Alpine loop end of August

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pakiheart
Posts: 1
Joined: 6/10/2018
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Alpine loop end of August

Post by pakiheart »

Hi,
NOOB to off roading and have a 2000 Land Cruiser with All-terrain KO2 tires
i am planning on driving from texas to do the alpine loop and was wondering if someone can advice on which direction/route to take
i was thinking of starting silverton then to lake city via cinnamon pass and loop around engineer pass...
should i then attempt to head to ouray and also do imogene pass to telluride?
is this all doable in one day or where should i stop over night?

thank you
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San Juan Ron
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Joined: 6/15/2006
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Re: Alpine loop end of August

Post by San Juan Ron »

Your route is sound, but that’s easily a 2-day trip. The drive from near Engineer Pass down to south of Ouray is the toughest on your list and can be challenging if you don’t have good clearance. An easy alternative is to go over Engineer Pass and then down to Animas Forks and back to Silverton. 550 to Ouray over Red Mtn Pass. Ron
"The mountains are calling and I must go" -- Muir
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nsaladin
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Re: Alpine loop end of August

Post by nsaladin »

pakiheart wrote:Hi,
NOOB to off roading and have a 2000 Land Cruiser with All-terrain KO2 tires
i am planning on driving from texas to do the alpine loop and was wondering if someone can advice on which direction/route to take
i was thinking of starting silverton then to lake city via cinnamon pass and loop around engineer pass...
should i then attempt to head to ouray and also do imogene pass to telluride?
is this all doable in one day or where should i stop over night?

thank you
I just did Engineer pass from Lake City to Ouray in a stock 2004 land cruiser with KO2’s and had no issues with that direction of that part of the loop. I feel like it would be easier to go from Ouray to Lake City as Ron mentioned, but if you take it slow, you shouldn’t have any issues either way. It took me about 2.5 hours to go from Lake City to Ouray via Engineer. There was not a single other vehicle I saw on the trail (June 2nd, 2018.)
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