Going solely on the recommendation of a co-worker, we decided to rent a Jeep for our first four wheeling day trip in the wild mountains of Colorado! We were nervous about the experience but all fears were (mostly) allayed by the friendly people at the Silver Summit RV Park & Jeep Rental outfit in historic Silverton, Colorado. Our reservation was $135 for a full day, plus a few extra bucks for tire insurance...well worth it, as we'd already met guys who'd thrashed their tires on trips like this.
"What color would you like?" was a great question to answer with "Red, please," and so it went. We were given a hands-on tutorial of how to operate the Jeep and got excellent advice plus a map of the area at the rental office. After packing our gear for this day trip we were on our way out of town and up the mountains.
Narrow, rocky, switchbacked roads greeted us shortly up the hill. We scooted and wiggled and moved those stubby tires over stones and mud, sleet and rain...all the way up to the 12,800 feet of Engineer Pass. Along the way, beautiful alpine meadows greeted us with sprinkles of flowers in every color. Marmots snuggled cliffsides where the treeline ended, and rivulets of rain shimmered down rock faces and across the terrain. It was a scary adventure at times, but we knew when to turn back and head for base. The end of the day yielded tons of amazing photos and lots of great memories. The folks at Silver Summit were right to recommend the route we took, and we recommend this adventure to anyone!