Hi all,

Thanks for all of your buying advice and tips - I bought my first ‘real’ Jeep Friday! It's a white '97 TJ Sport, 3.5 TeraFlex & discos, 1" BL/ML, Tera SYE, 31" Wild Country (mud-terrain type?) tires on 15" rockcrawlers. I actually bought it from an RC member, Innes Henderson. I believe Incinerator is his username. Was really helpful and seemed like a great guy – thanks, Innes!

I bought it Friday afternoon, went straight to the DMV and got legal, then Saturday I took off to the Buena Vista area. Camped that night, and the next morning after breakfast, I ran into three Jeepers from the Santa Fe area (Las Cruces 4wd club) and they were kind enough to let a newbie tag along. We took a light trail up Mt. Princeton first (incredible views!!), then went up a more moderate trail to Grizzly Lake. There was a nice little obstacle at the beginning which was a lot of fun for me - first real 'obstacle.' My Jeep was really just barely set up to take it, but made it just fine with only a hit on the t-case skid and control arm mount. There was another TJ that only had a 2" body lift and 33"s - he had to take another line. The rest of that trail wasn't too tough - couple of spots, but mostly just rocky and great scenery. Beautiful setting, Grizzly Lake!

Monday I wanted to ride again, but couldn’t find anyone to ride with. I had heard about Tincup, but it was closed, as was Red Cone due to snow. I'd camped at a campground (great one BTW – Chalk Creek Campground in Nathrop) so I could get a hot shower. Met a guy named Steve Drew there who had a nice TJ and suggested Chinaman’s Gulch. What a blast! It was enough to be a challenge for me in several places, and got at least a dozen new little beauty marks on the underside, but no breaks or problems.

Lookin’ forward to enjoying more of my new favorite pastime… you may as well have stuck a needle in my arm – I’m hooked. I have found my center! I’ll try to post pics when I get that figured out.

-Kevin Brewton
Colorado Springs, CO

glad you enjoyed the outing
And remember -> venturing out on your own (unless it's 'just' dirt roads) is not recommended

Couple more weeks and we'll be heading for the Ouray/Telluride/Montrose area to do some scenic wheeling and get some 'true' trail time in Montrose

quote:

Originally posted by Iceman:
glad you enjoyed the outing
And remember -> venturing out on your own (unless it's 'just' dirt roads) is not recommended

I was under the impression that Chinaman's Gulch was easier than it wound up being. But once on the trail, it was like a horse headed home! I just oculdn't turn around. So I just took everything carefully and watched the tires very closely.

quote:

Couple more weeks and we'll be heading for the Ouray/Telluride/Montrose area to do some scenic wheeling and get some 'true' trail time in Montrose

When exactly will you be there? I take it the 'true' trail time will be a little extreme for my rig, but I'd love to come along on the easier ones!

quote:

Originally posted by ThisSideUp:
When exactly will you be there? I take it the 'true' trail time will be a little extreme for my rig, but I'd love to come along on the easier ones!

we'll be arriving on Sunday July 24th sometime in Ouray and wil lbe heading back to TX on Saturday July 30th.
Probably some scenic rides beginning of the week and then off to the trails in Montrose later in the week

Congrats, have fun with the new jeep.

You made a good start. We first ran Grizzley Lake in 1986 with the All-4-Fun. I assume you took pictures. Some interesting things you can't see from the lake. If you remember looking up valley, there was a ridge on each side. I've got on idea where the one on the left is, but the one on the right is easy to get to. I think you're going to need some topo maps, the ones on the internet aren't as much fun. There is a trail that goes up past Mary Murphy mine. It dead ends at a couple of lakes (Pommery?). Next time if you drive up there, walk over to the edge (on your left as you're going up, on your right as you start back down.)
What you see is a great view of the lake and valley down below. And there used to be a cabin, overgrown from below. It was about halfway up the valley from the lake to the upper end. Nice ride.

Tin Cup is closed because, I assume, heavy snow still covering it. Give it a few more weeks, it'll melt or some one will shovel it. Tin Cup pass isn't all that great. Its about the roughest road to drive you can imagine. Just poorly maintained, so not challenging to drive, just uncomfortable.

I assume you stopped in St Elmo for an ice cream. Everyone does. That and to feed the chipmunks. Bring along your own popcorn, its cheaper.

At the same turnout where you went into Grizzley, there's another trail that leads right. It'll take you up to Iron Chest mine. It sits in a little valley beteen the one up past Mary Murphy and Grizzley. Kind of hidden.

A buddy and I went up there in 1991. It was a great run and when we got to the Mine itself, we used the binoculars to look up at the top. There was a big stone pillar with an American Flag on a pole. Worse, it was tangled. We each grabbed a sandwich and a soft drink and headed up hill. The group was having a great time watching us climb it (we live basically at sea level, maybe 700ft) Thin air kills us.

Anyway, we made it to the top and my friend scaled the monument and unfurled the flag. He was active duty military at the time. It was our duty! Regardless, I looked over the edge and discovered I was at the top of the Mary Murphy mine! Right on the other side of the ridge. Pretty cool.

