Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoomad75
I've got a jeep buddy that is itching to do Black Bear and the other well known trails in the area. We'll probably go next summer/fall. I've got no problem taking the Blazer over it. It's not the only high mountain shelf road with switchbacks in this state, it's just the most famous. Local tour companies have used full size trucks for years taking tourists over the pass, so taking a K5 even with the camper over it is completely doable.
The trail itself is only one way from the summit down to bridal veil falls. It wasn't always, but it's been like that for a long time now.
I will say this, having a granny low 5-speed and 241 low range gives me a little more comfort than the 700r4 on the downhill runs. Hydroboost brakes is another plus. I did Red Cone Pass a couple years back and the last section off the summit was so steep I didn't have enough gear or brakes to comfortably come down it. I made it, but it took a week to pull the seat cover out of my kiester.
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've been on some roads with my old K/20 that were as tight or tighter than Black Bear, but just not as spectacular or well known. Some probably not even on any maps! I had heard the stories about Black Bear years ago and figured I wasn't going to even
think about trying that with a pickup. I don't know if it was narrower back then, but now that I've seen about a million videos of it on YT, I'm kind of sorry now that I didn't take a day off to go over it back in 1979 when I was logging at Telluride.
I figured out right away that the TH350 that I ordered in my new 1973 was
not the best choice for off road contrary to what some people claimed. You sure need brakes even in L1 and low range coming down steep hills and better hope it's not slick! OTOH, I suppose it's an advantage to not have a clutch when backing up right next to those drop-offs.
There's a shelf road up above Tincup where back in the nearly wild west days folks would go pick rocks for fireplaces, etc. One day my boss sent me up there to get some stone in his 67/68 C/20 stepside with four speed. It is
really narrow and a dead end to boot but there is a Y out there about a mile where you can turn around if you are really careful. I'm pretty sure that's as bad or worse than anything on Black Bear, and it is about 1500 feet of rock slide down to the bottom. I was up there in my pickup one time and had a flat tire!