Cinnamon Pass (Part of the Alpine Loop)

Difficulty Rating: 3. This is a clear 3 on the scale. You need 4-low and may need a little higher clearance than a small cross-over SUV. A stock SUV with low-range should be able to do this trail. This is a little easier than Engineer Pass, the other half of the Alpine Loop.

Location: Between Lake City and Ouray, CO.

Trailhead: The west side is 3.3 miles south of Ouray from the turn-off to Box Canyon Falls on the Million Dollar Highway (Highway 550). Coordinates are 37.988621, -107.649654 (37°59'19.0"N 107°38'58.8"W).

To be exact, the west side of Cinnamon Pass road doesn't start near pavement and this is actually the start of Engineer Pass. There is a connector that is well marked that will take you to Cinnamon Pass 7.0 miles after you leave pavement. You can also get to the west entrance of Cinnamon Pass from Silverton on the Animas Fork Road (County road 2) that starts at the Silverton Lakes Campground. When you get to the Ghost town of Animas Fork, there is a sign pointing the way to Cinnamon Pass. GPS coordinates of the start of Animas Fork Road are 37.818126, -107.650748 (37°49'05.2"N 107°39'02.7"W).

The east end starts near Lake City. The road is 2.2 miles south of 1st street in Lake City on Highway 149, and it goes to the right. You follow this paved road for 4.1 miles, where the pavement ends. It comes to a T in the road, and the Cinnamon Pass Road is to the right. Coordinates are 37.949241, -107.302314 (37°56'57.3"N 107°18'08.3"W).

Cinnamon Pass combined with Engineer Pass make up the Alpine Loop. The roads connect Lake City and Ouray, CO. If you are staying in Ouray, you could probably do the entire loop in one day, but it would make for a long day. It took me about 5.5 hours to complete Engineer Pass and it took me 5.5 hours to do Cinnamon Pass. Since Lake city is 2.5 hours from my house, we decided to do only half of the loop at a time.

I did Engineer Pass about 2 months ago in July and it was lush and green. When I did Cinnamon Pass a few days ago in mid September, the leaves were changing colors and the meadows were brown. The elevation is so high on the Alpine Loop that only short grasses, small wild flowers, and other similar ground cover can grow. They call this this growth the Alpine Tundra. These areas were brown and dying since it was so late in the year.

Cinnamon Pass was used by the Ute Indians before the white-man explored the area. In 1870's, the government felt that because the pass didn't cross the Continental Divide that mail could be delivered year-round across the pass. I'm not sure what they were thinking, especially since the pass reaches 12,800 ft in elevation. During the summer it is nice a cool on the pass, I can only imagine how much snow there would be in the winter.

The first road was constructed over the pass in 1877 and did well until the mining in the area declined. Now we have a fun jeep road thanks to that wagon road.

On the west side of Cinnamon Pass there is a ghost town called Animas Fork. Most of the buildings have been destroyed by the snow, but a few still remain. There is a group that maintains the buildings to help preserve the history. The highlight of Animas Fork is one house that has a big bay window, something I have never seen at any other mining ghost town.

Here are the GPX and KML files of the trip.

There were a lot of pretty leaves on the trip, I may

have gone a little overboard in taking pictures.

As I have said, we always find great spots for lunch.

The problem with lunch is that my daughter

wants to play and doesn't eat much.

She loves her chair we bring for lunch time!

This is American Basin, a small side trail I took

before I reached the top of Cinnamon Pass. It is 

only a few miles long, and the view is worth it.

This is the bay window at Animas Fork. You can go

inside the house and look around.

Here is a birds-eye view of Animas Fork.

This is the Alpine Tundra I talked about earlier. I have a 

picture of the same spot from my Engineer Pass trip. You can

 compare how green it was 2 months ago and now see how 

brown it is now. This field was full of purple flowers two 

months ago, now it is filled with brown, dead flowers.

Blue Mesa Cutoff

Difficulty Rating: 1. This is a well maintained, graded road. There are some washboards, but there are no areas that are washed out or rocky.

Location: Between highway 50 at the Blue Mesa Reservoir and highway 149. This road is a few miles west of the Sapinero Mesa road and runs parallel to it.

Trailhead: The north side starts on Highway 50 36.9 miles east from the junction of Highways 550 and 50 in Montrose or 28.1 miles west from the junction of Highways 50 and 135 in Gunnison.

The south side starts on Highway 149 24.6 miles south from the junction of 50 and 149 or 20.3 miles north of Lake City.

Coordinates for the north end are 38.440026, -107.346207 (38°26'24.1"N 107°20'46.4"W). The coordinates for the south end are 38.293873, -107.218510 (38°17'37.9"N 107°13'06.6"W).

Like Sapinero Mesa, this is a short cut to get from the Montrose area to Lake City. This is an easy, relaxing drive that avoids the traffic of the pavement. The north end has a short canyon you go through that has some rock walls going up on either side of the road. This section only lasts less than a mile, but it is fun to drive next to the small cliffs. Once you are on top, it is mainly barren hills like Sapinero Mesa. The south end drops off the mesa and has a few switch backs. There are trees and many cabins at the south end.  Most of this road is on private property or an Indian reservation, so there isn't many places to stop and look around.

