Having spent a most enjoyable night with Allen by the Lake, Saturday morning was the drive to Durango. The Olmstead's, who I was to meet and stay with in Durango had advised strongly against driving the Ophir Pass at all, and DEFINITELY not at night. Clearly they didn't know me yet.
Heading off around 9am it was cold but sunny. The drive began normally enough with decent signage. Shortly into the trip the road turned to dirt, normal enough, and then a very small sign stated, "Ophir Pass Closed". I didn't want to believe it as a detour would add several hours to the journey to Durango, pretty much directly on the other side of the 13,000ft mountains I was trying to traverse. What the hell - it hadn't been snowing recently and it couldn't be any worse than the other roads I'd driven recently.
Well, I made it but it was challenging to say the least. Heading over 10,000ft the road became icy, snowy and VERY bumpy. A 4x4 trail for sure. As I turned a sharp left corner nearing the slightly over 11,000 ft pass, my right hand wheels hit thick ice and I started sliding backwards, towards the edge of a very deadly precipice. Had it not been for the rear differential lock in the Tacoma I wouldn't be writing this now. Hitting that button stopped the wheels spinning and allowed the left wheels to pull me up. Needless to say my heart was pumping. Of course the views were phenomenal.
The next little piece of excitement happened just on the other side of the pass when a full size Chevy (with a woman in hunting orange driving alone) and I came face to face. The pass is barely wide enough for a single vehicle so passing each other was going to be tough. We both thought about it for a while. I reversed a few feet very close to the edge and she drove two wheels up the side of the mountain. As she passed I warned of the ice below that her Chevy would have no chance at. She was just going to see the view from the top - could've told me that before I nearly backed over the edge.
Believe it or not the Pass is only 13 miles from one side to the other and well worth the drive, not only as a great time saver from Telluride to Durango but for the exhilaration, although probably safer in summer. Apparently the sign saying closed didn't mean it because there appeared to be no way to actually close the road. I guess it was just a suggestion :-)
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