B
Cliff notes:
Spent 4 days in Silverton Co
Did lots of trails
Beautiful scenery
Honda Talon great
Full story:
Went for a little ride.
Base camp was Silverton Colorado. The main objective was the Alpine Loop through the San Juan Mountains. The travel guides say 65 miles. Not sure if that includes the 12 mile spur from Silverton to get to the loop.
First off let me talk about the trails around here. Rough is an understatement. The roads are paved with broken up rocks and none of the rocks are laying flat. You have a constant washboard. They are brutal with very little let up in the constant pounding. The scenery on the other hand is spectacular.
First day we arrived after a 7 hour drive and quickly unpacked at our Airbnb in Silverton. We headed out for a quick evening ride to Animas Forks ghost town. It’s 12 miles from Silverton and the kids hadn’t been there before. Cool little mining town from the 1870s.
The real adventure started on day two. The “Loop”. We headed back to Animas Forks and picked up the start of the loop taking Cinnamon pass to Lake City. Topping out at 12640 it’s relatively easy. The first climb from Animas Forks is steep, rough and rocky but easily handled by the Talon. The views are spectacular and the twists and turns through the mountains are fun and amazing. We stopped here and there to take in the views and eventually made it in to Lake City. Lake City was packed with off roaders. After a quick lunch we headed back to Silverton on the second half of the loop. Engineer pass took us back. This one gets to 12800 feet and has views that are just as amazing. Far less snow than I expected. The loop had only been opened for 3 weeks or so. Sometimes it doesn’t open until mid July but this year it was really clear with nothing to speak of for snow. That and the warm temperatures surprised me. Normally it’s colder and a lot more snow at the top. I’ve seen pictures of people driving through 12-15 foot canyons of snow at the top in other years.
Anyway we finished the loop and had a great ride. The only negative was the aforementioned constant pounding of the rocky roads. I was tired but not as bad as a couple years ago when I did the loop on a motorcycle.
Day three we took a break from the SXS’s and drove the trucks to Teluride. There we drove up what is the Teluride end of Black Bear pass to Bridal Veil falls and the 1909 vintage power station. Treturous road and this trip on it’s switchbacks convinced me I didn’t want to do the whole trail.
Day four we decided to do a few more trails from Silverton rather then trailer into Ouray and hit some of the passes that start from there. So we headed back out towards Animas Forks and took a left up Picayune right before the ghost town. This one starts off with some steep and serious up. It takes you into the area southwest of The Loop.
This area was more what I had expected. Even though it’s only a few miles from the previous passes there was a lot more snow and damn cold at the top. The passes aren’t particularly higher, like Hurricane is listed at 12730 but there was a lot more snow. We wandered around the area pretty much all morning and stopped for lunch at the top of California pass. (12930) From there you can see forever and the gorgeous views all around wherever you look. A camera can not do justice to the sights around you.
We headed down the west side to try to get to Pookipsie gulch. I wanted to see what the Talon could do on “The Wall” but unfortunately that trail was still snowed in.
Instead we just tried out whatever trail looked interesting like Corkscrew and Red Mountain pass and several others in that section. Some of the smaller, less traveled trails were technical and challenging but nothing the Talon didn’t gobble up and handle with ease.
By mid afternoon the storm clouds were threatening and we decided to head back. It started to rain before we could get back over Hurricane but fortunately no snow as we crested the top. We had a very cold wet ride back but our rain gear did its job and we made it back to Silverton just covered in mud but happy with another awesome day of riding.
Overall I’m very pleased with the Talon. It’s gas mileage is quite a bit better than the RZR we were with and the DCT is awesome. Being able to shift up and quiet down the motor is a huge plus. It climbed anything and everything with ease and has more than enough power to go wherever we pointed it. It’s suspension is a bit harsh but not painfully so. It did develop an incredibly annoying squeak/rattle from the rear window and roof not being bolted down properly, but I can’t blame that solely on the Talon. The previous owner had taken them off and I missed a few bolts when I went over it making sure everything was tight before the trip. I had carried spare tires having heard the stock tires were fragile but never needed them in spite of not exactly babying it over the rough rocky roads.
We probably won’t go back to that area anytime soon but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially the non-loop trails. I’ll post a video link once I get it put together.
