BLACK BEAR MINE
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BLACK BEAR MINE |
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NAME: Black Bear Mine COUNTY: San Miguel ROADS: 4X4X4X4 GRID: - CLIMATE: Snow in winter and closed - open only for a few months in summer. BEST TIME TO VISIT: Summer |
COMMENTS:
Bring your Jeep with Lockers and lift for
an easier trip. You dont have to be crazy to do the road to the Black Bear
but it really helps! But seriously, this road is for advanced expert wheelers
with the right equipment only. Do not attempt to take a rental on this road
or a full-size vehicle. Also, dont try it in the rain like we did. Its a
lot more slippery! REMAINS: A few remnants of the mines and the aerial tramways. |
| The Black Bear mines, above Telluride... well, heck with the mines - no one does this road to see the mines which arent much to speak of with the exception of the still hanging aerial tramway cables. Everyone does this road because of the road. Its known as the most dangerous pass in Colorado (although not the most deadliest which is Schofield). The road goes between a point just south of Ouray and crawls over to Telluride. It is clearly marked off highway 550. The pass is over 12,800 feet in elevation and the road is narrow and is quite fun climbing up the southeast side. The road becomes one way later but in the first part you can turn around if you chicken out. All the way to the top of the pass and then down to the other side to a point just before Ingram falls is a fairly tough road but if you think its hard you should definitely turn around once you hit the falls. As you start down toward Ingram Falls, the road becomes much more steep and there is a lot of loose rock causing your vehicle to slip and slide as you go down. Try to stay in 4 low first gear and stay off the brakes or the sliding gets worse. Right as you hit Ingram Falls, there is a small place to turn around and this is the point of no return. Once you start down the stair steps, the road is one way. We had heard you couldn't climb back up the stair steps because its so steep you would break your axles if you could even get enough traction. We thought we would try though since no one was coming, so we went down about half way and then actually backed up the stair steps. We dont recommend trying this although our ZR2 blazer with rear locker was able to make it up the steps. At this point, if you are afraid of heights you should take some Dramamine because a little more than half way through the stair steps, the road turns right 90 degrees and disappears and all you see is SKY! We thought of mounting wings on the truck and flying down to the Telluride airport thousands of feet below. The steepness of the road, the slippery rock and the view straight down can really get your heart pumping. Its locally called the "Pucker Factor". Once you make it down the stairsteps, the rest is easy... well, easy as long as you dont have a full size vehicle. If you driving a new Excursion or a Suburban, you might as well just drive it off the stairsteps and walk down to meet whats left of your vehicle at the bottom. Their are quite a few switchbacks to get down to Telluride, the first of which is the worst. Small jeeps can make it in a few turns, our small Blazer took 4 turns, Full size vehicles might as well back down the mountain. Before reaching the first switchback is a small outcropping of rock which makes the narrowest point on the road. We had 6 inches to spare on the cliffside and hit our bumper on the rock, kicking our back tire to the edge. The ZR2 Blazer is a pretty wide vehicle even though its not very long, just a little longer then a Jeep, but I couldnt imagine making it in a full-size vehicle. Your tires would definitely be off the ledge. From there the switchbacks get easier until you reach Bridal Veil Falls at which time you have to contend with other road hazards such as yuppie mountain bikers and hikers. Make sure to stop in Telluride and get a shirt that says you did Black Bear Pass so you don't have to do it again! Also, we highly recommend getting the extra adrenaline rush by doing it during a thunderstorm. Throw in a little lightning and just enough rain to make all the rocks really slick and you should get that extra boost! Submitted by: Todd Underwood. Ghosttowns.com
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