Other suggested trips: Just before you get to St Elmo, there's a trail that takes off to the right, again. It leads you to the townsite of Hancock. Thats not hard 4 wheeling but very scenic. Beyond the town you idle up to Hancock pass. Worth the drive. As you top the pass, you'll see Tomichi Pass off to your left. Again, worth the drive over. And at the top of Tomichi, look back down into the valley. You'll see the worldly remains of an old Land Crusher. Been there nearly forever and each year it looks worse! If you don't go over to Tomichi, or start back, that same road goes past the turn back up to Hancock. If you drive it out, you'll come to the western portal of the Alpine RR tunnel.

About all you missed in the town of Tin Cup was an overpriced souvenior cup you could buy, or Frenchy's restaurant. Its interesting because its on an island. You've gotta walk across the bridge to get there. Good, big hamburgers. Inside or outside seating.

We generally like to park the jeeps and walk from time to time. Chalk Creek canyon is a good place to do that.

This is all from memory....but I bet its pretty close. We'll probably be in Buena Vista friday the 22nd. On Saturday morning we'll probably leave BV and do the run I just suggested. But then we'll drop down out of Tomichi pass thru the little towns and out to US50 and into Gunnison.

Another run you should make while exploring that region is up to the top of Mt. Antero. You can drive almost all the way up it. That trailhead starts just south of Natorp. Watch out for the deer crossing the roads, we've almost hit them several times.

I'll post more later. One of our members here lives in Fairplay or close. Grizzley or something like that is his handle here. You've got a lot of riding to do up there, also. Not just Red Cone, but on the other side is Radical Hill. If you go up thru Webster Pass (probably still snowed in) or come down the other side of Red Cone (its one way), you can follow along that ridge and come out in Breckinridge. Or, if you're game, climb the north face of Glacier peak!

For a nice ride, you can also run up and over Mosquito Pass. Its the fun way to go from Fairplay to Leadville. From where you live, there's no need to run all the way over to Buenny. Several of the county roads cut cross country over to 285. If you camp, just carry your stuff along.

I left out the campsites up in Chalk Creek canyon. If you run up to Pommeroy Lakes, you'll see a lot of informal places to camp. I agree that a shower is nice, but often one night is better spent in the woods.

Thanks for the trail tips! I'll save this post - there's a few trails I wasn't aware of. I didn't run Iron Chest because I was told it was a little more difficult than I thought I was comfortable with.

I may just catch up with you guys when head to BV. I'd love to explore some more of those trails with you guys and BV is only about two and a half hours from home for me. I don't really have any 4x4 buds here yet, though I'll be checking out some of the clubs here soon.

See ya!

I tried figuring it out, but to no avail - can someone tell me how to post pics? If so, I'll share a few from last weekend

You need a photo hosting service. They vary in the way to post, but basically you need to enter the url for your pix within [img] [/img] and presto, up it comes within your post.

OK... If I've done this right, there should be a few pictures of my little outing...

Here

I couldn't figure out how to title them, but one mountain range picture (with no Jeeps in it) is Georgia Pass, east of Breckenridge. The others are in the Buena Vista area. The one with four Jeeps in it is the top of Mt. Princeton. The trail pics with my Jeep in it are from Grizzly Lake trail and Chinaman's gulch.

OH! Like this?...

[IMG] http://photobucket.com/albums/b201/ThisSideUp76/ [/IMG]

No like this!


You go back to host site where your pictures are. When you bring your picture up, right click on it, then go to properties. Then highlight the URL from there. Then you copy that and paste it in your reply between [IMG] and [/IMG]

Yeesh.. just what we need another Jeeper in CO.

J/K glad you had a good time....

- Shawn

Yeah - Jeeps are so rare here!

Well, what can I say - I'm hooked. I've wanted one almost as long as I can remember, and I happened to live in CO when I finally go it. I do agree with a lot of your positions on land use - it certainly is a limited and valuable resource. Tread Lightly!

So where in CO are you? I'm still a little shy of wheelin' buddies, and especially the kind with real experience. I'd love to go out and hit a trail with you sometime when you're free.

Congrats on your move and I hope you're enjoying Colorado. I'm so grateful every day that I get to live here - I consider it a privelege and don't mind paying a little extra for it!

-Kevin

PS - thanks to 'dude' for the posting tip!

I'm in Severance (about 7 miles east of Fort Collins). And I would be more then happy / willing to wheel easy and scenic or hard and hairy it doesn't matter to me. My regular e-mail is thepagan@rockcrawler.com feel free to drop me an e-mail and perhaps we can hook up sometime.

- Shawn

nice, those pics are pretty good

i wish we had snow in the summer like that here in AZ!

Are those Tiki torches attached to the rear bumper?

LOL i think they are

As a matter of fact - yes they are!

They make great campground anti-bug lights with citronella oil! regular fuel or battery operated lights attract bugs and moths like crazy. Plus if I need a firestarter (rare in CO, but..) the oil works like a champ!

AND - you always can tell where the party is!!