Black Bear Pass, Bear Creek trail, 3 bears, and some beers

austintaco

Explorer
I didn't know what to title this year's Colorado Adventure, but it seemed that Bears and Beers are what made the trip. However this trip almost didn't happen. The expected departure date and time was Monday July 30th at 6 AM. I had some lofty goals to get accomplished before the trip. For the truck, I planned on getting these items installed:

Rear reinforcement plates
front receiver hitch
winch cradle and winch
re gear to 4.88
Front ARB install
AP sliders welded on
Tire carrier and Scepter can carrier attached to AP bumper
AP expedition springs
Sidewinder Awning attached to flippac
Timing belt/water pump

I had Krawltex do the fab work and the gear installs. As luck would have it, they had a rear third that was already regeared with an e locker from an FJ. It had less than a 1000 miles so I opted to use that third. It saved both time and money, and I didn't have to worry about breaking in the gears before my trip.

I didn't get the winch or front receiver hitch done, and I punted the timing belt/water pump to do later this month. However, I did do a complete flush and reinstalled the water pump with the jiggle valve in the down position.

With about a week to go, my truck was still in the shop and waiting on a few parts. My plan was to have my truck back by the Thursday before the trip so I could start my work on it and get some miles under the new gear. However, with parts delays, I was still at the shop on Saturday night, helping to get it on the ground and running. We had a problem with the rear locker staying engaged in 2 wheel drive. That lead to switching out the motors and manually disengaging the e locker. At about 12:30, my truck was rolling back to South Austin, giving me one full day to get ready for my trip.

I woke up around 6 AM to get started. My flush and fill was going very smooth, with not much of a mess, but then disaster struck. When I started to refill with expensive Toyota Red fluid, it started gushing out around the thermostat. I tightened up the bolts and started again, and still coolant leaked out. I snapped a bolt trying to tighten it and then realized that the thermostat wasn't seated in the housing and the jiggle valve was caught between the gasket and the casing. I ended up reinstalling the old T stat and gasket and all was fine. I had to drop the truck off for an alignment and then come back and install the awning. My awning install started at 7PM, 11 hours until launch.

I have never used a riveter, but I had been practicing with old cookware to get the feel for it, and what length of rivet to use. The practice paid off, and I was able to get the awning on in a few hours.
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I forgot that I still had not tried out the Spare Time tire rack, so I put that on, and at about 10:30 PM, I thought I could go to bed, get a few hours of sleep and pack in the early morning. That's when I noticed this:
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Diff fluid on the driveway and all over the front passenger side. What happened? I couldn't find the source of the leak, so I sent my mechanic a text and went to bed telling my wife the trip was going to be pushed back and may not happen. This was about 3 AM.

I woke up at 6 and started investigating. It looked like the leak could be from the fill plug, and after talking with my mechanic, we thought that could be it because it was only hand tight and he thought he might have over filled it. I added diff fluid, didn't see a leak, and I thought we were good. I drove my truck around the block, backed it into the driveway, and started to load up. After attaching my bike to the carrier, I saw another puddle of diff fluid on the passenger side and when I crawled up under the truck, I could see it leaking out from an axle seal. I drove up to the shop and we worked on locating and replacing the faulty seal. We finished up at 6 PM. I opted to pick up supplies instead of waiting in rush hour traffic and arrived at my house, ready to pack up at 9 PM.
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We scrambled, loaded up, and we were headed to the gas station at 12:30 AM for our 18 hour drive to Mesa Verde. Our original plan was to stay the night in Santa Fe, but we were now18 hours behind schedule, so we decided to drive in shifts. I was whipped from the last few days and I only drove us out of town before having to take a nap. We traded off and by the time we made it to Mesa Verde, we were only 2 hours behind schedule!

Leaving after midnight:
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Mesa Verde
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My wife has the better pictures of the park, but Mesa Verde is definitely worth a stop. We travel with our dogs, and it's not a dog friendly park, so we had to drop them off at a doggy daycare in Cortez. It was a long day of driving dogs in and out of the park, climbing ladders to Pueblo ruins, and finally we were on our way to Alta lakes.
Oh! we did see our first Bear on the way to Mesa Verde. It was right off the highway, near Mancos.

