HoneyBadger
Rising Sun Member
Wow. What a whirlwind of a trip.
I’ll just give a quick overview, and then come back and post up specifics and pictures.
Thursday, Daine and I left Bailey super early and went down to Buena Vista. We drove over Cottonwood Pass to Taylor Park Reservoir and down to Gunnison. Then we turned south again and headed to Lake City and went over Engineer Pass to Animas Forks.
We got into camp around 4:45ish and set up our tents. Everyone else was still out, coming back from Imogene Pass and Ophir Pass. So we went into town and grabbed a burger and a beer and some big spray.
Friday we got a decently early start and spent the day exploring Kendall Mountain and then the Eureka town site and mill and then Eureka Gulch and the Sunny Side Mine. Daine, Mike, and I climbed up to an old tramway station on the way back down. Then I went off by my self to find an old location I’d found many years prior to recreate a picture. Perry showed up in camp that evening and we all had a good time with beer around the campfire.
Saturday we started out by going to and exploring all around the Buffalo Boy Mine and then dropped down to the Old Hundred Mine and took the guided tour. It was really interesting and engaging. Everyone seemed to have a good time with that.
After the tour we headed back towards camp but kept going further up the valley to the Mayflower mine. This road ended up being a pretty narrow and loose shelf road. Alex blew a tire on the last and most sketchy part of the road. Mike, Jake, Daine and I were able to make it to the mine site to explore it. Everyone else headed back down to camp after Alex’s tire was swapped out.
We went into town and had pizzas and beers for dinner and spent some time walking around town, down to the old train depot and back.
More beers by the campfire that night.
Sunday morning everyone packed up and headed out their own separate ways.
I went down into town and filled up at the gas station and then took the back way out of town up towards Corkscrew Pass and Hurricane Pass. I explored a couple spurs I’d always wanted to see and then went up over California Pass and back down into Animas Forks. I took Stoney Pass out, over to the Rio Grande Reservoir, then back up to Lake City. Climbing up from Lake City towards Gunnison, my coolant kept getting hotter than I’d prefer. So I stopped in at a car wash to spray the dust and dirt out of the radiator. The dust had been so bad all weekend. Everything in and on the truck was just caked in a fine tan dust. I had to take the pre filter off my K&N so the truck could actually breathe. It was struggling a bit coming up and over Stoney Pass.
I made it home about 7:40 after 12 hours behind the wheel. 700+ miles for the whole trip.
I had a great time. The GTR is one of my favorite things to do every year. And this year was another great trip. It’s been way too long since I’ve been able to make it down to Silverton/Animas Forks/etc. and it was really nice to get to be there again.
Thanks to Perry for planning this out again. It’s a bummer his truck couldn't make it and he was delayed. But he made the best of it and we all had a great Saturday together. But this is definitely a first, where an AWD Nissan came along on the GTR. 🤣
I’ll just give a quick overview, and then come back and post up specifics and pictures.
Thursday, Daine and I left Bailey super early and went down to Buena Vista. We drove over Cottonwood Pass to Taylor Park Reservoir and down to Gunnison. Then we turned south again and headed to Lake City and went over Engineer Pass to Animas Forks.
We got into camp around 4:45ish and set up our tents. Everyone else was still out, coming back from Imogene Pass and Ophir Pass. So we went into town and grabbed a burger and a beer and some big spray.
Friday we got a decently early start and spent the day exploring Kendall Mountain and then the Eureka town site and mill and then Eureka Gulch and the Sunny Side Mine. Daine, Mike, and I climbed up to an old tramway station on the way back down. Then I went off by my self to find an old location I’d found many years prior to recreate a picture. Perry showed up in camp that evening and we all had a good time with beer around the campfire.
Saturday we started out by going to and exploring all around the Buffalo Boy Mine and then dropped down to the Old Hundred Mine and took the guided tour. It was really interesting and engaging. Everyone seemed to have a good time with that.
After the tour we headed back towards camp but kept going further up the valley to the Mayflower mine. This road ended up being a pretty narrow and loose shelf road. Alex blew a tire on the last and most sketchy part of the road. Mike, Jake, Daine and I were able to make it to the mine site to explore it. Everyone else headed back down to camp after Alex’s tire was swapped out.
We went into town and had pizzas and beers for dinner and spent some time walking around town, down to the old train depot and back.
More beers by the campfire that night.
Sunday morning everyone packed up and headed out their own separate ways.
I went down into town and filled up at the gas station and then took the back way out of town up towards Corkscrew Pass and Hurricane Pass. I explored a couple spurs I’d always wanted to see and then went up over California Pass and back down into Animas Forks. I took Stoney Pass out, over to the Rio Grande Reservoir, then back up to Lake City. Climbing up from Lake City towards Gunnison, my coolant kept getting hotter than I’d prefer. So I stopped in at a car wash to spray the dust and dirt out of the radiator. The dust had been so bad all weekend. Everything in and on the truck was just caked in a fine tan dust. I had to take the pre filter off my K&N so the truck could actually breathe. It was struggling a bit coming up and over Stoney Pass.
I made it home about 7:40 after 12 hours behind the wheel. 700+ miles for the whole trip.
I had a great time. The GTR is one of my favorite things to do every year. And this year was another great trip. It’s been way too long since I’ve been able to make it down to Silverton/Animas Forks/etc. and it was really nice to get to be there again.
Thanks to Perry for planning this out again. It’s a bummer his truck couldn't make it and he was delayed. But he made the best of it and we all had a great Saturday together. But this is definitely a first, where an AWD Nissan came along on the GTR. 🤣
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