Tips

Four-wheeling:
Tips | Routes: Black Bear Road
Last Dollar Road | Ophir Pass | Imogene Pass
Camp Bird and Yankee Boy Basin | Cinnamon Pass
GPS Waypoints

• Assure your vehicle has high clearance and a true 'low-low' gear range.
• Treat the vehicle well ... it's a long way to town!
• Almost all rentals will have a manual shift. Be sure you're comfortable with this. These mountain trails (and many are more trail than road) are no place to learn how to shift.
• Be certain you're comfortable with mountain driving. Many of the routes are very steep; many portions are narrow with long drop-offs to the side. Most of the routes are relatively safe, but this is no place to freeze, panic or discover you have acrophobia. The driving requires no extraordinary skill, but caution, attentiveness and common sense are necessary.
• Check with local sources to learn current trail conditions.
• Stay on established roads; avoid striking off cross-country. (This can be hazardous to the environment, your vehicle and your family.)
• Give the right-of-way to the vehicle traveling uphill.
• Whether your vehicle has a manual or automatic transmission, take descents by using low gears matched to your speed for control.
  Brakes are for stopping and emergencies. Continuous brake use heats them. Hot brakes are ineffective. As well, you may damage them to the point that the rental firm will charge you for the abuse. (When we had 35,000 on our SUV with 5 trips logged to the San Juans our mechanic checked the brakes and told us they showed about 15% wear ... giving an indication of how little we use brakes vs. gears.
• Mountain weather changes quickly. Bring rain gear (afternoon showers are common in the summer, often daily.) Sunglasses and sun block are useful as the sun at high altitude is more intense. And you'll find a hot afternoon at high altitude quickly turns quite cold when the clouds or a storm cover the sun, so bring an extra sweater or jacket.

• Take out what you bring in, and nothing more. Litter does not add to the pleasure of wilderness sightseeing.
• Stay on established roads. The alpine tundra is very fragile (it takes thousands of years to create an inch of topsoil in this environment.)
• Leave the wildflowers and other flora. Others want to see them as you did. As well, picking a flower can destroy a plant. The loss of the roots of that plant can contribute to erosion. The growing season is incredibly short in these altitudes; the flora need help, not more challenge.
• Respect private property. Most of the area is privately owned.
• Stay out of old buildings and mine shafts. The buildings are fragile at best. The mines will not likely collapse, but timbers fall, there are hidden vertical shafts and many areas with insufficient oxygen or noxious gasses.
• Our friends the marmots love wooden signs. (They also enjoy the fuel lines on the bulldozers used to clear the snow.) Between the marmots, the severe weather and souvenir hunters, signage is scant. Make sure you have a detailed map for your route. You'll find a compass helpful in some areas. And don't bother to ask the marmots for mapping help; direction signs are part of their diet, not their job.
• Stop often and roam. There are wonderful outlooks and the remains of many abandoned mills, mines and settlements. Obtain a copy of Mountain Mysteries - The Ouray Odyssey by Gregory and Smith, Wayfinder Press, 1992 (ISBN 0960876413.) If you don't have one you'll wish you did as you drive by natural and man-made sights and wonder what they are, or were, as the case may be. Not generally available, though your bookseller may be able to order for you. It's available in Ouray at several stores, including Smith's Buckskin Booksellers. The hiking map listed in the Books section is also useful for planning Jeep trips; you'll find ones better-targeted to Jeeping in Ouray stores.

Jeeping Routes

With hundreds of miles of trails, there are many options. We've listed a few of the more popular and scenic routes .

Four-Wheeling Resources

• 4-Wheel Freedom: The Art of Off-Road Driving - Useful for beginners and experienced hands alike.
• Jeep Owner's Bible - Getting the most from your Jeep.
• 4X4 NOW - A useful site with a collection of information relating to four-wheeling, including a selection of books, maps and videos.
• GPS Navigation; A Complete Guidebook for Backcountry Users - If you don't want to get lost in the San Juans you may want to consider a GPS receiver. What are they? How do they work? It's all here, and in a very readable fashion for the non-technical person.

• About the area
• Hotels, restaurants and other resources
• Area history: People and Geology

A Visitor's Perspective

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