The Alpine loop isn't really a off road loop bc Lake city is paved and was not UTV friendly.

You might call and check, but I went in 2011 and 2013 and you could not ride on the street. We did several times, but it wasn't legal.

I think you can now ride most of Silverton. At the time we had to park and walk.

 

Im riding that area in a couple days. I have communicated with Hindsdale County sheriff office and you can ride in the town of lake City from Engineer and on Hwy 149 south of town to the Cinnamon pass trail head. The Sheriff was very accommodating and welcomed all off road riders. All he asks is that you have liability insurance and a valid drivers license. He did inform me that his Deputies were instructed to not issue tickets to OHV riders on HWY 149 but the Colorado State Patrol may give tickets. He did say that CSP never comes down to that part of the state. I have been messaging a member here that lives in the area and you can ride into Silverton but not on main street. Im starting my Alpine loop trip from Ironton Park pff of 550 West of Ouray which connects to the Animas forks/alpine loop. Nice big parking area to safely unload.
Have a great trip and all the snow shud be gone my then. Was 98 degrees in Denver today and pushing 75 in the San Juan's.

 

ATV: Laws and Regulations
Within Lake City Limits
- All operators must possess a valid drivers license
- Minimum liability insurance (Colorado standards 25/50K)
- Colorado State Parks sticker ($25.25)
- Must obey all Traffic Laws

Within Hinsdale County
- All operators must possess a valid driver's license
- Minimum liability insurance (Colorado standards $25/50K)
- Colorado State Parks sticker ($25.25)
- ATVs are required to stay on designated roads
- All vehicles must observe all road restrictions


http://www.hinsdalecountysheriff.com/Laws___Regulations.php

 

If you drive thru Lake City; please be respectful, don't speed! Stop at a restaurant, get some ice cream, buy some gas
Make the locals WANT to see you. This is the first year you could drive thru town legally without a license plate. Our ability to drive thru town can be taken away much faster than it was granted.


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Thats awesome! And we have spent thousands in lake city. Glad to see them open up to UTVs more.

 

We did the entire Alpine loop a week ago. Lake City very supportive of UTV's in town. Southern Vittles is a great place to eat and relax. Local Polaris dealer north of town if you need parts or gasoline. You can go north to the Toy wash to clean your machine. Great experience! Please be respectful so we can keep this great ride available.

 

It's HOT here in Ouray now. I'm expecting Imogene to be open for the 4th, no problem. Stay off the main street of Silverton but Lake City is open everywhere. As someone else was saying, we need to all do our part to show that we are responsible. Lake City and Silverton are both excited to have us spending our money and we don't want to give them a reason to regret it. The sheriff's in both areas are saying that they welcome us and aren't expecting any problems.
I'd be glad to answer any questions on local riding in the San Juan area, as this is my backyard.

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I think you can ride down mainstreet in Silverton..up to 7th street. Found this map on their website. Woohoo..now I can go to Grumpys for lunch!!!!!

 

Here is a map I found on Silvertons web siteand what streets you can ride on in the town. Lookslike they passed an ordinance in April of 2014
Im stoked..going there tomorrow!!!

 

So how was the loop justgregg? We rode from Ouray to Lake City on Sunday and it was a perfect day!

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It was great! Unloaded at Ironton park and rode corkscrew gulch, hurricane, california, engineer pass to animas forks,, then continued on engineer to lake city. Had lunch in lake city, then rode down hwy 149 to the cinnamon pass trail head. Wound up at animas forks and rode back the way we came. Rode most of the day. I want to go back this fall and do imogene and some of the trails around telluride. May add on a few more days and hit Moab while im in that part of the state.
Riding Keystone and Peru creek /sunday with a group of 7 rzrs. Looking forward to Meeker Rendevous on July 14th.

 

I appreciate the info !! Thanks for your help


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Lake San Cristobal

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Does anyone know if you can ride from Silverton to Imogene Pass, not being street legal??

 

No, I don't think you can.

 

Thinking of heading to either Ouray or Lake City for three days of riding. Which is the better base of operations for that? We can trailer to the ride and would prefer to cover mostly new ground each day. I've printed the various maps but need some boots on the ground advice to set this up optimally. A quick glance at the Alpine Loop summer travel route map suggests that Ouray would be better than Lake City.

TIA for any advice!

Kelly

 

Since you can trailer and want to see different areas I'd say Ouray. I do the same thing with trailering to different spots each day and being on the Ouray/Silverton side opens the door to a bunch of ride spots that would be difficult starting from Lake City.

 

Metalhead,

Any suggestions about good loop rides in that area? Prefer a three or four hour ride each day. Probably going to do three days.

Thanks,

K

 

I suggest picking up a guide book like this> https://www.funtreks.com
I have several different guides and I think these are the best. Good descriptions and directions on how to get there. I use both the 4x4 & ATV books. Some trails are omitted from each so with only one book you can miss out on a good trail. Some trails are covered in both books but with a different perspective. The ATV guide covers unloading areas that aren't mentioned in the 4x4 guide.

Personally I like to stay in Silverton because there's more trails nearby. Usually we'll ride near Silverton a day or 2 then trailer to Ouray for a day & for another day ride the trails in between towns. I bet you could be there for a week and still not cover every trail!

Be sure to hit some of the short side trips off the main trails. Really adds to the experience!

 

Where in Silverton can you park to off load and leave the truck/trailer for a day of riding in the area

 

I usually take County Rd 2 north out of town for a few miles and unload at the old town site of Eureka. There's a campground there and across the road is a large area to unload. Atv's are legal on County Rd 2 so you can freely travel up and down the road to get where you want.

