Upcoming Colorado Events

Probably... If I didn't need to take my morning shit

 

We are at the meeting spot airing down. Where are you guys.

 

Doing a hike up Mt. Falcon in Morrison tomorrow/Monday after work (I work nights) if anyone wants to join. It's not a race and I'm slow .

Meet at the parking lot at 10:15 or so and/or send a PM.

 

Colorado Trip Reports you silly MOD...

 

Anyone hungry & near I25 & highway 34 in Loveland? Impromptu lunch meet (meat?) for lunch buffet @ Nordy's if anyone is interested. Hoyal & I are here now.

 

Gauging interest.

When: 7/3-7/7
Where: Hancock Pass area (38.640256, -106.362414)
What: Wheeling, camping, rafting, fishing, hiking, biking etc.
Why: Because awesome
Who: Myself, the lady, Diesel and . . .

Planning to get a group together over the weekend of the 4th in the Hancock area outside of Buena Vista for some outdoor fun. There are a shit ton of trails in the area, some may be open, some may still be snowed in, only one way to find out. I will head up Thursday evening to grab a spot, join whenever, "where" coordinates above are where I setup last time up there, open to setting up in a different location as well if anyone has a better spot in the area. There are a ton of spots in this area, and it is not too far back down to the highway.

Trails in the area:

Chinaman Gulch
Hancock Pass
Grizzly Lake
Pomeroy Lakes
Iron Chest

And a few pics:

Camp site



Hancock Pass







Chinaman's Gulch

 

I'm in for some part. hopefully more than last trip I joined in with ya.

 

Cool, I'm thinking this will be more of a base camp type trip like Rock Therapy rather than expo style like the last one, but obviously open to whatever.

 

I don't have a choice

long as there's flatfish ground to park on I'm down. great views, company, beers and fire are all bonuses.

Kayla will be off to hit up some UT/AZ hot spots with her parents and sis so this is perfect timing.

 

Shit man I wish I would have saw your post. I'm always looking for someone to do a hike with. I work nights too.

 

Haha, that's a good point and I didn't think of that, camp comes with you regardless.

 

Meeting tonight to fight for our right to wheel! Anyone going?
When: May 20th, from 5-7 PM
Where: Canyon Lakes Ranger District
2150 Centre Ave, Bldg E
Fort Collins, CO 80526

 

Will be doing these quite often so I'll let you know.

 

We are in the upper parking lot on the south side of building E.

 

I'm hoping to be there by 5:30.

 

Trip report?

 

Let's see...The government minions were present and providing lip service.
To be honest it wasn't the meeting I was expecting but there was some information passed around. It was basically a stand around meet-n-greet with the USFS reps. Some pointed questions were asked, some evasive answers were given.

First of all, the USFS does plan on reopening the local trails. The question is, when?
They do not have any hard dates yet and it may be late this summer, if at all this year.

Reasons are basically, priority. The 4x4 trails are low priority. The USFS is more concerned with re-opening damaged campgrounds, hiking trails and the like, repairing parking lots for campgrounds and hiking trails.

They are planning on starting on the Southern areas first then finishing up here in the North. There is no timeline as of yet. Mainly waiting on the snow to melt and the road base to firm up.

The two trails in question around here are Kelly Flats and 7-Mile.

Kelly Flats;
Needs parking lot improvements, grade out the ruts and possibly buck and rail fence to define the parking area. Super lame imo.

There is a mud hole about 2/3 of the way through the trail that was a major problem two years ago. The mud hole was given a "temporary" fix at that time by a private contractor hired by the USFS. The OHV/URV had given the USFS a grant to repair it right ($50,000.00) and they have until the end of this year to complete it or they lose the money. So this is supposed to happen this year.

Other than that, Kelly Flats appears to be fine. Re-opening will be determined by the USFS.

7-Mile;
The trail as a whole is presumed to be in good shape. It is known that the trail was not damaged by the flood as there were several club members who ran it two days after the flood. The problem is the surveyors who are inspecting the trail do not know what they are looking at.

There is a another large mud hole about the middle of the trail where it forks off to Stump Hill. This hole has been a problem for years now, always repaired at the beginning of each season. There is talk by the USFS of having the club go up and install buck and rail fence to detour drivers around the hole until a permanent fix can be made...No firm commitment by the USFS has been given yet.

Moody Hill/Crystal Mountain;
this trail may not re-open this year. It is slated to have a grader ran down it at some point in time, not expected this year.

Anybody seeing a pattern here? Temp fix, government slacks off and decides the permanent fix can wait because a parking lot needs re-striped. Meanwhile, Mother Nature and uneducated wheelers have their way with it, suddenly the problem is magnified

Now here is what is making things really difficult, people are yanking out the gates. 5 gates have been damaged in the last two months alone.
Besides being vandalism, it causes more money to be spent on things other than trail damage. The gates become priority #1, then the trail damage, whoops, we're out of money...Yeah, I'm not too happy about it, but I digress.
Trail cams would solve this problem, but the USFS can't seem to afford night vision trail cams like us average hunters use so they only get to see headlights, no plates or faces, therefore no chance of catching the vandals...


The road to Long Draw Reservoir is supposed to be open for a short time in August, about 3 weeks then closed again until sometime in September for hunting season. This is not flood related but all about beetle kill mitigation.

Deadman is also supposed to reopen after the snow melts, there does not seem to be a problem with this road and the surrounding trails at this time.

Green Ridge is also supposed to reopen, there is another mud/water hole at the upper entrance to this trail that will either be drained, filled or re-routed around. This is to be determined by the surveyors...

That's all I got for now, risking a TL;DR...

 

Mountaineers club meeting Tomorrow, Wednesday the 21st.
7:30 pm at the Knights of Columbus, 121 North Meldrum.

I expect there to be some more detailed/heated discussion among the members. This is a great time to hear it first hand. Anybody is welcome to attend.