Determined to find an old abandoned truck, that we had been told about, along a 4 wheel drive road, we continued on past Animas Forks.
We had been told that the old truck was just beside the road about a quarter of a mile past Animas Forks. Yet we drove much farther than a quarter of a mile, passing the old mill we had been told about, too.
At some point past the old, abandoned mill, we decided that we had either missed the truck or that it was much farther along the roadway than we had been told. We turned back and stopped to photograph the old mill. As I was getting my camera out, the retired photographer, who had told us about the truck, drove up and informed me that he had been mistaken about the abandoned truck being right next to the road. Instead, it was up on a hill at the end of a short spur road. He even pointed to the truck that was barely visible in the distance.
I shot a few photos of the old mill, before back tracking to the old truck.
Since we were in the neighborhood, I made a spur of the moment decision to take a 4 wheel drive road to the ghost mining town of Animas Forks.
I’d been to Animas Forks with my oldest son a few years ago, accessing it via other 4 wheel drive routes. I thought I recalled the route from Silverton being very easy and suitable for even regular passenger vehicles and it is a well maintained gravel road for the initial few miles out of Silverton. However, where it begins to climb into the mountains, it becomes rocky and rough. This route is still classified as an easy 4 wheel drive route, but it is not safe for regular passenger vehicles. But we did encounter a young female driver in a low clearance small passenger vehicle, returning towards Silverton. She was either a skilled driver, crazy or stupid. A bad move could easily result in undercarriage damage or a punctured oil pan, punctured gas tank or high centering on rocks.
This was the first 4 wheel drive road that I have taken in my 4Runner TRD off-road Toyota. I still have road tires on this vehicle, which are only a couple of years old with low mileage, so I was not overly concerned about the tires, but knew I needed to exercise more care in driving than if I had more suitable tires for such roads.
Waterfall and Mountain StreamConvergence
This mountain road, like all here, is scenic with great views of mountains, mountain streams and waterfalls.
Mountain StreamStreamingRocks in the StreamDown Hill RushDownstream Rush
Just after shooting at this waterfall, another driver pulled in behind my vehicle. He was “local”, being from the Durango area and knew this area well. We had been driving for awhile, making slow progress and I had no idea how far we were from Animas Forks, but he assured me we were not far away now.
As the title implies, this is a continuation of the previous post. The photos in this post are a combination of iPhone and DSLR photos and were taken while traversing these 4 wheel drive roads: Imogene Pass, Engineer Pass, California Pass and maybe others. (I neglected to take notes of where we were each day and I can’t positively identify the location of some of the photos that I acquired and I am not using a GPS device on my current camera. This is an issue that I must address in the future).
A typical view that one sees along these roads in the higher elevations is as shown here:
A typical mountain view from a high mountain pass road (iPhone)
We traveled Imogene Pass Road from the Ouray side, accessing it from US 550, splitting off from the road that goes to Yankee Boy Basin (covered in a previous post). Imogen Pass is the second highest mountain pass in Colorado at 13, 114 feet. It is rated as moderate, which means that only suitably equipped 4 wheel drive vehicles should attempt this road. There are Jeep rentals in the local area and we saw many of the rental vehicles on this road, as well as some specialized tour vehicles with seating for passengers in a flat bed area. Those tour vehicles looked a bit large for these type roads, but apparently their drivers are experienced in driving these roads. The seating in the tour vehicles appeared to all be in the open, meaning one might get wet and cold, when caught in one of the frequent mountain showers, if not properly prepared for the weather. Views along the road can be spectacular. These two photos show the view looking back down the road that we traveled up to the pass:
A view from Imogene Pass Summit (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)A view from Imogene Pass summit (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld) (More zoomed in than the previous photo).
A view in the opposite direction, in which we would continue is shown in this photo:
As along most of these roads, there are numerous abandoned mine sites. The Imogene Pass road goes through the large Tomboy mine site, which was a really large operation, before it was abandoned in 1928. The remains of the buildings cover a rather large area and one could spend quite a bit of time wandering around the site. However, these abandoned mining areas can be dangerous and nearly all are on private property with warning signs not to enter old mines or buildings. Tomboy is one of the highest ghost towns in the US. There was a store, school, living quarters for miners and even a YMCA.
