Well, with the onslaught of new members from colorado here on yotatech, I figured it'd be fun to do another get together and a trail run.

I was unable to go wheeling because of tranny/tire problems last time when RckNck came out, but I'd really like to deflower my truck and me.

I am hoping we can figure out in here, a time in late february to go for food and then maybe a day or weekend of wheeling depending.

I'm up for some easy trails to get my feet wet, and it looks like there are some nice trails between denver and boulder type area (free of shelf roads ). If we could arrange it to do some easy to moderate trails on one day and some more moderate to difficult trails the next day, I think we could get a pretty good crowd for the trip. I think it'd be best to do it later in February because valentines day might throw off some schedules.

Let me know what you guys think, and some trail ideas. Also, please respond to where in Colorado you are, the types of trails you would like, and ideas of where in CO you'd like to meet.

For me, I'm in Aurora/Centennial, would prefer some easy trails, and would like to meet here in Denver but could do it elsewhere.

Oh, and I might convince a kid from school I know to come with us and join up, seeing as how him and his brother have 4 4runners/pickups between the two of them.

 

great idea, im down, im located in summit county, and my brother has a taco and hes in fort co. i think denver or boulder would be the best place to meet seeing as its basically in the middle of everything. just my two cents, and i know there are a whole lot of trails up here in summit but i dont know how there going to be in late february. i liek the whole idea of an easy day then a harder day since im pretty much a newbie also.
andy

 

The trails around Boulder are still good right now, but we'll see come the end of Feb. Let me know, I'm always down...

Dozer

 

I'm in if I'm in town & depending on the weather.

 

As soon as we get some dates Ill request them off and Im 99% sure ill go. We should try and go again late march Ill have my 33's. I found a trail in Central city that got a little rocky and I was by myself so I had to turn around but it may be a good one to try. Ill ask my Dad he had a 4runner and he know TONS of trails. Let me know what you guys think. Im down for any trail that a stock 91 Runner can take.

 

Independence is still snow-free

 

toy
damn that is sweet! can you run independence? i checked it out on 4x4trails.net and it looks like about the hardest thing i have seen. is there anything maybe a little less impossible snow free right now that you know about?

 

Since nobody wants to pic a date how about Feb. 7th OR the 21st. Let me know if this works so everyone can get off work. Any ideas for some trails?

 

The 7th works for me, I'll be there unless the weather is bad.

 

So shall we just say the 7th? Is that ok with everyone?

 

The 7th is a saturday. So is that what we want for a trail day and dinner on the 6th, or do trails and then dinner on the 7th? I think 7th will work for me. So long as I can convince the mother figure.

 

I think I found a good trail for those of us who are new at this. its calle Lefthand Canyon. Its rated a 3 wich should be ok. Doesnt sound very hard. For more details go to 4x4trails.net

 

I've been meaning to get back up to the Lefthand Canyon area...Darren and I did Castle Gulch a few weeks ago which is basically the other side of Lefthand, rated a 6 or 7. I know Lefthand has lots of options, up to 7's I believe.
Anyway, that area is cool. Count me in.

What about dinner? We could eat at Woody's wood fired pizza in Golden which is really good, or perhaps somewhere in Boulder?


Dozer

 

A day on the trails and dinner sounds good. The 7th is a Saturay and that would be great. So the 7th it is?

 

I would like to go with you guys on the 7th but that is the fiances birthday. I live in Boulder so if you guys end up going to Left Hand I may be able to take off for a couple of hours. If not I will hit some trails with you guys another time.

 

cubuff4runner- I hope you can go I want to see that storage compartment that you built, thats awsome. It would be great to have someone whos been there go so if you can that would be awsome. Hopefully the weather will be good. How about a back up day if weather is bad we could go Feb. 21st.

