Kelly Flats Camping/Wheeling

So I went up to Kelly Flats with a bunch of guys from Centennial State Powerstrokes. I never thought I'd see a bunch of 8,000lb diesels go up Heart Attack Hill but they did it. I was really worried about my buddy's rims. His is the Silver SuperDuty on 22's with 37" tires. Amazingly he didn't put a single scratch or blemish on them. So for anybody that's ever pussed out on Heart Attack Hill, keep in mind a group of rednecks in full size diesel trucks made it all the up and were only held up by me rescuing some kid who'd slid off the trail in his Jeep while wheeling alone.

Here are some of the pics I've retrieved from them so far.

When we got back to camp the pink duct-tape came out






Video of me running the Chute the second time around so my buddy Brian could come along.


So the major events of interest were coming upon the kid in the white jeep and then helping out the broken Sami.

Apparently (White Jeep) and his girl friend (who was hott btw) had decided to choose Kelly Flats as their second ever wheeling destination ALONE. He was open/open with stock gears and 34" TSL's. They couldn't get all the way up so they tried backing down. He slid off the trail and probably would've kept going except there was a rock that hung him up by his belly pan. His winch wouldn't reach the tree so he was SOL and trying to dig his Jeep out with a shovel when we got to them. I moved my Jeep arround his and anchored myself to the tree with a tow strap, he then used my Jeep as the anchor point for his winch. It took a bit of work but we got his jeep out and turned around. I told him never wheel alone and get on a local forum so he can find people to wheel with.

The Sami was supposed to meet us at the trailhead at noon but showed up late (we were even later as we'd setup camp prior to starting the trail) and thought we had gone on without him. His buddy was on a 2wd quad and he was in the Zuki (they used the white 4dr chevy to get their, it had a Cummins swap). They made it to the Chute when the draglink snapped on the Sami. It was a cool little rig though, even had a MB diesel swapped into it. What made this interesting was that he hopped in with us to finish the trail and then one of the guys that wasn't camping was going to drop him off at his truck on the way home. Well when we got to camp he realised that his keys were still in the Sami. I took the cooler and kids seat out of the Jeep and they got in the back while my buddy jeff hopped in the front. I then hauled ass through Kelly Flats backwards stopping at the Chute to retrieve the keys from the Sami and get the quad. I then went down heart attack hill and dropped them off at the Chevy truck. Then Jeff and I turned around and went flying (as in I spent most of the time in 4th gear/4lo) back through Kelly Flat's so we could get back to camp. It was getting dark fast and I did veer off trail once but managed to not break anything (besides my back) despite the high rate of speed. By the time we got to the Chute again it was pitch black so I bypassed it and we made it back with out any issues.

Looks like a neat trail....... need to put that on my "to do" list. :thumbup:

"Heart Attack Hill", huh? We've always called it "the horror" -- said in a Colonel Kurtz voice. I watched a CJ5 roll 15 times off of it about 20 years ago. Nasty.

Well the sign at the bottom that says Heart Attack Hill with an arrow pointing towards it and Bypass with an arrow pointing to the right is why I call it that.

ah. clever of you...

He 's so smart

Its not that neat of a trail. Heartattack Hill is overrated. For most of us it would be about a 3 out of 10.

it isn't all that challenging, with the chute in Dutch's video being the only real obstacle, but its a really pretty trail, with really nice southern and western views of the never summer range. I kindof broke my wheeling cherry up in those parts, so I still enjoy camping and wheeling up there regardless of the lack of obstacles.

old_man said:

Its not that neat of a trail. Heartattack Hill is overrated. For most of us it would be about a 3 out of 10.

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I agree, although keep your front output disengaged with your rear in low and your trans in 4th gear and it gets a whole lot more interesting.

Heart Attack Hill has plenty of stuff to play on, but I won't because if something goes wrong there its a LOOOOOOOONNNNGGG way down.

In 8,000lb diesel trucks with an average of 31-33" street tires running 40-50psi and no lift though, I bet its a whole other story.

I prefer most of the northern CO trails for winter snow bashing. The trails are a bit more open and devoid of obstacles so they are really good for trudging through a foot or two (I've seen more) of snow.