. People in the region were so helpful and friendly I felt most the trip was on a whim not knowing where we would camp each night and totally pop up on a campsite for the evening randomly!
After chatting with some of the local offroad shops in the area I agreed on the route to take: The offroad adventure consisted of the Corkscrew Pass -> Hurricane Pass -> California Pass -> Engineer Pass -> Lake City. I started early and arrived at corkscrew. Shortly I was in 4L and riding the incline up. Corkscrew was rough but manageable with some scenic stone colors and skree going up the slope to the pass. I stalled once and that was scary starting to roll back towards a cliff with the brakes locked up, but a reach for the E-brake and a min to gather myself again and we were moving back up again.
I met some great folks in the 4x4 community at the top and we chatted about trail conditions and really got a sense for the culture and great folks! We stayed in pack and started towards California and Animas Forks.
Animas forks we decided to cook some grub on the camp stove and explore the area a bit before the tough climb up Engineer.
Engineer was positively the roughest I have done though I am a 4x4 novice! It is manageable taking it slow though. I stayed in 2nd gear and sometimes required switching to crawl. That was mostly the case on the switchbacks that were washed out mostly exposing some large stone making for some slippage. Taking my time, I finally reached the top of engineer and I will say it is not for the faint of heart, but certainly manageable with this vehicle and with patience! After enjoying some breathtaking views and tundra environment, the ride down the east side of engineer was an easy and smoother descent into Lake City. The trip took around 7hr total with the original plan to do the whole loop. But with stops to do some abandoned explores and hike to mines, I would say one day to do half the Alpine loop is much more comfortable. The bronco was totally capable of the entire route!
I also hit the Butler mine loop in Creed and that was an easy loop for a short afternoon and I totally recommend it also! Next trip to the area I plan to do cinnamon!
I arrived and camped in some of the national forests and dispersed sites. The truck made it much easier to reach much further into the national forest especially to some pretty scenic dispersed sites. Some even involved water crossings which opened up so many campsites that may have otherwise been taken by vanlifers etc. People in the region were so helpful and friendly I felt most the trip was on a whim not knowing where we would camp each night and totally pop up on a campsite for the evening randomly!
After chatting with some of the local offroad shops in the area I agreed on the route to take: The offroad adventure consisted of the Corkscrew Pass -> Hurricane Pass -> California Pass -> Engineer Pass -> Lake City. I started early and arrived at corkscrew. Shortly I was in 4L and riding the incline up. Corkscrew was rough but manageable with some scenic stone colors and skree going up the slope to the pass. I stalled once and that was scary starting to roll back towards a cliff with the brakes locked up, but a reach for the E-brake and a min to gather myself again and we were moving back up again.
I met some great folks in the 4x4 community at the top and we chatted about trail conditions and really got a sense for the culture and great folks! We stayed in pack and started towards California and Animas Forks.
Animas forks we decided to cook some grub on the camp stove and explore the area a bit before the tough climb up Engineer.
Engineer was positively the roughest I have done though I am a 4x4 novice! It is manageable taking it slow though. I stayed in 2nd gear and sometimes required switching to crawl. That was mostly the case on the switchbacks that were washed out mostly exposing some large stone making for some slippage. Taking my time, I finally reached the top of engineer and I will say it is not for the faint of heart, but certainly manageable with this vehicle and with patience! After enjoying some breathtaking views and tundra environment, the ride down the east side of engineer was an easy and smoother descent into Lake City. The trip took around 7hr total with the original plan to do the whole loop. But with stops to do some abandoned explores and hike to mines, I would say one day to do half the Alpine loop is much more comfortable. The bronco was totally capable of the entire route!
I also hit the Butler mine loop in Creed and that was an easy loop for a short afternoon and I totally recommend it also! Next trip to the area I plan to do cinnamon!
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