Calvary 4-Wheelers

Our weekend started out bad, real bad. Try climbing Kenosha pass pulling a trailer in first gear, barely pressing on the throttle because you’re trying to keep a dying fuel pump alive! We made it to camp, having to be towed up the last hill to the camping area by my son Jon with his Cherokee, I still had my trailer on the back too! We pulled the gas tank (with 20 gallons inside) and headed back to my shop in Evergreen to get a supposed good fuel pump and then headed back getting to camp around midnight.

Friday morning I re-installed the tank, added 5 gallons of $4.24 gas and cranked it to life, or so I wished. The used fuel pump was broken. Out the tank came again but this time a new pump was on it’s way from Conifer delivered by Tressa Olson, Brian’s daughter. They were to meet us in Jefferson and head out with the rest of us to run Wheeler Lake. Back at camp we dropped the tank one more time and installed the new fuel pump. This time it ran, imagine that!

By now it was 11 in the morning and Bill and half the group had already left for Wheeler. Brian’s XJ was experiencing overheating problems whenever he pushed the engine hard, so he took the hint and returned home. Jon, Travis, my brother David and myself headed down 285 to try and catch the group when traffic came to a grinding halt at Como. Traffic was stopped for miles ahead of us with people walking around on the highway. Have you ever had the feeling that a big hand was in front of you saying “no?”

After a group huddle we came up with the plan to go back to Jefferson and down to highway 24, through Lake George, finally making our way back to Fairplay. David pointed out that China Wall was very near there and why not take a hint and forget about Wheeler Lake? We agreed and headed to China Wall. It was now noon and we still hadn’t hit the trail!

Finally hitting the China Wall trail the four of us found the box canyon (from now on renamed u-joint canyon in honor of our fearless leader) to be much harder than in the last few years. There are now two steps that are spaced just so that both front and rear wheels must attack at the same time. We had not aired down and so each of us had a bit of trouble but finally we all got through.

The “wall” has gotten much harder, the dirt at the base is lower requiring a throttle burst of just the right amount to get through. A large amount of rubber was left on that rock this time, but all eventually got through after airing down to 10 pounds. We decided that after running the trail in a record 2 hours that it would be nice to sit down by the stream for awhile and relax. The return trip was uneventful and all were glad to get back to camp for the trip to Como and the 4th of July fireworks.
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