Edited subject line to include Ironclad since that actually was the trail we completed.
Storyline:
Saturday 9 June 2007.
8:00am scottyslibby, KJ4ME, and Nails023 met at my place. We left for Boulder at 8:15.
Ted (USAFCOP) calls me right when we pull out and tells me where he is and that Rock Lizard, tjkj2002, Skyjump136, and KW_AV8R are with him. They are coming from the CO Springs area. I lead the way for my group of four and set a speed that I think will get the Springs guys caught up with us.
After getting onto I-270, I call USAFCOP and find out that they are almost to the I-25 & SR36 connection. The speed limit is 65 but I keep my group at 55 and tell USACOP to drive the speed limit.
After a few miles, they catch up to us and we have a convoy of 9 vehicles (8 KJ's and an XJ) making our way to Boulder. We get to the designated meeting place (Stabucks) at 9:04am ( meet time was 9:00am, so we did great for driving 10mph under the speed limit).
Already waiting for us at Starbucks were (definites: RkyMtnKJ, quivvy, Green Renegade, Weegie5, and Denverdad). Correct me if I am wrong but were BoulderKJ and Regen there? So many new people and we focused mostly on real names and no so much on forum names. With 9 arriving, two people doing a ride-along, that I knew of (KJ4ME and Weegie5), we had 12 KJ's and an XJ on the trail ( 2 known ride-alongs for a total of 15 vehicles) so that should have been six KJ's waiting at Starbucks.....anyways.....
We juiced up the KJ's, grabbed some grub, introduced each other, stared and asked about each other's KJ's, and headed out for the trail around 9:45am.
The trail was supposed to be Bunce School Road first and then Ironclads, but we ended up doing Ironclad. A challenge for the more stock-rated KJ's. Some great challenging spots for the steroid-level KJ's made it fun and the by-passes had some challenge for the others.
The rocks were very loose and the dirt even more loose making getting up the hills a nice new challenge.
A few extremely tippy spots and chances for some big body scarring for a couple people, but from what I can tell, nobody went away with trail damage.
Great spotting and patience helped.
The end of the trail had a great view of Long's Peak (a 14,000+ ft peak) and a meal break was taken. After holding a meeting, we turned around and headed down the trail. Much easier until we hit the tippy spots and a stump that seemed to move into the way of one of the KJ's at the same time, another KJ was in need of some leeches (3) hanging onto its side so it wouldn't tip or slide into a tree.
After that, it was basically uneventful.
We got to the trailhead and we formed up for a group shot. Unfortunately better pictures couldn't be taken since a bunch of rental ATV's arrived and parked in the way.
A few folks left as we aired up and chatted. The rtest of us left to go back to Boulder/Starbucks to drop off one of the ride-a-longs and to finish airing up all of the way (YES! Free air at that gas station!). We got back there somewhere around 6pm.
Some went to eat together and a few headed home. I got home and washed the Jeep around 7:30pm.
Looking forward to seeing all those pictures from KJ4ME to tell the story more visually.
THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU THAT MADE IT OUT WITH LOST ROCKIES FOR THE FIRST TIME. WE HOPE IT ISN'T YOUR LAST.
I hope that trail didn't scare anyone off. Everyone did great considering we did not do the easier trail. I am sure everyone, including the steroid KJ owners, learned something new about their KJ, other KJ's, and feel more confident about their KJ's capabilities.
Next trail this month will be the scenic easy trail.
|
i will have to get more of those runs under my belt.
