Grant's CO Trek Schedule -aka "the Triple Double Black

[Grant]

OK , weekly update.

erik, got you for the Mt Blanca trip, Crunch got you for BV area.

Don and Tony the best meeting place would be in Buena Vista itself. See the schedule below.

Mon - Camp at alamosa KOA - Goatman and Erik. I will most likely meet you guys at the trailhead on Tuesday am.

Tuesday - mt Blanca - From Alamosa head east on 160, turn north on Route 150, after 3.3 miles turn onto dirt road 975, I will wait for you there. Say 8 am ready to roll at 8:15am. Run blanca up and down, convoy to Buena Vista.

Wed - Trails in the BV area, either meet at Crazy horse campground, or meet at the City Market in BV, 8:15am ready to roll by 8:30am. Trails might include Iron Chest, Mt Antero, pomeroy Lakes.

Depending on how the trails on Tuesday and Wednesday go, we may run Holy Cross on Thursday and Friday so we can Old Chinaman's Gulch on Saturday.

Meeting for Holy Cross will be at the Crazy Horse campground, or at the trailhead itself 8:30am at the trailhead, ready to roll.

Best contact after 7/29 will probably be to leave a message on my cell phone, 970-227-1311, but service may be sketchy.

I have not had any email requesting camping so as of Friday 7/19 everyone can make their own reservations. If it looks like we have enough people on Tuesday night we can request a group campgound then. Does that suit everyone?

Any other questions? Ten days and counting.

 

[Cheezer]

Grant,
I know it's hard to plan such an event and I really appreciate all your work, but is there any way that a definate day could be scheduled for the Holy Cross trip.
I thought the last thing on HC was to run it up and back on Friday and I think that is what some of the CO-XJ guys are assuming. I wouldn't have a problem making a Thur/Fri camp trip out of it. I would also love to run OCG on Saturday with y'all too but that would all depend on if we run HC up and back on Friday. I'd then camp Friday night and run OCG on Satruday.
I know it's alot to ask, and I am pretty flexible for the end of that week, but it sounds like if we are not up there with y'all on Wednesday then we really won't know when the HC trip will be.
May I suggest that you post an update to the CO-XJ list so we don't loose anybody in the mix?

Thanks again for setting this all up and keeping it all straight!!!

Eric

 

[Guest]

Grant, I'm down with that dude. I made a reservation for Mon. at Alamosa KOA and Tue. through Thursday at Crazy Horse.

 

[Guest]

my brother and I are going to be in Colorado for this...

WOW...

I just found out about this post today.

My brother and I are going to be in COLORADO for a week or two sight seeing and four wheeling and paddling the Gunnison Gorge and other areas if there is water.

I wish that I had known of this post earlier.

 

[Guest]

OK three quick questions for this post

WHAT CB CHANNEL ARE YOU PEOPLE GOING TO BE ON???

WHAT ARE YOU FOLKS CELL PHONE NUMBERS??

My brother and I are going to be in the BV, Arkansas Basin, area for about a week. I want to wheel a day or two at some scenic places where my 95 XJ with 4.5 inches, 31 mudders, and OPEN DIFFS can wheel safely etc. We are going to TENT CAMP at this KOA in BV where I believe that you folks are staying. We are also going to visit TOMKEN, and a few of the SKI AREA's. I would like to drive over one or two of the passes and I can do the cliff hanger thing. What I want to stay out of is serious rock crawling because I am not going to be bringing serious repair parts and tools for things like universal joints and ball joints and axle shafts and all that stuff.... I am just bringing simple tools and the Jeep with water and gas cans and a spare tire if you get my drift.


DOES ANY ONE HERE PADDLE???

My brother and I are bringing a SHREDDER and we are going to paddle the GORGE at least once, and we are going to try to get on a few other sections of river if that is possible. The water/fire situation is really bad right now I understand?? If any of you hard boat or have a hipo raft like ours and want to run the gorge with us please let me know.

My point of Contact is VOICE MAIL at 800 518 2214 3203 I have to pick my brother up in Chicago on the 2nd of August and then we are off for the long drive across the CORN STATES.

 

[Guest]

i could meet on wedensday (the 31st), is there a good schedule for that day? if there is a schedule or a first run on that day (that i can meet you guys at), i can get there...

