Colorado Trip Reports

He returns from the dead

 

Koko and I have birthdays a couple days apart so we took to the woods with a buddy and his kids. We camped up near Bill Moore Lake Friday and didn't see a soul on the trails the entire time. Ran Argentine on Saturday around noon and it was also surprisingly calm. Probably saw 6 vehicles total above the mine. Great views as always. Saw a gigantic bull moose about 1000yds away. Spent a couple hours in the creek on the lower road and overall made for a great birthday weekend.

 

The Aspens are just starting going off on Mt. Yale just north west of BV.

 

And also just starting up by Beaver Reservoir / Brainard Lake around 8000-9000'.

 

Travelled Weston Pass over Independence Pass into Aspen, then Pearl Pass into Crested Butte.
The fall colors are near their peak. I expect next weekend to be excellent viewing also.

Weston Pass




This parasailer dropped into the photo near Aspen


Heading up Pearl Pass.


Pearl Pass has lots of stone paved roads.


11461 feet elevation at this wet obstacle








This little squall at the summit provided some snow.


East side of the pass, approaching Crested Butte










Near sunset


I ended up cutting my plan short. I discovered yesterday that, as of 2024, dispersed camping is prohibited around Crested Butte, designated sites or established campgrounds only. Ugh! By the time I arrived at 5:30, the designated campsites in the Brush Creek area were full. I was losing daylight and the hotels I called were full. I decided to feed Broc, air up, and head home.

 

Nice trip, but bummed you got bit by the change in dispersed in CB. I went earlier in the summer knowing about it and rolled in at 1pm on a Thursday. Within an hour all the remaining spots filled up for the weekend.

 

After a serendipitous change of plans I was able to get out yesterday with a buddy in his XJ. Naturally, I only took one picture. He wanted to check out Chinn's Lake so we cruised up there. It was relatively empty and we made quick time getting up there with the road being graded. Having never been to Loch Lomond I suggested we check it out. Man, what a beautiful place. We then decided to head over and run Yankee Hill. The actual climb was unexpectedly difficult but a lot of fun. Incredible views from the top. After that, we decided to head back into Central City. Being smart, I used Google maps which sent us down Miner's Gulch Rd. That was also some unexpected fun and good use of the armor. All in all a great day out, the crowds were almost non-existent which was awesome. I hope y'all are having a good weekend.

 

Went up red elephant hill to get some miles on the dual tcase. The trail is pretty dugout and a UTV broke in front of me. The Tacoma made easy work of the little obstacles.

 

I'm looking at taking the family to the Conejos River and up to Platoro reservoir this coming weekend possibly. I've mapped from highway 17 all the way over to East Fork off of highway 160. Anything to watch out for in that area or any mind blowing camp spots?

 

Wheeler lake back in August, but never got around to posting. Hardest trail I’ve done by far and gave a pretty good look at where the truck is lacking.




couldn’t make it up bowling ball hill

 

So what are your future plans? I've done Wheeler a few times, but probably never that muddy.

 

Yea it rained on and off all day which was definitely not ideal. Slider's and a better skid plate setup would give some peace of mind. Could also use a new steering rack and I'd like to beef up the cam tabs and add the octagon/square cam adjusters. My alignment was like this / \ for the ride home and burned up my tires.
I haven't done any of this since then so we'll see how it does in Moab next week lol

 

That spot on bowling ball has gotten way worse in the past few years, articulation and lockers is what you need there. Or a bit of stacking, but being that muddy sure didn't help.

 

Looked different in person than reports from past years for sure. I probably could've gotten up it as is but it kept pushing my bumper into into that rock and I didn't want to drag the whole side of the truck against it.

 

Yeah, we went up there in August, and that "waterfall" was a dug-out 3ft tall ledge. I turned back since I had made it up to the lake several times before.

 

Schofield Pass last weekend. It was definitely the most nervous I think I’ve been on a trail in Colorado, one of the drawbacks to a wider stance. But the sights were worth it!

 

Had an incredible trip with the guys and my friend's 7yr old son out to Moab for 5 days. Started Thursday night running Gemini Bridges in the dark and out to Mineral Point to find some camping late night


Gemini Bridges after dark


Mineral Point dispersed camping ~10min off of Hwy 313



We left Friday morning to cruise over to Spring Canyon Bottom Trail. There was a fair amount of horse traffic on the approach route but everyone got along well. We did some rope training with my friend's son in a nice little wash then ventured down into the canyon. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and the trail was mild. Pretty much zero traffic as well. The kid got to rappel off of the big boulder on the shore access which was awesome to see. We camped down at the cottonwood grove campsite and at sunset, were treated to a plane flying down the canyon about 100ft off the floor over us. Moab is nuts. I highly recommend checking this trail out for something awesome off the beaten path.


Descending into Spring Canyon


Descending into Spring Canyon


Rappelling over the Green River


Campsite in the AM, stays shaded until about 10am



Next morning we drove out of the canyon and took a peak at the smashed truck from the cliff at the cattle gate. We used the wild network of trails to head over and check out Dellenbaugh Tunnel. There were some fun obstacles along the way and the cave was interesting to see.


Entrance of Spring Canyon from the floor


On the way back out


Smashed truck


Heading to Dellenbaugh Tunnel


Desert wheeling



After that, we stopped in town for fuel and beverages. Moab wasn't a zoo, which was nice. We cruised over and ran Onion Creek. Man, that place was amazing and it was a change of pace to get the tires wet. We camped up above the trail with just ridiculous views under Top Of The World.


