This time the group assembled at the grocery store in Divide:
This trip we had Steve and his wife in their gecko green Rubicon, Brian and Sherry in their Lexi-Cruiser, me in my Explorer, Luke Katie and Mea in their Sport Trac and Luke's friend, Chris, in his red Rubicon.
From here he headed up Cedar Creek Road to the start of Phantom Creek. The trail was pretty mellow and easy. We weren't the first tracks on the trail, but we still able to wander around on the trail and make some new tracks near the center and edge of the trail. The snow was 6" deep or so and would really dictate where the truck would go- and sometimes that wasn't back to where you wanted.
We made some pretty good progress- probably too good as we didn't really stop to take any pictures (something we need to get better at- but at least we got a shot of the group at the start of the day). This trail passes by an area that was burned in a fire (the Hayman?!?!). The area is slowly recovering but it's a long way off.
At the north end of Phantom Creek, we cut over to Manchester Creek. The reported land use dispute has apparently been resolved as we encountered no closed gates. This trail was similar to Phantom Creek- just fast following trails covered in a little snow. Here's Brian splashing through a small puddle:
From here we connected to Rule Ridge. This trail has an optional loop which has a feature called "Crack Hill". I figured we'd come all this way, might as well go and at least get a look at it. We never really found what was pictured on the Trail Damage website that resembled the pictures, but according to Brian's GPS, we got right to it. Here we are assembling at the top of Crack Hill:
This area was at the top of a very steep section. The crack in Crack Hill was no where to be found, but there was a very steep section of trail that went to the bottom that we all took.
We were getting ready to head out of here and head back to Divide to grab some lunch when Chris radioed that he lost all drive in his Jeep. First I tried towing him but I could only get him a few hundred yards before the steep and loose gravel (and possibly frozen) wouldn't let me get him up the hill. We called in Brian to try with his lockers- no dice there either. We ended up winching him up this little hill:
But even once we got him clear of this, continued pace was agonizingly slow- and that was up non-snow covered gravel. The hill continued up into the tree where there was snow. Brian's winch was getting hot and it would have taken hours to get the Jeep off the trail. We decided to leave the Jeep pushed off on the side of the trail and head into town for some lunch. We thought that perhaps the clutch plate had overheated and the lunch break would allow it to cool enough that it could drive out on its own.
We ate lunch at the BBQ joint in Divide. I think just about everyone had the pulled pork sandwich with slaw and some of the best BBQ baked beans I've ever had. Very tasty.
After lunch, Luke took Chris back out to his Jeep but still nothing. He drove them back home into Colorado Springs.
The rest of us parted ways in Divide. I decided that I'd take Mount Herman Road into Monument instead of going all the way back into Colorado Springs. Mount Herman Road is nothing to report back on. It's a fairly well traveled road but it hadn't been plowed. I nearly hit 3 cars coming up the trail as I rounded a curve and locked up the brakes in the muddy/snowy/slushy muck and slid toward them. The passenger in a Subaru that I stopped about 12" from had a priceless expression on her face- wish I would have had a camera. I thought my bumper was going to get its first workout. This road at night would offer some great shots of the lights in Monument. And once all that slush froze into deep ruts- it would have been a miserable drive down that road.
Here's a neat rock I stopped next to:
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