Placer Gulch and Picayune Gulch

Rating: 3
This is a trail that isn't technical, but 4-wheel drive and some clearance is required.

Location
Near Silverton, CO

Trailhead
Picayune Gulch and Placer Gulch are the same road that goes through both gulches. Placer Gulch is on the north side of the mountain and turns into Picayune once you go over the mountain onto the south side.

Picayune Gulch starts at GPS coordinates 37.916421, -107.558061 off of county road 2. This left turn is located 10.6 miles from Silverteron, where county road 2 intersects with Greene St. If you start from this end, you will come to a "Y" in the raod 0.4 miles after leaving county road 2. Stay to the right at this Y.

If you start from the Placer Gulch side, as we did, the turn is located at 37.931705, -107.589775. This turn is located 1.2 miles to the west of Animas Fork along county road 9 (staying to the left as you leave Animas Fork going uphill). Placer Gulch turns to the south from that road.  If you are travelling from California Pass, it is located 2.8 miles after crossing over the pass.

Description
This is a fun detour that bypasses Animas Fork when travelling from California Pass back down to Silverton. I do recommend that you see Animas Fork if you haven't seen it yet. It is just a mile away from the Placer Gultch turn, and definitely worth a visit.

This road takes you along Placer Gulch, over the mountain, and down Picayune (also known as Picayne) Gulch. There are plenty of old mining structures to explore. For some history, you can read this page.

This road has great scenery and a fairly quick climb up to about 12,700 ft. The views are spectacular and exploring the mining structures is an added bonus. This courses through the Alpine Tundra, which I always find makes for beautiful views here in the San Juan Mountains.

Here is the GPS route of our trip. We also did Corkscrew Gulch during the same trip, which is included in the route.

Here is a map of our trip that day including Corckscrew Gulch.

Corkscrew Gulch

Rating: 3
This is a fairly easy trail. I do recommend low range as there are some mildly steep climbs but nothing difficult. There are some shelf roads that can make that can give it a mild pucker factor for those new to the hobby.

Location
Near Ouray, CO

Trailhead
The trail starts south of Ouray, CO on highway 550. The starting point is 7.7 miles south of Ouray measured from the intersection of 3rd and 550 in Ouray. GPS coordinates of the trailhead are 37.939255, -107.671835. If you are heading south from Ouray, the turn is to the left.

There is another right hand turn 0.2 miles after leaving highway 550, there is a sign marking the turn.

Description
This trail was new for me in 2018. It had been on my list since I moved out to the area 4 years ago, and I finally was able to explore this trail. The surface is good, most of it has some rocks mixed with dirt. This means that if you are here in a rain storm, you should have traction through most of it. However, there are some areas where you are on a shelf road that I would like to avoid in the rain.

0.2 miles after leaving the pavement you take a right hand turn. If memory serves, there is a sign in the area letting you know that it is Corkscrew Gulch. Once you make this turn you immediately start climbing. The climb is initially through pine trees. The road can be narrow in places but there are quite a few areas where you can pass oncoming traffic.

One of the reasons I enjoy this road is how quickly you climb the mountain. The road begins at about 9,800 ft in elevation and the pass is at 12,217 ft. This climb in elevation is over the course of just under 4 miles.

The road courses along the base of Red Mountain No. 1 and you have stunning views of the Red Mountains during most of the trail. The scenery on this road is definitely worth the trip and is now on my list of roads I will do annually.

Shortly after going over the pass you will come join into another road. You can go right (south), which is the shortest way back to Silverton, CO. If you take the left (north), it will go over Hurricane Pass and California Pass and down into Animas Fork.

Here is the GPS track built from Google Maps of the route we did. The route includes Placer Gultch and Picayune Gulcth since we did these instead of going to Animas Fork. I included the shorter route back to Silverton in case you want a shorter day.

Here is the map of our trip that day! Like I said, we did not do the shorter route going to Silverton but took the longer, more scenic route.