Leaving West Central Arkansas the last week of June, for Colorado, pulling a small fiberglass travel trailer. The plan is to spend the first night in Ouray, then scout for a boondocking campsite to use as a forward operating base while driving jeep trails and geocaching. Moving the camp after a few days, possibly to Silverton or Animas Forks, to access other jeep trails and geocaches. The travel trailer has a high lift axle and 15" tires with four shocks, so it will access somewhat rougher terrain to get to a campsite. Jeep and trailer pix at:http://www.mountainborn.com
Never been there, don't have a clue, but we suspect that being flatlanders, we may need to spend the nights at around six or seven thousand feet in order to rest better, making day trips over those cool passes, ect..
Advice, suggestions and camping information much appreciated.
Never been there, don't have a clue, but we suspect that being flatlanders, we may need to spend the nights at around six or seven thousand feet in order to rest better, making day trips over those cool passes, ect..
Advice, suggestions and camping information much appreciated.
I doubt that the altitude will make it difficult to sleep (unless there's a medical condition or the 30 degree temps are a problem), but it's likely to take a couple of days or more for you to become acclimated enough to be able to do anything very strenuous (like walking around the camper ) without getting VERY tired VERY quickly.
Not sure which route you plan to take to the Ouray/Silverton area, but the QUICKEST and EASIEST route from Arkansas is I-40 to Albequerque then 550 north. If you go that way, Durango is a good place (about 6000 ft) to stop for a day or two before you head to the higher elevations--lots of good day trips to do from there, too, as well as WalMart & laundry! Silverton is at 10,000 ft and most of its surrounding area is higher than that--I think Animas Forks is over 11K.
That entire area is beautiful & I'm sure you'll enjoy exploring the backcountry--we've gone there every summer for the past 9 years and still love going back! If you're still there over July 4th, both Ouray & Silverton have wonderful fireworks celebrations, too.
"Time passes but memories remain"
Fulltime since Jan. 2004
40' Allegro Zephyr
Thanks for the report. We run streets and trips in the laptop w/GPS, with a ram line mount, and it routed us exactly that way ! We will look at Durango as a convenient re supply point and stop over. It is convenient to navigate near to a cache on the large screen,of the laptop, switching to the Garmin Colorado, or the magellan Gold at the last minute for the final approach and find.
Any suggestions for a boondocking campsite near the Alpine Loop ?
We got a lot of snow this past season. The higher trails and that includes a lot of the passes around Ouray are going to be closed until August if they open up at all this year. I would check snow levels before planning much boondocking in the area. Call the Chamber of Commerce and the 4x4 rentals to see whats up.
The lower you go the better chance you will have of finding open trails.
Even though you may not make it over the pass, you may be able to get off the road and into the back country enough to have a great time.
We are heading to Silverton the end of this week. We are planning to boondock at the old Eureka townsite. It is not too far to Animas forks. Expect low temps in the low 30's. Durango is a good supply point.
We think Little Molas Lake was a beautiful place!!!
It was somewhere beteen Durango & Ouray.
(FWIW, Ouray was one of our all time favorites, too.)
However, we were there before we bought the TT, so we could go anywhere our Jeep would take us. If I remember correctly, I think we only saw tent campers there. However, since we weren't interested in camping spots at the time, I may be wrong. You'll want to ask a "local" if that is true. Maybe you CAN drag a small camper there!
fireman93514 wrote: We are heading to Silverton the end of this week. We are planning to boondock at the old Eureka townsite. It is not too far to Animas forks. Expect low temps in the low 30's. Durango is a good supply point.
Sounds cool. Tried to do a bit of on line research about Old Eureka, but didn't have much luck. Any hints about how we can learn more abour Eureka ?
Larry, try ghostowns.com there is a lot of info there. I also searched colorado ghost towns ans eureka colorado. Youcan see an imaage on google earth by searching the town name. I also went to webshots.com and found a lot of photos. I also asked the question here. I don't know how to link to it but if you search "silverton co" it will come up. Sounds like we may be there about the same time. If you see a winnebago with a blue jeep cherokee stop and say hello.
fireman93514 wrote: Larry, try ghostowns.com there is a lot of info there. I also searched colorado ghost towns ans eureka colorado. Youcan see an imaage on google earth by searching the town name. I also went to webshots.com and found a lot of photos. I also asked the question here. I don't know how to link to it but if you search "silverton co" it will come up. Sounds like we may be there about the same time. If you see a winnebago with a blue jeep cherokee stop and say hello.
Thanks, just Google Earth'd it and can see camping areas. We would like to overnight at Durango at The W/M supercenter, but it is on the no over night parking list. Any idea if the signs are a formality or if they actually enforce the parking thing ?
The W/M overnight would be handy for geting last minute items before moving up to Eureka.
Sure would be cool if we ran into each other up there.
We will be pulling a white fiberglass Oliver travel trailer with a white 4 door Wrangler. Photos at www.mountainborn.com
mountainborn wrote: We would like to overnight at Durango at The W/M supercenter, but it is on the no over night parking list. Any idea if the signs are a formality or if they actually enforce the parking thing ?
The W/M overnight would be handy for geting last minute items before moving up to Eureka.
In 2002 we got permission from the store manager to park overnight. It was the worst experience that I ever had. Lost of noise and I did not get a bit of sleep. We parked in a dirt corner that had not been built on. In 2006, the area was more built up and that parking lot is very busy and tight. If you expect to get any rest, I'd avise against the Durango W/M, If they would give you permission to stay.
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) without getting VERY tired VERY quickly. 