A few of the many ruins at the Tomboy Mine townsite (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)
One can often see views of other mountain roads from these high mountain roadways. One of the famously difficult 4 wheel drive roads is Black Bear, which has numerous sharp switchbacks, that typically require at least two point turns, even for short wheel base vehicles. We got a glimpse of Black Bear as we neared Telluride on the way down from Imogene Pass.
A view of the sharp switch backs on the difficult Black Bear 4 wheel drive (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)
This is not a great photo, a big zoom would have worked better for showing the details of the switchbacks, but I only had a wide angle with me. Look closely in the green area just below the peak about one third across the photo from the left and you can see the trace of the roadway down the steep mountainside. There is also a long waterfall almost in the center of the photo in the cliff face. One has to look very closely to see the waterfall in this photo.
To drive Engineer Pass, we began just off of US 550 between Ouray and Silverton. This road is rated as moderate and I think most of the difficult part is near the starting point off of US 550. After passing through that portion, much of the road is fairly easy (easy for me, since I was not driving). We did not continue the road down into Lake City, electing to go to the ghost town of Animas Forks and continuing along other roads from Animas Forks, over California Pass, down Corkscrew Gulch and arriving back at US 550.
An abandoned mine site as seen from Engineer Pass road (iPhone)Odom Point along the Engineer Pass road route (iPhone)Engineer Pass Road (iPhone)An old mine line shack on the road between Engineer Pass and Animas Forks (iPhone)Animas Forks Ghost Town near Silverton, Colorado (iPhone)
Animas Forks is a mining ghost town near Silverton, Colorado. It can be accessed by a passenger vehicle in the summer months along County Road 2 from Silverton or via a number of other 4 wheel drive roads. There are a number of fairly well preserved building at this site and, as you will see in these photos, is a popular site to visit.
A few of the four wheel drive vehicles in the parking area at Animas Forks ghost town (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)Old mine building foundation at Animas Forks ghost town (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)One of the better preserved buildings in Animas Forks ghost town (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)
From Animas Forks, we proceeded along another 4 wheel drive road to California Pass.
A view from California Pass Summit (iPhone)California Pass Summit (iPhone)The Jeep at California Pass Summit (iPhone) (Note the GoPro on the driver side front fender).Long winding 4 wheel drive roads just below California Pass summit (iPhone)
We continued along the road that passes to the left of the lake in the above photo. The road to the right of the lake goes to another much more difficult 4 wheel drive road.
A lake just below California Pass summit (iPhone) (A closer view of the lake seen in the previous photo)An abandoned mine sluice along the California Pass Road (iPhone)Clouds gathering over the aptly named Red Mountains, California Pass Road (iPhone)
We continued back to US 550 on Corkscrew 4 wheel drive, but I did not get any interesting photos along that route.
This marks the end of my July trip to Colorado. The following photos are a few iPhone shots that I took on the route back home.
The Sportsmobile at Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, Texas (iPhone)A panorama of a portion of Lake Meredith (iPhone)A warning sign at a Texas Panhandle Rest Stop (iPhone)
In late July, 2018 my oldest son and I traveled a number of four wheel drive roads over high mountain passes in Colorado near the towns of Ouray, Silverton and Telluride. My son did the driving, I just hung on for dear life.
All of the photos in this post (part 1) were shot with an iPhone with some editing in Lightroom.
My son used a GoPro attached to the driver’s side front fender of his Jeep to capture video along some of the drives. Edited versions of those videos are posted on U-Tube:
The videos may make the rides look fairly smooth and fast. Trust me the roads could not be traversed very quickly and the ride was very bouncy.
In a previous post I shared photos taken in Yankee Boy Basin. Continuing up the 4 wheel road past those photo areas, the road leads to a lake and a trail head popular with hardy, mountain hikers.
A small lake at the end of the Yankee Boy Basin 4 wheel drive road near Ouray, Colorado (iPhone photo)A portion of the lake at the end of the Yankee Boy Basin 4 wheel drive road and a mountain peak in the background. (iPhone photo)
Many, maybe all, of the 4 wheel drive roads over these mountain passes were made by miners, during the exploration phase and production phase of mining operations. There are remains of many abandoned mines visible from these roadways and there are some active mines, as well.
An abandoned mine along the Yankee Boy Basin 4 wheel drive road (iPhone photo)
One may encounter much wildlife along these roadways and almost anywhere in this area. We saw numerous deer and many marmots. Marmots are usually rather shy and run away as anyone approaches them either on foot or in a vehicle. But one little marmot only gave up its ground hesitantly, moving only a short distance away several times as I intruded into its space, while trying to get a shot of a really long water fall.
