Imogene Pass, Part 1

Yesterday, a simple trip up Camp Bird Road from Ouray to check out where I’ll be stationed to help provide communications for Saturday’s Imogene Pass Run, turned into a trip all the way over the pass. I’d forgotten how rough it is. It’s wildly spectacular, of course, but is indeed one of the rougher roads around. And…there’s a spot where it’s so steep that it’s right at the limit of what my Yamaha XT-250 can do. I almost didn’t make it (I’m heavier this year than last, and the bike’s one year older). It’s not that it was steeper than any other place in the San Juans, though it comes close, but it’s at 13,000 feet above sea level—the poor bike was starving for air (and, yes, the carb has been rejetted). Anyway, I have video of the entire trip. It was sunset, which means lots of video heading straight into the sun, yet many chances to catch incredibly beautiful vistas. I thought I might make a series of videos that consist of snippets of the trip. This, the first one, covers the leg between Lower Camp Bird and Upper Camp Bird. If your Internet connection is fast enough, you may want to watch the video in higher resolution (the little cog symbol gives you resolution choices). YouTube’s compression algorithm got confused over the light and shadow, which creates some blockiness, but I think you’ll enjoy the video just the same. It’s about 7-1/2 minutes long. Enjoy!

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