Solihull Society - Denver, Colorado

All photos are of Rattle Snake and the Colorado National Monument

On the weekend of June 23-24 several club members met to pre run some trails in the Grand Junction area. Jim (66 Series IIa) and Pete (70 Series IIa) linked up on I70 outside of Denver and drove over the ‘hill’ to Grand Junction. After dinner they met up with Neil (96 Disco) near the Bangs Canyon trail head. The three discovered that overnight camping was not allowed at the trail head so followed the Billings Canyon trail about a mile and a have until they found a good spot to set up for the night.
In the morning the three went to Starbucks to meet up with anyone else that wanted to run some trails. Gem (2002 D-II) arrived and after waiting for a while to ensure that no one else was coming the four trucks made their way towards the Colorado National Monument and the mornings first trail.

After crossing the bridge over the CO River there are plenty of signs marking the way to the Monument. At the first turn there is a gas station that had the lowest priced gas/diesel in town. They also have a quarter operated air pump. This is also on the way to the Bangs Canyon OHV area.
The entrance to the CO National Monument is just a few miles further down the road. At the Ranger Station you need to pay $10 per vehicle if you are going to be stopping in the park, but it’s free if you are passing straight through. We just went straight through but for the Rally we will be stopping at all of the scenic overlooks. On the far side of the park is West Glade road, two lane gravel. A short distance down this is the entrance to the trail with a sign Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness Area. Turn right here.

There is a large parking area with a map board explaining about the area, this is a good spot to air down a little, 20-25psi should be fine. There are a few areas on the trail that have some small rocks and a couple loose gravel climbs. Airing down isn’t really needed for these areas, but it does help to smooth out the bumps. The signs posted here explain how the canyon is two different trails. One that follows the rim prior to August 15th and the second follows the canyon after August 15th. So we had to take the upper trail, while for the Rally we will be using the lower. The lower is going to be the more difficult of the two, but still only rates a 4 and is passable by any stock Rover.
When the upper and lower trails meet back together you are now at the beginning of Rattle Snake Canyon trail itself. The trail follows on a finger point of land sticking out into the canyon. About half way down the trail there is a pull off on the right. As long as everyone parks tight there will be enough room to get a dozen trucks off the main trail. This pull off is on the canyon rim and has some great views. Read More;

Our Land Rover National Rally Trail Leaders pre-ran rally trails.
Here are a couple of photos of their outing.

On June 3rd, 18 trucks made the trek north to run Kelly Flats. The vehicle make-up varied from stock to heavily modified trucks consisting of 9 Discovery Is and Discovery IIs, 3 Defenders, 3 Range Rover Classics, 2 LR3s and 1 Jeep. The weather was great and the scenery superb. Multiple lines were tried as the truck proceeded up Heart Attack hill without real incident. The real entertainment of the day started when everyone rolled up to the Chutes. Anthony in his D90 ST made quick work of the obstacle with only minor body damage. Next up was Kyle in his ‘customized’ RRC. Kyle quickly showed his energetic and enthusiastic driving style. The line chosen, ‘careful’ spotting by Ali, along with ample skinny pedal resulted in Kyle landing on his side. The truck was put back on it’s wheel with a strap and manual labor. A little winch action was required to properly orient the RRC Special, but after that Kyle proceeded through the rest of the obstacle with spirits non-the-less dampened. [Considering Kyle’s recent propensity to do acrobatics with his truck and the nice job he did fabricating the roll cage of this soft top RRC, one has to wonder how long it will take for him to make a complete external skeleton for the truck and stop typing up wanted ads each week on the forum for body panels.] Next up was Ali and his RRC. He chose a more delicate style of driving to negotiate his way through the obstacle. With just a little rock-to-metal contact he was through. Garbs was next and made it look easy with the short wheel-base of his D90 SW with 37” MTRs and rugged sliders. Scott in his DiscoII climbed up the first part of the obstacle with a nice wheel-stand and subsequent soft positioning of the truck’s front wheels back on the ground. He made it through with just a little rubbing (“Rubbin’s racing”- Days of Thunder) to the driver’s rear quarter panel. Last up was Jimmy in his highly modified DI. With the right line and ample use of his sliders he too was through with just a little ‘rubbin’. The rest of the contingent having taken the by-pass with their vehicles took a seat in the rocks to enjoy the show. Everyone had a great time, and served as a reminder that anyone interested in running trails with the club should come on out and enjoy themselves, regardless of their type of Rover, modifications, and driving experience.

Announcement: We are pleased to announce Beth Dyson-Muskopf has volunteered to be the Club Secretary/Membership Coordinator.

Thanks to all members for your patience regarding memberships. With the recent vacancy in the position, we were slow in response to membership questions, applications, and communication. We apologize. We are fortunate to have Beth volunteer.

There will be an official vote at the next general club meeting for this position. If anyone else is interested in the position please attend the meeting on June 12, 2007. See club calendar.

We did need to catch up on all of our memberships and Beth has done an outstanding job in a very short time.

Here are is the latest from Beth.

* All of the paid renewals for 2007 have been updated in the database

* New membership cards have been made for the paid members

* Thank you notes will be going out for all paid members with their new cards.

* Beth will be bringing the membership cards to the general club meeting for those that normally attend. The rest will be mailed after the meeting.

* Later this week Beth will start on getting a mailing out to those members who have not paid for this year. Beth will include the opportunity to pay for both 07 and 08 in the notice.

Our membership is what ‘drives’ this club. Sorry about the pun…
We are very appreciative to our members for participating in the many ways that make this club great.
Thank you for your time, effort and involvement.

David Garbs
Solihull Society Vice President

Running Kelly Flats today was popular (16 trucks) and interesting!! Trip Report to follow….

Event
General Club Meeting
Tuesday, June 12th @ 7:30pm
Location
Rock Bottom Restaurant Brewery
10633 Westminster Blvd, Westminster, CO 80020
720.566.0198
View Web Site
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We have added a Solihull Society Forum Member Gallery. The purpose for the gallery is to provide forum members a place to post photographs of their adventures, their vehicles, great places visited, volunteers efforts etc…

Solihull Society Forum Member Gallery

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