Colorado Trip Reports

Awesome! I hope the weather holds up for me!
I don’t really know too much about the 4x4 trails near Fort Collins.

 

Remind me a day or two before, if I dont have anything else planed I'll come up and run it with y'all

 

I’m probably down for it too.

 

After a nice lunch with the wife sitting tucked away in some trees out by Rollinsville, I talked the wife into some exploring to chip away at the rest of our Sunday. I figured I would try to retrace, in reverse, last winters snow wheeling trip that I was on with @aero3685 @CO MTN Steve @3378jakesr5 and @alee891 (can't recall if there was anyone else). We headed out 119 to Apex Valley Rd -> Up County Rd 4-N(I think it's signage shows Elk Park Rd or something like that) -> Down Montana Creek Rd -> to Mosquito Creek Rd. It was pretty cool seeing it without all the snow and how different the road was. We ended up having to turn back after coming across two downed trees blocking Mosquito Creek. There was a bypass people had already started, but I wasn't doing any more damage than they had done so we backed up until I could turn around and went back up and out the way we came. It was fun getting the wife out to do some exploring on a whim, she's finally coming around!

Didn't really take many photos today but here are a couple

Top of the hill where Montana Creek meets County Rd 4-N looking North


Downed trees blocking Mosquito creek about 1/4-1/2 mile down from where Montana merges with Mosquito.


I thought this was kinda cool watching the water lap up under the ice on Boulder Creek
https://www.youtube.com/embed/9ptEbKCx1hc

 

Where's all the snow? I thought there was a blizzard the other day.

 

It all ended up in my backyard. Everyone can thank me that they were spared by my yard collecting all the snow

 

It all blew there with the hurricane winds

 

Now if I can only get my wife out on some trails again. I think freaked her out when I took the family over Medano Pass. The pass wasn't bad but there was quite a bit of water(no worries from me with the snorkel) and I had gotten stuck the day before since I was dragging my trailer behind like an anchor through the sand(again, no real worries with the winch on hand). She's a super-noob so I got to get her out on some close, easy trails to build her nerves back up

 

Did upper Geneva Creek on Saturday. Road in good condition, clear of snow and trees. I only ran it to the 4-way intersection a little below the ghost town due to the failing light. Hiking trail down to the Iron Fens has scattered snow coverage with small drifts up to 12" deep in spots.

Here's a shot of one of the Fens. Those terraces are each 5' tall!

 

Ran a 11 day trip recently for the beginning part of my honeymoon before flying to Costa Rica. Here is the map of the idea of where the trip brought us. The trip changed a little bit due to snow. Very Picture heavy, sorry I'm not sorry.




Running Tincup the first day and camping at Mirror Lake.


Airing down


Top of Tin Cup


Camp


Heading to Run Engineer the next day.


Looking at the snow moving in quick on us before heading up the pass.



Top of the pass hahaha. We were the only tracks up there. Got a little sketchy heading down the other side. Originally was going to go through animas forks and head up and over into Silverton but waaaaay too much snow came in quick.





Headed down into Silverton, drove through Ouray and spent the night at the Orvis Hot springs which was tight. Next day headed back through Ouray to go hike to Ice lake but we knew that wasn't going to happen because of snow but decided to snow bash up to Clear Lake after exploring South Mineral Creek and the waterfall.







Then headed towards Montrose to get away from the snow and head towards Moab. We found a spot off of Duck creek area just outside of Montrose that was pretty legit!





Stars were pretty sick out there...


Pup is out cold after long days on the road


Next day I met another buddy at a Brewery in Montrose and then headed out to Moab via the Rim Rocker Trail. We wanted one last "fall" night so we found a sick spot in the woods before being in the desert.







Quick stump flex then made our way to Moab






Camped after a rainy night and my one buddy dipped the next day to head back and we kept going.





This is such a beautiful place!







Not a bad camp spot near the river!


Next day we started the Delores Triangle and found a camp spot right next to the river before the river crossing


Crossing is pretty mellow this time of year.






Made a big haul that day and went all the way to Basalt and camped a my lake spot off of Haggerman pass





Felt we were being hunted by some mountain lions so the tent was fully packed that night haha

Up and over Haggerman the next day which we didn't think we were gonna make it! Suuuuper sketchy is some spots and some big snow drifts.






Over 1300 miles and back home.....She definitely needed a bath after this trip. Still sooo much of Colorado that we want to explore!

 

Is that the Delores river you crossed? We always camp near the river about 2 miles before it dumps into the Colorado but it’s always too high to cross. We go there in May though.

 

Yeah thats the Delores river we crossed. Yeah in the spring it can be 7ft deep. It isn't bad late summer/fall

 

how hard was the rimrocker trail. would you tow a 10 foot expo trailer?

 

Awesome trip! I'd say you've got yourself a pretty special lady if she's willing to go wheeling with you as part of your honeymoon! Pretty sweet rig too!

 

Did you end up using your RTT in the snow? I'm thinking about getting one for the express purpose of winter camping, so I'm trying to figure out how well different brands perform in the winter with driving winds pushing snow against the seams, as well as snow loading. Anything you could report on that front?

 

Rim rocker is not really a difficult trail but I probably wouldn't pull a trailer on it. Could get a little tricky in some of the tighter areas.

Why do you think I married her hahaha. Yeah she loves to explore just as much as I do if not more. It worked out perfectly because we "roughed" it for 11 days and then flew to Costa Rica to relax a little more.

I have nothing but good things to say about my CVT. I have woken up before and not known that it snowed over night until I got out of the tent. I would recommend getting the condensation mat under your mattress with any tent you decide to get if you are going to be camping in the winter time. My tent has been through 2 winters now and the cover that protects it is still in great shape. They are definitely in my opinion worth the money. Hope that helps

 

I don't but I know @3378jakesr5 ran this trail with his trailer so maybe ask him if he had any real difficulty.

 

no worries thanks

 

How good of an expo trailer? Do you mind pin stripes?