 

[Bones]

I'm in (I think)

I have been working my "Donkey" off trying to get my XJ ready to go. It seems things I thought were ready aren't. I even found a toasted front hub and bad rear wheel bearing Sunday AM. My GDI won't be making this trip. The new Modine should be here Tue and if it does its job I will be in Alamosa Mon. I plan on heading out to CO Fri night and arriving Sat PM. I don't have plans for Sat or Sun eve as I will be canceling my Lakeview res in the AM. I will be pulling a BT3C Bantam trailer for general pack mule stuff. I thought about holding a site for Tue eve at the Alamosa KOA just so we all had a spot to leave most of the unnecessary gear behind then pick it up on the way to BV Tue after the trail. I plan on CH from Tue through to Mon then I'll be roughing it for the remainder of the 2nd week until heading back home Fri 8th or Sat the 9th.
I will be in for Holly Cross what ever days it's run and will again plan on keeping a site at CH for the trailer/gear not needed on the trail/camp for the overnight.

Bones

 

[Goatman]

Hey Bones, I'm glad to see you got your junk running and will be there. I found a few items on this last weekends trip to Swamp Lake that I need to take care of this week, including some cracks in the frame. Dad and I will also be staying through Sunday night and we'll be leaving on Monday.

Since we'll be staying at Crazy Horse, maybe we can make the Holy Cross trip a day run on Friday. It seems there is a lot of interest in this run, and I agree that it would help others if they knew exactly which day we'll be running it. That would give us two days to run stuff around Buena Vista, on Wed and Thurs. If Friday can be the day for HC, we could let Wed be a scenic run/ hang out day, and then plan to run Iron Chest on Thursday.....or the other way around.

We should just decide on a definite meeting place each morning, either Crazy Horse or the City Market. This is lookin' good.... :lol: :lol:

Richard G

 

[Guest]

Made reservations

Made reservations for CH. We will be there Tuesday and leave Saturday Morning. We will be in a site near the pool, the group site had no water or electric.

See you all in 7 days!

B-loose

 

[Grant]

A Week today, we will be running Blanca, expect a final update from me next Monday.

I know I am getting close to an event when I find unexpected damage - today it was the upper control arm frame mount that is no longer attached to anything - NOT GOOD, repairs tonight.

Sounfds like we are closer to a final schedule -

Tuesday - Blanca, Bones, Goatman, Erik, Grant. I will meet you guys at the trailhead, directions posted earlier. Bones, leaving the trailer at KOA may not be a bad idea, although there is space to leave a tow vehicle and trailer at the trailhead, I will be towing my Jeep to the trailhead.

Wed - Buena Vista, as posted earlier. Easier trails available, all in the same area. Do we want to visit Tomken in the afternoon?

I think we should aim for running Holy Cross on Thursday and Friday. Camping at the top can be an option, those that want to return to BV can leave the others at French Creek.

Friday - return from HC, those in BV can run trails in the area. Or do you want to visit Tomken on Friday?

Sat - Old Chinaman's Gulch - with the CO-XJ'ers

Sun - at your leisure, I will run some easy stuff in the am, and depart around lunch time.

Sound OK?

 

[Crunch]

Grant,

Have you checked on camping up top at HC. A friend tells me that you can't do it. He had some friends try to and they were told to leave and that it was not legal to camp the top and anywhere along the trails. I have no idea, just thought I'd let you know what I heard. Did we get a group sight? See y'all a week from tonight.

 

[Goatman]

It looks to me like we will have enough to reserve the group camp site at Crazy Horse, from Tues to Sat. I count at least six people camping at CH from Tues to Sat......Grant and Carol, Erik, me and my Dad, Crunch, and Bones, plus others showing up on different days. I went ahead and made a reservation, but I would be happy to call back in the morning and reserve the one remaining group site, from Tues night through Sat night. It would defintely be cheaper than individual sites....$12 for doubles and $6 for singles compared to $19 each for individual sites. Even if we were short the 10 minimum for a couple of nights, which we shouldn't, it would still be cheaper for us. It would also be nicer with us all in the same area. I'm going to start another thread about this topic, so please reply there.

Also, Ken Brubaker from FourWheeler might be available to join us on a trail run if we can give him a definite day that we will be running a trail. Since we'll be staying a little north of BV, I'd rather leave my camp set up and run up and back on Holy Cross, and do it on Friday. Grant and the rest of you, how does it sound to leave Wed open to run whatever we feel like running, then plan to run Iron Chest on Thursday, Holy Cross on Friday, and Old Chinaman's Gulch on Sat? Again, I'm going to start a new thread on this topic, so please reply there.