A not so shy marmot. The depth of field in this shot is very shallow. The rock just above the marmot is actually across a deep ravine, through which a stream flows down the mountainside. (iPhone photo)
The marmot was lounging near a very scenic waterfall and cascade with a great view across a valley and mountain tops. Maybe that is why it was so reluctant to move away as I approached.
Low water flow in this really long waterfall and cascade along which the marmot was lounging. (iPhone photo)The marmot’s view into the valley and across the mountain peaks (iPhone photo)
There are many small lakes in the mountains that are popular with fishermen and popular places to camp, although the mosquitoes can be quite a bother.
Clear Lake and Fishermen at the end of Clear Lake 4 wheel drive road near Silverton, Colorado (iPhone photo)
The mountains at these elevations are rugged and continually eroding.
Rugged, eroding mountainside above Clear Lake (iPhone)
Wildflowers were past their peak, but there were still quite a few scattered around.
Wildflowers in the meadow around Clear Lake (iPhone)Wildflower and a busy bumble bee near Clear Lake (iPhone)A few of the remaining wild flowers near Clear Lake (iPhone)
Yankee Boy Basin, located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains near Ouray, Colorado, is accessible via a 4 wheel drive road. My oldest son, who provided the 4×4 Jeep, and I spent several early morning and evenings in the basin, since it was a relatively easy place for us to get to and there were multiple photography opportunities in the area.
Yankee Boy Basin
It is best to have a high clearance vehicle with skid plates and good off road tires before attempting to travel this road. If the road is not wet, it might be possible for a high clearance vehicle equipped with only stock tires and an experienced driver to make it up the road. On one of our outings there, a thunderstorm came up at our destination, so we went back down to a safer place to wait out the storm. We encountered a young man in a Subaru Outback, who was planning to make the trip up the 4×4 road. His vehicle had stock tires and no skid plates. My son, who has some 4 wheel drive road experience and has been up this road a number of times, advised him not to try the road with his vehicle; however, he told him that he could follow us, if he liked, and at least he would have someone nearby in case he had difficulty. He tried to follow us up the road, but very soon got to a point where his tires could not get sufficient traction on the wet rocks and he turned around.
We ended up aborting one of our planned evening shoots due to a continuing storm. We had hoped to get gorgeous views with clouds and mountainsides illuminated with the late evening light as often happens after a storm; but the storm and sky showed no signs of clearing, so we retreated to our campsites, where we were treated to sky, clouds and a double rainbow; but I only had time to shoot a few iPhone photos before these all faded away.
A view from Ridgeway State Park, Colorado, after an early evening rain.This is the kind of sky we had hoped to see during our aborted Yankee Boy Basin evening photo shoot.
Yankee Boy Basin is a picturesque setting and can be covered with wildflowers in the early summer months. There were some wildflowers remaining during our visit in late July, but they were mostly past their peak bloom.
Early morning view in Yankee Boy Basin
The 4 wheel drive road follows a stream much of the way and there are a number of waterfalls and lovely cascades along the way.
Early morning light above Sneffles CreekEarly morning in Yankee Boy BasinSneffels Creek WaterfallEarly morning light in Yankee Boy Basin along Sneffels CreekYankee Boy Basin WaterfallYankee Boy Basin WaterfallEarly morning in Yankee Boy BasinSneffels Creek CascadeSneffels Creek Waterfall/CascadeClose up view of a portion of a waterfall on Sneffels CreekClose up view of one of the Yankee Boy Basin waterfalls
At the end of the 4 wheel drive road is a small lake surrounded by mountain peaks. A popular hiking trail begins at the end of the 4 wheel road that takes one to Mount Sneffels, 14,158 feet high mountain, which many hikers like to bag.
The elevation everywhere in this area is high enough that one not used to it might have some difficulty with the thin air. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noted that higher elevations are more of a problem, but so far I’ve not had altitude sickness. I can move around quite well at altitude, as long as I am not carrying a load; but as soon as I pick up a loaded day pack and camera gear, the effort to walk up an incline becomes noticeable, requiring frequent stops to catch my breath. I’m sure that my normal sea level life adds to the altitude effect.
One of the fun things about such outings as this is meeting other people with similar interest. On our first morning in the basin, we chatted with the only other person there, who was also into photography and from the same metropolitan area as me.
I hope that you enjoy this post and I welcome your comments and suggestions.
