Day 132 - Alpine Loop.1

If you're at all like me there must have been times in your life when you've wondered why the crazies jump into their Jeeps and crawl along the mountain ledges. I mean...if you're going to do everything in this life, let's leave this at the end of the list with hand-gliding, or base-jumping or climbing Everest, perhaps. Well, even in our golden years, hopefully, there's room for the infusion of new thoughts. I gotta tell ya', our days in the mountains with Jethro have been among our favorites since way back to March 26 when we left home. It's one thing to drive along I-70, climbing to 11k'+; or cruising along 141 down toward Gateway; or carving canyons on your Beemer via 92 among the Black Canyon of the Gunnison; or just cruising 550, the Million Dollar Highway. All are cherished memories. It is another thing all together to actually climb rocky roads up the peaks of the Million Dollar Highway and crawl along the edges of their majestic mountain meadows. It's also one thing to drop into 4WD Low to ascend a tight, high ascent. And, it's altogether another to require 4WD Low just to keep your speed under control going down from 12,600' back to 9,000'. Fun stuff - all!

Unlike Corona Pass near Winter Park where we encountered hundreds of tourists and dozens of vehicles of every ilk, the Alpine Loop connecting Ouray, Silverton and Lake City featured only Jeeps and OHVs (the rentable 4-wheelers) with a few adventurous dirt bikers. The terrain, while mild in some parts, is incredibly rocky and rough in many others. There are places where oncoming fellow climbers sit and wait 1/4 mile ahead to allow you room to pass. While it's no place for those with acrophobia, it's not really death-defying either. Best of all, it's truly worth overcoming your inhibitions and just "going for it!"

The southern half of the Alpine Loop begins a couple miles south of Lake City. It is County Road 30 and is initially a completely benign, lovely asphalt road.  As it turned into gravel we encountered all manner of vehicular traffic descending the road including a Mazda Miata. Initially, we thought, wow...so much for giving Jethro a workout. The area has its share of homes, farms and ranches, some of which are for sale; we didn't inquire at Sotheby's.

This beautiful farm's for sale!

Crusin'down the boulevard...

Heading' up

Climbing higher...

In just a few miles a steep rocky tree-tunnel turn telegraphed that things were about to become more treacherous. From that point on we saw no more roadsters. In fact, we only saw one pickup truck. Sometimes it seemed as if the rocky surface implanted with boulders ranging from one or two inches above the road surface to 10 to 12 to 18 inches high would never cease. Patience proved to be a virtue. When one rough surface subsided another entirely different challenge replaced it. Today, for sure, variety was, in fact, the spice of life.

I might add...Jethro was in "heaven." As we took a quick break he whispered for me to come over next to his grill and headlamps.
"Sup?" I queried.
"Hey, Len," he said with a smile. "You know...up in Maine where I'm from...I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd ever see stuff like this! This is what I was raised for, man!! I thought the closest I'd ever come to rocks and shit like this was that salt they pour on the roads up in the northeast. I'm much obliged to you and Miss Lizzy for liberating me! I promise to do everything in my power to ensure this trip and many more are as fun for you as they are for me!!!"

As Jethro stopped, sighed and took a deep breath. I assured him that our fondness for one another was mutual. After a few cursory pats to his fiberglass fender flares, we both regained our former composure and carried on like everything was normal. Jethro's cool!

Tip-toeing up a verdant valley.

The scene of my chat with Jethro

It's nice up here...

While not the girth of a mammoth male moose, a Bighorn was on Lizzy's bucket list.

Certainly, I've overused the phrase, "you just had to be there," but as those of you that have made this trek or a similar one can attest, words and pictures just can't replicate the grandeur of this amazing landscape.

The day was almost too perfect. By that I mean crystal, clear, blue skies are not the best for photography. Even the majestic mountains deserve a little fluff from mother nature to frame them with the perfect vignette. That said, we did hit the trail in time to capture some of the lush, early morning light. Here are a few of the shots that we'll remember from this awesome day.

It just goes on forever...well...almost

Nuther verdant valley

Etc...ho-hum...

It seemed as though we rode around one canyon, then another for a couple of hours. Then the roads became much narrower and the ascents much steeper. Liz talked to me a lot during the ride. Most of her comments I'll not share. Oh...she was quiet a lot as well. All's well that ends well!!

Going up?!

 He-he...now that's a corner

Hello! Hello!! Is anybody "commin' round the corner??"

Next thing you know you're on top of the world! The fun's just starting. The downhill, at least for me, is the tricky part. I go immediately to 4WD low. If it's in 1st gear the tranny alone will greatly assist in the descent. Our 2012 Jeep is nothing like the higher compression Miata and certainly not like a Beemer. Using low gears in 2WD will not slow a descent for this heavy duty Dude. I've talked to Jethro about it and he remarks, "Hey, man, I'm doin' the best I can with what I've got. Just shove me into 4WD low and we'll get along just fine!"

So be it!

Jethro gets a break 

Where the elk spend their summers

Lake Lizzy - I named it after her!

Almost to Cinnamon Pass - 12,600'

Next thing you know, we're in Silverton. We left Gunnison before 7:00AM and arrived here in Silterton at 12:30PM. That's a total of 99 miles in 5.5 hours. The first 55 miles took one hour; the last 44 miles took 4.5 hours.

We're staying in a tiny motel in Silverton; Triangle Motel has maybe 10 rooms. Jethro is excited because he's sharing the parking lot with 5 other Jeeps, like him, all covered with mud and dust. They appear to be telling tall tales. I hope we're faring well during the conversations about their respective captains.

Colorful Silverton

Silverton is a cool enough town...kinda like a Telluride wannabe. We spent our first couple of hours walking town, eating lunch at the Handlebar Saloon and sitting in the hotel bar while we waited for the owner of the Triangle to arrive from his "other job." Silverton is really quite expensive, gas being $3/gal and a pint of Hagen Das @ $6.99.  Now you know why the motel owner has at least two jobs. We were exhilarated to exhaustion from our morning and a bit languid from the realization that this glorious trip is reaching a conclusion. 

Tomorrow, however is another day!! We'll rise and shine and trek back over the Million Dollar Alpine Valley Loop, this time over Engineer Pass! We decided to take it last since it's touted to be a bit more difficult and blissfully more scenic.

In case you're either worried or wondering (or both) about Bart Beemer...we enjoyed a Bart Beemer bonding bonanza blasting our way from Steamboat to Gunnison. He spent the night there, and get this... he's in the owner of the Long Holiday Motel's personal parking spot. He's grazing and being watched over until tomorrow when we return there. Then...I'll mount the black stallion once again as we head for Cuchara, then Amarillo and home! He' pumped and he's fine!