Calvary 4-Wheelers

Trips like this bonus Sunday Drive to Caribou Creek is why I enjoy 4-wheeling so much. The weather Sunday was an little overcast and it rained some which was a welcome change from the near 100 degree temps we have had in Denver the last few weeks. We met up at Calvary then paused for lunch at the McDonalds in Boulder. From there our destination was the Rainbow Lakes road trailhead of the Caribou Creek trail just outside of Nederland.

Shortly after the start of the trail we crossed Caribou Creek. A short distance later there is a 100 yards or so of deeply rutted mud that must be plowed through. Thanks to recently installed lockers in Matt’s and my axles, the only one of us that had any trouble was Bill who forgot that his ARB compressor was still disconnected. Bill, however, is a seasoned 4-wheeler and, after a little jockeying, pulled through just fine (then hooked up his compressor). A stock Wrangler and new stock Toyota Landcrusier that had been following us chose this opportunity to turn around which was probably a good idea even though we stopped to offer assistance if needed.

The rest of our travels seemed like driving back through time. Thanks to my GPS gizmo I annoyed my friends with the names of mountain peaks and long abandoned mines nearby. We stopped to take pictures of mountain flowers and an ancient steam shovel poised above a small mountain lake where it once was used to dredge. Who left it there? How long ago was it last used? Now it is slowly becoming part of the landscape and is a landmark on this trail.

Mountain flowers abounded everywhere! I particularly count myself blessed when I see Colorado's state flower, the Columbine. They seem to only bloom for a short period of time in certain places and I fondly remember trips into the mountains with my parents as kids in search of them. Today we found lots of Columbine on this trail and I was quite happy.

Midway we passed the ghost town of Caribou, which was originally supposed to be the end of our adventure today. After trying out the abilities of our lockers on the old tailings dumps of the long gone Silver Point Mine above Caribou, a quick radio survey found that nobody wanted to go home yet. We opted then to continue down the trail another two hours or so to it’s end at Eldora. The most exciting part of this final leg was the narrow shelf and switchback sections close to the end of the trail. Matt hollered at me to trust him, which I did and everything went just fine.

This was another great day spent with good friends and family enjoying the beauty of God's wonderful creation.
[Trip Pics]

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