Sergei
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For those who isnt very familiar with thingy -
Alpine loop consists of two trails - Engineer Pass and Cinnamon Pass that are joining ghost town of Animas Forks (roughly 15 miless off from Silverton CO), and not-quite-yet-ghost-town of Lake City (Colorado. Do not mistaken for Salt Lake City, Utah - this is wayyyyyy off ).
While most of books will rate those trails as medium, in fact they are more like on the top of easy ones. Still - do not forget to deflate you tires a bit (20-22 are good values) and switch Rover into 2L (not that L is required, but it makes things safer).
Best route, specially if you crossing them for first time is to get from Silverton to Animas Forks, or onto Highway 550 (San Juan Skyway - joins Silverton and Ouray) to the Engineer Pass trail. This is dead easy as both entrances marked very clearly with signs.
Going that way to Lake City you always would have hillside on your right, which makes passing other vehicles much safer and easier. Main attractions on first side is climb (thats actually hardest portion of this trail) and very picturesque switchbacks..
Up untill about mid-July (depending on snow situation) you will get nice shots of alpine flowers, marmots and other things.
You can also get very cool pictures of you in sandals standing next to piles of snow - snow most of times will be standing on shadow areas of Engineer pass well into July. Coolest snow shots are about end of June. After making it over pass you basically driving gravel road all the way to Lake City. On the way you can spot few attractions like cool cabin (its up for sale again), and serious waterfalls. Next portion (Cinnamon pass) starts wee bit south of Lake City, past Lake St. Crystobal - but its very easy to find, as its marked with signs too.
Again - if you follow trails in that order you will all time have hillside on your left side, which makes life much easier. There are few nice shots to be made over canyon on your left side, and there is vew of ghost Carson (if i am not misspelling name) city.
Cinnamon pass has less obstacles (in fact pretty much none), but its steeper and tighter climbs. If you keep vehicle in first gear it will help you to not wear off your brakes that much.
Again - fine views of alpine flowers with snow banks and marmots will be yours to take
Then you just slowly descending (slowly not because its long way, but because you dont want go fast - its wee bit stip and talus isnt funny thing to drive on) upon Animas Forks.
Entire route is doable in about 5 hours easy, even with somewhat frequent stops, but i would suggest to take time and go over there for either overnight camping (there are very good camp sites around lake) or to at least consider making it like 8 hours adventure - that way you can stand and relax in Lake City or somewhere on the hillside with picnic
Another reason to make it over - during summer you can catch really good food and live music show in Silverton at evenings Trailside place is my latest favorite - good food, nice friendly atmosphere...
Unfortunately around regular holidays place will be crowded with tourists and weird people - so be carefull on climbs, sharp turns and switchbacks).
In fact if you feel like going there, and would like company - give me a shout, and we can sort something out (i am living like 1-1.5 hour drive from Silverton)
Alpine loop consists of two trails - Engineer Pass and Cinnamon Pass that are joining ghost town of Animas Forks (roughly 15 miless off from Silverton CO), and not-quite-yet-ghost-town of Lake City (Colorado. Do not mistaken for Salt Lake City, Utah - this is wayyyyyy off ).
While most of books will rate those trails as medium, in fact they are more like on the top of easy ones. Still - do not forget to deflate you tires a bit (20-22 are good values) and switch Rover into 2L (not that L is required, but it makes things safer).
Best route, specially if you crossing them for first time is to get from Silverton to Animas Forks, or onto Highway 550 (San Juan Skyway - joins Silverton and Ouray) to the Engineer Pass trail. This is dead easy as both entrances marked very clearly with signs.
Going that way to Lake City you always would have hillside on your right, which makes passing other vehicles much safer and easier. Main attractions on first side is climb (thats actually hardest portion of this trail) and very picturesque switchbacks..
Up untill about mid-July (depending on snow situation) you will get nice shots of alpine flowers, marmots and other things.
You can also get very cool pictures of you in sandals standing next to piles of snow - snow most of times will be standing on shadow areas of Engineer pass well into July. Coolest snow shots are about end of June. After making it over pass you basically driving gravel road all the way to Lake City. On the way you can spot few attractions like cool cabin (its up for sale again), and serious waterfalls. Next portion (Cinnamon pass) starts wee bit south of Lake City, past Lake St. Crystobal - but its very easy to find, as its marked with signs too.
Again - if you follow trails in that order you will all time have hillside on your left side, which makes life much easier. There are few nice shots to be made over canyon on your left side, and there is vew of ghost Carson (if i am not misspelling name) city.
Cinnamon pass has less obstacles (in fact pretty much none), but its steeper and tighter climbs. If you keep vehicle in first gear it will help you to not wear off your brakes that much.
Again - fine views of alpine flowers with snow banks and marmots will be yours to take
Then you just slowly descending (slowly not because its long way, but because you dont want go fast - its wee bit stip and talus isnt funny thing to drive on) upon Animas Forks.
Entire route is doable in about 5 hours easy, even with somewhat frequent stops, but i would suggest to take time and go over there for either overnight camping (there are very good camp sites around lake) or to at least consider making it like 8 hours adventure - that way you can stand and relax in Lake City or somewhere on the hillside with picnic
Another reason to make it over - during summer you can catch really good food and live music show in Silverton at evenings
Trailside place is my latest favorite - good food, nice friendly atmosphere...Unfortunately around regular holidays place will be crowded with tourists and weird people - so be carefull on climbs, sharp turns and switchbacks).
In fact if you feel like going there, and would like company - give me a shout, and we can sort something out (i am living like 1-1.5 hour drive from Silverton)
