post up your camping pics

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by MTCK

That’s just mean to tease like that. Hope you didn’t spill your coffee!

Had Iced Tea in a Yeti tumbler with a lid. Didn't spill a drop. It did take a little while to remove the seat cover from my kiester though. Major pucker factor.

[Zoomad75]

Another weekend run completed. Made the run over Medano pass into the Great Sand Dunes National Park with my nephew Martin and my friends Bill in the Tacoma and John and his son Tony in the TJ Wrangler. Just to skip to the answer for an obvious question if I broke anything and the answer is no. But it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

We took off at 9:00 Saturday and made our way over to the trail off of state hwy 69. The trail gains elevation quickly to give a view of the valley we came from. It’s a little peek of the fall color we should get into on the other side.




Medano Pass is a pretty basic trail that most stock pickups can handle. This is an alternative entrance to Great Sand Dunes National Park. Cool thing is if you enter through this you don’t have to pay the park entry fee.



We are probably only a few days early to the peak of the color change, but it’s still very pretty.






The trail comes down quickly into the valley. We broke for lunch early. That’s my nephew Martin on the right and Tony on the left there.



John’s little TJ is still evolving. It’s now sitting on a fresh long arm suspension system. By the looks of how it drove on the trail it’s a hell of an improvement.



Nice to see it on a trail than apart in my driveway for the last week.


It may be a basic trail, but this time of year the views are great.


Here come Bill down to us.


More views.






After crossing Medano creek a bunch of times you can see the dunes come into view.


The trail changes to straight sand at this point. It varies from shallow to deep in spots. Driving on the dunes is not allowed, so this is the closest one can get to doing so.




We rolled past crowded parking areas with tons of people. Our need to be away from people and sense for adventure started kicking in. The original plan was to come down to the dunes, then back up the trail we came in on to find a campsite. Problem was the time was only around 1:00, even with 30 minutes to get back up to the campsite we would have a lot of daylight to kill.

Bill is normally dead set against setting up camp that early. He throws the follow statement at me: “You know Blanca is just down the road from here.” I respond to Bill that he’s lost his mind. For those that don’t know Blanca peak road is one of the toughest in the state. So Bill, John and I rationalize this idea down to we’ll go as far as we can and turn back when it gets really hairy and then find a campsite to crash at. Bill’s been up here years ago on a quad so he had an idea what we were in for. I had my trail book in the console and the description showed glowing reports for being nasty. Blanca’s main challenges are named Jaws 1, 2, 2 ½, 3 and 4. The main gatekeeper is Jaws 2. That’s spot we feel we probably can’t get over, but what the hell we are going for it.



Keep in mind just getting to this point from the road had us run up a straight mile of annoyingly loose river rock before the trail dives into thick juniper trees.

We gain elevation quickly and at times can look back across the vast San Luis valley.


I’m waiting for some additional pics from my nephew as from the point of the trail sign I had my hands full. Steep climbs with loose rock and tight switchbacks had me putting all my focus on the task at hand. The trail does start making it’s way up a section with more tight Juniper trees where the camper is getting tagged from both sides at the same time.

We made it up a serious climb after a switchback where 3 other trucks stopped. We assumed this was Jaws 1. After looking at other trail reports what we thought was Jaws 2 is actually Jaws 1. Bill reaches it first and radios back for us to come up and check it out with him. We see this mess down the trail from Jaws 1.



That’s a freshly rolled Cherokee. It’s missing the windshield, front driveshaft and bashed on each bumper and every panel. If that’s not a sign of what not to do I don’t know what is.

The survey crew getting into position.

[underliner6]

[QUOTE=Zoomad75;8606452]Another weekend run completed. Made the run over Medano pass into the Great Sand Dunes National Park with my nephew Martin and my friends Bill in the Tacoma and John and his son Tony in the TJ Wrangler. Just to skip to the answer for an obvious question if I broke anything and the answer is no. But it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

Great photos! We just did Medano Pass for the first time last weekend. We camped on the ridge of the pass. It was a little icey coming down the mountain to 69 the next morning at 7:30 AM...

[dieseldawg142]

mt Mcguire area


waterfall


the border peaks

[dieseldawg142]

McGuire


backside of Mt Slesse


Rumble stick

[dieseldawg142]

more McGuire


another waterfall


and the mutts are screwing around beside a 50-60 ft drop to the rocks in the creek...

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by underliner6

Great photos! We just did Medano Pass for the first time last weekend. We camped on the ridge of the pass. It was a little icey coming down the mountain to 69 the next morning at 7:30 AM...

