Ophir Pass Colorado
On our third day of exploring, we took off out of Silverton to Ophir Pass. The day started off pretty gloomy with this sky, but I loved the look it gave us. The pass tops out right about 12,000 feet at this point. The air gets pretty thin up here and I tried not to do any climbing off the main road.
This pass has been used from the 1800s by traders traveling to Ophir, which is still a small mountain town today. It was upgraded for vehicle travel in the 1950s and is used as a recreational trail today. The trail was easy to drive up to the pass from Silverton. The downhill drive to Ophir was steeper and more challenging. We used low gear a lot on the way down. I wouldn't want to try this with a two-wheel drive vehicle. This is a great day trip out of Silverton.
Ophir Pass Colorado
On our third day of exploring, we took off out of Silverton to Ophir Pass. The day started off pretty gloomy with this sky, but I loved the look it gave us. The pass tops out right about 12,000 feet at this point. The air gets pretty thin up here and I tried not to do any climbing off the main road.
This pass has been used from the 1800s by traders traveling to Ophir, which is still a small mountain town today. It was upgraded for vehicle travel in the 1950s and is used as a recreational trail today. The trail was easy to drive up to the pass from Silverton. The downhill drive to Ophir was steeper and more challenging. We used low gear a lot on the way down. I wouldn't want to try this with a two-wheel drive vehicle. This is a great day trip out of Silverton.