Calvary 4-Wheelers

The run was originally scheduled for Storm Mountain but the Forest Service website listed Storm Mountain as closed. Pole Hill was listed as open, though, so we changed the venue to Pole Hill. Will, Ken and I gathered at Calvary Church and headed to Lyons where we met up with Mark. After a brief stop at the Diamond Shamrock for coffee and other necessities, we headed up US 36 toward Estes Park and Pole Hill.

The day was cool and misty with a little light drizzle off and on but the hills seemed to be mostly clear of snow from the previous week’s blizzard. This was encouraging since we weren’t sure how much snow would still be left (this wasn’t supposed to be a snow-bashing trip). We turned off 36 just before the final decent into Estes Park and headed up to the Pole Hill trail head... only to find a locked gate.

Not to be denied, we headed back to the highway, through Estes Park and over to Bunce School Road. We circled up for prayer at the beginning of the trail and headed up. The lower part of the trail was wet but clear as we could see snow rapidly melting under the trees. We would have been enjoying the beautiful views, except it was too foggy to see more than a few hundred yards. As we climbed higher we started hitting small patches of snow on the trail.

Eventually we came to a long, fairly steep hill with snow covering the trail. I made several valiant attempts to conquer the hill but couldn’t get more than about 3/4 of the way up it. Mark had chains with him so we decided to chain him up and let him give it a try. In the process of getting Mark into position at the front of the pack Will got himself stuck. A little shovel work and some determined maneuvering soon had him out.

Mark made it up the hill without too much difficulty once he had the chains on. I came next and still needed a little tug with the strap to make the top. Will managed to make it up unassisted but Ken also required a tug. That put me back in the lead and I made it another quarter of a mile or so before burying myself in another deep drift. Will made an attempt to get past me and also got stuck. Mark yanked us both out and we decided this would be a good place to have lunch and turn around. After lunch we headed back down the slippery hill without incident. We took a “short cut” out to highway 72 and called it a day.
[Trip Pics]

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