John Canfield
Site Team
No, we weren't in reverse ;D (at least most of the time.) Black Bear is one-way down the steep switchbacks to Telluride except for special occasions.
Our club works closely with the area Forest Service agency, so it was arranged to run the trail backwards from Telluride to Highway 550 this morning. 16 Vehicles (mostly Wranglers, 2-doors, 4-doors, Rubicons, couple of Cherokees, Land Rover, an FJ, a vintage Land Cruiser, and a sweet Willies) made the trip and two club members blocked off the normal start of the steep switchback descent so there wouldn't be a dangerous traffic jam on some very narrow places.
We also had two Forest Service rangers make the trip in their government JK Rubicon.
Most of the climb up was routine mountain shelf road switchback driving but the last three or so switchbacks were very tight and there were some really narrow places. I had dear wife keeping a close eye on the outboard tire position while I hugged the wall as much as possible in two or three places
.
At the series of rocky steps near the top, we went from complete shade to full sunlight right in our face as soon as I turned a corner. Holy cow - very difficult to see anything.
Nobody in the group had much trouble but one Wrangler with open diffs struggled on one switchback.
Now we can add another trail to our completed list .
Our club works closely with the area Forest Service agency, so it was arranged to run the trail backwards from Telluride to Highway 550 this morning. 16 Vehicles (mostly Wranglers, 2-doors, 4-doors, Rubicons, couple of Cherokees, Land Rover, an FJ, a vintage Land Cruiser, and a sweet Willies) made the trip and two club members blocked off the normal start of the steep switchback descent so there wouldn't be a dangerous traffic jam on some very narrow places.
We also had two Forest Service rangers make the trip in their government JK Rubicon.
Most of the climb up was routine mountain shelf road switchback driving but the last three or so switchbacks were very tight and there were some really narrow places. I had dear wife keeping a close eye on the outboard tire position while I hugged the wall as much as possible in two or three places
.At the series of rocky steps near the top, we went from complete shade to full sunlight right in our face as soon as I turned a corner. Holy cow - very difficult to see anything.
Nobody in the group had much trouble but one Wrangler with open diffs struggled on one switchback.
Now we can add another trail to our completed list
.
