I was thinking of doing the DS ride in CO August 5-6, but it is way north. Anyone have good riding ideas for about 1 weeks riding in SouthWest CO. Thinking of riding up around Durango/Telluride for a week before the US Pro Bicycle Tour starts.

I prefer ST/fire roads, so I think this is the best forum to get ideas/help.

 

What DS ride are you referring to? I'll be at the RMAR in Silverton from August 2-5, and I go to that area nearly every year during the same time frame. Oddly there's not a lot of singletrack in the immediate area. You have to go over to the Rico area for more of that. That said, a lot of the 2-track in the area is fairly hard...not just dirt road cruising. I'm going to be checking out more of the area to the east right after the off road get-together, but it sounds like you'll be gone by then. Still, there will be plenty of riding during RMAR.

The Silverton, Ouray, Lake City, Telluride area has tons of great rides like Imogene Pass, the Alpine Loop, and many, many more. I'm very familiar with the area if you want to ride or have more questions.

 

Thanks for the info, that RMAR ride sounds a lot closer to where I want to be. It looks like that is a rally type event. Now I have to make a decision, I have my dirt specific Kawa & my DS BMW 650 XCountry which is more gravel/fire/hwy vehicle. Does the RMAR have ST loops, or are they minimal. If they are minimal, maybe my BMW with 10/90 dirt/hwy tires would be more appropriate. I need to get new tires on that anyway, so I could change the tires, but it is not a ST dirt bike.

I am going to be doing more research in this area in the next few weeks, so any input will be appreciated. Can we pm or email to get more detailed data?

 

I'd rather discuss it on the open forum, as maybe we can get more forum members who might like to go to the event. The RMAR and Westfest events are how I've gotten to know some of these CO, UT, and NM folks over the years, and it's led to meeting up with some of them for some great rides and campouts. There are some really great folks in those areas...friendly, hospitable, and just a lot of fun to hang out with. I would encourage anyone who hasn't done one of these events to try it. It's not a snobfest or anything like that. These are people who know how to have fun and almost live only to ride...all types of riding. And this year's RMAR couldn't be in a better place.

durielk, either bike would work depending on your preference of riding. The 650 would do fine on the Alpine Loop and some other riding venues, but Imogene and some of the more challenging loops would be better on the KLX. I'd prefer the KLX because it makes even the somewhat easier loops like the Alpine Loop just that much more fun, because you can hang it out a bit more, and you can take harder side spur trails that are awesome. Be aware that while some of this area's 2-track might give the impression of an easy dirt road cruise, but many/most of them are not. Many of them have short or very long sections of challenging 2-track that can give you a pucker factor. I think the KLX will give you more options overall. I've also ridden a highly modded KLR650 in this area over the years, and I don't want that extra weight burden anymore. Your 650 would be kind of similar to that. The KLX may the best balance of running on some pavement and somewhat challenging off road in this area than any other bike. The paved roads are extremely twisty, so lots of power isn't all that necessary.

 

TNC and others from CO.....

OK, I am needing some advance trail help for CO.
I am asking how treacherous this route would be…and how long it will take approximately. I’ll describe it from Telluride, although I’ll be going both directions, up from Silverton & then returning the same route later that day!

From Telluride take K68 out of town to the end, continue on trail over Imogene pass…. Take right @ T intersection, Take Left @ next fork, Take Left @ San Antonio Mine fork to 550 & on into Silverton. Think I could do it?

 

I know all that area really well. Could you clarify which route you'll take from Silverton to Telluride? That can affect the time quite a bit. On your route from Telluride back to Silverton via Imogene Pass that you're describing, you will have to end up in Ouray and then go down 550 back to Silverton for 24 miles...and easy and beautiful drive. I'm a little unclear on your directions as describe with the turns. I'm using a Latitude 40 map of this region and it gives the forest road numbers and other particulars. May I ask what map you're looking at? Oddly there are two San Antonio mines in the general area...one on the west side of 550 about 12 miles north of Silverton...and one just west of Animas Forks on the Alpine Loop to the east of Silverton. Do you have any road/trail numbers on your maps?

I'm assuming you're referring to the mine just west of Animas Forks. If you go from Silverton to Telluride the shortest route over Ophir Pass trail/2-track, that will take about 1.5 hours if you don't stop. From Telluride over Imogene to Ouray will take about 1.5-2 hours if you don't stop. From Ouray down 550 to the Engineer Pass turn-in on the left...forest road 878...you'll hit the Alpine Loop, go by Animas Forks, and then on back to Silverton. That will take about 1.5 hours if you don't stop. I think realistically you're looking at a minimum of 5 hours of non-stop riding, so add any stops for fuel, food, pics, or scenery. Does this sound anything like what you're considering?