Getting to Alta lakes was a nice drive, and when we turned off the road, I was able to try out the 4x4 system for the first time. The road is not that rough, but I needed to see how everything worked before my big day at Black Bear. We found a nice site, across from the fishing bridge:
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We set up the Zodi Shower, got a quick shower, loaded up, and headed to Telluride. We hiked up Bear Creek trail to see the waterfall, and then it started to rain. Luckily, there was a big rock with a concave side that was just large enough to duck under and wait it out. Note: I'm not really relieving myself, it's a staged photo:
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Here's a cool Toyota on the streets of Telluride:
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We had lunch, "convinced" the dogs to go up the Gondola, and then we set out for our next campsite. We were told by a local about a site West of town called Otter creek, or mill Creek, but it was no good. We pulled out the trail book and headed out to Last Dollar Road, and found a site right off the path. Here's a shot the next morning:
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Loaded up, we drove up the rest of the way on Last Dollar to get to our campsite in Ouray. In another thread, I made a remark about not liking the campsite in the town of Ouray. I formally retract my statement. Yes, it's in town, and not out in the woods, but it's very convenient and clean. Our neighbors were all very nice and cordial, and we were able to check in early. Checking in early allowed me to unload my truck with gear I wouldn't need for Black Bear Pass. The bikes, propane, food, etc...stayed behind.
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We were warned by the camp operators about the Bear that likes the trash container in the campground. The trash can was right next to our site, so we were a bit concerned. We did not see the Bear, but when we walked by the trash can on our way back from town from having beers, we heard the Bear running off from the trash can as we approached! Whew!

Black Bear Pass

This was the one trail that I had to do on the trip. I was skeptical, and my wife was very "concerned". It actually was the source of tension for us, so she decided that she would walk any of the sketchy areas. I knew I could make it, but any damage would have been met with a "I told you so" from my wife. After unloading unneeded gear, we were off!

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My overall impression was that Black Bear is Pucker Factor 3. I puckered up 3 times, but the switchbacks were not the issue for the most part. Going down some of the narrow areas made me pick my tire placement very carefully so that I wouldn't get too off camber or too close to the wall. I got my rear tire off the ground twice for sure, but it was on a straight section. There was one switchback toward the end that was sketchy. I had to take it very wide, then drop in, back up, and repeat numerous times. Lis got back in the truck near Bridal Veil Falls and we went back down to Telluride to enjoy some food and a celebratory beer.
More pics when my wife downloads them:
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We enjoyed our two days in Ouray, doing the perimeter hike, the hot springs, and Ouray Brewing company. We were lucky enough to have some good neighbors in the park. One of our new neighbors was an avid experienced Jeeper and after talking with him, we decided to head up to the St. Elmo area to try something new. We decided to check out Hancock Pass and the Alpine Tunnel with camping at Iron City.
The road to the Alpine Tunnel is tight and well traveled. It was the first time that we had to back up to make room for other motorists. Not difficult, just tight for two vehicles. There was a minivan coming back from the tunnel, but he was struggling.
Hancock pass is described as Moderate in Funtrek's book, but it did have a few surprises. There is lots of ATV UTV traffic, and they all seemed to be surprised that we were out there with our fully loaded rig. My wife and I kept waiting for the smooth road to start so we could get to camp, but it seemed like it was never ending rocks and dips. At one switchback turn I was met with a steep rock wall with an angled edge that I couldn't have stayed upright on. I straightened up and hit it with both lockers and we crawled up the ledge. Some of the dips made it necessary for me to get out and look at what I would be dropping into because I couldn't see it from the road. Nevertheless, we made it across.
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Just after we passed this structure, disaster almost struck:
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It was starting to rain, and we were scooting along when I heard a loud screeching coming from my passenger side front tire. I stopped, inspected for leaks, and found nothing. I had Lis drive while I walked along the truck. It was definitely from the passenger front. I thought it might be a rock in the dust shield, but I was hoping it would fall out on its own. I reversed and I didn't hear the noise, but when I went forward, there it was again. After rocking back and forth, the rock dislodged and we were on our way. Phew! I thought I blew out the axle seal.

Our final night was at Iron City Campground near St. Elmo. Unfortunately, we didn't take a pic, but it was very clean and spaced out nicely. However, we had our third Bear encounter. The campers to our left had said that they passed on another campground because a bear had came through and tore up a cooler that was left out. This was down the road from Iron City.
When we woke up, we found out that the same neighbors had a bear come into their campsite. Apparently, another camper by the bathrooms, left their cooler out and it tore into that, walked past our truck and then swung at the lantern hanging in the tree at the campground next to ours. They activated their remote start on the truck and the bear ran off. I faintly remember waking up at that time and thinking that one of our dogs was making some noise, but I now realize that it might have been the Bear!

We hit the road by 9 AM and pulled into our driveway this morning at 5 AM! We went through the town of Hooper, and by chance, that is the name of my white Boxer.
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Like I said, Bears and Beers, Colorado 2012!
 
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austintaco

Explorer
Thanks! I'm going to piece together a build thread tomorrow and post it on the toy section. The front locker was overkill, but the gears were much needed in my opinion.
 

Toyotero

Explorer
That looks like a great trip. I've got plans to take the little lady up to Mesa Verde sometime. The cliff dwellings are incredibly structures.
 

Hill Bill E.

Oath Keeper
Great write up! I like the Iron City campground, very clean and nice. We stayed there when we went up Mount Antero, and we took 'Tin Cup' pass after driving through St. Elmo.

Reading this, I see there is more I want to do/see in that area!!
 

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