- Joined
- Nov 28, 2021
- Threads
- 15
- Messages
- 126
- Reaction score
- 377
- Location
- New Mexico
- Vehicle(s)
- Ford Edge
- Your Bronco Model
- Badlands
- Thread starter
- #1
This is a little bit of a trip report, a little bit of a build brag, for a quick overnight trip to Colorado for a zero planning trip.
I got a call on Saturday that an old buddy of mine was heading to Telluride to knock out his bucket list trails. He's rocking a Defender and had it in his mind to do Engineer, Imogene and Ophir. My schedule allowed for it, so I threw my truck camping stuff in the back and off we went.
Weather was fantastic, trails were clear and mostly empty. I think across the whole day and a half we saw 30 people.
Rigs:
+Stock Defender
+MY21 Badlands 2.7L
- RPG suspension kit w/ King 2.5s
- Icon Beadlocks w/ 35x11.5 Maxxis Razr ATs
- BroncBuster Hoss 3.0 steering rack
- @Ford Pro Tune
- @Diode Dynamics pod lights
- JCR front bumper / @ROCK HARD 4X4 rear bumper
- Badlands Winch / usual on-board recovery gear
As a bulld note, I have avoided every single issue that had plaued the Broncos. No recall fixes, no mechanical or powertrain issues, and I've lovingly been calling it The Mako (Mass Effect reference) because it's an overbuilt beast that has taken me everywhere over 124K miles and never let me hanging. The only issue I am currently having is with the drivers side camera and that's because I smacked the mirror on a tree.
Trails:
If you haven't been on Imogene or Engineer, both are mostly single tracks with intermittent pull off points. Neither are overly technical, but the terrain is loose and chunky in some parts. We saw lots of stock Jeeps with 33"s that seemed to do just fine, and a bone stock Bronco would have no issue with the trails. My Bronco handled the climb and terrain a lot more efficiently than they Defender, but it kept up well. I got a lot of "WTF is this guy doing? Is he with you?'
Day 1 route was from Telluride to Ouray via Imogene, then to Lake City via Engineer and the Alpine Loop. We took the highway back around to Telluride for the night.
The morning of Day 2 we started in Telluride and went towards 550 South via Ophir Pass. I think this would be the preferred route since the slate rock face is loose and going downhill would be less enjoyable.
I did a good portion of these trails in 2WD, except for the really loose or steep parts. Neither of these trails are overly technical or scary, and over the years I've gone from hard rock crawling to "go look at pretty stuff" kind of off-roading. I'm a below knee amputee with a jacked up anatomical leg, and usually wheel solo, so walking out of a remote mechanical breakdown isn't exactly my idea of fun.
Overall, considering I did about 3 brain cells worth of planning, this was a great way to skip work and check off some new trails for both of us.
I got a call on Saturday that an old buddy of mine was heading to Telluride to knock out his bucket list trails. He's rocking a Defender and had it in his mind to do Engineer, Imogene and Ophir. My schedule allowed for it, so I threw my truck camping stuff in the back and off we went.
Weather was fantastic, trails were clear and mostly empty. I think across the whole day and a half we saw 30 people.
Rigs:
+Stock Defender
+MY21 Badlands 2.7L
- RPG suspension kit w/ King 2.5s
- Icon Beadlocks w/ 35x11.5 Maxxis Razr ATs
- BroncBuster Hoss 3.0 steering rack
- @Ford Pro Tune
- @Diode Dynamics pod lights
- JCR front bumper / @ROCK HARD 4X4 rear bumper
- Badlands Winch / usual on-board recovery gear
As a bulld note, I have avoided every single issue that had plaued the Broncos. No recall fixes, no mechanical or powertrain issues, and I've lovingly been calling it The Mako (Mass Effect reference) because it's an overbuilt beast that has taken me everywhere over 124K miles and never let me hanging. The only issue I am currently having is with the drivers side camera and that's because I smacked the mirror on a tree.
Trails:
If you haven't been on Imogene or Engineer, both are mostly single tracks with intermittent pull off points. Neither are overly technical, but the terrain is loose and chunky in some parts. We saw lots of stock Jeeps with 33"s that seemed to do just fine, and a bone stock Bronco would have no issue with the trails. My Bronco handled the climb and terrain a lot more efficiently than they Defender, but it kept up well. I got a lot of "WTF is this guy doing? Is he with you?'
Day 1 route was from Telluride to Ouray via Imogene, then to Lake City via Engineer and the Alpine Loop. We took the highway back around to Telluride for the night.
The morning of Day 2 we started in Telluride and went towards 550 South via Ophir Pass. I think this would be the preferred route since the slate rock face is loose and going downhill would be less enjoyable.
I did a good portion of these trails in 2WD, except for the really loose or steep parts. Neither of these trails are overly technical or scary, and over the years I've gone from hard rock crawling to "go look at pretty stuff" kind of off-roading. I'm a below knee amputee with a jacked up anatomical leg, and usually wheel solo, so walking out of a remote mechanical breakdown isn't exactly my idea of fun.
Overall, considering I did about 3 brain cells worth of planning, this was a great way to skip work and check off some new trails for both of us.
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