Colorado Chapter May trail run/meeting

KikensJeep · **Posted:** Fri May 18, 2007 10:43 pm

I should be there then if work doesnt call me in and since I turned off my blackberry there's not much chance of that.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Sat May 19, 2007 11:03 pm

Kikens, What happened?

Okay.......today was an interesting little event.

I meet with Ted (USAFCOP), Marty (Rock Lizard), and Troy (tjkj2002) at the McDonalds in Idaho Springs. We wait until 9:45am and then head out to Cascade Creek trailhead...just three KJ's (Marty and his little boy riding with Troy).

We get to the trail and Ted, using his new toy and starts recording the trail with his new GPS system. We work our way up and take a break when my Tranny temp light comes on. Interestingly enough, we stopped where a branch off trail is located. While we are waiting (5 minutes), James (Weegie5) comes down that trail towards us. Amazing timing. "I'll let him tell his story about why he was there."

He joins us on the trail but very quickly the trail is too deep with snow to go through so we turn around and take the trail Weegie was on. This portion is not on Ted's GPS map.

We discover a mine and take a quick break. A guy on a Polaris which we had just passed, joins us. So we have 3 fairly mod'd KJ's, a CRD with stock tires, sliders, and only an engine skid for protection, and a guy on a Polaris.

The trail is fairly easy for now, but we come to a crossroads. Take the marked trail (which looks like packed dirt) or take the steep hill with large rocks. Well, it wouldn't be interesting if we took the easy route now would it? Besides, it still wasn't showing up on Ted's GPS map.

We air down and make our way up and had to do some really good spotting for James since he had stock tires, no lift, and no belly protection. It took some doing but we got him up without damage. The Polaris makes it up.

We encounter an intersection where we could go up (to the left) or down (to the right). You know you never want to go down on a trail so soon. So we go up and it is getting extremely narrow. A few tough spots for James but he makes it. Unfortunately, the Polaris did not. The guy broke a CV. We helped him get un stuck and he worked his way back down in 2wd.

I was leading and the trail suddenly fades away. No more trail. You could see that some ATV's had gone further, but no Jeep (super mod'd or not) was going further. Ted swears by his GPS that we should have crossed a another trail at that point. Nope. We had the challenge of turning around but luckily no incidents.

As we are going back down to that intersection, James gets high centered on a really tough spot where he struggled to get up earlier. I attempted to strap him and pull him back by me trying to back up. No luck. I turn around and hook the strap to my hitch shackle and we are finally able to get him un-centered. we do a better line (with more rocks added) and he makes it. A little later, he is struggling again and by Ted's account, misses his tranny pan by the thickness of a sheet of paper. The rest of the way provides nothing to write home about so our adventure ends at BoJous pizza place in Idaho Springs.

Since that trail was not in the GPS or in my Colorado Trail guide, we decided to give this trail a name, The Weegie Trail. He learned a lot that day being a rookie off-roader so he deserves the trail named after him.

Note: A lot of pinstriping was earned today. Congrats on doing a great job, James.

Skyjump136 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:50 pm **Posts:** 1633

Well crap...I thought we were going up tomorrow. I fully intended on going so I'm glad I saw your post tonight! :roll:

Oh well, I was busy today anyway.

Weegie5 · **Posted:** Mon May 21, 2007 12:55 am

So I get up early enough to get my tranny pan back on (just installed a Fumoto on there), get the fluid in, put my engine skid on again, and hit the road. Well, I get a little nervous, so I start packing some tools & fluids in case things get bad- because I have no idea what this entails. One thing leads to another and I don't leave the house until nearly 9am.

After a stop for diesel, I'm on the road, but I don't get to Idaho Springs until 9:35 or 9:40. I drive slowly past the McDonald's, but don't see any KJs in the lot. It turns out a large rig in the back of the parking lot was blocking my view.

So I am under the impression I'm at least 20 minutes behind. I get to the trail and start up it like I stole something. Luckily it was doable, even for a rookie at breakneck pace. Using my GPS and the route I downloaded from TrailDamage.com, I follow the GPS "breadcrumbs" off the real Cascade Creek trail (courtesy of my navigator and coworker friend, John) and up some unnamed road. There is an old abandoned mine, then a switchback, then it starts to get more difficult.

I proceed ¼-3/8 mile after the first real obstacle, still convinced that the group is ahead of me. As the trail gets more challenging, I'm wishing someone a little less green was around to show me what a good line looks like. Finally I get to a pretty steep part with some decent pits in the rock, and despite John "spotting" me- he knows as much about this as I do- I can go no further.

I back down, and wait as some teenagers in XJs (lifted with ~34s) come through and make it look like child's play. I'm ashamed, but convinced that everyone else was already past this point, there's nothing to do but head back down. On my way back down I spot a bright orange SUV at the point I had turned off the real Cascade Creek. The vehicles around it look like KJs, but it's hard to see through the trees. As I get closer, 3 Libertys are parked, and I realize this will be a good day indeed....

I got back up the spot where I had initially turned around by taking a line similar to what I had tried, but also carrying more momentum and giving timely "bumps" to the throttle. Tokyojoe told the rest of the story.

This is where we stopped at the abandoned mine. You can see a huge two-stroke engine on a cart toward the edge of the road. The Polaris guy is in front of it wearing jeans. Dave is in the foreground between his and my Libby.

A shot from the front of the line. You can see the roll cage of the Polaris in the background.

These three are of Dave approaching one of the most difficult obstacles of the day. Ted & Troy tackled this one too.

Suffice to say, I took the bypass on this one.

It was a great time, and thanks to Dave, Ted, Marty, and Troy for showing me the ropes. I'm looking forward to the next one!

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Mon May 21, 2007 1:28 am

Aw! Pics not working.

Weegie5 · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2007 12:58 am

Finally the pics are working.

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2007 2:26 am

I would have liked to have gone on this trip, but I don't think the Flexpedition would have made it.

KikensJeep · **Posted:** Fri May 25, 2007 10:22 am

well I wouldve loved to have been there but on my way up a friend called me from rollins pass, said he was stuck in the snow and had to hike about a half mile to get cellphone service - guess he thought his XJ was a snowmobile or somethin

I backtracked a bit and headed up that way
it was the first time I got to use my winch for a rescue operation it was great
after that we ran through some trails up there so it was still a good day but sounds like you guys had a way better time

Colorado Chapter May trail run/meeting

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