Shared on WheelingTrips

San Juans Badge Run

Every pass on this route is an official Jeep Badge of Honor trail, so a week here earns all five badges from a single basecamp in Ouray. Run one legendary pass a day, check in at each trailhead in the Jeep app, and sleep in the same bed every night. Placeholder dates only; pick your start when you save it and every day slides to match.

A ready-to-run route, mapped and built. Explore all of it below, then save it to your own account to make it yours, pick a start date and every stop shifts to match.

Ouray Basecamp

Basecamp
Home base

Ouray, Colorado

Day 1 5 activities
  1. Ophir Pass

    Ophir Pass

    Start easy. Ophir climbs a shale shelf road from the old mining town of Ophir over toward the Silverton side. At 11,789 feet it is the gentlest crossing of the week, a good place to shake down the rig and get used to a little exposure before the big passes. A Jeep Badge of Honor trail; check in at the trailhead to earn it.

  2. Imogene Pass

    Imogene Pass

    The second-highest drivable pass in Colorado at 13,114 feet. From the Camp Bird road just south of Ouray you climb past old mine works to the summit and drop toward Telluride. Long, rocky, and all shelf road. This is the one people remember. A Jeep Badge of Honor trail; check in at the trailhead to earn it.

  3. Black Bear Pass

    Black Bear Pass

    The famous one, and one-way only. Black Bear drops off Red Mountain Pass into Telluride past Bridal Veil Falls and the switchbacks known as the Steps. Short wheelbase and steady nerves. There is no turning around. A Jeep Badge of Honor trail; check in at the trailhead to earn it.

  4. Engineer Pass

    Engineer Pass

    A high point of the San Juans at 12,800 feet, reached on County Road 18 out of Ouray. Wide alpine tundra, big views in every direction, and enough old mining history to fill an afternoon. A gorgeous, less white-knuckle day after Black Bear. A Jeep Badge of Honor trail; check in at the trailhead to earn it.

  5. Poughkeepsie Gulch

    Poughkeepsie Gulch

    Save the hardest for last. Poughkeepsie branches off the Mineral Creek network into a genuinely extreme gulch, with the Wall waiting near the top. Lockers, a spotter, and a short wheelbase earn this one. Mind the seasonal closure, roughly mid-October into July. A Jeep Badge of Honor trail; check in at the trailhead to earn it.

Lines Road Off-road Hub to activity (click an activity pin to focus its day) Approximate (not calculated) Pins Route start Pit stop Fuel Stop Point of interest Overnight Route end Basecamp (home base) Activity

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