 

you cant do this without me just not right, J/K you guys have fun, and please take plenty of pics, ill be back out in June, as time get closer, ill let ya all know.
keep the rubber side down.
Ric

 

i'm in for the 7th as well. i've been up lefthand canyon back in december with my roommate who's got a monster cherokee (38's, 1 ton axles front and rear, ARB) and we even got stuck in a few spots and had to winch ourselves out. it was primarily because of the amount of ice on the trail. there are however, as someone else said, ways around a lot of these bad spots and the trail splits in two ways and the other side is a little better. anyway i'm up for it, so count me in.
nate

 

For those of you who haven't been to lefthand recently a good majority of it is now closed. You used to be able to either go to the right in the beginning up carnage canyon or to the left to the "meadow" and tons of other trails. The two main trails are still open but the forest service has run cables on both sides of the road to keep everbybody on the main trails. For those of you who haven't been there Carnage Canyon can be done by a vehicle with 33's and there is many spots where you can go around, however don't expect to come out without some scratches on you rims and underneath. The other trail which goes up to the meadow is easy and can be a fun trail, where Carnage and the meadow trail meet are a few other trails. I have taken only one and it began to get tough. Overall there are still a lot of trails to play on, but I'm just giving you guys fair warning if you are expecting it to be like it used to be.

Jeff

 

So I believe we have 7 people so far including me-
Scubasteve83
Plays_with_toys
NRM
Dozer
rwmorrisonjr
4runner4life2
Is this right? Im gonna try to get my freind with a 2001 Tacoma to go so that may be 8. Anyone else wanna go and is this gonna work for everyone.
cubuff4runner-are you gonna be able to make it? Bring the Fiance with. It will be fun, my girlfreind is going.

Where should we all meet?

 

I invited the owner of one of the Jazz It Up shops, he's got a sweet 84 p/u, and is on Colorado 4x4, but not here yet. He said that Lefthand canyon is carnage canyon, and that it is very tough. I am also planning to invite the guy and his brother from school. Darren also contacted me and is interested but has to make sure he can go that day. So we might have between 7-15 people by the time we have this settled.

Anyone know for sure if they are two different trails? Also, anyone run lefthand canyon before, are stock trucks going to be able to do the trail? I think it would be cool if some of the more experienced drivers could teach a few essentials up at the playground, like approaching cambers correctly and stuff like that.

I still don't know for sure if I can go, I am going to continue to convince my mom, I may have to bring a few of my friends with their domestics in order to make it alright with her, but they are all good people

Also, who is near boulder and would be able to scout the trail, check snow levels closer to the day? As far as a place to meet, I would say something right off the highway, so that everyone can find it easily.

CUbuffrunner, definately come out if you can, the more the merrier, and I definately want to see your bumper in person.

 

The traditionally named Lefthand trail is definitely a separate trail from Carnage, which is a spur off of it. The former is definitely suitable for stock rigs with many huge optional moguls for some flex shots and what not. That whole area is a maze of networked roads. I've only been there once as I don't usually like to drive the populated ones, but further to the north after the playground area, there is a somewhat decent rock garden, but still suitable for stockers.

I've done Castle Gulch a few times, which is just a few miles past the turnoff for this one. I think Dozer and myself are planning to do a bit more exploring up there this weekend or next. I would expect more snow for the run 2.5 weeks from now, but we'll see. Prior to today's storm, the area has been dry as a bone. Who knows what it's doing now.

 

I have been going up to LeftHand for 6 years now. Carnage Canyon is only one of the trails at LeftHand OHV. I have went up there with many stock vehicles. Now that much of it is closed stock or slightly modified vehicles can run a few trails, depending on the snow, if there is no snow a stock vehicle could spend an hour or so up there if there is snow it could make you a little nervous. There are a few places that have steep slopes up to the trail and a little slip could cause problems.

The fiance and here parents are going to the CU Basketball game so if you guys are going to be up there around this time I will meet you up there.

 

The area used to be a maze. The link below shows some of the work that was done this summer.

Trail Closure

 

i was up there this past weekend and whatever the trail is called that starts off directly from lefthand canyon road is pretty icy right now. like i said before, i went up there with a friend in a huge cherokee and he got it stuck for a little while. now we only took one branch and so i don't know what the other part is like but it seems to me that most stock vehicles would not be able to get up what we did this past weekend. but thats just from what i noticed of the one branch.