Ladies Run June 14

[Brody]

We are doing a Ladies Run June 14 on the Bunce School/Middle St Vrain/Coney Flats Flats trails. The Ladies will be the drivers and the guys are just there for navigation, spotting and basic grunt work. This should be a lot of fun as there are going to be quite a few first time wheelers there.

There is plenty of camping in the area and it is a scenic place for everyone. Hiking, mountain bike riding, and rock climbing are all readily available in this area, too. There are quite a few of us who are going to camp and Dave Pritchett and I are going to go up early on Friday before the run to acquire a campsite.

Meeting time and place TBA

[Jamie]

I'm working on Bridgett, ;)
I assume that it's ok for the guys who have inexperienced drivers to go along as support team?

[Brody]

I figured that the guys would go along to fix what broke, be a whipping post if necessary, navigate, gather fire wood, pitch tents, change tires, spot, etc. Essentially all the 'hunter' stuff in a 'hunter gatherer' situation.

She'll have great support as there are a lot of Ladies going and driving. Some with experience and some with absolutely none. It isn't a hard trail either, merely a pretty trail with obstacles, all but two with easier bypasses. One of these is a lake crossing, sometimes deep (like 30") and the other is a short rock obstacle on a hill going from Middle St Vrain to Coney Flats.

I know that Stella, Tye's wife is going and driving. She has done some driving, but is also a bit intimidated about doing any real wheeling. Dave Pritchett's wife, Karla, is totally freaked by doing driving off road, but she is going to give it a go. Bear's wife, Andi, got out of his rig crying on Spring Creek, she was so wigged, but she is still going to drive. LaDawn has driven most of the trails that I have and is really competent, as are some of the other guys SOs. Barb, Chris' wife has driven off road a lot. Like I said, a lot of support from all the other Ladies, not to mention from us.

It should be a fun time. Aaron and some other folks (me and LaDawn, Dave and Karla) are all planning on camping up there, too.

[Jamie]

I'll keep ya posted.

[InsanityIsBorn]

What if we have no lady in our life??

[Funrover]

I figure everyone is welcome!! Just tring to encourage the ladies to drive!

Jamie - I am pulling my camper along if you and the fam want to stay for the weekend, All jess and I need is 1 bed!

[4Runninfun]

My SO might be in Kansas for the 14th, but if she's not we'll be there.

[Chris]

Barb doesn't know it as a fact but we'll be there. 8)

[Funrover]

This wil be a blast, Jessica is looking foward to it!

[Jamie]

Cool. I'm pushing for B to go Aaron. It always help convince her when there is a bed to be had. LOL

[Funrover]

Just tring to help!

[spacely]

What if we have no lady in our life??


You have to wear a dress in order to drive ;D

[Funrover]

You have to wear a dress in order to drive ;D


ROFLMAO!!! ;D ;D Now that's funny right there! :princess:

[Chris]

What if we have no lady in our life??


Then you have a good reason to find one Kiel. Geez, you live in a college town, have a cool truck and can give some young woman a chance to drive off road. If you can't work that then I'll have to rethink my opinion of you! ;D

[Funrover]

Then you have a good reason to find one Kiel. Geez, you live in a college town, have a cool truck and can give some young woman a chance to drive off road. If you can't work that then I'll have to rethink my opinion of you! ;D


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

[usmcruiser]

Amber and I will most likely be there. She just drove up at Bunce School last sunday for the first time ever. We went with Dirty Toad and Dirty Toadette and a few other friends. Amber did awsome. There was still some decent snow. we were unable to get up to the plane crash due to deep snow and the gate to Camp Dick was closed. but the stock piggie did very well. We look forward to the trail.

[Brody]

Well, if it is all the same to you guys, I really don't want to see any of you in a dress, even at Halloween. I have always wondered about the guys that dress as women at Halloween, BTW, as have most of the women that I know...and I really don't think any of the women drivers will be wearing dresses so you would look totally out of place (except for Boulder) x 2 if you did wear one.

BTW, we need to start a recount of who all is going to go on this run as well as (more importantly) how many are planning on camping. I am going to do a recon for suitable sites before hand and need to know how big a group site to look for.

[Brody]

This picture was taken at the meadow on Coney Flats just before the lake crossing. Two moose wandered by as we were having lunch. Beautiful view of Indian Peaks from this spot, too.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj205/brody_2008/Picture029.jpg

[Funrover]

Noticed some new traffic, bringing this back!

[Pathrat]

I am the primary driver in my family, but I am new and my spotter is male and new, so who will be doing what? I need some kind of affirmative action petition or something?
Kidding. That is the weekend following my expedition into the Maze. We won't be camping but we would like to go. I can't commit this far in advance as I don't know when my kids are making their annual trek to Georgia. I'm thinking as long as I don't break something or have something else in the "gotta do" category, we are planning to be in.

