Silverton

[Boondoctor]

More POW on the way! Visiting from Washington..can you ride from town/hotel in Silverton, and are there three full days of tree riding up north of there (looks like an area called Eureka?).. or do you head down to Molas Pass? Thanks for any help!

 

[joetroop30]

You can ride from town if you're going up to Deer Park, or if you're going up towards Eureka. There is no town anymore at Eureka, just a campground that's only open in the summer. You have to drive from town to get up to Molas Pass. There's a lot of riding up at Molas Pass.

I've ridden up to Deer Park from town before and have ridden Molas lots of times. Never ridden up to Eureka on my snowmobile, done it on my dirt bike lots of times. The only problem with riding up to Eureka or riding up to Deer Park is avalanche exposure. Lots of big slide paths that cross over both trails/roads. I'd be hesitant to ride either right after a storm. Lots of terrain on Molas Pass though that doesn't have any exposure.

 

[CO Powder]

Very good advice for everybody chasing this set of storms^^^^

It is VERY dangerous in and around Silverton when there isn't 4-6 feet of new snow, right now you would have too be INSANE to try and access Deer Park. I think you could drive back into Eureka park and ride. I would be hesitant to do that right now as well as there isn't much that isn't STEEP. The area around Molas, as mentioned, is a much better bet. This ride form the cabin thing cracks me up. You trailer 1000+ miles but don't want to trailer to ride? Anyway, BE CAREFUL. It will be a miracle if we don't loose some out of towners to this storm. Conditions are dangerous on ANY hill, much less mountain slope, around here right now.

 

[CO Powder]

Link for Colorado Avy Info...

http://avalanche.state.co.us/forecasts/backcountry-avalanche/north-san-juan/

Please read and heed the warnings if you are headed this way.


I missed the part about three days riding north of town... In fact there is three weeks of riding north of town, it goes for miles in every direction. Access is the issue. We wait until spring conditions to access this part of the mountains because the avy danger is serious business around there.

You can probably access Eureka using the groomed trial from town. I have never ridden out that way so I am not sure of tis exact path. That is a HUGE valley though and with this much new snow might bee a pretty good time for a couple of days. Again, good luck, be safe.

 

[Boondoctor]

All good stuff CoPowder and JoeTroop30.... thanks a ton. To be clear, we regularly trailer 2 hours plus throughout the winter.. its just fun if you can park and ride. Couldn't tell if that was the deal in Silverton. Where we ride in Washington is similar.. valleys with steep side slopes to get to the good stuff, lots of avalanches, so I get what you are saying. We were going to stay in South Fork for three days and ride out of all the snowparks within an hour of there.. now I'm thinking we hit a snowpark east of Wolf Creek summit the first day, do the summit area a second day and head to Molas the third day and stay that night around Silverton. Any thoughts are much appreciated. and if you ever have a snow year as bad as this one for Washington, happy to return the favor sometime!

 

[Dobber1]

Just a few thoughts for you...

Ride that area east of Wolf Creek the 1st day, spend that night in Pagosa, taking in the Hot Springs. Ride Beaver Meadows the 2nd day & spend the night in Durango. Then ride West Mancos the 3rd day & spend the night toward your next destination. See maps below & feel free to ask for more info. Just trying to give you some ideas from a "locals" point of view.

http://sanjuansledders.org/maps.htm

 

[CO Powder]

All good stuff CoPowder and JoeTroop30.... thanks a ton. To be clear, we regularly trailer 2 hours plus throughout the winter.. its just fun if you can park and ride. Couldn't tell if that was the deal in Silverton. Where we ride in Washington is similar.. valleys with steep side slopes to get to the good stuff, lots of avalanches, so I get what you are saying. We were going to stay in South Fork for three days and ride out of all the snowparks within an hour of there.. now I'm thinking we hit a snowpark east of Wolf Creek summit the first day, do the summit area a second day and head to Molas the third day and stay that night around Silverton. Any thoughts are much appreciated. and if you ever have a snow year as bad as this one for Washington, happy to return the favor sometime!

Sorry about the attitude on the trailer thing I know you guys are just looking to maximize your time. You might call Red Mtn RV park and cabins, if the owner Jim is around, he is a sledder, he can give you the lowdown on riding from his cabins.

If they have groomed up to Deer Park and done some avy control on that road, there is some great country back there. I would ask about riding up the valley to Eureka too, could be a nice safe day of ripping up some huge meadows with sick climbs all around if you dare.

I am sure you will find epic conditions anywhere in SoCo right now. Of course right now, it is freaking dumping snow, not supposed to stop until about Wednesday. I will probably force myself to ride tomorrow anyway

 

[joetroop30]

The advice about riding Beaver Meadows is good advice. I rode there today and had one of my best days ever on the sled. It was awesome! There is about 3 feet of snow up there right now. When we left it was so socked in up on Baldy that I was having a hard time finding my way back to the groomed trail to get back to the truck

It was awesome deep. They groomed it on the 26th and there were places that you couldn't even tell where the groomed trail was.

 

[CO Powder]

CDOT cameras are showing it dumping from Ouray to Wolf Creek, Durango Mountain, Silverton are all getting slammed. Expect that there will be avy closures, sometimes a few hours, sometimes overnight. Run with max fuel and food/water. This is a pretty BIG storm with what 4-8 feet in some areas????

I am still riding tomorrow, 12 miles from the house to the parking lot, should be an epic blizzard.

Enjoy the snow!!!!

 

[Boondoctor]

Many Thanks

You guys have been great, I am sure we will have a great trip thanks to you. It looks like it will settle down just a hair and the sun will pop out right when we show up. Probably going to do Wolf Creek Friday, Beaver or Mancos Saturday and Red Mountain area Sunday. Hope you are all getting to go play in this epic dump!