Offroading in CO - Moon Gulch 9-28-08

[kwells]

Just a little early Fall pictorial for my off road adventure last weekend to Moon Gulch in the Jeep.  

[h2olawyer]

Well, Mr.kwells & I saw the beginning of the end of the riding season here yesterday.  We went out for some more Jeep adventures.  An easy loop around Pole Mountain - near Estes Park, consisting mostly of powerline access roads.  As we were bouncing around these trails, the small snow pellets began falling.  We were also not able to see very much scenery since we were in the clouds.  There are supposed to be some nice views of Estes Park from that road but we sure couldn't see them.  The best view was of a cute blonde hiker walking along that trail.   ;D

We then found a second trail that goes from Estes Park to the South.  It took some searching to locate the road - we missed a couple hard to find turns the first time through.  By now, the snow was falling a bit harder.  Still not really sticking to the ground, but the flakes went from those tiny pellets to the large globules of flakes so common when the temps are just at the freezing point.  That trail seemed to climb, climb again and even climb some more.  Again, nothing too rugged for a stock Jeep Grand Cherokee.

After coming back out on the highway, we thought about contacting Inanecathode - but there was absolutely no cell service to be had up there.  We continued on the road to Nederland - as we needed to fill up again (beer, not gas).  Also had a couple slices of Pizza while we were in civilization.  At this point, it was quite dark and the snow was really coming down.  By the time we left Nederland, there was a good inch of snow on the paved parking lot surface.

As we headed back north, toward Estes Park, we decided to try another trail.  This one is quite a bit more rugged than the others we tried.  There are several places where logs have been placed across the trail to combat erosion.  The snow was starting to pile up and the traction on the trail was decreasing rapidly.  We made it over several logs and through some tricky rock piles and finally got to a major rock garden with lots of 3 - 4 foot dianeter rocks.  I saw the path the Jeep could take - provided the rocks were dry.  In the snow, there was no way we could keep the Jeep in the intended points of travel.  Decided that discretion was the better part of valor and turned around.  As we descended, the rear of the Jeep tried to constantly swap ends with the front.  Made for an interesting descent.  We reached the highway, turned north, headed for lower elevation at the earliest convenience, and headed back for Ft. Collins (through Lyons, Longmont and Loveland).  At points along the trip between Nederland and the North St. Vrain Canyon, we were limited to 25MPH travel as the snow was really coming down.  Road was fairly slick and it was most definitely a solid fall snowstorm.  The snow changed to rain at about the 7000 ~ 7500 foot level.  Visibility and traction improved so the speed came back up to normal.  Reached my house around 1AM and kwells headed back home to Lakewood (in SW Denver metro area).

A great day with good company.  Wish we could have seen the scenery, but it did make for a fun adventure - even though I didn't take any pix despite having both video cams along.  Too busy having fun.   ;D

H₂O

[kwells]

I slept good last night...got home around 2:15am
contemplating finding another trail today...not sure about the snow though.

good times, good times

[h2olawyer]

Glad you made it home safe & sound.  Did you find another trail to attack today or did you try and then get snowed out?

H₂O

[kwells]

I actually went to work at the lab today...

ha...covers the full tank of gas I burned through!

I figured the snow wouldn't have been melted so I gave up on it.