Richard G

 

[Guest]

Grant - I'm skipping the trip to Tomken, either day. Thanks, but no thanks

Grant and Richard - I think we should just wait till we all get there and you guys can wrestle over which trails to run and when. I mean no campfires, no TV, we need some sort of entertainment back in camp. Seriously, it's all good to me. I like the idea of leaving a camp set up at CH, but I also like the idea of camping at Holy Cross one night, especially if it's illegal.

 

[Crunch]

Richard,

I like the idea of setting HC for Friday since I have a friend who wants to run it with us, and having Friday as a set day to do it means he only has to take one day off work. I planned on running up and back anyway, so that works fine for me.

Thanks

 

[YELLAHEEP]

As far as the trail schedule goes, I don't have a preference as my wife and I will be leaving the decision regarding camping at Holy Cross to what ever our mood is. Sounds like we all will be able to make a go of it whatever the decision ends up being. I like using HC as the meeting place -- it's gonna be convenient for the majority of the attendees -- although meeting at City Market does allow us to grab lunch supplies before each journey.... Hmmm.

Looking forward to it! This will be "Heep II"'s maiden voyage so hopefully I'll have all the bugs worked out. I think I can safely assert that I won't be needing to raid Grant's rig for parts to get off the trail this trip .

See you guys Tuesday afternoon/evening -- we'll pop in at CH before heading to our plush little B&B :wink: !

 

[Grant]

It seems as though there is a delusion that HC is do-able in one day. With a group of ten vehicles - this is an overnight trail. Those wanting to join us for the trip who are determined to attempt it in one day will be turning around at the Creek and missing the best stuff, above the city. Any breakage is going to leave those "day-trippers" stranded overnight.

I don't want to be alarmist - I have run this trail many times in a single day, but with only two or three experienced vehicles. Even though HC is easier than it used to be it is still one of the toughest trails in CO, two pretzled steering setups were the last runs damage. All my single day attempts have been at least ten hours on the trail, and a couple times we did not even get above French Creek.

Decide as you want - I will be running this trail Thurs/Friday.

 

[Grant]

No replies regarding Tomken yet, so is there any interest?

Regarding camping at HC - I wonder if whoever is spreading the no-camping rumor is even from CO? I have camped there in the last six weeks, the Jeep and Landrover clubs have camping trips there this weekend, and the Forest Service is unaware of any bans, SO STOP SPREADING BS RUMORS!

Meeting at the campground for trails is fine, but City Market is still the meeting place for IronChest - Wed, and Johnson Village is still the meeting place for Old Chinaman's on Sat.

 

[Crunch]

Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2002 3:28 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grant,


[quote:eed52aa441]Have you checked on camping up top at HC. A friend tells me that you can't do it. He had some friends try to and they were told to leave and that it was not legal to camp the top and anywhere along the trails. I have no idea, just thought I'd let you know what I heard. [/quote:eed52aa441]



Sorry if it seemed as if I was spreading a "BS RUMOR".It was not my intention and I believe it was more "looking for verification". I didn't realize you were that familiar with this area. The person in question is from CO and very familiar with HC but has never camped up there. It was his friends that told him they nearly got in trouble for it. I am glad you straightened it out for me because I'd love to stay up there overnight and now have even more to look forward to . Thanks

 

[Guest]

so grant, you guys are meeting at 8:15 at city market on wedensday? to do holy cross? i have read about this trail in charles a wells book of colorado, i know this might be a dumb question but....do you think i can do it?, my experience is medium (left hand canyon, spring creek) and i have a 3" lift with 31" pro comp muds, tomken sway bar disconnects, a k&n, dynomax cat/catback exhaust, accell ignition, full skids and....*gulp* open diffs, oh and i also have a spare tierod, lcas, and anything i might need from an 89 jeep. by the way how would i get to city market from 285 or highway 24 north....thanks for your help

 

[Grant]

hjeepxj, please re-read my above posts. We are meeting at City Market on Wed for IRONCHEST, we will also be going past some easier trails for those interested. Meet at the campground on Thurs 6am, or the trailhead 8am for Holy Cross.

I cannot recommend HC in any open diff vehicle, one locker at least. You would be able to make French Creek, if you want to ride with someone from there. I have no idea of your driving ability, but I also recommend a locker for IronChest.