Conquering Imogene Pass

On Thursday, July 22 we tackled our first trail named Imogene Pass. We want to be clear that we never leave the trails or disturb nature on our 4-wheeling adventures.

This was the dirt road to the entrance of Imogene Pass.  This is an actual road in Ouray, I forget the name tho.

Lucie was excited to take her first 4-wheeling ride.

Outside of flying, I have never seen clouds up close like this before.

The drop along this cliff was very far down.  Like 30-40 thousand feet or something...maybe less, I didn't get close enough to look down.

I have a thing about heights when there is a possibility that I could fall off of something. With no guard rails I was a little on edge. I don't know why I can't just trust my husband to keep us alive.  Well, actually, I guess knowing him over 18 years probably gives me enough reasons.

Lucie didn't mind the height of the cliff much.

 Me and my Girl

 Our Family

We stopped for a quick potty break before hitting the trail. They had a port-a-potty which was the last one until the end of the trail. The trail ride would be about 4 to 5 hours long. I had been drinking a lot of water to stay hydrated due to the change in elevation so I really had to go regardless of how gross it was in there. Luckily a sweet lady which was in the lead FJ was handing out hand sanitizer. This would be the one and only potty break during the trail ride that didn't include squatting behind a bush. I got to know the land real well!

Finally, we reached the starting point of Imogene Pass.

I noticed this little fella watching us as we approached and went up the hill. I swear he was thinking, you guys are crazy driving up this mountain and then he laughed at us.  You could almost sense his morbid fascination with one of us driving off the cliff, like he was trying to will it to happen.  This groundhog was pure evil!  I mean, look at him.....if you dare!

Gorgeous Lucie with the wildflowers on Imogene Pass.

It was at this point that I started not feeling well. We were at about 10,000 feet. Breathing was becoming a little difficult. A nurse that was with our leader gave me a big dose of aspirin to help thin my blood and we continued on. When we hit the top of the pass we were at over 13,000 feet, it was at this point I peed myself and forgot who I was for 30 minutes. Lucie had no trouble with the change in elevation at all. Since it rained the majority of the day, the trails were slick and a little scary at times but Ron kept us all safe.  And by safe I mean it was a miracle we we didn't end up in a ravine  His idea of safe driving was trying to stay on a slick rock trail at 13K feet with one had on the wheel while taking pictures with his other hand. Thanks Honey!  There were so many amazing pictures that it was hard to narrow it down to only a few and do the pass justice. Please take a look at the slide show below and enjoy!

Imogene Pass led us to Telluride which is an adorable town known for its skiing and smugness.  When you move in, the welcome wagon delivers a pound of Starbucks and a Macbook. By this time it was about 3 p.m. and we were ready to eat and relax. We headed back to Ridgway and I looked forward to using a real bathroom. 

As a side note, that same evening, another trail group had a driver in an Explorer slide off the trail and end up rolling over down the hill.  The mountain rescue sirens went off in Ouray and the mountain rescue team sprung into action  http://ouraymountainrescue.com/.  Fortunately the driver lived but was pretty busted up.  The vehicle was a write off.

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Coming Soon - Lucie meets a Bear