After meeting Paul ("Dozer") for the first time today, we (and his friend he brought along) headed off to the China Wall trail (south of Jefferson ~25 mi.), which I had yet to go on, and have heard some good things about. There's really only one tougher obstacle on it, and overall was kind of short, but it was pretty scenic with nice boulder outcroppings along the way, which is common for that region. All in all, I think it was a fun trail.

It was about 3 when we finished China Wall, and we decided we'd also do a night run on Slaughterhouse Gulch on the way back to make a full day of it. Most of you locals are familiar with that trail, so I really don't have too much to add. We did, however, come across a stuck Scout before we even got to the trail loop! He was stuck pretty good in the ice hole pictured below. I think he was hung up on his rear pumpkin, or a shock mount. Anyway, Dozer got to use his winch for the first time as he installed it and his ARB only about a week ago! We tried a couple of attempts, but winching only pulled Dozer's 4Runner closer to the stuck rig. We then strapped mine on as an anchor. This time both of the 'Runners were skidding! We eventually got the Scout out ~45 minutes later and we finished up the rest of the trail under a mostly full moon.

Here are the pics. I will add these and the rest not shown to my site on a later date.



Along the China Wall Trail



This is the toughest section of the trail in this tight squeeze and 30 degrees off-camber. Yep, the mirrors had to be folded, otherwise they would have been folded for us!



Still some good size rocks and ledges to negotiate just after the initial sqeeze, but easily manageable



Dozer starting back up the same section



Me, nearing the 30* off-camber mark



Dozer on an optional obstacle



The stuck Scout



Me, serving as an anchor


Again, nice meeting you, Paul. Your 4Runner looks great! I had a great time today and I'm glad you guys were up for doing both trails. We'll look forward to the next time.

 

Sweet pics Darren

 

Where is the snow, man? I thought that Colorado was the land of snow and when December came, trail time stopped and ice racing started.

Looks good and it is always great to help people out when they need it.

I assume the Scout was alone? Seems like a really good plan for this time of year out there.

Anyway, looks like a good time.

 

Thanks for posting the pics, Darren! I havn't figured out how to post pics in this form yet...

Yeah, the scout was alone. He had just installed dual ARB's and i think this was his first run with them! Anyway, I think he and his 6 year old son had been sitting there for some time before we rolled up. By the time we got him out, He was ready to run the loop now that there was a posse, but his kid wanted to go home...dad was a little disappointed! Oh well...

So there's my 'runner. Thanks for immortalizing it on Yotatech, Darren! Your rig is bad ass. I had a great time and am looking foward to it again real soon...Monday?

Dozer

 

Great pics, looks like you guys had a blast.

 

I really wanted to go but I gotta wait til I get new shocks and the rear springs recall which will be done next month.

 

Nice pics, Darren!
Now I really wished I could have gone. Oh well...I was geting my hands dirty elsewhere.

 

That Scout has cool tires at least.

As always, nice pics Darren.

I'll get my junk working right again someday and we can maybe try to resume our monthly runs like we used to do. Hopefully Alan will have his new old truck ready to roll also. I want to meet some of these new guys.

 

Thanks for the compliments on the pics, guys! I actually got motivated tonight and put together my official report where the rest of the pictures are at, even though I have too many others I'm behind on from during the summer. Here you go:

http://mycolorado.org/images/china_wall/index.htm


Adrian: All the snow is higher than 9,100' (where this was at)! However, there is a quick storm moving through that will leave Monday night, I believe. I think I've mentioned before, but we do have some year-round trails and this one is supposed to be one of them. Was this something you were expecting to see? That was a week ago and 1,000' higher.

Alan, I figured you were working on your truck. You may have mentioned that was what you were going to be doing.

Matt, the Scout was even running the same size shoes as you. I've missed your company lately and will look forward to the next time you're able to make it. I wanna give Eagle Rock a shot near you for my next challenge. Actually, I don't think it's all that far away from China Wall. Put a date up when you're ready to do that one. By the way, happy birthday a couple hours late! Hope it was a good one for ya.

 

New old truck will be ready to roll sometime in the spring hopefully. I have a couple connections on a new frame. One in the Springs is cheap and already setup for a Hy-steer.

Matt-
What needs to be done with your truck? If you need a hand, let me know. I have a whole bunch of spare time right now since I'm "in between gigs" as Rich likes to say.

 

I figure with Denver getting a possible 8 inches the foothills trails will be snowpacked for a while now.

 

Bummer on being between gigs. I've been through a lot of that over the last 2 years. I'm just now getting back to full time as my department has been torn down and re-located since August.

I have to drop my tranny and figger out why its rattling so much. I think its the input bearing. Last time I drained it there was half of a C clip stuck to the magnetic drainplug. Thanks for the offer, i'll be in touch.