Colorado Trip Reports

Is there still that tight squeeze with the two skinny trees at the top?

 

There was a tight squeeze at the top but it is optional (at least now, the trail seemed to be going around it).

When we were starting out we ran into a guy who was the adopt a trail person for the trail. He was pissed about how the group of jeeps was acting and mentioned helping fix one of the jeeps and winching out another before he left

 

There are all sorts of shenanigans going on up in that trail system since it is so accessible. One time I ran MSV and there were some bros in a big diesel off the trail mudding in one of the small ponds. The increasing popularity of SXS isn’t helping either. I was on Park Creek a couple years ago and a group of them came down the trail, probably drunk, intentionally bumping into each other and yelling obscenities all the way down.

 

had to try it never know what you can do if you don't try

 

Wait for a sale or GB (ARB Twin), there always seems to be several every year.

 

I'm guessing it's going to be a crowded early wheeling season with less trails opened up.

 

The whole trail network around Bunce is a shitshow anyway. I’ve never seen more idiotic behavior than what I’ve seen those tourists do on those rental side by sides up there. I’m assuming the company has a lease or something with the forest service, but who knows?

 

Yeah they told us they leased the land from a private owner, got pissy with us about parking while they were unloading what must have been a hundred sidexsides. Shame. Good trail. Easy enough for taking new guys. Just absolutely over ran with rented Razrs driven by people wearing bicycle helmets. Safety third.

 

Let me throw this bumper on and I’m in.

 

Are you telling me so that I can take a day off, or rubbing it in that I have to work for a living?

 

I tagged you because I mistakenly used "ride"

 

Youre getting smarter through osmosis then.

 

When I last ran T33 Plane Crash, I was stopped on the way out at that first rock shelf obstacle waiting for the latest batch of ATV/UTV dipshits to clear out so me and my buddy could move on. This one tourist, wearing a t-shirt, shorts, flip-flops and no helmet drops off the ledge and I swear damn near endos the ATV he was riding. I still remember thinking, “How the hell are we going to get this idiot out of here when he gets flattened by his 600 pound ATV?” Luckily for him, he somehow dodged the Darwin bullet, got the rear wheels back under him, and drive away in blissful ignorance.

And I’m not so sure that “lease” extends to the whole area around Bunce, but who knows? Regardless, it’s no longer a fun place for me to go anymore so I avoid it like the plague.

 

Just from the pics it certainly looks like people have been widening and making even more bypasses since last time I was there. I can't quite tell but that leaning/pushed over tree might be the spot, and it sure wasn't optional last time I was there (been a long while though). The time or two I've been up there Bunce was a shitshow, but the plane crash was mostly ok. Sounds like the infestation has spread south. Or maybe I was just lucky when I was there.

I know I've seen FS patrolling whenever I'm there. This is me just bitching without any real knowledge, but I'm of the opinion that the FS should hold not only the operators but also the rental companies responsible for stuff - both there and other places in the state, like the Alpine Loop. Maybe make them a little more choosy on who they rent to.

Also, I'm not really following the whole lease thing, but I can't imagine there's any sort of lease available to use private land up there for OHVs, at least not unless ownership has changed. The landowner situation I recall was very much them trying to close the forest road and discourage access, not open it up.

 

Bunce will prolly be closed in the next couple years. Too much resource damage, erosion is next, F.S. looks at it, and being underfunded, the gate gets closed.

 

Agreed brother.

 

Not to mention the Boulder aspect.


Rollins Pass issue
In 2002 the James Peak Wilderness and Protection Area Bill (aka Public Law 107-216) was signed into legislation by President George W. Bush and Congress. The Bill specifically created a narrow road corridor between the Indian Peaks and James Peaks Wilderness areas and states that if any of the affected counties (Grand, Gilpin or Boulder) request, the Secretary of the USDA will cooperate and assist with the repair of the Rollins Pass Road and until that time the attendant road (the BWR) will remain open to motorized use. Boulder County officials and the USFS-Boulder Ranger District have resisted the wording of the law and have closed the BWR. Both Grand and Gilpin Counties have made numerous written requests to the Secretary for the repair of Rollins Pass Road but to date there has been no repair of the road or the barricaded Needles Eye Tunnel. The reopening of the BWR, and/or repair of the Rollins Pass Road, and even the facts surrounding the 1990 accident in the tunnel, have become contentious and ongoing issues.
http://www.needleseyetunnel.org/what-we-do
Had a neighbor back when we moved out here that was in this group


Last meeting on this
https://www.dailycamera.com/2014/02...opening-remains-controversial-24-years-later/

 

Last sentence.
"Nothing is going to happen tomorrow"
5 1/2 years ago.
I vote we wall off the city of boulder and divide the rest of the county among the neighboring counties.

 

Money unfortunately talks...