June Meeting/Trail Run Colorado

Rock Lizard · **Posted:** Wed May 31, 2006 1:23 am

OK, as the temporary Event Coordinator, I'll get started early on the next event/meeting. I'm thinking of something up north this time, or an equal distance for most of use Springs and Denver guys to travel. I have researched the trails on www.traildamage.com and came up with six that are equal to or less than Eagle Rock in difficulty. Trying to find something that stockers to heavily modified can enjoy, so stocker guys can get a little challenge without being left behind, and built rigs are driving on a dirt road.

I need to know everyones thoughts on time of the month. I'm thinking near the last weekend of the month, every month for the monthy meeting/event. Also, what day works best for most everyone. Saturday or Sunday, or during the week? Right now I'm looking at June 24/25 on the calender. Thoughts?

OK, meeting place. I have no idea what is up there, so once we decide on a trail, or while deciding a trail, where to meet/eat. We'll need to know of a decent restaurant that won't break anyone, that has a nice little conference area/banquet room so we are not distracted, kids don't harass other patrons. Or if someone wants to host another grillathon.

For the trails, I was looking for stuff in the Chaffee/Parker County areas.

I will list the trails, there difficulty range, highest elevation and trail length. You can find trail reviews and awesome pictures here: http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php
For comparison, I will list Eagle Rock first, since quite a few of us just survived that.

Eagle Rock; 6-7 difficulty; 11309 ft; 5.9 miles long

Twin Cone; 3-5 difficulty; 12355 ft; 7 miles long
Slaughterhouse Gulch; 3-5 difficulty; 9817 ft; 11.7 miles long
Chinamans Gulch; 5-8 difficulty; 8904; 6.9 miles
China Wall; 3-6; 8997; 6.6 miles
Wheeler Lake; 5-7; 12215; 4.5 miles
Grizzly Lake; 5-6; 11266; 2.5 miles

Check those out, give your thoughts. If you know of others in your area, please bring it up. I do recommend trying to choose something in this list or nearby. We will be doing this once or even twice a month, so we should be able to get quite a few different trails run before winter hits again, so suggestions for each of the next months in advance would be a good idea. I'm thinking something around Boulder county in July if there is anything, and maybe Ouray in August, or vice versa. The club is young, so we are just starting out, please bear with me. I'm not trying to show any favortism, just want to try new things for everyone.

OK, let'r rip.

Rock Lizard · **Posted:** Wed May 31, 2006 1:45 am

Oh, and if there is one of the trails that most are interested in but leary of difficulty and no one has experience with that particular trail, I will probably be able to make a test run to check it out, and anyone would be welcome to join. I'm sure Ted would go schedule permitting to get a KJ on the test field.

fish eye · **Posted:** Wed May 31, 2006 8:12 am

The only weekend dates that don't work for me are the 17th-18th. Looks like I'll be on a trip then.

As for which trail, I would suggest Slaughterhouse Gulch, since it's got a relatively low difficulty rating, it will challenge the stock rigs, and still hold the attention of those with built rigs. I want the guys with stockers to be able to hang with us and enjoy their KJ's the way guys with built rigs do.

As for meeting places, I have absolutely no idea. I am thinking that something with a banquet room will be pricey, and the best route would be a grillathon.

Any other thoughts?

KW AV8R · **Posted:** Wed May 31, 2006 8:52 am

We went up Slaughterhouse Gulch a while back and it was quite fun. John (kugellager) did it in a stock rig so that might be a good guage of the trail. It might be a better idea to try out a different trail since we've been doing the same trails. We might want to try China Wall or Twin Cones but I'll be up for just about anything.

RespectMyLibertay · **Posted:** Wed May 31, 2006 1:36 pm

My vote: China Wall

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

We also did Wheeler Lake recently...it was a fun time.

My vote would be for China Wall though. I've been wanting to do that for a while now.

And Marty...just pick a date. There will always be someone who can't come to this or that and we end up pushing back the date so far to accomodate everyone that we all end up doing less wheeling in the grand scheme of things. If we just plan on going every 2-3 weeks throughout the summer everybody will eventually be able to find something that works for them. I'd say plan something every two weeks for the rest of the summer...as long as one or two officers/board members/trail leaders are available then we should be out on the trails.

