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Old 06-24-2015, 11:21 AM   #1
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Imogene Pass CO, July 2

Hello Everyone!
We are new to the Sportsmobile Forum and new to the Sportmobile family. Oct 2014 we took delivery of my 15 yr dream. So I apologize if I put this thread in the wrong category.

My wife and I are planning on spending the 4th of July in Telluride CO and want to make the trip into town from Ouray to Telluride via the Imogene Pass. As stated above we are new to off roading in our Sportsmobile so I was hoping to get some help/advise from you guys and possibly meet up with anyone in the area that would like to make the trip as well.

Okay so here are some of my questions and concerns:
-How difficult is the road from Ouray to Telluride? Can someone make is with little offroad experience?
-Is it a bad idea to attempt the pass on the 4th of July weekend? We will be driving the pass on July 2nd.
-What is a good tire pressure to run in the Sportsmobile when off road? I have been experimenting with this but am concerned going to low with the weight of our vehicles.
-Any boondocking areas near Ouray that we can stay for Wednesday night before we head out on the trail?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Erich

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Old 06-24-2015, 01:33 PM   #2
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Re: Imogene Pass CO, July 2

As of a couple of days ago, Imogene was not open due to snow. Many have done it with their SMB and not sure how it is from O to T as I have only done it the other way. Most people go T to O so you would have to do a lot of pullovers. Contact the USFS office for that area and see if it's open on July 1st then you will know for sure.

For boondocking, the Ironton park area MIGHT be something to look into but there will be crowds. Not sure about anything else but maybe Dallas Creek out of Ridgeway.
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Old 06-25-2015, 12:43 PM   #3
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Re: Imogene Pass CO, July 2

Thanks for the info and i checked in yesterday and only got an answer of it still being closed. But the good news is that looks like Ophir pass is open and we might have to just take that.
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Old 06-25-2015, 02:07 PM   #4
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Re: Imogene Pass CO, July 2

Quote:
Originally Posted by TeamRD
Hello Everyone!

We are new to the Sportsmobile Forum and new to the Sportmobile family. Oct 2014 we took delivery of my 15 yr dream. So I apologize if I put this thread in the wrong category.
. . .
-How difficult is the road from Ouray to Telluride? Can someone make is with little offroad experience?
-Is it a bad idea to attempt the pass on the 4th of July weekend? . . .

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Erich
Erich,

The 4wd trails in that area can be difficult with the exception of Ophir Pass. They are a step or two beyond off road driving, esp. in a long wheelbase vehicle like a SMB. Additionally, there will be a lot of people on those roads over the 4th so you'll need to keep your eyes open for oncoming traffic on potentially narrow, steep, rocky roads.

Favorite story: We're going over Ophir, west to east, on a Labor Day trip. We encounter a westbound, downhill Suburban from Kansas on the safe side of the road; i.e., the hill side rather than the cliff side. He didn't yield, we put our outside tires on the road's edge in the only wide spot in this section and waited for him to leave so we could breathe. Instead, he stopped to chitchat with us. When all I wanted was for him to disappear. Some people's children!

Don

Edit: I wrote Pearl originally in a moment of extreme confusion. Pearl connects Crested Butte and Aspen and is difficult. Ophir connects the old mining town of Ophir, south of Telluride, and Silverton. It's essentially a forest service road except for the 1/2 mile section where we met the guy from Kansas.
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Old 06-25-2015, 11:01 PM   #5
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Re: Imogene Pass CO, July 2

I can confirm. Imogene closed until about July 10 per one of the Jeep rental places. I was bummed too. My plans got changed too.
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Old 06-26-2015, 08:31 AM   #6
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Re: Imogene Pass CO, July 2

Bummer that it will be closed. This is one of my favorite trails for it's beauty.

Ouray to Telluride is no big deal. Very steep in places, but not technical otherwise. There's some photos buried in this trip report I did in 2010. I have an EB and was fully loaded with family of 4. No problem at all.

http://sportsmobileforum.com/viewtop...&hilit=imogene

Definitely keep it on your list and make sure you do it some day.

Phil

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Old 06-26-2015, 09:20 PM   #7
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Re: Imogene Pass CO, July 2

Thanks. I will. We were in Telluride last night and went over Ophir Pass this morning. It was a pretty drive.
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Old 06-29-2015, 10:11 AM   #8
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Re: Imogene Pass CO, July 2

Thanks for the info!

It's confirmed, we will be going on Ophir Pass on the way in on Thursday and spend Friday Saturday in Telluride.

Don, my concerns have been passing on the narrow roads with the cliff on one side. I will most definitely be looking ahead to see if anyone is coming to find a good spot to yield. I believe going from Silverton to Telluride direction that section is down hill for us.

Is anyone familiar with camping on Last Dollar Road? Looks like we are planning on taking that on our way out of Telluride on Sunday and would like to stay the night.

Phil, thanks for the photos......i will keep that one on the list of to do's.

Erich
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Old 06-29-2015, 03:36 PM   #9
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Re: Imogene Pass CO, July 2

There are a few good spots on Last Dollar Rd to camp. also, just FYI, I didn't find Ophir Pass to be an easy fire road, much more technical than that. For a Jeep, easy. For a 10k van it had some interesting moments, which I would love to do again, now.
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Old 07-07-2015, 12:23 PM   #10
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Re: Imogene Pass CO, July 2

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to thank everyone for the information. We made it to Telluride via the Ophir Pass and it was a lot of fun. We got hailed on coming down from the top heading towards Ophir which mad it interesting. Here are some pics of the pass. Thanks again
Attached Thumbnails
Ophir 4.jpg   Ophir 3a.jpg   Ophir 1a.jpg  
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