06.12
Empire, Colorado – We started out the trip to Bill Moore lake by meeting at Idaho Springs Safeway. It was a warm sunny day and I had the soft top on my ‘66 IIA, but didn’t need a coat.. While waiting for everyone to show up, we got to talk to some new members who were going on their first club trail run. These were Erica Meylan and Kristy Long in a ‘95 D-90, and Tom and Sherry Henry, friends of Jim Molter, in their new used(11,000 miles) Toyota 4-Runner. Other participants included Jan Smith in his ‘95 D 1, Scott Launer in a ‘97 D-90, Dave Whitney in a full sized Ford Bronco(Pinz is broken), Marc Richardson in a ‘92 RR, Jim Molter and his brother Bob from Florida in a ‘95 D-90, Carl Padgett in his ‘97 D-90, and Tim, Coleen and Bronwyn Clair in their ‘90 RR.
The trail is not particularly long, and starts out of the small town of Empire, just off I-70 and Hwy 40. The trail is fairly mellow, but has a few obstacles. The first is the chute, which is optional. It is a side trail which goes off to the left and climbs more steeply up the hill. It has quite a few decent sized rocks that must be negotiated, and a tree root that one has to be careful to not scrape against. Past that is a short mogul hill with several “bypasses” to the left that shouldn’t be there. The bypasses are no better, and probably harder than the main trail, and should be avoided. The legal bypass is a trail that goes to the right before the mogul hill, and meets back up above. There is then another moguled hill with three paths up it, but it isn’t as steep as the first. After that the trail goes up a ways further, then goes down a moderate slope towards the lake. Just a quarter mile or so before the lake is mud pit off to the right. It is deep, narrow and soft. It probably has many logs stuck in it, and the mud is a fine silt that can infiltrate trannys and diffs. It should be avoided, as I found out the hard way a few years ago.
As we headed up the trail, it was decided that the 4-Runner probably didn’t want to go up the chute with all it’s large rocks as they had stock tires, and running boards which would surely suffer if they did. I lead them up the main trail while everyone else went up the chute. Quite a few of them got some good air crossing the ditch at the start of the chute. No one had any problems on the chute from what I was told. We met a few vehicles coming back down, and heard rumors of a group of built Jeeps that were trying to break through to the lake. The Bronco club was also supposedly trying to get to the lake too. We never saw either of them.
The mogul hill didn’t present many problems, although a few people had to take different lines, and we had to figure out that the Toyota’s traction control took some rpm’s to start working, like Land Rover’s. The second mogul hill gave no problems what so ever. We made our way up to the top, and could see clouds all around us with what looked like snow. We still had clear sky above us, but probably not for long. There wasn’t any snow until we started down the hill and ran into a small, narrow drift right in the middle of the trail. I tried going through it a couple times, but wasn’t getting far, so I went around it carefully like many others had. Upon doing that, I started thinking that I shouldn’t have as I was setting a bad example of going around hard parts, so I immediately stopped and put on my two sets of chains. Carl was the next to get to the snow, and it took him a few tries, but with his larger and newer tires, he managed to bust through. everyone else made it through ok except Tom in the Toyota due to the lower ground clearance. Jim Molter quickly pulled him through however. I then came upon a deeper looking drift that petered out on the right side of the trail. I started across it and sank somewhat on the left side, but was still worried I might be tipped to far to miss the trees on the right. I did make it through, but with a little pucker factor. Everyone else made it through ok, although I watched Carl enjoy about the same angle I had encountered.
Further down the trail, all tracks ended except for a couple 4-wheelers ahead of us. Virgin snow, scary virgin snow. This was a long drift on the steepest downhill section.
A steep drop-off was on the right, with a deep drift covering the left 2/3 of the trail for maybe 50 feet, and another short one after it. I was wondering if I should attempt it, and probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for the narrow dirt section on the right. I figured it was enough to keep me from sliding off the edge, plus Carl, who was behind me had a winch, and so did I. I slowly made my way across, sinking slightly into the snow, but still supported by most of it, and at an uncomfortable angle again.. I finally made it across the long section, and got to even more of an angle on the shorter drift, but we were almost there now. Everyone else made it down ok, and I have to give a hand to them, especially the new members as they all did great.
There was one more drift just before the mud bog. Tom decided to leave the Toy there and ride to the lake. We made it to the lake in a short time and stopped to enjoy the lake and beautiful alpine meadow. While we were eating, it started getting cloudy, windy and cold. The storm had caught up to us. I was hoping we wouldn’t get much snow as getting back out was going to be enough of a challenge as it was. We decided to start back up, stopping for Tom’s truck at the base of the hill. I slowly and deliberately clawed my way up through the snow, slipping some but never getting stuck. Jim Molter came up next, slipping some also, but without getting stuck. Tom was next, and he didn’t get too far before the slope and the snow had their way with him. We got several straps and Jim was able to pull him up. Next came Kristy, who made it a bit further, but also got stuck. She decided to use her winch, as I believe, Josh, had not long ago given her some instruction. She was able to pull herself up with no problems. Next came Marc, who was spinning quite a bit. We were wondering if he was going to make it, but he did. Later he realized he hadn’t engaged the center difflock, so had pulled himself up on his front locker. Jan, Tim, Dave and Scott all ended up getting stuck also. Dave, having a wider track and probably a bit too much speed, ended up with a rear tire over the edge, but was recovered ok. Scott got pulled into his tracks, and suffered the same fate. Carl crawled up just fine. On the next drift, Dave slid off again, and this time needed a strap from the front, and a winch to a tree on the back to keep him from sliding while being pulled out.
About this time, Tim couldn’t get his rangie started, so I pulled alongside him to give him a jump. We determined that his alternator had died, so we had to stop every so often to give him a jump and charge his battery a bit. Eventually Carl was nice enough to lend him one of his batteries so he could make it home. A couple people got stuck in the next drift, but most made it through. It had warmed back up a bit, and luckily, we had only encountered a few short flurries of snow while tackling the drifts. The rest of the trip was uneventful, with everyone making it out ok and going their separate ways.
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