Colorado Trip Reports

I thought about that, but I doubt it has much. Most of the people are coming from Taylor Lake and wouldn't need to come over Cottonwood. I suppose the only real impact would be people trying to do a loop and keep one side easy, but it's kind of a big loop. I figure if people planned to get to Taylor anyway, they'd just have altered their route to get there from the south/west instead of east to avoid the Cottonwood closure. When we did Tincup I don't remember zoo levels of traffic, but it wasn't too bad. There were as many or more people at that (Mirror) lake as we ran into on the trail, and more of a zoo to the south on the tunnel trail (this was of course before it closed due to the Palisades slide).

 

I was thinking more of a hindrance to getting into Taylor area and its camping than a true 4x4 loop deal.

I know its is for me, nothing like adding a bunch of miles and time to get to camping.

 

Spent the day cruisin' through some easy trails in Pike National Forest with my daughter who is visiting from Virginia and a couple of her friends. Her friend just bought a 1999 Ranger 4.0 liter with 36,000 miles for $1700. The 2WD with LSD is his daily driver. We headed south on forest service road 563 (Dakan) and 348 (Long Hollow).


On a Tuesday the trails were empty. We saw one guy keeping his 50+ year old body in shape mountain biking up hill. Reminded me of me except he wasn't breathing as hard.

My daughter introduced my truck, Winkle, to a Darlington pine:
https://youtu.be/fkuCFH79L5Q It left a stripe.


At the FS348 and 351 (Fern Creek) intersection, possibly a little dizzy after some obligatory doughnuts, we mistakenly took 351 east towards 300 (Rampart Range) instead of 348 south towards highway 67. 351 turns into an intermediate trail just after OHV trails 631 and 630. The 2WD LSD Ranger was handling the green rated trails just fine, but you can guess what happened when it met a rocky, roughly 8% grade going uphill. We realized our mistake and backed out.

We enjoyed lunch by an unknown creek, then had to head back so my daughter's friend could catch a plane. We took scenic highway 67 north through Deckers along the Platte River and then Sugar Creek Road on to Sedalia. Good Memories!

 

Was Dakan any fun? It's so close to me that I really would like to get up there. Also, see any camping spots?

 

It's fun if you like flat dirt roads.

 

I like it because it also is close to my house and is a good entry for me to get to other trails. There are forest service signs designating sites for camping. Roughly 11 miles west of Hwy 105 is a great campsite with a rock overhang as shown in the first picture with my daughter standing on the rear tires of the two trucks. I drove Dakan on a weekend in May and a Tuesday in July. As you might expect, many of the campsite were in use on the weekend and very few on the weekday. You will definitely see OHVs on the trail on the weekend. I saw only one on Tuesday.
@kashtyaatsi is correct about there being flat dirt especially for the first few miles. As you drive further, Dakan has stretches of mild rocks, mild grades, undulations and twists.

 

Did China Wall with @mountainmonkey and @Nazupag524 today was a great time
A few photos
Didn't get any of @Nazupag524 he lead the way
Thanks guys for the day out

 

Very cool! So wish i could of made this! Got my UCA clear of the springs im ready now! Lol

 

Wish ya could of made it too
I'm glad you got everything figured out

 

Here are some more pictures from the China Wall trail run today with @303tacoma and @Nazupag524 Overall it was a pretty fun trail that we cleared with ease other than Rebecca doing her best impression of a tripod in front of a crowd of onlookers. I was too slow to get a picture of that though.

 

I'm putting some of those in build ok?

 

Is "the wall" still there/open? I haven't run that trail in years.

 

It was both there and open. We didn't hit it mostly because we didn't even realize that's what it was until after passing it. Could've gone back, but the trail was super crowded yesterday despite the rain.

 

Rebecca right before she hit the 3 wheel motion.

 

Kinda funny that all three of us were set up full Icon and ST Maxxs. In the rainy sloppy conditions I was very pleased with the performance of the Coopers.

 

Stealing a couple of these k?
And I'm glad I wasn't watching myself

 

Well Morrison was an incredibly intense trail. I was not mentally prepared for that. Described by monte as wayy harder than black bear. Some real good carnage for @aero3685 Report to come later. Headed home tonight.

 

You home yet?

And it'll buff out.

 

Yeah right. I forgot my private jet.

 

Got back to Dipper Lake again this year