- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
The wife and I made our annual Fall Colors trip over the weekend, heading down to the San Juan mountains. As the mountains came into view we noticed how much snow they received the night before, it looked like more than just a good dusting up high! We talked about our options and decided to drive into Ouray and up the highway to the trailhead for the Alpine Loop and Engineer Pass. The colors were POPPING, our timing was perfect.... but there were a ton of other people on the road looking at the changing leaves.
We aired down to 15 PSI and started the drive up the trail. It had rained down low and the rocky trail has water running down it in places. We stopped along the way and checked out a mine with a structure that was falling apart, some mine track and a tool sharpening machine. The sun was out, but the clouds were working their way up and around the mountain peaks. Temps were in the mid 40's and it was pleasant.... for the time being.
Not long after we left the mine, we spotted patched of Raspberry bushes! We LOVE picking wild Raspberries, but in the past we've found them earlier in the year. We stopped for a good 45 min and ended up with about 2 cups of berries.... and talked about how Bears are probably looking for them as well. We kept looking around, just in case.
As we broke 10,000 feet elevation we started seeing patches of snow.... right about this time we caught up to another Gladiator on the trail just ahead of us, with AZ plates. They were loaded up for a long camping trip and weren't familiar with these trails. We chatted and they (Todd & Kim) asked if they could follow us up the mountain, which we happily agreed. At this point we hadn't seen anyone else up on the mountain, which was rare for the San Juans!
The Aspens gave way to Pine trees and more snow.... then we were above the tree line and around 11,000 feet. The snow was covering the ground and we still had more to climb. We reached the intersection to head down to Silverton and instead turned towards the top of Engineer Pass. The road climbs quickly, with several steep switchbacks... as we continued the ascent, the snow get deeper. At the top, there was about 3-4".... not a massive amount, but it was getting snow-packed in places and slippery. Not the best situation as you drive across a mountain at over 12,000 feet high!
The weather was decent, so we hung out at the top of the pass and talked for a good hour, saw a little traffic and noticed clouds moving up the valley towards up. Soon the temp dropped quite a bit (I was wearing shorts & a t-shirt and it was decent), then the snow/hail started falling. We both decided to head downhill to Silverton and a late lunch, Todd & Kim heading towards Lake City.
We aired down to 15 PSI and started the drive up the trail. It had rained down low and the rocky trail has water running down it in places. We stopped along the way and checked out a mine with a structure that was falling apart, some mine track and a tool sharpening machine. The sun was out, but the clouds were working their way up and around the mountain peaks. Temps were in the mid 40's and it was pleasant.... for the time being.
Not long after we left the mine, we spotted patched of Raspberry bushes! We LOVE picking wild Raspberries, but in the past we've found them earlier in the year. We stopped for a good 45 min and ended up with about 2 cups of berries.... and talked about how Bears are probably looking for them as well. We kept looking around, just in case.
As we broke 10,000 feet elevation we started seeing patches of snow.... right about this time we caught up to another Gladiator on the trail just ahead of us, with AZ plates. They were loaded up for a long camping trip and weren't familiar with these trails. We chatted and they (Todd & Kim) asked if they could follow us up the mountain, which we happily agreed. At this point we hadn't seen anyone else up on the mountain, which was rare for the San Juans!
The Aspens gave way to Pine trees and more snow.... then we were above the tree line and around 11,000 feet. The snow was covering the ground and we still had more to climb. We reached the intersection to head down to Silverton and instead turned towards the top of Engineer Pass. The road climbs quickly, with several steep switchbacks... as we continued the ascent, the snow get deeper. At the top, there was about 3-4".... not a massive amount, but it was getting snow-packed in places and slippery. Not the best situation as you drive across a mountain at over 12,000 feet high!
The weather was decent, so we hung out at the top of the pass and talked for a good hour, saw a little traffic and noticed clouds moving up the valley towards up. Soon the temp dropped quite a bit (I was wearing shorts & a t-shirt and it was decent), then the snow/hail started falling. We both decided to head downhill to Silverton and a late lunch, Todd & Kim heading towards Lake City.
