Colorado Trip Reports

I've never stacked rocks...

 

I thought you were getting good at stacking rocks for 2nd gens. Does that mean you mastered rock stacking for 1st gens?

 

@Star-Lord stacking rocks and then telling you to take a different line so you don't disturb them

 

We did the alpine loop in 2013. Got a taste. Worthy. Need to go back. There is so much to see, so much left on the table.

 

What great pictures! I took one look at that creek crossing with Iron Mike and backed away with my tail between my legs... Did you make it further up Halmoon Creek up to the Champion Mill Mine?

 

It's so true. It doesn't look like it's a big deal at all. But that first rock has to be driven over with both tires, otherwise you're flopping. And the rock is easily 36 in tall with a rutted out ditch behind it. Behind that ditch is another rock step that's almost as tall as the first with yet another torn up ditch behind it.

It's legit.

I haven't even scratched the surface of what this state has to offer. Same goes for Utah (my home state) and the rest of the west. I really wish I could afford to just bail on everything and wander full time.

I didn't. I made it to the first water crossing on 110 and turned around. We were running late, and with my lame K&N CAI, I didn't want to even take the chance of getting water in the intake. I need to get my snorkel up and running stat.

 

I cruised right up that obstacle with @09blacktaco a couple years ago. 33s and sliders should get you up it.



Your truck would have walked right up Jason.

 

I really want to go back when I'm not loaded up and give it another shot, preferably with a spotter. With my girl, a bunch of gear, no spotter and a RTT that needs to be five inches lower, I wasn't gonna risk it.

One thing that might have changed a bit since you were there is how torn up it is. You can definitely tell that people have been skinny pedaling up the thing and rutting out the areas around the rocks. Same for the bypass.

 

Bummer you didn't go up higher! There's a great camp spot after the second (longer and shallower) river crossing on 110 with a great fire pit set up with a massive boulder as a backing.

Also, how'd the first water crossing on 110 look? When I did it back in late June it was deep enough to get me to dip the front of my hood underwater. It made me want a snorkel...

 

I have made it up to Champion Mill, not really too difficult* that way.

*insert jargon here on any trail can change year to year with Snow melt plus water crossings.

 

I did some hiking and light wheeling in Rollinsville on Sunday I though I'd share with everyone. This has become one of my favorite places to wheel within an hour of Denver.

Kingston peak + hike to James Peak

From the stage stop at hwy 119 in Rollinsville, I started out on Rollins pass road heading east. While I was airing down, this custom built ford f550 pulled up next to me and I got a chance to take a quick tour. Inside is a king bed over the cab, and a double that folds out in the kitchen, which is complete with a stove, sink with running water and refrigerator. The bathroom has a toilet and standing shower, and the whole thing runs off a combo of diesel and solar. King suspension all the way around with some nice beefy 335x80x20s.



At about 11am I headed up Mammoth gulch road just past Toland, then followed 353 to Kingston Peak.





I came up over Kingston and hit the trailhead for James Peak at noon. The loop I did to the 13,300 summit was close to 5 miles and took about 2 hours on foot, with 1,465 of elevation change. There are some breathtaking views of the Ohman, Reynolds, and Steuart lakes below, with Lee lake sitting just a little higher off to the right.




View looking back at the lakes from a small outcropping:



View from the ridge before the summit.


Views from the summit:

These guys were all over the place:



I heard there was a chevy with a busted axle down the st Mary side blocking the trail who was being helped already, so I headed back the way I came back to Toland by 3:30. The weather was still good so I decided to see if I could rip up Rollins pass in an hour and hike up to needle eye tunnel.

Rollins Pass East + hike to Needle eye tunnel

I've been up Rollins pass before, but never made it up to the tunnel, which has been closed since 1990. From what I have read and heard...money and politics are the primary reasons this path over to winter park remains closed.

After getting back down to Rollins pass road, I made a left and crossed the Union Pacific railroad a few times before making a right on at the trailhead to Rollins pass. Make sure to air down for comfort on this one, and exercise patience. The ride up Rollins pass to needle eye sucks. Unless you decide to duck off on the more interesting Jenny Creek trail which re-connects to Rollins pass at Yankee Doodle Lake, it's 12+ miles of pot holes, rocks, lots of traffic from slow moving stock vehicles. Views at the bottom are obscured by trees and it doesn't really get interesting till you get up to Yankee Doodle Lake, where you still see snow drifts. Then it's all worth it. The rest of the drive up past Jenny lake is pretty breath taking with views of James Peak and the Rollinsville area.