Medano is a pretty easy ride for sure, but very scenic. I think the FS or Parks service ran a small bulldozer on the east side of the pass for pretty long stretch. I don't remember that side being that smooth, ever. It's almost paved enough for Subaru to drive over until the water crossings.

[Zoomad75]

Ok, the guys are on Jaws 1. To the very left is the edge of the shelf that leads to certain doom if you screw up. The idea would be to head up the chute to the right (just over the center of the hood and to the right of Martin) and then hook a hard left on top to go straight over the fin that cuts the trail diagonally. The problem here is that fin has a straight drop on the back side. You can see oil spillage in the center where somebody nailed the rock. We at first though of skirting the whole thing by hanging way left but the rock would force your ride to tilt right at the downhill slope below the shelf.
******



The group decides we’ve pushed our luck enough up to this point we decide to go back down the mountain to find a campsite.
It is beautiful up there though.




We start coming down and get a great look at the San Luis valley and Alamosa below.


*****
Side note from the climb up the trail. We found many trucks/jeeps that went part of the way up the trail and parked to then hike up the rest of the way. This is a pretty narrow trail so parking ends up happening in the corners of switchbacks. The trail is pretty popular for hikers as there are three of Colorado’s 14’ers up there to climb beyond the end of the 4wd trail. One of the trucks we passed was a 2500 Ram was rolling on 20’s with street tread. As one would expect on a rough trail like this, low profile tires and street tread probably aren’t going to last long. Sure enough the left front is flat.


The truck is locked up and nobody is nearby. It’s slightly in the way of navigating the switchback but we press on past it and laugh about the out-of-state plates and being less than prepared for this trail. Further up the road we came across 3 hikers loaded with gear and fishing poles. Bill in the lead ends up talking to them and discovering they are the ones that came up with the Ram. They explained they lacked the jack to get the spare swapped on. It’s at this point we see them loading Bill’s truck with the gear. Seeing this from behind we don’t know what’s being said so I call to Bill on the CB and ask what’s going on. Bill offered to carry the stuff for them as far as we could make it. As rough and slow as the trail is, they keep up with is pretty well on foot. While at Jaws 1 we talk to the guys and let them get the stuff and we asked about the truck and if they would like us to help them out with it since we all had jacks in our trucks. They were more than happy to take us up on the offer.

We get down there and get to work.


I grab my bottle jack and Bill starts taking the lugs loose. John shimmy’s under it to set the jack in place and get the flat off the ground.



We had Martin hop in and make sure the parking brake was on and he was about knocked over by the stench of weed coming out of the truck. It all make sense now.

Spare on I check the cooler to see if there is a cold one we take as payment. Upon further inspection, we’ll let them keep the warm beers floating in who knows what. Yuck!


My trail dog Storm getting a drink while we work on the Ram.


Martin was taking pics through out the trip, this is one.


Since I was leading the way down it was my task to find a campsite for the night. I spot a side trail back into the trees for a natural wind break and pull back there to check it out. We are loosing daylight now so this fits the bill, fairly flat for Bill and the rest of us. Camp gets set up quickly and we get into relax mode.



I’m getting ready to cook some cheesesteak sammiches for the group.


We hang out around our campfire in a can due to the burn restrictions and the sun sets on great day of wheeling.

[Zoomad75]

I got a few of the pics my nephew Martin took from the weekend.

Jaws 1 up close. It’s hard to tell what’s so tough about it from this close up, but the oil spillage on the rock is a clue.


This is the section we thought was Jaws 1. Mainly for the large fin sticking up in the center of the trail in front of my driver’s side tire. Just below here was where 3 other hikers vehicles were parked as they must have felt it was too much to climb further. Admittedly, it was sketchy. You can’t tell how steep this section was it was pretty steep, loose and the added bonus of the sheer drop to the passenger side.


More from the same section.






Coming back down.



We all had a pretty good weekend overall. I cooked breakfast for the group early and we boogied down the rest of the mountain and went to the town of Blanca for fuel and to air up. I had previously found a short cut to avoid coming back over La Veta Pass and having to drive all the way to Walsenburg and then home. We took it and rolled into the driveway by noon and unpacked the truck. No issues other than a couple of puncture wounds on the passenger side of the camper where the Junipers got a little too tight.

