An Isuzu Amigo on the Alpine Loop
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Report by: Steve Bendy
Edited by: Randy Wheeler
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The Author on the Alpine Loop. |
The Alpine Loop of southwest Colorado consists of a series of high mountain passes that link Lake City, Ouray and Telluride in southwest Colorado. These passes exist because roads were needed to haul the gold and silver from the mines to the smelters. The mines are almost all closed, and many of the towns along the pass roads are ghost towns, but the pass roads flourish as four wheel drive roads.
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The Author on the Alpine Loop. |
Ouray advertises itself as the "Jeep capital of the world," with jeep tours and jeeps available for rent. The county maintains the roads by clearing snow and keeping the roads passable to almost all SUV's. Whether you wish to enjoy the scenery, wildflowers, explore the ghost towns or find a difficult side road to challenge your serious 4x4, you will find it here.
We have been visiting this area since 1972 using Jeep Wagoneers, Land Cruisers, Scouts, Blazers, and rental Jeep Wranglers. How would the Amigo compare? The only modification to the Amigo was installing BF Goodrich AT tires of the same size as the original tires.
Here are my observations:
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The Author on the Alpine Loop. |
The Amigo was able to take everything I asked of it with ease. I was able to drive over 600 miles in comfort to get to the off-road stuff. The real gnarly stuff that modified 4x4's take was not even attempted. I have no doubt that with more ground clearance the Amigo would have no problem. This is one fine vehicle!
Also check out Steve's Amigo website at: http://www.bucshockey.org/about/sbendy/amigo.html
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