Re: Black Bear ... NOT for the Faint of Heart!

Black Bear is one way, but it is two way up to the power house. All these years, I've never done the actual Black Bear portion of the road, but the road on up into Lewis Basin above the power house is the most intense road I have ever driven. There is a locked gate below the power house that blocks this road for vehicular traffice but we had the lock combination while we worked at the Lewis Mill for a couple of years. There are switch backs that make anything else I've driven look like a piece of cake. Ophir and Engineer passes are child's play compared to this road. The Idarado Mine blocked that road for good reason, and now that most of the land above the power house is either Forest Service or Town of Telluride watershed (Blue Lake), the gate remains locked. The power house is superb--fully restored, the generator is generating power, and the living quarters are fully restored with the owner's family living there. The views from the living room are stunning to say the least. When I first visited the power house in 1967, it was fairly well trashed out and the stairway down to the generator was clogged with trash, which is good because it kept people from getting to the generator and stealing the copper. That same generator is what Eric uses now for generation. He also owns and operates the Ouray hydro plant.