3/2- Phantom Creek and Rule Ridge

This month's trip took us back down to the same area as before- just outside Woodland Park and Divide.  There's a bunch of easy trails that are packed during the summer but aren't very well traveled during the winter.  And because the trails are easy in the dry, with some snow on them, they become fun without lots of towing and winching and shoveling.

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.

Pictures typically don't convey just how steep a trail is, but I think these actually do a good job.

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:

Illinois Gulch & Balanced Rock

On 2/2/13 we decided to try some "snow" wheeling.  I say "snow" because Colorado hasn't had much of it this winter.  Our chosen area was some trails outside of Woodland Park.  We assembled in Woodland Park at the McDonalds before heading out.  Brian arrived with Sheri, Maria and Dora in his Lexus Cruiser.  Lucas and Katie showed up in their Sportrac with their dog Mae Biggs.  Steve and his brother inlaw showed up in Steve's brand new Rubicon- complete with temp tags still in the back window.  Courtney and I, with dog Lucky, rounded out the crew in my Explorer.

First up was Illinois Gulch.  This trail is known for its one named obstacle- Mini Moab or Moab Hill.  It's a short rocky climb that has sandstone rocks similar to what you'd find in Moab.  There are 3 lines up it- the hard line is up the middle, the medium is up the left side and the easy is up the right side.  Brian and I tried the hard line just by nosing into the first rock but neither of us had the approach angle.

It was close, but cheater rocks would have needed to have been stacked up to clear.  And then we'd have the deal with what was beyond this.

Brian took the medium route up the left side and the rest of us took the easier route up the right.  I'll come back and add pics later as this is just primarily a test.

Here's Steve going up the right.

After Lucas went up, a nasty noise started from the left front wheel well.  Luckily it was an easy fix- some gravel must have bent the spring clip on his brake pads up so it scraped the wheel.  Some creative bending and trimming fixed it up and we were on our way again.

 Here's Dora doing her best to roll Brian's truck.  These flowing curves were fun.

Steve is really getting some tilt.

After Illinois Gulch we headed back to McDonalds for some restroom breaks and to grab some snacks.  Next we headed to Schubarth Road but it was closed due to the Waldo Fire in the area the previous spring/summer.  Since we still had plenty of daylight, we headed a little further north to Balanced Rock Road.  Here we actually got into some snow- wasn't much but it was just slippery enough to make it fun.  Not too many pictures were taken on this trail, but I'll come back and add what was taken later.

Here's the rock for which the trail gets its name.

New blog

Just giving this blogging thing a shot as a way to keep up with our off-roading adventures, trip planning and trip reports.  I hope to post lots of pictures and videos here of our adventures.

Hopefully this works.