What an awesome trip! Participants included myself (in Nellie); Rich Steele (Rift Rider); Doug Elkins (Busted Knuckles); and Doug Caddell (Grey).
I was already in the Gunnison, Colorado area the week prior, running All-4-Fun trails with the Mile Hi Jeep Club folks. I came over to Buena Vista to meet Rich and Doug E. at the adorable little city park in BV on Sunday afternoon. We got into our AirBnB and settled in for three days of fun central-Colorado trails. Doug Caddell spends summers in Breckenridge and came down to join us for two days of runs, on Yansing and Holy Cross.
We started the adventures with a scenic run up to Wheeler Lake, outside Fairplay. Primarily a scenic trail, Wheeler offers up a very scenic climb to a mountaintop lake at about 12K'. Rich spent some time playing on the v-notch close to the beginning of the trail. Rift Rider gave one pretty big Jeep Wave on the first go and things got a little spicy on the second go. Watching Rich manage his rig was awesome! Grey woke up with a mechanical issue and Doug C. was unable to join us for Wheeler.
Next up we ran Yansing Gulch, formerly Chinaman Gulch. Right outside BV, this trail is one of my all-time favorites. It is more similar to our New Mexico rock crawling than most Colorado trails. The trail is a lollipop and the initial climb and final descent are bucket loads of fun! Doug C. tackled an optional obstacle, called the Rock Pile and Grey got spectacularly turtled, LOL, but Nellie gave him a tug and got him going again. Doug E. and Rich took turns playing on another optional obstacle, called The Stairs. Doug got Busted Knuckles into something of a pickle at one point. It was fabulous watching him reset his rig and dig into his driver skills to get both of them unstuck.
Day three saw us put both the scenic and technical elements together -> it was time for Holy Cross. Holy Cross is a staple of Colorado wheeling and found on many a crawler's bucket list. While most of the trail is in the L4-5 range, there are several serious obstacles that put this trail in the L7-8 range. I ran Holy Cross two years ago in the blue JL, and the trail has definitely gotten harder in that time. Two years ago I made it through with "relative" ease in a Jeep less built than I have now. Nellie got winched several times, and my Boogieman inconveniently decided to catch a ride with me on the way down. The guys got me through - I love them to pieces!
Colorado has loads more fun trails we need to go run - stay tuned for future trips!
:-)Happy Trails,
mary
