PaulW
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Another Impossible Trip - Colorado - usa
Another one of my Epic trips.
This trip is a new route from Montrose CO to Moab UT on mostly graded roads thru the forest and high plains. It was well marked, but not suitable in
bad weather. The weather forecast was for rain the night of our trip. Assumed no problem since we would be near Moab before nightfall and would camp
at a lake campground with downhill most of the way to Moab with several spur roads to paved highway along the way.
So here is the story. Not to many pics because we were working hard in heavy rain most of the time. We got a terrific view of the Space X launch at
around 8pm - Wow what a sigh. Yes I took pics and the result was black sky. Need a better camera.
Original Post from facebook
Paul Wilson
5:13pm Oct 8
The Epic RimRocker. First it was a big rock that had to be moved, it took hours to deal with it, then the rain began and by the time the rock was
moved it was pretty bad goo. The final straw was Chad winch failed. Call made to Scott and he showed up around 9PM with a dozer and pull each one up
to solid ground.
Whoops - The pics were supposed to be here. Now they are at the
bottom of the post. No time to fix
Various comments:
Julie Wilson commented on your photo in Creeper Jeepers Gang Jeep Club of Durango, CO.
Julie Wilson
6:16pm Oct 8
Monica Bartlett many thanks to you and Mike for getting Chad back on top. That was such a relief. That was a long trip for both of you also.
Julie Wilson
10:20am Oct 9
My new heroes, Billy Schultheiss, Chad Beal and Scott Click. Billy and Chad were out of their Jeeps slipping and sliding up and down the very muddy
hill to check on everyone for hours and hours with cheerful attitudes that kept our spirits up. Scott made a 5 hour trip pulling his bulldozer to pull
us out plus the 5 hour trip back to his home. Forever thanks to all 3!😍
Monica Bartlett
1:09pm Oct 9
We didn't go on the trip, but saw the mud. It was epicly horrible.
Julie Wilson commented on your photo in Creeper Jeepers Gang Jeep Club of Durango, CO.
Julie Wilson
6:16pm Oct 8
Monica Bartlett many thanks to you and Mike for getting Chad back on top. That was such a relief. That was a long trip for both of you also.
Monica Bartlett
1:09pm Oct 9
We didn't go on the trip but saw the mud. It was epicly horrible.
My comments
Monica and Mike drove from Montrose and showed up several hours before Scott did with his dozer and they used their JK with winch to get the Cherokee
back on the road after it slid off. That allowed the dozer easy road access to the rest of the group.
We all had full camping gear. Slept in car with bags wrapped around us
Started to rain when arrived at the rock. Rained mostly all night with a break in weather around 8PM.
Verizon people had cell service. ATT service began at the top after we were pulled out. I had my SPOT and InReach.
Club member,Scott drove from Bayfield CO (just east of Durango) with a dozer towed by a huge dump truck and he brought some barbecue with him.
Question:
Did you try going back the way you came?
Here is a short summary.
At the end of the line was a Jeep with a trailer. Even if he was not there it would have been dicey to turn around. By the time we dealt with the
rock we all assumed we could continue. Order was Zuk 4xd wagon, Cherokee, Yukon, JK, my TJ, TJ with trailer.
After the rock we found an uphill gentle right turn with very deep mud. The leader in a 4wd Zuk with street tires buried his rig. Then the built
Cherokee got past and when up to hard ground and turned around to get in place for the winch. The Yukon got past and found an uphill off camber
slight left turn to the left and he went off. The straps and blocks came out. Now we had 3 built Jeeps behind the first three and no way to get past.
The Cherokee got off and that took a while to get him back on track.
When the Yukon went off it required complicated rigging with two block and long straps. The Cherokee and the JK used their winches. Time went on with
more very complicated rigging and we got the Yukon slightly better to the side of the road. Then around 9PM we settled down for the night and began
rigging the next AM. We got the Yukon back in place and discovered the Cherokee winch was all balled up and was worthless. And to make it worse the
Cherokee went off and could not move. Called for Monica and our buddy Scott for help around 12-1pm. Scott got his gear assembled (Dump truck,
trailer, and dozer). He stopped at the barbecue place for food and got started up the highway about 3:15 pm. Took Scott 5+ hours to get where we were.
Arrived around 9PM. The dozer pushed the mud out of the way and towed each of us up the hill to solid ground.
Paul Wilson RimRocker timeline from SPOT tracker
Depart Montrose 10/6, 9:25AM
Arrive Rock 10/6, 4:56PM
Bypass rock 10/6, 8:29PM
Arrive mud 10/6, 9PM
Leave mud 10/7, 8:26PM
Arrive solid ground 10/7, 9:35PM
Arrive Paradox/SH90 12:30AM
Back to Montrose and Hotel 10/8, 3:30AM
Back to Durango home 10/8, 2:18PM
Crossed over Lizard head pass just before the snow storm closed all the Colorado passes the night of 10/8.
Used my InReach to text daughter for the goings on. It is nice when our ATT cell did not have service. She was monitoring the SPOT and was relieved to
get the messages.
       
[Edited on 10-10-2018 by PaulW]
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55steve
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Looks like fun to me!
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BornFisher
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Not to me. Great report, glad you made it!!
"When you catch a fish, you open the door of happiness."
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motoged
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Pretty gooey stuff...glad no serious issues developed.
Don't believe everything you think....
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ehall
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Mood: It's 5 o'clock somewhere
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Is this what they call the Rimrocker trail? Looks like a mess.
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PaulW
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==
Yes, Rimrocker trail. 169 miles if you do the whole thing.
Should be easy if dry.
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blackwolfmt
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Yep great road 4x4 and dirt bike'd it quite a few times great camping only once in the mud on dirt bikes some spots were gnarly but super fun, So Paul
sounds like you live in Dgo that's my old neck of the woods, glad you made it out alive
So understand dont waste your time always searching for those wasted years
face up and make your stand and realize that your living in the golden years
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StuckSucks
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I really like, no *love*, CO and UT dirt, but when it gets wet, all bets are off.
But that said, if there's red mud on your car, you've had fun.
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ehall
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On my list of trails to ride. Can dirt bikes make the whole way in 1 day when it is dry?
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PaulW
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Many bikes do that trail. One day is doable in any rig, but one has to keep moving. The catch is how far can you go on a tank. Never fear because you
can stop at Nuclia at the Ace hardware store for gas.
The city of Montrose is promoting the trail for SXS and other 4x4 rigs They say it is "Colorado's longest 4 wheel drive trail"
Look at www.rimrockertrail.org
The trail map shows other options besides the main one. You might be able to get the great trail map by asking. I got mine at the Jeep Safari at their
booth.
I highly recommend downloading the gps track. with the GPS you can just boogie and not have to look for the landmarks and avoid the options which
would add to the miles. However the trail is well marked.
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blackwolfmt
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Ed you would have way more fun camping and making a 2 day adventure, and if your gonna be in that area you gotta hit Peach valley rec area you would
be lucky to hit every trail in 2 dys
So understand dont waste your time always searching for those wasted years
face up and make your stand and realize that your living in the golden years
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ehall
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Quote: Originally posted by blackwolfmt  |
Ed you would have way more fun camping and making a 2 day adventure, and if your gonna be in that area you gotta hit Peach valley rec area you would
be lucky to hit every trail in 2 dys |
I like to ride thru at a fast clip then come back with my jeep and do some exploring. Alot depends on who I get to go and what they ride or drive.
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Ken Cooke
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Got mud? That looked Imposible (in a good way!)
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watizname
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Always nice to have a dozer around to pull you out.
I yam what I yam and that\'s all what I yam.
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