Air down at entrance to Onion Creek


Heading up Onion Creek


Crazy geography


Tacos


10/10 camping


Of course, the boy rappelled



Sunday, we headed over to Dome Plateau and this area was mind blowing and a lot of fun. Tons of massive sandstone formations to explore and endless trails. If you're in the area and don't make it out to the overlook you will regret it. The view of the valley is indescribable. After lunch at the overlook , we headed out and found camping on the north side of the plateau overlooking Arches NP, the La Sals, and all the way to i70. Sleeping 4 beautiful nights under the stars in the hammock finally caught up with me and a 4am hail storm had me pretending to sleep in the truck for a couple hours.


Colorado River at Dewey Bridge


Huge cave(?)


Desert wheelin


Overlook


Arch and awesome sandstone to explore


View from the arch


Campsite sunset over Arches NP



In the morning we found a good 50ft rock to send the boy off of. He loved it. With our poop buckets full, we mobbed back out through Yellow Cat and pretended we were rally drivers maybe pushing our trucks a bit past their performance capabilities... The dips on the frontage road are ALL deep. We aired up at the exit ramp and headed home. It was a trip for the books for sure. Pictures don't do any justice. I'm pretty sure I stained my shower orange.


Scoping spots


Sending the Big One


heavy breathing

 

VERY slowly getting pen to paper on a week long wheeling, camping, and fly fishing trip my dad & I took across Colorado earlier this summer. Here's the write up from the first day; still need to get around to writing up the remaining reports. One of the best trips we've ever taken.

2024 Week-Long Colorado Wheeling Trip

Trip Background

Dad and I had been planning this trip for months, researching the most iconic mountain passes that Colorado has to offer, hoping to traverse as many dirt miles from Denver to southwestern Colorado as possible.

My dad was the person who got me into offroading very early on in my life. From a newborn, I was riding with him on ATVs around Kansas, and by the time I was 8, he had gotten me my own little 90cc Polaris ATV so I could start riding myself. Over the years, he's taught me how to ride those ATVs, motorcycles, drive in the snow, and provided so many other driving experiences. However, this was his first venture into offroading in a "full-sized" vehicle (I know a Tacoma is mid-sized, but for lack of a better term, off-roading something that is typically driven on the road and not specifically designed by the manufacturer to live its life offroad).

Photo of my dad & I​

Trip Beginning

To start the trip, I picked my dad up from Union Station on Saturday, and we headed back to the house to finish loading up the truck. Although I had spent hours getting the truck ready for this trip in the months before, of course, something had to go wrong right before we left. You might be wondering what that problem was… well, the driver-side rear tire had developed a slow leak after taking it into my typical shop for getting a new TPMS sensor in another tire. For whatever reason, the valve had gotten broken and jammed, causing a slow air leak. Given the leak, my dad and I opted to grab the full-size spare from under the truck and replace the one that was slowly leaking.

After sweating our a**es off getting it tossed on, we finalized organizing the truck, grabbed a quick bite for dinner, and headed out on 285 towards Bailey, CO.

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We arrived at camp late that evening and set up a simple camp. That night, my dad and I decided we'd first try both sleeping in the bed of the truck on the @BamBeds platform. From a space perspective, we were comfortable, but due to snoring, sleep wasn't great that night, haha.

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Day 1: Red Cone Pass

We started day 1 of the trip with some coffee and a quick protein bar at camp. We deconstructed the sleeping setup and loaded up the truck, heading out for Red Cone Pass.

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We started on the eastern side of the route, near the trailhead split for Red Cone or Webster Pass. The trail started off moderate but quickly became more difficult as we began our climb. The forested area of the trail was by far the most challenging. There are a few obstacles that require skids and rock sliders, and in my opinion, a rear locker, to get through, along with some switchbacks that are decently tight for a longer wheelbase vehicle. We made it through this part of the trail with no issues. My dad was worried about a couple of the obstacles when we approached them, but he was thoroughly impressed with the truck's capability as we made it through them. He also did an incredible job spotting, but no surprise there with his offroad experience.

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After taking the final few switchbacks, the tree line started to fade, and we made our way into the alpine. The views from the top are incredible, with panoramic vistas of the surrounding peaks. From the summit of Red Cone, which stands at an impressive 12,801 feet, you can see major peaks like Grays and Torreys to the east, and the rugged Tenmile Range to the west. We approached the summit and got our first sight of the mountain goats. Although I've spent many days high in the mountains over the last few years, this was my first time seeing these goats in person, which was so cool. Definitely a bucket list wildlife encounter in CO. They seemed very normalized to hikers and vehicles passing through and just hung out by us at the top.

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After snapping some pictures, we took the VERY steep descent down to where Red Cone connects to Webster Pass. We took Webster Pass westbound towards Montezuma, enjoying continued views of the mountain valley.

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After getting off Webster Pass, we hopped back on the highway from Montezuma to Breckenridge, grabbed some ice, and then headed to camp.

That night, we camped at one of the dispersed sites about 20 minutes outside of Breck. Upon arriving at camp, we set up the Clam, plopped our camping items inside, set up my tent, and got a fire started. We whipped up some sandwiches and enjoyed some good conversation recapping the day and planning for day 2 before crawling into bed. It rained off and on that night, which provided a soothing pitter-patter on top of the tent and truck while we slept. What a way to start the trip.

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Killer pics!! Wonderful area. Thank you for sharing.

Dang, too bad about dispersed camping around Crested Butte.

I had no idea. That kinda changes things.