Jeep Trip Report! Imogene Pass and More (Lots of Pics)

[grogiefrog]

Warning... Below are a lot of pictures for anyone not on a high speed connection...

I'm back! As some of you may recall, I went on vacation about two weeks ago. I had planned out a 3,600 mile Jeep trip to Colorado and Wyoming with our '06 TJ (sorry, our KJ didn't attend this one).

So here is a report...!

My first stop was at a family run auto body shop in Denver, where I was given some assistance to install Rubicon Rocker Panels. Not that this was that hard to do, but it sure was nice to be able to use the air tools that this required. Plus, the panels were poorly packaged, and arrived scratched up. So after the install, we taped them off and repainted them with real black auto paint!

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The photos below show my progress on this trip that included Imogene Pass, Ophir Pass, the Alpine Loop, the ghost town Animas Forks, camping above Ouray, Colorado, and then up to Wyoming for some back trail adventures.

After Denver, here I am crossing the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass (yeah, it's a poser shot).

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It was a beautiful morning for Imogene Pass. No clouds, no expected rain... just an expected big blue Colorado sky!

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Passing through Ouray to Campbird Road.

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Heading up Campbird Road to Imogene Pass trail.

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Turned off on the Imogene Pass trail... water crossing.

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Sign warns high clearance and four wheel drive!

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Reached the basin below Imogene Pass.

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Climbing up Imogene Pass... for the first time I really had to use the 4-low in two spots (my 4-low popped out in one place).

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Reached the top! 13,114 ft.

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Was this photo taken from a plane or a Jeep?!

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Heading down Imogene Pass towards Telluride.

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On this adventure, the wife and I visited the ghost town Animas Forks...

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...And then onto the Alpine Loop. We quickly climbed up into the clouds were it was raining. There were a few drop offs that we couldn't see down into!

As we began to climb down, the clouds cleared out, exposing the drop-offs, and the rocks! The trail following these pictures became very rough.

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The following photos were taken in southern Wyoming, near where my grandparents use to ranch. I made my way down a valley to a creek in the Medicine Bow National Forest (which is used for back woods camping and for cattle to open range). The trails in the forest were narrow, step, covered with cow-pies, and full of dry ruts. Just above the first photo is where I had to use 4-low to get up a hill due to loose dirt and large rocks (again my 4-low popped out). In fact I even got to try out one of my skid plates here! I am definitely putting this on my list to spend more time visiting in the future... the area had a lot of trails!

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[desertkj]

Impressive pics. There's nowhere like the Rocky Mts.

 

[GoldBug]

Lovely pics grogie! But um (whistle) shouldn't these be in the TJ thread? \/

 

[grogiefrog]

Lovely pics grogie! But um (whistle) shouldn't these be in the TJ thread? \/

Well... any KJ could do these trails... (biggrin)

 

[GoldBug]

I'm just picking on ya. =P~

 

[MoladoGuy]

Very nice pics!! I bet that vacation was great.

 

[DougBenn]

Awesome post!!! =D>

I am so jeolous!

I could spend a lifetime in the mountains cruising the old mining trails, and enjoying the details of the raw nature in the Rockies.

 

[DougBenn]

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Any chance I can get the full size image of this one?

That would make great wallpaper. [-o<

 

[JeepJeepster]

Dude, i think you just took the vacation I want to take. Care to give me all the places you went along with your jeep? O JK...


Anyway, Ive always wondered what you looked like. 8-[ We have the same jeep, but Im just alittle younger... ssst.gif O

 

[ENBr]

Wowwwwwwww (dropmouth)

I wanna go there! Looks awesome, but I wouldn't mind also going to the highlands here with the KJ!

Deep photos!
Congrats!

 

[Eddo]

Great picutres man. Reminds me of my trip up there.
http://yourip.org/gallery/v/album/?g2_page=1

I just can't wait to move back out west again. The hills out here just don't cut it once you've been to the rockies.

 

[2003KJ]

Nice pictures!!!

But I gotta say, where's the KJ??? \/

 

[grogiefrog]

Glad you all liked the photos! It was an awesome trip, and it's so hard to be back at work...

Any chance I can get the full size image of this one?
That would make great wallpaper. [-o<

PM me your email address... I'll see if I can email it to you.

Dude, i think you just took the vacation I want to take. Care to give me all the places you went along with your jeep? O JK...

Anyway, Ive always wondered what you looked like. 8-[ We have the same jeep, but Im just alittle younger... ssst.gif O

My TJ is looking good! I may put a lift on it next year, if I can afford to do so. But I'm happy with where it is. Plus the KJ needs new tires, so that is the next expense.

