Trip Length: 3 to 3 1/2 hours from Ouray

Difficulty Rating: On a scale of 1-5 maybe a 3.5 except for the last ½ mile, which might approach a 4+.

Trail Condition: It is very wet this week in the San Juan Mountains. The creeks are all running a lot higher than we are used to at this time of year. The worst case on the water depth came up to the floor on a Jeep with a 2 1/2-inch lift. The Camp Bird Road up to the turn out for Imogene Pass was in good shape. The usual tourists in their family cars were everywhere. The lower section of the Imogene Pass trail over to the Richmond Basin trail was a lot rougher than in years past due to erosion from all of the water. There were some pretty bad washouts but nothing we couldn't get through. The last ½ mile of the Richmond Basin trail brought our journey to a stop. We will try it again this week. We didn't have the manpower to move a couple of large rocks in the trail. I think that with those two rocks out of the way we can complete the trail to the top. There is a pretty bad off camber section about ¼ of a mile from the trailhead. This is not a problem for a modified jeep but may give me problems in my wide wheel based truck on our next attempt. The last ½ mile is also not a place to take a full sized pickup. The area is full of tire eating rocks and is quiet narrow in one place.

Sites along the trail: After turning off of the Imogene trail you begin a steady climb past one mine we could not identify. There are no structures left at this mine. The Bankers National Mine is at the terminus of the trail. The trail ends in a step drop off. We hope there is room to turn around at the top. We will let you know when we actually get to the top later in the week. The view along the entire trail is awesome.

The Richmond Basin trail would make a good side trip if you were doing Imogene Pass.

Jerry approching the first Jeep wash on Imogene (110k)

This one was deeper than in past years (100k)

This is the starting point of Imogene from Campbird Road (100k)

This is a nasty obstacle just after the jeep wash on Imogene (100k)

Alternate path around the obstacle (100k)

Beautiful view of Mount Patosi (100k)

We liked it too! www.backcountrytrailers.com (100k)

View from Richmond Basin trail (100k)

Rocks and snow! (100k)

Tire eating rocks (100k)

View from Richmond Basin (100k)

Waterfall on Imogene trail (100k)

Going back under Hanging Rock Roll up your windows! (100k)

Going back under Hanging Rock Roll up your windows! (100k)