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!