Colorado Spring Creek run 9/2/06

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Had a great trail run today with some of the colorado folks. It was great to see everyone again.

Spring Creek is very ... and I mean EXTREMELY ... technical. With my stock 33s and w/o rock rails, it was rough going, especially after my rear locker failed. I made it up to the rock garden thanks to a lot of rock stacking and some dam fine spotting by Alan and the others.

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Didn't get any pictures of our first obstacle. It was impassible due to extreme erosion and the steep angle of the hillside. So we got our rigs turned around and took an alternate route.

Here's Cory starting up our next major obstacle. Wheel placement along parallel ridges of rock was essential to avoid sliding down and high centering. What the picture doesn't show is the sharp turn to the (driver's) left and the next set of rocks, pits and moguls.

With some good spotting, we all made it over.

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Timgco and Cory heading uphill

[Wisha Haddan H3]

A nice spot for a break under an amazing blue sky

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Time to roll

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Always keep one eye on the weather. It changes fast

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Weaving through the trees, we all got colorado pinstriping

[Wisha Haddan H3]

We had a series of tight switchbacks, and the H3's tight turning radius came in really handy. But a couple were so tight even Tim and I had to back up for a second pass.

[The Green Lantern]

Sweet!!! :excited:

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Rapid elevation gains gave us this view of Georgetown and the lake (elev 8500). We started the trail at I-70 at about 8000 ft and it's already far below us.

[Wisha Haddan H3]

We passed one turnoff that went straight up through a boulder and mogul field but figured there was no way it was the main trail.

oops, all 5 of our rigs had to turn around at the dead end. Cory and I parked straight up the hill. Alec backed up to an old pump or generator. Tim squeezed in front of him and Alan had juuuuust enough room to turn around and lead us back to the turnoff.

[Wisha Haddan H3]

And here's alec tucked in behind me. He was inches away from wearing my spare tire as he squeezed back in there.

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Thanks Kathy for taking these next few shots of me getting up the turnoff. My e-locker was working at the bottom of the trail but failed during the run. It took a lot of rock stacking to keep all 4 wheels on the ground so I could make it over.

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Ultimate props to COhummer for spotting me thru this :beerchug:

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Trying to keep the wheelspin down (not working so well)

[Wisha Haddan H3]

finally, up and over with just the right CTM ... that's clutch-throttle modulation for all of you with an auto tranny :D

[Wisha Haddan H3]

And on we go!

[Wisha Haddan H3]

At this point my batteries died and I didn't get any more pics. Hopefully the other guys will add their pics to the thread.

The trail from here on up was very rocky, with lots of loose, soccer to basketball sized rocks, growing to the size of tires and small cars as we neared the last obstacle, the "triple bypass" ... at least that's what I'm calling the rock garden.

Giant boulders tumbled down the main trails, which were obviously home to fast and furious flash floods. The bypasses were no better. They were all deeply rutted and blocked with boulders, trees and twisted roots. Alan was leading, and we tried everything to get him up the trails, stacking rocks, trying any possible line and even squeezing between the trees. But nothing worked.

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Meanwhile, a toyota rock buggy hopped up the trail like a mountain goat, flying right over the stuff we were hung up on. They made it to the top, but broke an axle in the process and had to limp back down. Behind us, a group of jeeps had their own trail damage - a broken motor mount and a pierced oil filter.

By this time, it was 4:30. We had been on the trail for about 6 hours and clouds were moving in from the east. We turned back. As the clouds swallowed us up, the temperature dropped from 62 to 41F. Luckily it didn't rain or we would have been in a world of hurt.

[Wisha Haddan H3]

As we dropped under the clouds, I tried my camera one more time and got one last picture of I-70 west toward Georgetown.

(Edit: US40 splits off here going to Winter Park. It's the scenic route to Utah)

We made it back down without any problems and then drove down to Idaho Springs for dinner at BeauJo's pizza.

All in all, a great day!

[2xtreme]

nice pics looks like you all had a great time. :perfect10s:

[Waiting on my Black H3]

Looks like FUN@@!!!!:twak:

[H3slate]

Great pics! Thanks for the link;)

[Grape Ape]

Your photos make me want to move west. Its beautiful out there.

[Arizona Hummerboy]

Great Pictures.:perfect10s:

[fw888]

nice pictures...btw, how did the locker fail ? is it just happened ?

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Thanks guys. There's some real nice country out here, that's for sure. The trees were barely starting to turn yellow up there, so in a few weeks I should have some nice pics of the aspens changing.

I'm not sure how/why the locker failed. I was using it on various obstacles and then turning it off. And then one time the light blinked for about 15 secs and turned itself off, and it hasn't come on since.

[BigBill]

Looks awesome!! And I'm sure Beau Jo's was great too!

[DDWH]

:perfect10s: AWESOME PICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks like a great time!

[wpage]

Great narrative as well!!:beerchug:

[Boar-Ral]

We had a series of tight switchbacks, and the H3's tight turning radius came in really handy. But a couple were so tight even Tim and I had to back up for a second pass.
I hate switchbacks. On the wheeling event that I flipped the H2 on, there were switchbacks that were so tight that it took a nine-point turn to get around. You could easily reach out and touch hands with someone on the other side, if they weren't higher or lower than you. The grades were ridiculous. I wanted someone to take pictures, but everyone was too busy scraping out their underwear. Looks like you guys had a lot of fun!