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Earth satellite image of route
Rating: 4/10 Engineer Pass (sigh). Many things come to mind when I think about this beautiful road. Above all, it is my personal favorite, as I believe it offers the best mountain panorama view in the state. It is a wonderful road with outstanding alpine views for most of its distance. The road gets right down to business starting on the Ouray side at the foot of impressive Abrams Mountain. It is pretty rocky for the first 5 miles or so, then after that, it tames down. It's the most popular of all the trails in the San Juans in terms of traffic, so it is probably wise to run it on weekdays or early hours, if for nothing else, a little more solitude. Just before the pass itself on the Ouray side is a peninsula that extends west off the main road to what is called Oh! Point. That exclamation point is indeed part of the official name for this, and for good reason. If you're fortunate enough to be here on a clear day, morning or night, the countless number of summits viewed from here will blow your mind as you can start to appreciate the lay of the land. Actually, I did try to count once, and if I recall correctly, it was around 76. On the way down on the east side, the unbelievable setting of Thoreau's Cabin is worth a stop as well as Whitmore Falls. The road then follows Henson Creek as it makes its way to Lake City.
An out-and-back drive to Oh! Point, accompanied by Sonia Dada on the radio (31.4 MB) (I'll have to get this compressed at a future date as I haven't worked with video yet.)
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