CO offroad trip with my wife #4

so my wife and have been itching to get out on the trails, but we have been waiting for the snow to melt. i wanted to hit up the Waldorf and Santiago mine trails near Georgetown, but after calling the ranger station up there, i was told that those trails are impassable. but i did find out that all the trails north of Idaho Springs are open and passable (except for the very top of Yankee Hill). so we grabbed a trails book and decided on running the Pickle Gulch trail.

we started in Idaho Springs and wiggled through a bunch of trails and started the Pickle Gulch trail in Apex, CO.

i aired down in Idaho Springs (to 25psi). you dont need to air down at that point, but the ride was much more compliant than at 35psi.

you can hardly tell that these are aired down. i could have easily run at 15psi.


some scenery from the "OMG trail".









i tried to follow the directions in our guide book, but it lead us off onto some side trails and i have a feeling that these side trails were eroded by all the recent run off. there were 24" ruts and 120 degree turns while at 15-20 degrees off-camber and trying not to slide off the road or into trees on the 20 degree slopes. we went about 1/8th of a mile and decided to turn around. we were getting into lots of snow and the road was narrowing to the width of an ATV. our book rated this trail at a 3, but it felt more like a 5 or a 6 and you absolutely had to have 4 wheel drive to make it up this. maybe if i went with others, i would have had the courage to continue. the truck made it up easy, but my nerves didnt

anyway, we turned back to the main trail and decided to take that all the way through. here are some views from the Pickle Gulch trail.






did someone loose a bed?


place we stopped for lunch. we backed into this little area off the main road.


the main road got much narrower and we encountered some snow.


the road got pretty rough, but nothing a stock truck couldnt handle. having 4 wheel drive made it really easy.


there was lots of run off from the snow in the trails.


we were about 2 miles from the end of the trail, but then we got to this locked "gate". damn...


so we had to turn around and go out the way we came in. this was the roughest area on the main trail. a stock 4x4 could easily do it, but it would be much more challenging in a 2wd.


i also brought along my GoPro and edited together a short video. no big deal... just some cool scenery and some areas that we had to cross the snow. ohh... and my GoPro fell off the truck and i ran over it. its actually a testament to the durability of the camera.... there wasnt a scratch on it and it still works. that footage is about half way through the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeEjNmjXKmM

we left the trail near BlackHawk and drove back down to Idaho Springs to eat some pizza at Beau Jos


then we saw this thing outside the restaraunt.




.....aaaaand then we got stuck behind an accident on the I70



it was still a fun day

thanks for looking.

 

THanks for sharing! looks like you found Joe Dirt

 

awesome pics and vid. looks you and your lady had some fun.

 

This is always parked at the trailers in Georgetown. In that same neighborhood there is a sweet 84/85 ext cab pickup hiding out, cream color with the block stripes (my favorite). It has not moved since December when I first spotted it.

 

That rig is always parked in the trailer park on the north side of 1-70 as you're going through Georgetown.

Always get a chuckle when I see it.

Glad to see some of the trails are becoming passable.

edit: DOH! Should have read the entire thread before posting

 

Nice pics! No pics of wife=fail though

Amazing how identical CO looks to BC, Canada.

Same rock types,mountain types,etc. Fuzzy round ones backed on to the Rockies.

 

my wife is in this one

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/off-roading-trails/116388-co-offroad-trip-my-wife-3-lots-pics.html

 

Meh... I thought the Rockies would be a little more rocky.

 

Ya the fuzzy treed ones are another range. Those snowy rocky ones you see are the actual rockies(probably)