[dieseldawg142]

been a busy yr at work, spent most of the summer with my new dogs....breaking them in, Rumble has got fishing down pretty darn good..lol
started off at the main river, but the current was too strong. then he got lucky and chased a school of about 15 up this side channel


made a bunch of vids of him, here's a couple shorties of him haulin in 20 pounders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOaILgT8c74

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imZmdl8H6Ps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PpKNOTsVNY&t=3s

[dieseldawg142]

only prob is he likes to eat them, unlike diesel that did catch and release


took the dogs to the top of Borden then let them run down, approx 8 miles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo7DUdgIDZU

[dieseldawg142]

sights around Borden

[dieseldawg142]

me and Rumble went up Outram, but it was socked in...

[Zoomad75]

Glad to see you out with the new doggos Dieseldawg! Gret pics.

[AntiGov]

Christmas tree hunting

[dieseldawg142]

crew looks good Gov!
trying to source some steelies and caps for mine right now, they look good on yours.
seeing how it's offically winter, took the mutts snow wheeling up a few miles from our place.
going to head up this valley, was socked in pretty good in the morning and wit all the rain lately, lotsa rocks on the road, more than i photo'ed.
road was good otherwise for the first 10 miles or so

[dieseldawg142]

about 10 in we run into snow.
this was actually the slippery-est part. none of them tracks are new except for an atv i passed earlier, and being at the transition zone, rain/snow, was a little slick.


once the snow got deeper, traction was fine

[dieseldawg142]

come around a corner and get these nice views


this is the turn around spot for vehicles. the only tracks past here was the guy on the quad i passed and an old set of atv tracks...i'm first truck up


only got about another 2 miles anyways


behind that downed sapling is 3 more bigger trees. had to back up about half a mile on the hill to a spot where i could do a 56 point u-turn without sliding off the road

[dieseldawg142]

poser shot...


really quiet and peaceful up there


'nother poser


hey hey!
some blue sky poking threw

[MTCK]

Nice work on the fridge install! Bummer about your steering but at least you picked a time to drive the crew when oil is under 30 bucks a barrel...

[1976gmc20]

wife was having a conniption, she hates heights...(tee-hee)

I remember the first time driving over the Nass River bridge! Was towing a travel trailer and the road was very narrow back then. Come around a corner through the trees and there it was! Not much for railings back then, just a timber curb. Not much time to get lined up straight either. I've seen recent pictures and it's like a super-highway now although still single lane.

Also a little farther north the first Bell-Irving bridge was a brand new steel replacement for what had apparently been an old log bridge down closer to the river. There was no deck at all on the bridge, just a pair of planks for tire tracks laid down on the steel beams! We pulled in and camped on a steep clearing just to the left on the south side. Drove the back wheels of the pickup up on some timbers to level the trailer. It's all filled in and/or grown over now, but the same round top steel bridge is still there.

That was all back in September 1977.

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Nice work on the fridge install! Bummer about your steering but at least you picked a time to drive the crew when oil is under 30 bucks a barrel...

thanks MTCK!
ya, can't complain about fuel
dual 20's on the crew, last yr it cost me about $200-220 to fill up, yesterday it cost me $58 bucks to fill one tank- loving it!

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

I remember the first time driving over the Nass River bridge! Was towing a travel trailer and the road was very narrow back then. Come around a corner through the trees and there it was! Not much for railings back then, just a timber curb. Not much time to get lined up straight either. I've seen recent pictures and it's like a super-highway now although still single lane.

Also a little farther north the first Bell-Irving bridge was a brand new steel replacement for what had apparently been an old log bridge down closer to the river. There was no deck at all on the bridge, just a pair of planks for tire tracks laid down on the steel beams! We pulled in and camped on a steep clearing just to the left on the south side. Drove the back wheels of the pickup up on some timbers to level the trailer. It's all filled in and/or grown over now, but the same round top steel bridge is still there.

That was all back in September 1977.

my wife is deathly afraid of heights. more than 2 feet off the ground and she goes into panic mode...should have seen her on the open chair gondola lift at Banff the other yr...don't think any amount of talking or cajoling would ever get her on another open chair lift..

took the mutts up by Welch peak, weather was beauty-ous!


hiked up about a 1000 feet to this old dam that was used to power steam donkeys for logging back in the early 19 century. date on the concrete was 1910

[dieseldawg142]

sorta nice view from the dam


good shot of Rumbledawg lookin' all handsome....


....but not for long...he rolled in something. not sure if it's deer poop, bear skat or what, but it sure was gushy...and stinky

[dieseldawg142]

up in the mountains and snow today..

[dieseldawg142]