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.
So the original plan was to start with Red Cone, which we decide due to
weather that would be a bad idea. So then we headed to for Webster Pass
as that should have been pretty easy. However, about 100 yrds into the
trail, as I was leading the group, I found that 32 degree weather,
snow, and rocks equal unbelievably close to zero traction. I got hung
up on some little 6-7 inch tall rocks that were slicker than snot, it
was like someone spread butter all over the place.
Well, late start, late finish and it was an odyssey... we didn't get
off the trail until 10:30pm and had to leave one broken rig at the end
of the trail for a tow... ouch.
As usual, the best crew ever though! Perfect weather (until it started
raining and sleeting on us while trying to work on the broken rig in
the dark on the trail, typical...) More to follow once we've all gotten
home, eaten, slept, etc.
There were 3 Voodoo Blue FJ's on this run. We met at Starbucks in
Downieville at 9am, TonysBlueFJ - hero - Ranger92. This was Ranger92's
first major run, he came here recently from Washington D.C.
Photo by Hero
The weather was beautiful. We were all wearing light jackets or
sweatshirts, the temp hovering around 53. Hero was our leader, he had
been on this trail before. We started out at 9:30 and went to the
beginning of the trail and aired down.
We had 2 FJ's, a Jeep, and an Avalanche for the run on September 2nd.
We started off simple and decided to get Boreas Pass & Georgia Pass out of the way (for those participating in Pass Baggers ).
Boreas is a SIMPLE dirt road, so everyone was kind of bored. The south side of Georgia is about the same, but things got fun once we arrived at the top.
I am one of the many four-wheelers in Colorado that rely on the trail description book by Charles A. Wells, Colorado Backroads and 4-Wheel Drive Trails (2006; FunTreks, Inc; P.O Box 3127, Monument CO, 80132). This afternoon we did Moon and Gamble Gulch trail, page 105 of Mr. Wells trail guide.
Moon and Gamble Gulch is a fun, short trail close to Denver with enough
challenges to keep your attention.
