The Alpine Loop - We Made it to Engineer Pass! Overland Trip to Colorado - Jeep JK Rubicon Recon

We dream about checking items off of our bucket lists and some days we get to actually do it. Today is one of those days for me and I invite you to join me on that trip. We are on the way to Vegas. We have put in some long days on the road in order to free up some time to be able to play a little bit on the way there and here we are we're at Engineer Pass. We're going to run a little part of the Alpine loop this afternoon. It's a little late in the day but I think we'll be able to squeeze it in before it gets too dark. I don't know about you guys but I'm excited to be here. This is my first time off-roading anywhere this far west. I'm super excited to be out here. I've got my crew chief slash mechanic Jason with me who's going to be doing most of the driving today and we are really excited to be here but it's getting late in the day. We're burning daylight that were used during the mining boom in the late 1800s. Today it offers breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and access to the Alpine loop, a high altitude backcountry route that connects several historic mining towns. At 12,800 feet Engineer Pass is amongst the during the summer and early fall. We're here in the mid-fall and we're really threading the needle so to speak as heavy snowfall can occur at any time and can make the trail impassable. The signs of the mining boom of nearly 150 years ago are all around us. I can't help but think of what it was like to live and work in this area during that bygone era. As I film from the passenger seat I can't help but feel overwhelmed by the amazing scenery that Mississippi River and if you've never been out there while it does have its charm and its good Anyway as I'm sure you're already aware this whole area exists pretty much solely because of the mining industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s and this was the Bonanza Empire Chief Mill which was built to support the mining operation and this is actually not a ruin from back in the day it was destroyed by an avalanche in 2008. How do I know so much stuff about this place? when I have somebody with me and uh we're at about 11,000 feet right now and I'm not embarrassed to say I'm feeling it. As we move up in elevation the trail changes from gravel road into more of a traditional mountain trail. The tree cover becomes more sparse as well as we approach the tree line. With the sun having set and snow on the horizon it was time to stop sightseeing and make the final push to Engineer Pass. I've spent countless hours in the mountains after dark but the Rockies and the Appalachians are two completely different experiences once the sun goes down. The consequences of driving off of one of these shelf roads would be catastrophic. Unfortunately low light is not the strong point of the GoPro but out beyond the peaks the last little vestiges of sunlight are coming over and it's pretty impressive looking. Fortunately like I said I don't think a GoPro is going to pick it up. We made it. We're at Engineer Pass. 12,800 feet. It is extremely windy. It is extremely cold. This turned out to be also a night video which was not our intention. We just got going a bit later than I'd planned but Engineer Pass is definitely a bucket list trail for me. I'm really glad that I made it. I wish I could do the entire Alpine loop but unfortunately I'm not going to an Alpine loop after dark. From here on out I'm shutting the cameras off. We're going to concentrate on not dying as we make our way down from here. By the time I publish this video SEMA will already have been over but we are on the way there on the way to Vegas and we will be there with NovSight who I have to give a huge shout out for in case you guys didn't notice in the video the Defiant has done up in their livery for SEMA but the lights did keep the trail lit and hopefully it will continue to keep the trail lit as we work our way down. As we make our way down the mountain I can't help but think of this trip as incomplete. I must return to this place again. We're done with Engineer Pass so we ended up running it a little differently than most do since we got stuck up there well after dark which was not our intention. We just turned around came right back down did it as an in and out. Being that we're not from here we're not familiar with the Alpine loop we figured it was probably a colossally bad idea to try it after dark so we just came right back out the way we came. I can't properly put into words how glad I am that we did this trail. The Alpine loop has been a bucket list item of mine for years and I'm glad that I got to knock out at least part of it even if it was about half of it after dark. So we are gonna head into Lake City we're gonna get dinner because we're cold and we're hungry. If you've enjoyed this video please like the video and subscribe to my channel. I am over 30,000 subscribers now I can't even believe that. Keep it coming. So until next time this has been Defying Offroad.