Spent 4 days in Silverton Co
Did lots of trails
Beautiful scenery
Honda Talon great
Full story:
Went for a little ride.
Base camp was Silverton Colorado. The main objective was the Alpine Loop through the San Juan Mountains. The travel guides say 65 miles. Not sure if that includes the 12 mile spur from Silverton to get to the loop.
First off let me talk about the trails around here. Rough is an understatement. The roads are paved with broken up rocks and none of the rocks are laying flat. You have a constant washboard. They are brutal with very little let up in the constant pounding. The scenery on the other hand is spectacular.
First day we arrived after a 7 hour drive and quickly unpacked at our Airbnb in Silverton. We headed out for a quick evening ride to Animas Forks ghost town. It’s 12 miles from Silverton and the kids hadn’t been there before. Cool little mining town from the 1870s.
The real adventure started on day two. The “Loop”. We headed back to Animas Forks and picked up the start of the loop taking Cinnamon pass to Lake City. Topping out at 12640 it’s relatively easy. The first climb from Animas Forks is steep, rough and rocky but easily handled by the Talon. The views are spectacular and the twists and turns through the mountains are fun and amazing. We stopped here and there to take in the views and eventually made it in to Lake City. Lake City was packed with off roaders. After a quick lunch we headed back to Silverton on the second half of the loop. Engineer pass took us back. This one gets to 12800 feet and has views that are just as amazing. Far less snow than I expected. The loop had only been opened for 3 weeks or so. Sometimes it doesn’t open until mid July but this year it was really clear with nothing to speak of for snow. That and the warm temperatures surprised me. Normally it’s colder and a lot more snow at the top. I’ve seen pictures of people driving through 12-15 foot canyons of snow at the top in other years.
Anyway we finished the loop and had a great ride. The only negative was the aforementioned constant pounding of the rocky roads. I was tired but not as bad as a couple years ago when I did the loop on a motorcycle.
Day three we took a break from the SXS’s and drove the trucks to Teluride. There we drove up what is the Teluride end of Black Bear pass to Bridal Veil falls and the 1909 vintage power station. Treturous road and this trip on it’s switchbacks convinced me I didn’t want to do the whole trail.
Day four we decided to do a few more trails from Silverton rather then trailer into Ouray and hit some of the passes that start from there. So we headed back out towards Animas Forks and took a left up Picayune right before the ghost town. This one starts off with some steep and serious up. It takes you into the area southwest of The Loop.
This area was more what I had expected. Even though it’s only a few miles from the previous passes there was a lot more snow and damn cold at the top. The passes aren’t particularly higher, like Hurricane is listed at 12730 but there was a lot more snow. We wandered around the area pretty much all morning and stopped for lunch at the top of California pass. (12930) From there you can see forever and the gorgeous views all around wherever you look. A camera can not do justice to the sights around you.
We headed down the west side to try to get to Pookipsie gulch. I wanted to see what the Talon could do on “The Wall” but unfortunately that trail was still snowed in.
Instead we just tried out whatever trail looked interesting like Corkscrew and Red Mountain pass and several others in that section. Some of the smaller, less traveled trails were technical and challenging but nothing the Talon didn’t gobble up and handle with ease.
By mid afternoon the storm clouds were threatening and we decided to head back. It started to rain before we could get back over Hurricane but fortunately no snow as we crested the top. We had a very cold wet ride back but our rain gear did its job and we made it back to Silverton just covered in mud but happy with another awesome day of riding.
Overall I’m very pleased with the Talon. It’s gas mileage is quite a bit better than the RZR we were with and the DCT is awesome. Being able to shift up and quiet down the motor is a huge plus. It climbed anything and everything with ease and has more than enough power to go wherever we pointed it. It’s suspension is a bit harsh but not painfully so. It did develop an incredibly annoying squeak/rattle from the rear window and roof not being bolted down properly, but I can’t blame that solely on the Talon. The previous owner had taken them off and I missed a few bolts when I went over it making sure everything was tight before the trip. I had carried spare tires having heard the stock tires were fragile but never needed them in spite of not exactly babying it over the rough rocky roads.
We probably won’t go back to that area anytime soon but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially the non-loop trails. I’ll post a video link once I get it put together.
