Jeeping In Colorado: Part Two

 We finished the Alpine Loop a little after 6 on Saturday.  We drove a couple of miles on the highway into the little, but beautiful, town of Ouray.  On the way Jake said the steering didn't feel right.  He had to turn the steering wheel all the way to the left to go straight.  Not good.  We pulled into a big dirt parking lot and Jake and Kyle started investigating.  They discovered that we needed a new steering box.  What?!  This is not good.  It was Saturday evening on Labor Day weekend.  Nothing was open.  And nothing would be open until Tuesday.  It wasn't just a matter of fixing the problem.  We needed an actual new steering box.  And until we got one we couldn't drive.  So we started calling parts places.  I have to admit I wasn't too hopeful we'd find anything.  There were essentially two places open.  The first place didn't have the part in stock.  We could pay lots of money to express deliver it there.  It would cost $900 just to get the part and it wouldn't be there until Wednesday.  Not helpful.  Then we called Auto Zone.  I'll forever be in debt to Auto Zone.  The closest one didn't have the part, but the one in Grand Junction did.  And they were open until 10pm!  We were like two hours away and it was 7:00 at this point.  We needed to get the old steering box out of the Jeep before we left so that we knew exactly what parts to buy.  The boys went to work, and they weren't messing around.  They worked hard and amazingly got it out in 30 minutes.  When they finished we threw half of the gear from the Mackay's Jeep into ours so that we could all fit in one car and headed to Grand Junction.  As we started driving we realized something was wrong with the Mackay's Jeep.  It was moving, but didn't have near the power it should.  We kept plowing forward because we needed to make it to Auto Zone before they closed.  About 30 minutes outside of Grand Junction their Jeep totally lost power and had to pull over.  They raced out to see what was going on and realized the air filter was totally clogged from all the dirt roads we'd been on.  Kyle was able to clean it up enough that we were able to get going and we made it to Auto Zone with 10 minutes to spare.  We got all the parts we needed and headed to our hotel in Telluride.  This was the night that our hotel was a super nice 5 star hotel.  We'd been really excited to get there, eat yummy food, and enjoy the hot tub.  That definitely didn't happen.  We didn't pull up to the hotel until 1:30am.  We were all so exhausted.  Beyond exhausted.  And we'd spent like 16 hours driving.

The boys left at 7:30 to drive back to Ouray (an hour away) to replace the steering box.  They got it done in like two hours and made it back just in time to be able to shower before we had to check out.  And we were all still exhausted.  And no one wanted to spend the day in the car.  So we road the lift into Telluride and spent the afternoon walking around town.  It was a much needed break.  

As frustrating as it was to have to replace the steering box, there are about a million miracles that made it work out about as good as possible.  The fact that it didn't break while we were in the mountains in the middle of nowhere is amazing.  It would have been really hard and expensive to get the Jeep out.  Not to mention we could have really gotten hurt if it had broken while we were driving.  Finding a place that was open and had the part was also a miracle.  This isn't a super common repair so I don't think most places just carry a bunch of steering boxes.  Having two boys who knew enough about cars that they were able to repair it, even though neither of them had ever done it before.  And then having it actually go in without any problems is amazing.  That never happens.  There are always other random problems or issues when doing repairs.  Not this time.  So many miracles.  We were able to finish our trip and even do the trails we'd planned.   Thank heavens for good friends who were willing to drive all over in the middle of the night to help us out!

Anyway, we headed to find our last camping spot of the trip.  It's kind of fun to camp out of a Jeep.  You can just drive around and explore until you find a good place to camp.  You never know where you'll end up, but it's usually someplace amazing.  We camped outside of Telluride in a beautiful spot with amazing views.  Pretty much everywhere had amazing views.  

When we woke up we thought maybe it was cloudy, but no.  Just super smoky.  So smoky that we couldn't really see the mountains around us.  Which was such a bummer.  Thank heavens there hadn't been any smoke the rest of the trip!  This was the day we did the Black Bear Trail that Jake's been reading about for a year.  Definitely the hardest trail we did, but so amazing.  I want to do it again just so we can do it without the smoke.  This trail is known for super narrow roads with some tricky rocks to get over.  And switchbacks on the edge of a cliff that are really sharp and narrow.  Not for the faint of heart.  And it was so much fun.  The boys did great driving and we just loved the views.  It was incredible.

That night we stayed in Ouray.  We tried really hard to find a good steak dinner, but it wasn't to be.  We kind of struggled finding good food places this trip.  I'm sure they exist, but we kept striking out.  We hit the hot tub for a second and then all went to bed really early because we were all still exhausted from Saturday night.  We headed for home Tuesday morning.  Just in time too because a storm rolled in.  There was snow that night in Telluride.  Crazy!

I think this was one of my favorite trips ever.  This was the first time Jake and I have ever done anything like this without kids.  And it was awesome.  Speaking of the kids, I left them home without anyone taking care of them.  I was a little nervous.  But Zack has his license now, and they were confident they'd be fine.  And they were!  In fact, they did a great job.  They made it to school and everywhere else they needed to be.  They got the chores done we left for them.  The house was even clean when we got home!  They also each picked a meal they wanted to eat and ate better than I ever feed them.  They had breakfast burritos, french toast, shepherds pie, and lots of other good food.  I have to admit it made my mom heart happy that they knew how to survive on their own.  They've actually learned something!  So 5 stars and 2 thumbs up for this trip.  It couldn't have been any better!

Working so hard on the Jeep.  It was tense!

