I’ve finally conquered Imogene Pass! This trip report is overdue, as I did this back in September 2023, but who’s counting?
This one has been on my list for a long time, but it seems to have been closed due to snow the last few times I’ve been in the Silverton area. I got a hall pass from Meg for a quick weekend trip down to the San Juans and made the 5-6 hour drive from Denver on a Friday after work.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to Yankee Boy Basin outside Ouray until midnight. The drive was uneventful, and my new amber fog lights and ditch lights helped light up the trail, which was super dark out.
Setting up my new Kodiak Canvas tent was a breeze, but this was the first time I’d used my new diesel heater in the wilderness. While the setup was easy, it kept throwing error codes. It wasn’t supposed to be too cold, so I ignored it and fell asleep.
My sleep was abruptly interrupted by two older hikers who, inconsiderately, parked their car right next to mine at 5 a.m., their headlights piercing through my tent. I cautiously emerged from my tent, my G26 at the ready, only to discover that they were lost and searching for the Mt. Sneffels trailhead. Despite their mistake, I couldn't help but feel empathy for their predicament. They were really worried about the rough road, but I told them that if they made it this far they should just keep going.
After that rude awakening, I decided to get up and get going. I made some breakfast, packed up camp, and headed up the trail to take on Imogene Pass. I also realized I was errantly camping on private mining company property. Oops.
As I was heading up the trail for Imogene, I noticed a steep gatekeeper obstacle right at the beginning of the trail. A Jeep from MO and a side-by-side were cautiously evaluating it. I crawled up and down it, to both of their amazement. From then on, it was pretty uneventful until I pulled up to a line of maybe 20-30 Jeeps participating in a Jeep Jamboree. That was actually pretty cool. It was a motley bunch with about a half dozen Trump flags flying from a few vehicles, but they were pretty cool and eventually let me pass as they were taking photos/videos of every obstacle.
By this point, I had hit a few rocks with my undercarriage and had my fingers crossed that it wasn’t anything serious. When I got back home, I realized I had dinged up both my front skid plate (3/16” steel - no biggie) and, unfortunately, my fuel tank skid plate (OE, stock, weak metal).
Once above the tree line, the trail to the summit of Imogene was absolutely breathtaking. It was relatively narrow in parts with one or two steep climbs, but nothing my 5th gen 4Runner with a 2.5” lift and stock-sized (265/70R17) tires couldn’t handle. I’ll definitely be coming back here and bringing friends!
The summit was amazing, and the descent to Telluride was pretty cool, too. In the future, I may skip the descent to Telluride as there is quite a bit of narrow, shelf sections and lots of tourists in rental trucks trying to make it up from Telluride.
After stopping in Telluride for a quick lunch (and shower at the Town Park Rec Center), I headed south and over Ophir Pass. Telluride is a millionaire and billionaire playground, so there wasn’t much point in sticking around. I only wanted an Imogene sticker for my cooler, but none could be found. At least I was able to get a shower for about $2.
I last did Ophir Pass in 2013 in Meg’s old Subaru Forester. That should tell you everything you need to know about Ophir Pass. It’s scenic but not terribly difficult. That said, Meg got out to walk the last section before the summit as I think I may have had the Forester on three wheels at one point. That’s her recollection, at least. The 5th gen cruised up it quite comfortably. After making it down to Silverton I filled up on gas and then started the trip up to Cinnamon Pass and American Basin for my next camp.
After filling up on gas in Silverton, I headed up to Animas Forks and started the trek over Cinnamon Pass to American Basin. Cinnamon Pass is probably my favorite high alpine pass in Colorado, and I’ve crossed it a few dozen times in both the 3rd gen 4Runner and my new 5th gen 4Runner. I’ve even ridden (and sometimes walked) my mountain bike in the summer of 2022.
Once I arrived at American Basin, I set up camp and grilled a ribeye in a cast iron. Sounds great, but actually it was a mess. The stove kept sliding off the aluminum REI table, and by the time I was ready to eat, the steak was cold. Ugh.
American Basin is my favorite camp spot in the San Juans. That probably explains why I’ve climbed Handies Peak more times than I can remember. That was the next adventure for the morning.
Ah, Handies Peak. It’s only about a two-mile trek to the summit, and I can usually round-trip it in under four hours. That was no exception this fine morning. I ran into maybe 3-4 other hikers, but it was beautiful. From the summit, you can see the Grenadiers in the Weminuche Wilderness, Sneffels and the Wilson group to the west, San Luis to the east, and Wetterhorn, Uncompaghre to the northeast. I can’t get enough of these summits.
Well, that’s all, folks. Now for the painfully long, 6 hour drive back to Denver through Grand Junction via I-70.
Thanks for reading - hope you can join me on the next one!