So speaking of off-roading, here are some shots I took during my latest off-road trip over Engineer Pass during the 4th of July weekend. I had posted this in another forum so some may have already seen these. If not, be good to share here!
Admittedly, I had not been over the pass since the early 80s when I used to work at a silver mine near Ouray, CO. Back then, I had a lifted full-sized Chevy Blazer (short wheel base 2 door) with 35s and no issues. Now I am taking a modern full-sized Ram crew cab truck with a moderate lift and 34s. So I knew this might be interesting.
In preparation, I researched the trail conditions and even watched some recent videos of full-sized trucks making the pass. All seemed pretty straightforward and very doable, but I failed to note the actual routes that were taken. I decided to take the lower backcountry bypass route and soon found out things were going to be a lot more interesting than I had anticipated.
Started out of Ouray to the trailhead; things looked really good for first mile or so as the trail seem pretty tame with spots around a 3-4 difficulty rating.
Things quickly escalated up to a 5-6 difficulty (if not a 7 in some locations). I did not expect to encounter the significant number of larger boulders, deep crevices, and rock ledges at the switchbacks and narrow sections. I certainly didn't recall of that during my previous run but I am sure the trail has seriously degraded due to weather and use over the years. To be clear, this trail can be very dangerous but still very doable with larger ATVs and lifted Jeeps that were out too, but this was a challenge for my moderately lifted long wheel base Rebel.
Unfortunately, due to the insane trail traffic (ATVs were like ants over the entire trail) combined with my attention on trying to traverse the harder portions, I was not able to get out to take photos like I usually do until we got to safer ground. In addition, the run really beat up my wife (she is a sport but honestly wasn’t enjoying all the drama and insanely rough ride). I also beat up the Rebel pretty good as I managed to drop it twice and bottomed it out (even split my faux side step guard), but once we made out of the backcountry bypass, we were onto the Alpine Loop.
The trail settled in a more doable 3-5 range with the occasional outcropping rather than the constant barrage of the lower section. Passed by some old 1800-era abandoned mines and cabins that were cool to look at, but by this time we just wanted to make it to the pass as the weather started looking a bit iffy and I didn’t want to risk having to encounter any more challenging sections under wet conditions. The scenery was amazing and so we enjoyed the rest of the ride up to the summit.
Near the summit, we stopped at Odom Point to take in more of the views.