Rock Lizard · **Posted:** Wed May 31, 2006 11:16 pm

There talking about doing Slaughterhouse on the 11th, which would be fun and China Wall is only about 20 minutes away I guess, as well as Chinamans Gulch. I was going through some trip reports on CO4x4, and Grizzly Lake is now open, but I guess there are still 3-4 foot snow drifts and large downed trees across the trail, so I guess that one is out of the picture:
http://dontlr.smugmug.com/gallery/1500694/4

I believe June 18 is Father's Day, so I don't know if many would go wheeling that weekend, so June 25 looks good for whatever we decide. June 11 will be Slaughter House for those that want to come, but no meeting, just wheeling. We can have the club meeting June 25 which would put the meetings one month apart. China Wall looks to be getting the votes so far. Anyone done China Wall before?

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

BTW, I *might* be able to make something on the 11th. It depends how early we break camp and if my wife can take any more of the great outdoors. I'm guessing we'll just want to come home and take showers after a couple days in the wilderness though.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:10 am

I'm open for you to pick a trail and date. If I can't make it, oh well. At least others can.

Phil T · **Posted:** Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:13 pm

Tokyojoe wrote:

I'm open for you to pick a trail and date. If I can't make it, oh well. At least others can.

Same here!

fish eye · **Posted:** Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:15 pm

I need to change my vote. Grizzly Lake looks pretty sweet, and right next to it is Iron Chest. From the pics on traildamage.com, they look pretty fun!!

TTU_TJ · **Posted:** Tue Jun 06, 2006 11:57 pm

Rock Lizard wrote:

There talking about doing Slaughterhouse on the 11th, which would be fun and China Wall is only about 20 minutes away I guess, as well as Chinamans Gulch. I was going through some trip reports on CO4x4, and Grizzly Lake is now open, but I guess there are still 3-4 foot snow drifts and large downed trees across the trail, so I guess that one is out of the picture:
http://dontlr.smugmug.com/gallery/1500694/4

I believe June 18 is Father's Day, so I don't know if many would go wheeling that weekend, so June 25 looks good for whatever we decide. June 11 will be Slaughter House for those that want to come, but no meeting, just wheeling. We can have the club meeting June 25 which would put the meetings one month apart. China Wall looks to be getting the votes so far. Anyone done China Wall before?

I've done China Wall recently. I think that's going to be one of your best values from the challenge/scenery/location categories. The 24th or 25ht look best for me to join you on this trip.

Rock Lizard · **Posted:** Wed Jun 07, 2006 12:16 am

OK, so some of us are going to run Slaughter House on Sunday, June 11. Meet at the Conifer Safeway at 9:00 am. More details how to get there here: http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... php?t=8974

For our monthly trail run/meeting, lets go for China Wall on Sunday, June 25. I'll have to get exact directions, but from what I have read, it is only about 20 minutes away from Slaughter House, so I imagine meet at the Conifer Safeway at 9:00 am again. There is also a Starbucks and other stuff right there as well. We'll figure out a place for dinner and the meeting as the month progresses.

Let me run this idear by everyone. If we plan to run two trails a month and have one meeting a month, let's figure every second and fourth weekend, the fourth weekend being the monthly club meeting. Since the meeting will draw more people in for that weekend, let's run the fairly stocker friendly trails so everyone gets to wheel and chances of breakage are slim, and so we don't get stuck on a trail all day pushing the meeting late into the night. Since the second weekend trail run will not have a meeting to squeeze in, we could try some of the more difficult trails, so those that have, umm, less capable rigs, won't miss a meeting if they decide not to run the trail. Everyone will be more than welcome, and even if the rig is not capable of the trail, there is still plenty of passenger room, and great opportunities for people not driving to spot, or more importantly learn how to spot if new to it, and we could always use a good camera person or two. Let's hear your thoughts on that.

In other news, I don't know if Ted or anyone else has posted or pmed this information yet, but a couple of us are going to make a trip to Ouray the weekend of July 4th. Ted has put in for leave, I believe Chad and Pete were interested in going, and of course I plan to go. We are going to check out the lodging and food accomodations, as well as run the trails to be able to make better plans for hosting the annual Ouray event. If anyone is interested it going along, please let me know. As I get more information this week, I will post a thread.

Kugellager · **Posted:** Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:50 am

I would love to go but will be on call for work.