[Funrover]

Hope you can make it Path!

[Pathrat]

Hope you can make it Path!

me too! It will be about damn time! 3.4 more weeks until medical clearance!!!

[Funrover]

me too! It will be about damn time! 3.4 more weeks until medical clearance!!!

But who's counting? LOL;)

[Brody]

Should be fine even with a new spotter. Trail is more fun than hard. Pretty, too.

[Pathrat]

<hijack on>

Post up your Maze expedition details if you don't mind, at least as a trip report. I *highly* want to get a Canyonlands expedition going before too long as my youngest kids get more capable to hike/explore.
<hijack off>

Sure thing on the Maze.

As far as Canyonlands in general, there is an area on the southeast boundary of the park called Lavender Canyon. The turn-off sign says Lavender Canyon/Davis Canyon. It is a 14 mile, two hour or so drive the the gate to the park, through sand and riverbed and one of my favorite places to be. There are arches, pictographs, shade etc. Just watch out for quicksand. Here is a picture of the ex stuck in Lavender in quicksand, and two of the campsite.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x102/pathrat40/kivacamp2.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x102/pathrat40/kivacamp8.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x102/pathrat40/quicksand2jpg.jpg

[Patrolman]

Holy crimenies! I have never been to that part. I have been through all the designated roads in the Maze. Is that outside the park? We have driven in from Hite as well as from Hans Flat and I didn't see a sign that I recall for that. I think I have made a total of 4 trips to the Maze. Another planned for October. Also been into Needles at least 4x and Island in the Sky 2x. Great places to go but can be LONG trips...

[Pathrat]

I'll move my further postings on Canyonlands to another thread.

[Brody]

We are planning to go out to Moab in the Fall, too, as is Dave Nay and a couple of other people.

FYI

I made a very early rock climbing ascent of Island in the Sky back in the late 70s. That whole area is pretty cool. Rock climbing on most of the towers and pinnacles as well as the walls. I used to climb down there every year. Mystic place....

[Patrolman]

Will post some questions on here instead of on the attendees list.

How do the trails planned for the ladies run compare to other trails? Just as a list of trails we have done is Medano, OCG (yesterday), Black Bear, Imogene, Ophir, Engineer, Jones Pass, Tincup, Elephant Hill in Needles, White Rim in Island in the Sky, and all of the Maze District.

I don't mind doing hard stuff but the other half would throw a fit if we did a trail as technical as OCG. She just isn't up for driving that.

[Brody]

Jeff

The Coney Flats/Middle St Vrain Trail has a lot of scattered, mild 4x4 obstacles with the exception of a 10' section where Middle St Vrain goes uphill on the Coney Flats trail. This is a rock/rutted section, but is nowhere as near as hard as any of the 'hard' sections on OCG. There is also about 40' of slightly tricky rock garden. The main attraction of this trail are the many wild flowers, traveling by a river for half the trail, and the great views of Indian Peaks. There are also quite a few cool water crossings, including one long and fairly deep one. Someone in a totally stock rig with open diffs could do the trail in dry conditions and I have run the trail with quite a few mildly lifted and open rigs.

[Patrolman]

Brody,

Appreciate the re-assurance. I just wanted to make sure the wife wasn't going to shoot me. She is OK with mild stuff. She can even drive it. Not at all worried about what the truck can do. Clearly I can get it to do things it was never intended to do. I just can't get the wife to do things she doesn't intend to do!There is no way at all that she would drive OCG. I don't even think she would ride most of it. Still sort of a newbie to the whole game but not afraid to keep practicing. We are really looking forward to the scenery. That is what I like most about a lot of the trails that we have done. The flowers and views just can't be beat!

-Patrolman

[Brody]

Jeff

The rock obstacle on Coney and the rock garden aren't real easy, but offer challenges to a newbie. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out a good trail where it was a little challenging, not too hard, pretty scenery, etc. By the time you get headed up to Coney flats, you have driven over a bunch of 4x road with a bunch of different obstacles, so these are only slightly harder. It should be a good run, with a couple of really great places to take a break, eat lunch, take photos, etc.

[Brody]

Twin Cone might be a good alternative run if the Coney Flats/Middle St Vrain Trails aren't opened up. I am going to find out information next week as to the access/open status of the CF/MSV and will post information here. If anyone else wants to do some research on these, please do so and post it.

[spacely]

They are both still closed: http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf/conditions/forest-roads/brd/index.shtml

[SCRubicon]

Robyn sez she'll go...:)

[Brody]

I am going to try to do a pre run this Sunday, but have to check with LaDawn. I will post the run in the trail runs section if it is going to work out. I have a full day on the heap to get it all together and I know that LaDawn is working both days, so it my very well work. Miller Rock is another trail in the area that we might be able to run if CF/MSV is closed.