Yankee Doodle Lake

Snow drifts above the road at Yankee Doodle Lake:

First view of sunlight through needle eye, which unfortunately doesn't come through in the pic.


Start of the hike to the tunnel:




The from Rollinsville side




Tunnel from winter park:




From the top of the tunnel:

 

Looks like I barely missed you there. Saw another TW member up that way too, as well as the person I sold my old bike to. Popular trail indeed.

 

Have any of you ran the Shelfroad/ Phantom Canyon loop recently? I was talking to some guys at work and they said they thought the trail was washed out. I was thinking of doing it sometime before the season ends. I believe its the closest trail to where I'll be staying in Pueblo.

 

Just wrapped up the last family camping trip of the year since the kids start school and fall sports next week. We spent 2 nights at Rampart reservoir. Played around on Schubarth trail yesterday. Surprisingly the only traffic on the trail was 2 UTVs.

 

This was actually from last Saturday (8/12). Cascade Creek.

















The fox...



...and the hound. You decide which one. I'm not touching myself here. Speak with my lawyer with further questions or concerns.



The top part of the loop is rather boring...not technical and not much scenery to check out. The bottom part, though, looked as though a bomb went off there. A lot of erosion, landslides, and possibly avalanches. I couldn't even find the creek...methinks that it was diverted.








For the first time in all of the years and places that I've been camping, I couldn't find any open campsites. Neither primitive nor fee-based. I've largely stayed away from the "too many people coming here" bandwagon, but now I may buy a first-class ticket.

 

Last Sunday. 8/13. My buddy's Tundra. Started with Switzerland Trail outside of Nederland.















After Switzerland, we headed to Central City and took on Russell Gulch. Cool, easy trail with a lot of mining history.





















\

Most of these sites are being reclaimed for new residences.

We finished the day with Oh-My-God Road, which at one time was the only way to get from Central City to Idaho Springs and vice-versa.







That's I-70 down there. We avoided that.

 

Had big plans this weekend (8/20): get up early, find a campsite right away (either Geneva Creek, Hall Valley, or Handcart Gulch), run Argentine Pass, McClellan Mountain, and Saxon Mountain. On Sunday, we would meet other TW members to tackle Red Cone and some others.

Well, I did get up early. Left Denver just after 7 which met my goal. Traffic was ridiculous...which is becoming normal. What's scary is: what is abnormal going to start looking like?

Managed to get a site at Geneva Creek. This was about 9:30...there were only a few available. I used to be able to roll up there at 3 on a Saturday afternoon and find something, at least. Things have changed.

After posting up some gear, we had to make a pit stop at Georgetown to pick up booze (yes, "had to"). Learned a valuable lesson: do research on the area for events before traveling there. We got to the bottom of Guanella only to be stuffed by traffic...there was a longboarding competition going on.

We got smacked down again after leaving Georgetown to find the trailhead. Finally made it, though...at almost 1:00 in the afternoon.



Getting us lost.





Ran into this guy a few times.























On to Argentine.




This didn't look right. We were way off from the trail according to our FunTreks guide. I was about to learn an important lesson.



Turned around to try to get back on track (which was a pain in the ass all on its own). Met this guy again on the way down.



He informed us that we were on the right trail...he showed us an app showing the way. Only one problem: we're stubborn. He kept going up and we tried to find the "right" way.

Turned out that the "right" way was the right way at one point...but things change, and:





We should have been humble and listened to the 4Runner driver. My truck looked at us sternly while doggo yawned in boredom.





So we turned around. The detour probably added a good 45 minutes to our trip. Back to it.









"Map says to go straight" "Sounds good to me"











If I hold onto this door then I will be safe.



At the top of Argentine Pass. 13,132 feet. That's Peru Creek down there.









Normally, we would kick back, eat a snack, and drink a beer in celebration of reaching the top. Incoming storms dictated otherwise. We were snowed on...winter is coming. Along with pumpkin beers and lattes. Time to leave all of that behind.



These situations are what often make even easy trails ass-puckering.



Got back to camp around 6.



If nothing else, had a good campfire.



@mountainmonkey

I apologize for not showing up today for the run. I slept in...really late...at the campsite. While it sucks that I missed the trails with you guys, to be fair I needed the rest. Next time, for sure.

 

@Littles this Came out really good! posting from todays trip up at Red Cone


working on the others

 

Thanks! Great work with the new camera! I have a pile of photos to upload when I get back from Wyoming

 

A few of the pics from Sunday's run up Red Cone, Radical Hill, Middle Fork of Swan River, and out Georgia Pass (we skipped SOB Hill). I only pulled the camera out once at the top of Radical Hill:




Great trip with a great group of rigs.