 

Great trip around the Alpine Loop yesterday! Started in Ouray and did Corkscrew , California Pass, Animas Forks, Engineers Pass to Lake City.

We ate at a great restaurant in town ( Southern Vittles I think ) and headed back to Cinnamon Pass to California Pass , spent time in Animas Forks . Then back to Corkscrew . We played around on a couple of off shoot roads and had a great time. NO better way to spend time with the family !!!!

 

We ride from Ouray to Lake City just to eat at Southern Vittles a couple time a year.

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I can see why


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If you're still planning on going up this weekend there is a big bunch of folks from Durango fun center doing their monthly rise on the alpine loop this weekend. Look them up for details

 

I road engineer pass and cinnamon pass last weekend on my rzr 800S. It was awesome! We camped at Castle Lake and drove our rzr in to town and also on the pass. The town is rzr friendly and you can drive anywhere. It was 65 miles to do the loop we road but you can also ride to Silverton and Ouray. Well marked signs and trail is in great condition.

 

Thanks to metalhead and justgregg for their input. We spent three days last week in the area. Camped at Molas Lake CG about five miles south of Silverton and trailered to Eureka each day to ride except the third day when we stopped at the Stony Pass trailhead.

A few things to update everyone on!

1. The FunTreks guide books and maps are excellent. Highly recommend. And then don't lose the map, but that's another story.

2. There used to be more dispersed camping along CR2 north toward Eureka. That appears to be mostly gone now. There is a large private campground across the road and river from the Eureka Gulch parking area.

3. Plenty of parking at the Eureka Gulch parking lot. Easy to get in and turn around.

4. Even though you can ride on many of the Silverton streets you cannot go to the only gas station in town. It is across state hiway 550 and is thus offlimits. Talked to a Sheriff Deputy and the town is trying to figure out how to fix this. Building a new gas station on the correct side of the road is out of the question due to EPA requirements and cost. They are talking about some sort of road option to get over there but he figured it would cost $60K and town isn't going to pay for that. I suggested a $5 permit for all Silverton riders to disperse this cost. We shall see.

5. Echo the comment about the short stretch along State Hiway 149 that you must ride between Lake City and the Lake San Cristobal turnoff being potentially patrolled by CSP. We were reminded of that fact by a merchant in town where we stopped to buy lunch.

6. I am used to riding a million miles in a day. Not in this area. We rode all day and covered 37 miles on day one. Had a blast. Did Picayune, California, Poughkeepsie and Engineer Pass. Poughkeepsie is rated difficult in the FunTrek guides and is. There is an option at the top (heading down): left side for you studs, right side for us sissies. Right side was all I wanted...

7. I would tell you what the best ride in the area is but then it would get crowded...

8. We had rain every day. I brought a 12x16 tarp to huddle under when it started to pour. Worked very nicely. Wouldn't be great at 13,000 feet in the lightening but was good down lower.

For those who like to look at pictures you can see mine at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/107468884836373763995/6311050491545014417?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Here are some more that I created using and HDR process I learned:

https://picasaweb.google.com/107468884836373763995/6311045668059710769?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Thanks again to those who started and contributed to this thread! Fantastic place to ride...

K

 

That was some of the best riding I experienced yet! We rode from ironton park up corkscrew gulch, Hurricane Pass, California Pass, to Animas forks. Engineer Pass to Lake city, Lunch, coffee and shopping in Lake city, then down 149 to Cinnamon Pass back to Animas Forks. Then back over the way we came to Ironton Park. I would highly recommend riding during the week! Nothing technical, just a great scenic ride! And yes start early so you dont get caught above timberline in the lightning and rain, very dangerous! Looking forward going back this fall to get in the same route and ride Imogene to Telluride. I think we should get everyone to call the sheriff to ask him If we can ride in town..I know we cant, but maybe if many peeps call, they will realize how much revenue they are missing out on.
i could not ride Imogene because only have of it was bulldozed for snow. That was late June.
Enjoy Fellow razer drivers!!!!

 

we were just in ouray last week and you can drive on the streets in Lake City to get to the next leg of Alpine Loop. Silverton allows ate,s on city streets also.

have fun

 

Be careful in Silverton. You can only drive on designate streets in Silverton! Pay attention to the Desiginated OHV signs on the poles. The cops will pull you over faster that the speed of light!!!

 

guys i know this is an old thread but I have a question regarding the terrain I'll encounter in this area in early June. How aggressive of a tire do I need? since we can ride in town I'd rather not run my mega mayhem's and wear them out, plus they aren't good in hard pack or gravel really. Could I buy some street tires and put them on my wheels since i'm on 14" wheels and get through?

 

The alpine loop is easy for a stock jeep. You'll encounter mainly hard pack, 3-4" rocks. A good all terrain works fine. The alpine loop is usually one of the first routes that are snow cut and will be minimal mud. I've done it several times and never had to use 4wd.

 

thanks that's what I was thinking. No need for my mud tires out there. I'm from the South so mud tires are a necessity most of the time!

 

The alpine loop is mainly wet rock, no real mud. June is a bit early for most of the trails especially this year, we've got a bunch of snow. I usually make my first trip mid July.

 

Hopefully it won't be too snowy when we go..July and august aren't good for me to get away unfortunately.

 

I ran my mongrals when I rode the San Juans knowing I was going to ride on the paved road to cinomon trailhead from lake city. I was there June 23 rd, by no way this year. I saw that tarea is 178% above snow average!! I'm looking at second week in July. You can always access Ouray web site and they have reports on what trails are open.