If you are travelling from Montrose to Lake City, the Blue Mesa Cutoff road shortens the trip quite a bit when it comes to distance. Blue Mesa Cutoff is 16.6 miles long, while if you travel on the pavement it is 43.3 miles. The road is much slower than the pavement, but according to my GPS I drove it in 36 minutes. If I didn't stop to take pictures for the blog, it would have been about 30 minutes. According to Google Maps, it would take just over 50 minutes to drive the 43.3 miles on the pavement.

Here are the GPX and KML files of our drive.

 These are the cliffs on the north side.

 There are miles and miles of barren, rolling hills on top.

On the south side you get some nice views of moutains

and start findings some pine and aspen trees.

Ophir Pass

Difficulty Rating: 2.5. The reason for the 2.5 rating is because of the possible need for low-range. This is a difficult 2, but a really easy 3. If you take care you could probably do it in a small cross-over SUV without low-range, but I wouldn't want to make my little stock Jeep Patriot on this trail. If you start from the Silverton (east) side and travel toward Telluride, you go down the steep and loose parts making it easier. If you don't have low-range, I would start from the Silverton side.

Location: South of Telluride. The pass is between highway 145 and the Million Dollar Highway (550).

Trailhead: The west end starts 7.2 miles southh of the roundabout going into Telluride on Highway 145. The GPS oordinates for the west side are 37.861972, -107.870146 (37°51'43.1"N 107°52'12.5"W).

The east end starts on the Million Dollar Highway (highway 550). It starts 17.8 miles south of Ouray (measured from 3rd Ave and highway 550). It is 4.8 miles north of Silverton (from the gas station at the edge of town). Coordinates are 37.847542, -107.724780 (37°50'51.1"N 107°43'29.2"W).

This is a short road, just under 10 miles. It goes through the town of Ophir, which is a tiny town that is mainly summer residents. The pass climbs steadily to a respectable 11,789 ft in elevation. This isn't even close to the highest pass in the area (Imogene Pass, a few miles north of Ophir Pass, reaches 13,114). But if I count right on Wikipedia, it is still the 15th highest unimproved pass in Colorado (21st if you include improved roads/paved roads).

The road is fun and isn't too difficult. When you get close to the top the road is narrow making passing oncoming vehicles difficult. Also, if you are traveling east (from the Ophir/Telluride side) you go up the steepest section. This section has a lot of loose rock and 4-low is highly recommended.

Of note, this pass opens in late spring (mid June). According to Peter Massey's book, the snow-plows clear the east end of the road to the pass. This creates a narrow channel in the snow with walls as high as 20 feet in places. I'm thinking next spring I am going to take a look... Update: I went in April of 2015. The walls weren't nearly 20 feet high, but they were at least 10 feet high! Here is the link of my trip in the snow.

Here are the GPX and KML files of our trip.

 I know, it isn't a great picture. It does, however,

show how narrow the road is.

 This is the narrow section right before

you get to the top. It is steeper than it looks. 

 I thought this was a pretty blue lake.

Alta Lakes

Difficulty Rating: 2. It is an easy graded road up to the Ghost Town, and a passenger car can easily make it to that point. After the Ghost Town there are a few minor areas that require a little more clearance giving it the rating of 2. Once you are at the lakes, there are a network of roads going around the lakes that are fun. We went on one and it was a rating of 4.

Location: South of Telluride on highway 145

Trailhead: The trail starts 5.3 miles south on highway 145 from the roundabout just outside of Telluride. It is 1.9 miles north of the turn off for Ophir Road. GPS coordinates are 37.883931, -107.888300 (37°53'02.1"N 107°53'17.9"W). The road ends at Alta Lakes and you come out the way you go in. 

This is an easy graded road to the ghost town of Alta. There are some buildings that are still in decent condition. This town was here for the Gold King Mine, where they mined gold, silver, copper, and lead. This mine stayed operation longer than most mines in the area. 

After the ghost town, the road get slightly more rough and that is why I gave it a rating of 2. When you reach the lakes there is a nice little campground. I was surprised to see the number of people camping up there. Our plan was to eat lunch at Alta Lakes, but I didn't expect that many people. We had to drive part way around one of the lakes to find a spot to eat. Lucky for me, the roads around the lakes are rough and I had to put it in 4-wheel drive. Some parts have a rating of 4 where I went because they were pretty torn up, but these are optional so I didn't make the over-all rating higher than 2. 

On the way back down we took a detour up Gold King Basin. It was a short drive, maybe only a mile or so. The basin was gorgeous, typical for the San Juan Mountains and worth the slight detour. 

Here are the KML and GPX files of the trip. 

We sure find great spots for lunch

Wouldn't it be nice if my daughter would smile normally?

I had to tickle her (my daughter, not my wife) to get this smile...

This  and the next 3 pictures are Gold King Basin