[Chris]

A nightmare for sure, sorry to hear about the mess which must be awful to come home to. Good luck on a speedy recovery and restoration.

[Brody]

Hey Dave

Sorry to hear about your disaster. I really hope that everything comes out ok for you guys. What an absolute mess, compounded by the fact that both of you work at home. Let LaDawn and I know if there is something we can do for you guys.

[Brody]

Let me know if you need a good plumber for questions on the back valve. I know of several, as does Bren, who are very good and knowledgeable.

glad that the upstairs is livable. Small blessing....

[Patrolman]

So I don't think my 4Runner will be trail ready for 6/14 so we will be driving the beater truck. I have a buddy who is moving here to live with us for a while. Will be here for the ladies run. Anyone going to have an extra seat where maybe he can ride along? Not 100% sure he wants to go, but seeing if a seat is at least available.

[Brody]

Well, we might have some problems with the Coney Flats/Middle St Vrain Trails due to closures because of snow , etc. I went to the FS website and both the trails are closed at the moment. Then I went to the traildamage.com site and looked at the dates the trails were run last year. Nobody ran these trails until the first part of July and we have more snow this year.

I am going to make the assumption that neither of these trails are going to be open on the 14th, and suggest that everyone who wanted to go start making some other suggestions. Some of the stuff around Steamboat (like Hahn's Peak area) is open as are many of the trails around the Redfeather Lakes/Ft Collins area. There are trails open all through the 285 corridor, though the high ones are still closed. Eagle Rock and Saran Wrap are open, too. Bill Moore Lake, Elephant Hill and the Empire Loop are also open. There is probably a slew of stuff around the Buena Vista area, too. None of these trails I mentioned are too hard, though Eagle Rock/Saran Wrap are pushing the envelope as to first time drivers

LaDawn and I are looking forward to getting out and camping and don't really care as long as it isn't just a scenic cruise that you can do in a Honda Civic, however well they wheel. I have the 13th off from work and LaDawn has switched with people so that she can go out, so we are committed to going.

Suggestions will be much appreciated, especially since this is a kind of last minute change of plans. We should also start thinking about coordinating hand held and CB channels as well as swapping cell numbers.

[Patrolman]

All really good info Brody. We really appreciate you putting some time into this.

I agree that this should be a 4wd trail, but not too difficult for beginners. My wife will drive what I would call a "medium" trail without much issue. She has driven all of Medano. Could easily do Black Bear on her own if she wanted to. No way she would do OCG. I think that other folks are kinda in the same boat.

CB's are great. I have one already. My cell usually has spotty coverage, but as long as we all agree when/where to meet, we should be ok.

[Brody]

I just threw Bill Moore out there. If anyone would know, it would be mtnfj (Joe) as he lives in Alice.

I think that OCG would be a bit much, especially for first time drivers. Wheeler is down the road from where I am staying. I'll try to do a recon this week and post it up. Lot's of snow up in the high country here, so it might not be.

[Brody]

Let us get at least one good, solid back up trail going on here and then go over suggestions and settle on a concensus trail. It is the weekend after next, so we don't have much time left.

[Chris]

Argentine is very close, might be open. I'm calling the FS tomorrow and will try to remember to ask what's open.

[Patrolman]

Keep in mind they are still expecting snow at about 10,000 feet and above this coming week!

[Brody]

I am going to suggest doing some of the trails around the Red Feather Lakes Area: Kelly Flats, Sevenmile, Moody Hill, Crystal Mountain. All of these trails are open in June and can be done with stock to slightly modified rigs. All have bypasses around the major obstacles, the scenery and the camping is good, and the trails aren't crowded. We haven't run Moody or Crystal, but have done Kelly Flats and Sevenmile.

We found some beautiful, little used and out of the way camping spots well off the trial. The drive for the Springs and Monument folks is a bit longer, but the change of scenery is worth it. Keep in mind that all of the pictures that you see for Kelly Flats concentrate on an 80' section of trail called the Chutes, the hardest section of Kelly Flats. It was so short, we didn't think it worth our while to do it.

Let us know what you think. Pictures and movies for all of these trails are posted on traildamage.com

[Chris]

They're all good to me especially since I haven't done any of them. Brody, how about you choose one and we all agree. ;)

[Brody]

Trail(s): Kelly Flats/Sevenmile
Location: Ft Collins/Red Feather Lakes Area
Difficulty Level: Stock to modified
Meeting time and place: Ted's Place 10AM Saturday June 14th
Trail directions/description: http://www.traildamage.com

Basic BS: We are meeting at Ted's Place, a gas station, at 10AM. That should give everyone time to get there on time. We are planning on running Kelly Flats first, then the Sevenmile Trail. There are good camping places along the Kelly Flats Trail when it gets to the ridge top. We camped there last time, backtracking Kelly Flats after running Sevenmile, though anyone wanting to camp can unload/setup when we get to the ridge.