Our Trip Included:
Littleton, CO (where the auto body shop is)
Colorado Springs, CO (where my bro is)
Olathe, CO (where my folks live, also visited an OHV park)
Ouray, CO (camping, and Jeep trails all over the place...Imogene Pass, Ophir Pass, the Alpine Loop, the ghost town Animas Forks)
Then drove up to Baggs, WY... then over to Encampment, WY, then to Saratoga, WY, to the Saratoga Inn. The WY photos are just west of Encampment. Awesome place!

I'm 35... LOL

Nice pictures!!!

But I gotta say, where's the KJ??? \/

Believe me... we thought about it... with the gas prices (I paid on average $3.10 a gal., for 217 gallons!), and the extra room. Next time that we drive out to CO, we'll take the KJ.

 

[-=JoN=-]

made my golf outing look miniscule... :-s LoL

so jealous...everything looks bloody astonishing....

 

[AtlanticLiberty]

Wow. You just LIVED a Jeep comercial and a dealership sales pamphlet...

I live on the wrong freakin coast. Highest elevation in DE = 74 feet.

 

[Mutt]

People on the East coast don't understand why I scoff everytime they refer to these big hills as mountains. I miss the beauty of mountains of the Southwest.

Great pics, thanks for sharing.

 

[grogiefrog]

So I just took a pressure washer to my TJ, and gave it a good hand wash to get the dead bugs all off the front. I also had some cow-pies underneath! That's what I get for wheeling in open range in Wyoming... LOL

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[alljeep]

Now THATS the kind of offroading I dream of doing. I used to live in Arizona for many years and it was heaven for exploring. Did you do the trail runs by yourself or did you have a jeep partner just in case?

On a side note, I've had my transfer case pop out of low a few times as well. It seems that sometimes it will only partially "push in gear" with the lever while other times the lever will give a full push.

Now if I can just figure out what to do with my kids for a week or two so my wife and I could make a trip like that - we haven't been on a vacation, just the two of us, for years now due to kids and jobs and it's about time we get back to it!!! (band2)

 

[grogiefrog]

Now THATS the kind of offroading I dream of doing. I used to live in Arizona for many years and it was heaven for exploring. Did you do the trail runs by yourself or did you have a jeep partner just in case?

I did just go it alone. The trails around Ouray, CO, are pretty well traveled. Not a lot of traffic, but enough if something happened that a fellow Jeeper would help you out. Apline Loop was the worst trail (towards the end after the coming out of the clouds), and if there was going to be a break down, that is where it would happen. But then, none of these trails were anything that a non lifted TJ or KJ could not handle.

The only scare I really had was going up Imogene Pass, where I couldn't get up in 1st using 4-High. I made it half way up a rock climb, when it just didn't have any more horses to go any further. So I had to rolled it back down (along a drop off on one side!). I then got out and looked for the best line back up (there were two routes, but both looked just as bad). So I then moved back up it part way, rolled it back a bit again, and went into 4-Low, and up I went! That's the first time that I had to really use 4-Low as there was no other option. I've used it before, just to try it out in both Jeeps, but not like this! On my second time that I had to use it, is when it popped out. So again, i rolled it back some, popped it back into 4-Low, and it went back up. I'm thinking I might have not had it in as you mentioned? It's a new transfer case, so maybe it just needs some use... LOL.

Honestly, my biggest scare was having to pass someone where there wasn't room to pass, with a drop off to one side.

Now, up in Wyoming, there was pretty much no one around. Other then where I had to use 4-Low again there in one spot, the trails were mild so I didn't have any worries. The trails here were mostly dirt, and dry ruts. Up in Ouray, with all the Jeep traffic, the roads have had the dirt warn off, just leaving rocks.

Yes, leave your kids with your parents and take a Jeep trip with your wife. My wife really enjoyed it, and commented how she can see why people like to backwoods wheel.

Btw AllJeep, I'm near Zionsville as I think I may have told you. The wife and I grew up in CO, so we try and visit yearly. (biggrin)

 

[alljeep]

Yes, leave your kids with your parents and take a Jeep trip with your wife. My wife really enjoyed it, and commented how she can see why people like to backwoods wheel.

Btw AllJeep, I'm near Zionsville as I think I may have told you. The wife and I grew up in CO, so we try and visit yearly. (biggrin)

I can't wait to make a trip like that. Right now, I have the CRD all set up for such a trip but now I have to wait for my transmission to fail. Over on LOST I chat with another Zionsvillite whoose CRD has been at Champion CJD for almost 4 weeks. The shocking discovery is that the front transmission pump is deffective in every single CRD liberty produced for the U.S. with the 545RFE transmission (as well as all other applications - pickups, ect.). Without admitting fault, DC has redesigned the pump with a more robust one and we have comparison pictures to prove it. But, until you drop a transmission, you don't get the redesigned part...

So, I'll wait another few thousand miles - doesn't take long with the torque of the CRD to fail a deffective transmission pump. \/