Colorado Trip Reports

You know he don't spell good!

 

I know both aaron and austins callies on facebook abd they are spelled the same. This one was to see if he noticed. Being that he had 4.5 hours of sleep

 

Anyone been up Slaughterhouse Gulch recently? Is it still an open trail?

 

Depends on what recently means. I took a daytrip back in August. Still open, but we only saw two dirtbikers and a Chevy truck the entire time, and that was on a prime Sunday. Given how popular it used to be, it was a blessing. I think the experienced wheelers are on to bigger, better trails, and high school kids these days are too busy doing God-knows-what to work a job and build a cheap XJ or Tacoma to play with.

 

I was up there a couple months ago as well...a couple times actually. Saw quite a few jeeps on the trail the first time, the second time was less busy. We did get up there early though. The only thing that I saw closed was the gate to the mud pits. Trail Damage says it's never been closed, but it was.

That was my first time completing it, and I remember at the bottom of the REALLY BIG hill climb (or descent, depending on which way you go) you can go left or right at the bottom. We went up the hill at that point, so I'm not sure what where we would have ended up if we had kept going at the bottom.

 

I think slaughterhouse hasn't been updated since like 2009 on trail damage. The mud pits have been closed for a while.

Edit: It said it was just updated in October and doesn't even mention the mud pits.

 

Yeah I knew it was old when we were there. But I thought I had recently seen some guys talking about the mud pits there. Like I said I'm not sure where else it leads from the bottom of that huge hill. Maybe there's another way to the mud pits?

 

Before it goes up the other hill? It's just a dead end.

 

Ran Bald Mtn today. First time the truck has been on this trail.

 

2nd trip, first rash.

Lost a couple of those phony bolt heads, turns out they were plastic.


Tires did fine in the snow.

Decided to remove the plastic bolts.

 

What a rocky, bouldery mess. So glad I didn't attempt to keep going that one time. And I don't even seen any mudhole pictures (maybe not there right now?).

 

Went to Rollins Past East on Saturday. This is the second trip that my friend went on with his 4runner. I'm easing him into the off-road life. This is an easy road, but an interesting one. It follows a railroad route that took--at best--2 1/2 hours to get over the pass. A newer tunnel was built through the mountain that cuts that trip down to about 12 minutes.

Hit a little bit of snow showers.



The below track is used by Amtrak. Considered one of the most scenic routes in the country.



On the way up. Proud of my friend...shelf roads scare the shit out of him and this was his first. He did well, because we didn't die.





*Raises hand* Pick me! I know what that truck is!



We feared a blizzard. Winds were high.







This was a random shot. I didn't notice the weirdness until I uploaded the picture.



Sometimes I wonder if this shit's even real.



It didn't break down. I may be in the minority here, but I like the looks of the 3rd gen.



Tires got to see some snow. It was some 75 degrees not but 30 minutes away.







My friend spent a lot of time looking straight ahead.





It's hard to see, but if you look carefully you can see the plains behind the mountains.



Yankee Doodle Lake. I assume that it was named a long time ago.



SOON





Fall colors of a different variety.



Once again, you can see the plains but only if you put your face on the screen. And squint.



The pass culminates with the tunnel ahead (Needle Tunnel). People used to be able to go through it but an injury lawsuit ended that.





Winter is on its way. Makes me want a pumpkin spice latte. Just kidding. I really mean stouts.





Jenny Lake.



On the way down.



Not the best shot, but Moffat Tunnel is in the background.



I'll have my friend tackle the other side of the pass next.

 

A lot of the mud holes are dry right now. Even the big puddle on Green Ridge is bone dry right now. The Mud Loop is more of a dust loop, lol.

 

Teaser.



Not sure why it's fuzzy.

 

Has anyone run Bill Moore or Loch Lomond recently?

Thinking about camping this weekend and am wondering about the trail conditions.

 

We tackled Rollins Pass West this weekend to finish up this pass: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/colorado-trip-reports.250254/page-147#post-13549603

Unfortunately, we only made it halfway thanks to snow.




Winter Park



Winter Park ski runs. The camera focused on the tree.



I like this picture for some reason.





Old train trestles.



The snow started to pick up.



The trestles from the top.



My Christmas tree is down there somewhere.



We decided to turn back here. Probably a good choice. Another driver also indicated that the trail was closed further up anyway.





There was clearly a fire in the area somewhat recently. Nice to see the forest making a comeback.



The drive back over Berthoud Pass was beautiful.





Came back to Denver and went east a little bit...found a cool spot and took some pictures of a landscape in complete opposition to where we had just came from.

Denver International Airport.



A resort that nobody asked for.



A refinery, I believe. Sometimes at night I can see burn-offs there from my house.



Denver.

 

The last time I was out there was in mid August. it was quite windy and about 60* mid day.
I'd say bundle up! Winter is upon us

 

I had a similar experience at Loch Lomond at the end of July. When I posted I had forgotten that it was closed for the season. I ended up camping at Horsetooth due to the convenience

 

yea, even at Jenny Lake in September we had a 30 minute hail storm that swept thru camp and put a bit of a damper on things