On the other San Antonio mine on the west side of 550 about 12 miles north of Silverton, it's just off the Black Bear Pass trail. And though Black Bear goes from Telluride to 550, you can't get there directly from Telluride on Black Bear because it's one-way at the top of the pass. And yes, they actually enforce that during the summer, and a guy named Warren working for San Miguel county is usually up there writing tickets if you can believe that.

 

OK, sounds like you’re the man! I am using Garmin BaseCamp and could email you the *.gpx or give you some coordinates, whichever would work best. The garmin base camp does not list a number for these roads, which is strange…. I answered your post, my response is in caps!
If I can I’ll post a pdf….it is the trails with the black line beside them. The total black line is about 8 miles long.

I know all that area really well. Could you clarify which route you'll take from Silverton to Telluride? That can affect the time quite a bit. On your route from Telluride back to Silverton via Imogene Pass that you're describing, you will have to end up in Ouray and then go down 550 back to Silverton for 24 miles...
NOPE, NOT THROUGH OURAY
and easy and beautiful drive. I'm a little unclear on your directions as describe with the turns. I'm using a Latitude 40 map of this region and it gives the forest road numbers and other particulars. May I ask what map you're looking at? Oddly there are two San Antonio mines in the general area...one on the west side of 550 about 12 miles north of Silverton...
YES, IT IS WEST OF 550.

On the other San Antonio mine on the west side of 550 about 12 miles north of Silverton, it's just off the Black Bear Pass trail. And though Black Bear goes from Telluride to 550, you can't get there directly from Telluride on Black Bear because it's one-way at the top of the pass. And yes, they actually enforce that during the summer, and a guy named Warren working for San Miguel county is usually up there writing tickets if you can believe that.
OK…. I COULD NOT FIND BLACK BEAR PASS ON MY MAP.

MORE DETAILS:
The K68 I speak of it the continution of the road “Tomboy Rd” going E/W, the final north street of telluride. If you continue E, it is K68 on my map. There are no other markings on the trails after that, except it winds around and heads generally E and then SE and hits 550 about 10 miles north of Silverton, where CO16 (on the west) crosses 550 & CO14 is on the east.

I don’t see how this could be one way, as it is out in the woods and how would you ever return???? Duh! I am not saying your wrong, we may be miscommunicating!

 

I'll get you to e-mail me the detailed route you have there. I can see that link you have, but the detail is too fuzzy to make out names and such. You are correct on the street/road that heads out of Telluride that heads to Imogene. It is the only trail to Imogene and the only one that takes you to 550 out of Telluride. Black Bear Pass is fairly famous, and it does go from 550 a few miles north of Silverton on into Telluride. But a big section of it is one-way, so you can't return to Silverton via this route. If you ride it while you're there, you'll see why it's one-way. People have died on this one crux point of this trail.

I'm starting to think your Garmin is giving you the impression that there are more routes between Telluride and 550. That Ophir Pass I mentioned is really the only somewhat close additional route from Telluride to 550, and it's several miles to the south of Telluride...but a short, fast route. And there is the Barlow Trail even further south of Telluride that goes across to 550, but it drops you out on 550 quite a long way down the highway to the south of Silverton. Trust me, if you take the Imogene Pass route, you will come out at Ouray...or just a mile or so to the south technically.

I have a Garmin with all the western topo stuff loaded, and I notice it often shows stuff that isn't motorized trail sometime but looks like it on the GPS map.

 

K68 in Telluride that passes by the Tomboy mine is the Imogene Pass Track.
CO16 is the Black Bear Pass road. Unless you are the Evel Jesus Knievel there is no possible way you are going to connect those two roads via motorcycle.

The picture you included in the Test.zip file insults other low resolution images..

I recommend downloading Google Earth as it is a great tool for zooming in and really looking this area over. Also I have a link where you can download a bunch of these popular tracks in Colorado. If you follow the links on the left you should be able to download Google Earth KML/KMZ files and some GPX files that were downloaded from Traildamage.com.

Colorado 4WD Trails Google Earth KML

Dan

 

Yeah, there are some good sources for downloading GPS files and such for many of these popular riding areas. They may not describe things like time and difficulty, but they definitely put you on the map.