mt_goat

If anyone wants to keep wheeling after I am running Black Bear pass (D) on Mon (23th), Imogene Pass (M) on thurs (26th), and Poughkeepsie Gulch (D) and Corkscrew Gulch (M) on Fri (27th). These all in the Siverton/Ouray area.

COcajun

Sent the e-mail today, checks in the mail. I'll be there friday night, wheeling Saturday and Sunday. Wheeler and Antero 'til you guys convince me that Chinaman's the way to go on Sun.

cubuff4runner

Just signed up - I'll be there Fri Night. I am going to run Wheelers on Sat. There are going to be two vehicles in our group running it, if there are too many people we can take one vehicle. I think I am also going to run Chinamins on Sun.

SteveO

I couldn't help but notice there are currently only two rigs signed up for the

Taylor Pass/American Flag Mtn on Saturday.

What is the minimum number of rigs to warrant a trail leader for that trail?

What is the maximum number of rigs to warrant another trail be opened up?

If a trail doesn't make, due to lack of interest, will other trail leaders allow those people to join thier trail, granted their rig can handle the trail?

Aurora Sandman

Steve, you bring up some good questions, and Scott and I need to talk about all this. We're somewhat playing this by ear, so if anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to e-mail us.

Aurora Sandman

19 or 20 vehicles. I haven't updated the sign-up page yet, but you can get a pretty good running tally here.

Make sure you send in the registration information described on the information page.

Jeff the marmot

Just a thought... if you have too many people signed up for Wheeler, we could try doing two groups in a staggered start on the same trail and same day. I've never seen that done but have heard about it. That is, the 1st group would leave the campground 30-60 minutes ahead of the other group. I could lead one of the two groups on Wheeler. I don't want to step on any toes. It's up to you. It's possible to get a stock 4Runner to the base of bowling ball hill (near the end of the trail), although it might be intimidating if they are inexperienced. In the very first CO4RJ, the entire group did Wheeler, but everyone turned around just before bowling ball hill since a broken Ford was blocking the trail above the hill.

Aurora Sandman

Good thoughts. As is turns out, there is another very large, local club will be doing Wheeler Lake the same day we are. But we should be hitting the trail an hour before them. So I don't think we'll be able to stagger our group.

I don't really recommend Wheeler Lake to people who are running stock shocks and springs because they'll likely rebound down onto boulders on the trail. That was my experience before I got my Old Man Emu suspension.

Bowling Ball hill is a lot easier than it used to be. If someone has stiffer than stock suspension, they should be okay. Sliders are extra protection, but probably not necessary if the driver is careful. (I did it many times before I got sliders.)

Aurora Sandman

The group for Saturday's Wheeler Lake run is getting too large.

Here's an idea: What if we move the Sunday's Chinaman's run to Saturday and have those drivers run Wheeler on Sunday? In other words, we'll have a group do Wheeler on Saturday, and another group do Wheeler on Sunday.

Saturday: both a Chinaman's and Wheeler Lake run
Sunday: another Wheeler Lake run

The only disadvantage of this I can think of is that Wheeler is a good hour from camp, and probably will take us 5 or 6 hours to do. So the Sunday crew might not be back to camp until 4:30. If we did Chinaman's on Sunday, that would likely be 2:30 or 3:00. But I think everyone who signed up to run Chinaman's Sunday is also planning on staying overnight Sunday, so that's probably not an issue (with the exception of Scott Yoder and Brent, but they're locals).

Does anyone have any strong opinions against this idea?

JadeRunner

That plan sounds pretty good Mike. Then we could cancel the Glacier\Taylor run on Sat. and have those people run Wheeler also. I think everyone has a capable enough rig to run Wheeler. I'm pre-running it tomorrow, I'll carefully look at the difficulty of the easiest lines.

Mojo_Risin

Well, according to your current sign-up and if you did the above as you propose - that means there are only 4 people going to run Wheeler on saturday - is that correct or am I not understanding this correctly.

John

Albuquerque Jim

John,

Are you going to design shirts and stickers this year?

Mojo_Risin

Yes, I am - I need to do that - man time is going by so quick this summer!!!

John

Aurora Sandman

Ray Adkins
Jeff Bathke (?)
Bill Lytle
Steve Rector
John & Anna Stavola
Aaron Elso
Jeff Marck
Ferhad Bazyar

And if people are okay with us eliminating the "easy" Saturday run, you'll have a couple more vehicles also.

Flygtenstein

It really stacks up nice on Wheeler as a "mingling" trail of sorts. That way some of the more stock rigs can wheel with the more modified rigs. It would be a bummer if that were erased.

I have no other plausible solution to the problem that I think is truly there with numbers.

Caskey and the guys are thinking of coming.

bwillie

I am trying to remember if there is any where to park close to the trail head so we do not have to head back to camp after the run on Sunday. I think that I will be towing the G-wagon but running Wheeler with the RR. Do you have any suggestion, we could possibly lock some of the gear in the the G while we run wheeler so those of us not staying can get going a little earlier.

Of course that includes any one taking off from wheeler can put the gear that they wnat to take on the trail as well.

Any thoughts?

Albuquerque Jim

If I remember correctly, there's plenty of room to park around the lake by the trail head for Wheeler.

So you run a G-Wagon and the wife has a Rover, business must be good

Flygtenstein

That is sort of what I was thinking. Then I thought perhaps G-wagon was a generic term for his ride, likely a VW Beetle or Saturn.

Sounds like Saturday could be a hellish one on Wheeler with our huge group and another huge group behind us. I would consider hitting the magical mountain with Hunt's if space is tight, but I would really like to wheel with the crew headed for Wheeler.

SteveO

I'm up for whatever. I just want to go weeeeee

Aurora Sandman

I would predict Hunt would be going on Chinaman's Saturday.