Monday, July 2nd - The Alpine Loop

This morning, our friend, Terry Hix, came by the campsite and asked us to join them on an off-road trip, the Alpine Loop. "You bet!" we said. So we gassed up, loaded up the ice chest with water, cold cuts, cheese, etc. and met them at 10:30 at their camp on the other side of Lake City (8 blocks away). There were six adults, one baby (15 month-old, Sophia) and one Jack Russell Terrier, Keeper, who rode on the back of Terry's 4-wheeler, no matter who was driving, including me.

The Loop starts off innocently enough. About 15 miles of gravel, fairly narrow roads. Then it begins the ascent up to Cinnamon Pass. VERY narrow and VERY steep in places. About halfway up, Terry wanted me to drive his 4-wheeler. So, I turned over the Jeep to MA and Keeper and I took the ATV up to Cinnamon Pass and down (scarier yet) to the ghost town of Animas Forks, Colorado.

We stopped for about 45 minutes in Animas Forks to eat lunch. The US Forest Service has set-up toilet facilities there, as well.

Then we started on the return trip, this time over 12,800' Engineer Pass. This time, I drove the Jeep up to the Pass and then MA drove down the mountain and on to Lake City and home. The pic on the right is of the road up to Engineer Pass. Look for the faint "Z" in the middle of the pic...THAT is the road we traveled.

Afterwards, we were unbelievably filthy. So was Jasper Jeep. I promised that I would really give Jasper a cleaning tomorrow while MA does the laundry.

We enjoyed a very good Italian meal in Lake City and then visited some more with Sylvia & Terry at their coach. We have asked them to join us next summer for a whitewater adventure on the Colorado River thru the Grand Canyon. They have accepted and we will make the arrangements tomorrow.