Ted's Place is almost the last place you can get gas and food stuff, though there is a small store just past the turn out for Kelly Flats and at the exit for Sevenmile. I don't remember if it is also a gas station, so be prepared.

Anyone who wants to convoy from Denver via I25 can call me or LaDawn at 303-761-4818
or 303-507-3066 or via e-mail @ peterbrody4@brody4.cnc.net and we can set up a seperate meeting time and place. CB channel 4, hand held radios: channel 8

[Chris]

Here's a link to the trail: http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=37

Ted's Place - Conoco gas station at Highway 287 and Highway 14.

Forest Service shows it open: http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf/conditions/forest-roads/clrd/index.shtml

Thanks Pete!

[Brody]

We are going to be at Johnstown Corners truckstop north of 120th at the Millikin exit on the right hand side of I25 at 8:00, leaving the lot at 8:15 if anyone wants to convoy from there.

Pathrat, Tye and Una: since you guys live so close to us, we are leaving our house at 7:00 if you want to meet us here. Call or send an e-mail. I'll forget to look at my personal mesages.

peterbrody4@brody4.cnc.net

My cell: 303-507-3066 or home: 303-761-4818

[Funrover]

Very Cool, thanks!!! I think Jessica and I are going to camp friday night and leave after the trail sat. for fathers day sunday. At least that's the plan right now! Sevenmile is a fun little trail for stockers, that is where took my sister for her first trip with her X-terra

[Brody]

Another alternative is to stay the night at our house Friday night and camp out Saturday, leaving early Sunday. The offer is open if you are interested, just call us-303-507-3066 or 303-761-4818.

If you camp, where are we hooking up with you guys and at what time? We will probably be at the actual trailhead around 10:30-10:45ish. There is camping about 1/2-3/4 mile up the trail and a campground across the road.

[Funrover]

I am so confused now..... What trail(s) are we doing?

One post says Kelly Flats/Sevenmile and now it's back to brunce school..... Please help me here?!?!?!?!

[Funrover]

I am prob gonna camp on sevenmile. that is my plan if we are doing those trails!

[Chris]

I am so confused now..... What trail(s) are we doing?

You're not alone in your confusion. I just planned on meeting up with a caravan and following to wherever it is we're going. :D

[Funrover]

Well I don't get much tme online anymore and my Email says Kelly flats/sevenmile so I am planning on that!

[Funrover]

Now camping all weekend, Anyone else???

[Patrolman]

I haven't been feeling so well the last week or two due to my medication changes. I think that Barbie and I are going to have to bow out for this trip. Disappointed too since I was really looking forward to it. I am determined to make the trail cleanup though. If anyone needs anything for this weekend's trip, let me know. Happy to lend out supplies.

[Brody]

I posted in two different places Kelly Flats/Sevenmile complete with meeting times (at Ted's Place, at Johnstown Corners, and at my house), trail links via traildamage.com and Well's book, etc. I have no idea where the confusion is coming from.

Camping off of Sevenmile is almost all right beside the road.

Anyway, one more time:

The trails we are running for the Ladies Run are Kelly Flats and Sevenmile in the Red Feather Lakes area. There are a few of us that are going to camp off the ridge on Kelly Flats where it is quiet and more secluded. Meeting at Johnstown Corners, north of 120th on I25 on the right hand side of the road, Millikin exit at 8:00.. Leaving the lot at 8:15. Or meeting at Ted's Place at 10:00. we will probably be at the trailhead by 10:30.

Hope to hook up with you guys (Aaron and Jessica) somewhere in the vicinity. The Bunce School post was dated March.

Chris, I figure we will see you and Barb at Johnstown Corners or Ted's Place Saturday AM.

Jeff-sorry to here that you guys aren't going to make it. Feel better!

CB channel 4, hand held channel 8. My cell is 303-507-3066, home 303-761-4818.

Looking back on the posts, looks like the fisrt post got dropped due to my stellar internet service here. Sorry.

[Chris]

Sorry to hear you're not feeling well enough to make it Jeff. You've been making good progress, I hope this is just a bump in the road. Look forward to seeing you the following weekend.

[Chris]

Does anyone in the Denver area and south want to caravan?

[Pathrat]

Now camping all weekend, Anyone else???

Hugh and I are camping in the vicinity of Brody and LaDawn. They know we have beer. :D

[Funrover]

SWEET!!! I was worried I was the only, Call me when you get a meeting/camping spot 719 660 8535