Ouray to Telluride + Sneffles

[MaxmimumMills4]

Hello everybody. I have a vision of doing a hike from Ouray to Telluride while making a pit stop to grab Mt. Sneffles on the way.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this work? I know there are some trails through there but am trying to avoid including Imogene pass (as much as I love run ins with drunk OHV drivers).

Thank you!

[Bombay2Boulder]

I am assuming you have transportation figured out and this is just an out and back. Mapped it out for you-
https://caltopo.com/m/H0GQ
I will highly recommend tagging T5 while at the pass. You will be right there and it's a good side trip. The Kroger's canteen pass (The one right next to Mendota-T5 saddle) trail is a bit loose in the final sections on both the sides and isn't exactly a cruiser trail so keep that in mind if you are not too fond of loose trail.

[Kiefer]

Hello everybody. I have a vision of doing a hike from Ouray to Telluride while making a pit stop to grab Mt. Sneffles on the way.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this work? I know there are some trails through there but am trying to avoid including Imogene pass (as much as I love run ins with drunk OHV drivers).

Thank you!

Interesting question.
Two options. You could start on the Ouray Perimeter Trail and take the old Twin Peaks Trail (west side of town on Queen Street) to the top of the canyon. The trail goes to Twin Peaks (a pair of unranked summits, one easy technical) and from there, follow the ridge west up & over Whitehouse Mountain. From there, continue over to Mt. Ridgway and I'd drop north into Blaine Basin and back to the ridge again by Cirque. You'll bypass Teakettle. Then Sneffels is a shoe-in. The problem, is that from Gilpin Peak, to access Mill Creek, you'll have to negotiate some cliffs to get down. But it's going to be easier than crossing an unranked technical point on the ridge called, The Block Tops.

Other option, is I've heard of a system of different trails that starts in Elk Meadows (outside Ridgway) that crosses the Sneffels Range and also drops you into Mill Creek; staying off the ridges mostly. I've asked around about this option but I haven't had much luck. The folks at Jagged Edge in Telluride or San Juan Mountain Guides (Ouray) MIGHT have some beta about this? IDK.

[Wentzl]

Virginius Pass, at the top of Governor's Basin.

Sneffels would be a significant out and back, but Virginius Pass is a nice way to hike from Ouray to Telluride.

[Chicago Transplant]

Virginius to Governors Basin to YBB road to Ouray is the most direct, but still would be a lot of road hiking. We hiked up from the bottom of Governors Basin to the saddle (Kroger's Canteen Pass) to climb T5 a few years ago. We had no idea there was a trail there before our trip, so we didn't really look for it on our way up and it surprised us to stumble upon it on the way. The plaque in Kroger's Canteen Pass surprised us even more!

As for the north side of the Sneffels Range that Kiefer mentions, I believe there is a trail network there that connects the San Juan Huts. Burn Hut is the easternmost near Ridgway and Last Dollar is the westernmost, their website features the route including links to PDFs of the map to make it happen:https://sanjuanhuts.com/hike/hiking-hut
Looks pretty interesting, I have hiked pieces of the trails for other hikes, but never the whole thing. I am not sure how easy the route is to follow, but the 141 Trails Illustrated shows trails the entire way. If you wanted a side trip to Sneffels, you would take the Blue Lakes Trail from near the Blue Lakes Hut, the hut is close to the summer trailhead for that trail.

[MaxmimumMills4]

Thank you all so much for these suggestions. My plan is to attempt this on Thursday-Saturday. If I’m able to figure this out I’ll be sure to include my .gpx and trip report for others to follow as I think this would be a nice trip for others to follow. Please let me know if you have any other thoughts!

[JDG7]

Thank you all so much for these suggestions. My plan is to attempt this on Thursday-Saturday. If I’m able to figure this out I’ll be sure to include my .gpx and trip report for others to follow as I think this would be a nice trip for others to follow. Please let me know if you have any other thoughts!

Which route did you end up taking? I'm going to post a similar question, but under a variation, in a new thread. I am interested to hear your experience, particularly near Gilpin Peak, if you went that way.