We had an excellent time at Metberry
Gulch on April 27th! With a total of 9 FJ's (and 1 XJ), it was the
largest turnout I've seen since the '07 FJ Summit. From Athena &
Bill's VERY modified BC, to the two '08 sandstorms, almost every FJ
iteration was covered. Robbie brought his TT all the way down from
Loveland, and Angie & I finally got to flex our Toytec 3” lift
a little bit.
If you haven't run Metberry yet, you
should. It's a great moderate trail that will really show you what
your FJ (or other 4x4) can do. We had several bone-stock FJ's with
relatively new drivers that all did just fine. There were, of course,
a few scrapes – but no permanent or major damage was done.
The end of the trail treated us to an
amazing view of the river. Thanks to Robbie we had a real 'gourmet
picnic'. He was kind enough to bring BBQ pulled pork and fresh
macaroni salad. Everyone else brought something to contribute to the
pot-luck, and everything tasted wonderful.
It was really a great day of friends,
FJ's, and FUN. If you missed this one, hopefully you can join us next
time.
From Jackie (TonysblueFJ):
The day started at 10am, 5280FJ, RockyMtnHigh, and TonysBlueFJ met at RockyMtnHight's house. We headed out at 10:15 to meet with the rest of the gourp at Ted's Corner. We met sdlsatcom, BLUETHUNDER, spincycle, 1 FJ40, 1 Rubicon (69fj on fjcrusierforums.com), and 4 Tacomas.
This is an easy trail to run. We encountered mud, water, snow, ice and everything in between.
The leader of our group was one of the Tacoma's he had done the trail before. TonysBlue took up the rear.
Half way up to the top there was a spot where you could stop for lunch or just a break. At this stop were some boulders, where you guessed it, some of the Tacoma's had to try to crawl over them. They got high centered. The first one the guys were able to push him off. The second had to be pulled off with the help of the FJ40.
We continued on to the top where we encountered a very deep and high snow drift. There was some discussion to dig through it but the snow started moving in and we decided to turn around and go back the way we came. The snow started coming down heavy at times. It was a great trip and everyone had a wonderful time!
The Metberry Gulch Trail was just opened back up this summer, after a five year closure because of the Hayman Fire. Whoever went in and cleaned it up, THANK YOU!
The trail is below 8500 feet, I was looking for a place to wheel below timberline, and I have not been to this area before. Lots of burned trees. We found directions online, consulted Charles's book, grabbed the atlas and headed out (Of course we got lost). The Gazetteer has issues with posting county roads. We found the trail head by accident at around 2:30pm.
Our trail report said the road was relatively smooth to the trail. Actually, from the turn-off from County Road 68 to the trailhead, it is sixteen miles of run-off ruts and sharp pointy trees. The good people had cut back the branches and so there were sticks ranging in height from Sidewall Pokers to Roof Rack Tangles, and Side Panel Scratchers in between.
Well, we had a good time. Met in Sedalia, then headed down 67, through Deckers
and then turning at Westcreek. (don't blink)
Metberry gulch is one of three trails that was closed in 2002 after the Hayman
fire (remote area, so nothing like what's hit SoCal). The fire was started by a
Federal Forestry Officer, and 5 firefighters lost their lives battling it. This
area is pretty much due west of the Air Force Academy. This trail was just
reopened this summer. I do not know the offroad groups name that helped rebuild
it so it could open, but "thanks". Both the Traildamage.com and
Charles Wells instructions for getting here could be better!!! The trail dead
ends at a camp/fishing spot on the PlatteRiver.
Met MountainMan, his bro and kids, and a friend of his with a Jeep Unlimited
and two more kids!! Turns out it was hunting season, and we were the only ones
that didn't have orange hats & vests on.
It was a great time. At the end of the trail, we setup for a little rest,
cooked some hotdogs, and played in the river. Nice and relaxed day. Next time
we want more of you there!!
Thanks to MountainMan for setting this up, and his friend and the young ones
for making it a great day.
Athena &
Bill's VERY modified BC, to the two '08 sandstorms, almost every FJ
iteration was covered. Robbie brought his TT all the way down from
Loveland, and Angie & I finally got to flex our Toytec 3” lift
a little bit.