It would be great if one of you could topo/gps the trails like I have been doing every chance I get. I could loan someone my compactflash/gps card/antenna and show them how to use the software if any of you who are going are interested in doing this. I think it makes a good log for all the runs we do. Plus it allows us to put in markers for obstacles etc. Let me know if any of you have a laptop and are willing to do this. It's really pretty easy.

John
];')

Phil T · **Posted:** Wed Jun 07, 2006 2:42 pm

Rock Lizard wrote:

Let me run this idear by everyone. If we plan to run two trails a month and have one meeting a month, let's figure every second and fourth weekend, the fourth weekend being the monthly club meeting. Since the meeting will draw more people in for that weekend, let's run the fairly stocker friendly trails so everyone gets to wheel and chances of breakage are slim, and so we don't get stuck on a trail all day pushing the meeting late into the night. Since the second weekend trail run will not have a meeting to squeeze in, we could try some of the more difficult trails, so those that have, umm, less capable rigs, won't miss a meeting if they decide not to run the trail. Everyone will be more than welcome, and even if the rig is not capable of the trail, there is still plenty of passenger room, and great opportunities for people not driving to spot, or more importantly learn how to spot if new to it, and we could always use a good camera person or two. Let's hear your thoughts on that.

I really like your ideas above and enjoyed the Eagle Rock run (even though I had to bail out).

I hope to make a couple more runs with you guys this summer (this time make the meetings) and get some advice on mods (I think rock rails are going to have to be #1).

The wife and I are going to head out Monday and revisit some trails I have not done in 20+ years. I am going to try and make it to the Crystal Mill outside of Marble (I had to turn back in a Ford Escape last summer).

Then we may head down to Ouray for a couple of days. I want to see if Opher pass is open or maybe some of the others. I know it may still be to early, but work is dictating my vacation schedule this year.

In late July or early August a friend from Ohio is coming to visit and we want to do Cinnamon or Engineer pass. We may also try and plan a run with you guys if the timing works out.

I will give you a report on my luck in Ouray next week!!

TTU_TJ · **Posted:** Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:45 pm

FYI, almost all of the area trails are topo-logged and Google-Earthed on traildamage.com. Simply select the trail you're interested in and look for the downloads on the right border of the page. And if you're not using Google Earth yet, you gotta get with the program!

Rock Lizard · **Posted:** Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:26 am

Just wanted to refresh this a little bit to start getting a list of those interested in attending. June 25th, Sunday, trail run at China Wall. China Wall is near the town of Tarryall if you want to mapquest it. There apparently are no services available there, and the nearest towns with restaurants are Woodland Park and Jefferson (I'm not certain yet if Jefferson has restaurants). Either way, Jefferson and Woodland park are about the same distance from the trail head, about 30 miles, so going to Woodland Park takes the Denver guys further from home, and Jefferson takes the Springs guys further from home. I suggest we bring our own sack lunchs/dinners, and just have a one hour or so club meeting at the trail head before running the trail, then once that is out of the way, we hit the trail and have a good time without worrying about staying a meeting afterward.

So who can go, and does this meeting then trail run idea sound reasonable?

KW AV8R · **Posted:** Fri Jun 16, 2006 10:52 pm

sounds like a plan to me, I'm in.

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

I'm climbing a 14er on Saturday. Assuming I'm not totally beat come Sunday I'll make it.

Rock Lizard · **Posted:** Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:58 am

So far we have:

KW AV8R
Skyjump136
Phil T
TTU_TJ?
TokyoJoe?
fish eye?
Respect?
and me

Ted has to work and John is on call. Where the heck is everyone? Can you guys with the "?" confirm on attendance? It will take about 1.5 hours from Co Springs to Tarryall, so those in my area if you want to meet at my place between 7 and 7:30, roll out at 7:30, get to Tarryall about 9, find the trail head by 9:30, have our meeting, hit the trail by 11:00. Those times sound good to everyone? It looks like the trail head is just south of Tarryall on Forest Road 212 on the east side of hwy 285: http://www.traildamage.com/trails/china ... _small.gif
The guys coming from the Denver area will come south from Jefferson, which is the last gas/food stop before the trailhead. I have never been there, so those guys coming from Denver, please take a quick minute while passing through Jefferson to scout out any decent restaurants, and time the trip from Jefferson to the trail head. Mapquest says it's about 30 miles and takes an 1.25 hours, but the trip reports I have read say it takes 30 minutes in the snow.

June Meeting/Trail Run Colorado

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