Border Crossing on the Dolores Point Road

Day five of our trip in our Toyota FJ Cruiser took us back into Colorado. After packing we headed down the John Brown Creek Road to Gateway. This road is a very steep grade following the river down the canyon.  The scenery is fantastic with the road traveling through some narrow section cut by the river.

Once on the highway we headed east towards Grand Junction through the Unaweep Canyon . If you have never driven this section of road it is spectacular. There are high cliffs on both sides that are cut out of some of the oldest granite in the world.  The valley that the road follows is unique. Through the valley once flowed the Gunnison River.  Many eons ago there was an uplift that lifted the canyon in the middle an diverted the river to its present day course. What this means is that you drive up the canyon to the top of the uplift then down the other side.

John Brown Creek Road

At Highway 50 we headed south towards Ouray to visit the Hot Springs Pool and stop at the Chocolate Shop.  A visit to the Ouray Hot Springs Pool is a welcome diversion and a great way to soak off the week’s dirt. There is a water slide that LJ enjoyed. After a few hours at the pool it was time to get underway again.

Learning that Engineer Pass was open we decided that it would be fun to finish our trip by taking the high pass to Lake City.

Once underway we could see indications that the dozer had opened the road not to long ago. A number of slide paths were littered with trees that had been pushed off to the side of the trail.

Snow Bank Near The Top

Enjoying the view of the mountains with a coating of fresh snow and the frequent small waterfalls fueled by snow melt we ascended the pass. On the last traverse to the top is where we encountered the largest snow fields. The road had been opened with 18 to 20 high banks of snow on each side.

View from the pull out at the top

In the clouds

We then descended down the east side of the pass in search of a good camping spot. Nearing Lake City we found a great site located in a meadow near an old cabin. It was a good night for a fire then off to bed.

Final nights camp site

The Following morning it was back home to Colorado Springs. It was an interesting trip and we explored some new areas we would love to return to.

On our way home