Jen and I got to enjoy this view during breakfast while the poor boys were working hard on the Jeep

Second camping spot

Kyle hadn't put the tent stakes in yet and realized the air mattress wouldn't fit without them.  So funny!

What we woke up to.  So sad!

These dirt bikers had broken down.  We stopped to help.  

This picture is cool for people who Jeep because it shows the flexion your Jeep has.  Whatever.

Looks like they're driving off into oblivion

If it wasn't smoky you could see Telluride

See that Jeep way down there?  We had to go on a lot of switchbacks to get down there.

The steepest, scariest switchback.

This house is literally on the edge of a cliff.  Why would you ever do that?

When we stopped to help the dirt bikers I climbed up on this pointy rock.  It was a long way down below me!

In the tram heading to Telluride

Telluride

So narrow!

The top of Black Bear Pass

Jeeping In Colorado: Part One

 In case you don't know what jeeping is, this is the best definition I've found:

The art of getting dirty and going broke while slowly heading nowhere, and taking all day to do it.

You might read that definition and think, "Why would anyone do that?"  My answer is, just give it a try.  You might find yourself addicted!

Jake and I managed to get away from everything to go on a Jeep trip to Colorado.  Jake's been wanting to do a handful of trails there for a while, so this was the plan for our family vacation.  But then we went on a few Jeep rides with the whole family and I realized that a family Jeep trip might not be so fun.  The kids fight a lot in the Jeep.  I can kind of understand.  Kind of.  Jeeps aren't known for their comfort and space.  Plus most kids don't love sitting in a car for hours, even if you're driving someplace amazing.  So I told Jake we needed to turn this family trip into an adults only trip.  He was wise and listened.  We even got our friends, Jen and Kyle Mackay, to come.  We were pretty excited.  And I have to say it was one of the best trips we've been on.  Largely because we spent most of the time up high in the mountains, out of cell service.  Sometimes being out of cell service is amazing.

Anyway, we started off by heading to Moab the first night to break up the drive.  It felt strange to pull into Moab without any bikes.  This never happens.  Day one we drove up Ophir Pass in Colorado.  It was a great way to start off the trip.  All of these passes are at 11,000-13,000 feet elevation.  The mountains there are so tall!  Jeeping in Colorado involves driving on really narrow dirt roads with really steep drop-offs right next to you.  And then somehow passing other cars without dying.  It was pretty exciting.  Sometimes I shut my eyes.  We headed down into Silverton, my favorite town we visited, and then up towards another pass and to see where we could camp for the night.  For this trip we alternated between camping and staying in a hotel.  Jake would have gladly camped every night, but the rest of us told him we couldn't do 5 nights of camping.  I think switching off ended up being perfect.  It was definitely nice to clean up after camping.  

Our first night of camping ended up being on the edge of a cliff at approximately 12,000 feet elevation.  For reals.  It was beautiful, and cold.  So we built a fire.  Right on the edge of a cliff for everyone to see.  Somehow, in all of our driving the day before, we didn't see any signs that said no fires.  None.  I promise.  So we had a fire because it was freezing.  And it was pretty awesome sitting around the nice warm fire.  In the morning we had another fire due to it still being freezing.  We responsibly put the fire out, and about 30 seconds later a bunch of DWR people drove by for an event at the old mining town we were camped by.  We later saw lots of signs saying no fires were allowed.  We really lucked out that we didn't get caught and fined.  We had no idea we were breaking the law!  But I'm sure a lot of other people noticed our fire 😂

Day two was the day with the most driving.  We drove the Alpine Loop.  We started out driving up to Cinnamon Pass.  Beautiful!  Then headed down to Lake City.  On the way down we stopped at a beautiful mountain lake called San Cristobal.  Jake wants to build a cabin there.  Fine with me.  We took a lunch break in Lake City and then headed back to the mountains.  This time the girls drove and we headed up Engineer Pass.  We did a pretty good job driving if I do say so myself.  Did you know that there's a such thing as a Jeep wave?  That's right.  It happens everywhere, not just in the mountains.  Anytime you're driving a Jeep, and you see someone else driving a Jeep, you have to wave at them with two fingers.  I love to bug Jake about this because it cracks me up.  But while I was driving I had to feel legit, so I also did the Jeep wave.  And it was kind of awesome.

So I'm breaking this into two parts because otherwise it's way too much.  And as you'll see, way too many pictures.  But how can you not take pictures of such beautiful scenery?!

Getting started.  No kids!!

Jen and I.  Random overlook outside Silvertoon

Scenery from Moab to Colorado

Jake's set up in the Jeep.  Phone and ipad with a map showing where we're at

Lunch break before heading up Ophir Pass.  We have a fridge that hooks up to our Jeep.  No dealing with coolers!

Looking down where we just were as we start up the pass

The narrow road we just drove on

We made it to the top!  This was the only pass at less than 12,000 feet elevation.

There were tons of old mining towns that we drove by.  These were right by where we camped.

This was a jail that had walls 2 feet thick

Our friends brought this stove called a Skottle.  Jake was so excited to use it!  I had no idea what it was, but it is pretty cool.

This was our campsite on the edge of a cliff.  It drops off right in front of Jake.

Lake San Cristobal

This house was on a rock sticking up.  It looked like the only access to it was that little bridge.  Crazy!

When I drive I have to sit up extra straight just to see over the steering wheel

Engineer Pass!  I drove to this one, then gladly turned the wheel back over to Jake.  Good thing because it got way harder after this.  And shortly below this peak we passed a mountain biker who had a flat.  I randomly had a bike tube in my pack, so we were able to help a fellow mountain biker out.  Bet he was surprised someone had a mountain bike tube on the top of a peak!