June 30th - Yankee Boy Basin - WOW !!!

It is IMPOSSIBLE to describe the beauty that MA and I saw today! We ate a quick lunch and drove back down to Ouray and onto the nine mile long Yankee Boy Basin Road. The first seven miles were fairly routine road-wise but spectacular. The last two miles were moderately difficult but enormously rewarding! We were about two weeks too early for the peak of the wildflowers. The first pic is Twin Falls, about halfway up. It is the scene that you see on the Coors beer cans and bottles.

The second and third pix are at the top of Yankee Boy Basin. We met Dennis and Lorie at the top. Dennis had just returned from hiking to the top of the mountain. He had all the requisite equipment...ice axe, etc.

The last pic is on a side trial, Governor's Basin. This trail is rated Difficult and, as you can see in the pic, is VERY narrow in spots. I felt so uncomfortable about this particular pass that I had MA get out and "spot" me as I drove thru. Just after we passed these two spots, I found a place to turn around. In MY opinion, we had reached our limit. MA says she agreed as she spotted me coming back downhill thru the tight places.

Here are three short video clips of our off-road experience...

Yankee Boy Basin #1
Yankee Boy Basin #2
Yankee Boy Basin #3

After taking showers to wash off the layers of traildust, we went to Chili's and celebrated our mountain adventure with a margarita and draft beer (Coors, of course). We topped off the evening by eating watermelon provided by the RV park owners, Wayne & Peg over at Ron and Carol's coach.