Calvary 4-Wheelers

On Saturday, December 19 a few members of the Calvary 4-Wheelers met at the Ranger station in Idaho Springs. We had four rigs, Charlie with his XJ, Leona with her XJ, Richard in his Pinz, and myself in my early Bronco. Charlie had his son, J.D. and daughter, Hanna with him, Leona brought her dad, Bill, Richard brought his daughter, Kiyanna and I had my friend, Chris with me.

After finding out the gate to Barbour Fork was closed, we departed the ranger station pretty close to 9:30 am and headed for Ute Creek. I am so thankful that we found out the gate was closed ahead of time because driving my door-less Bronco in 20 degree weather was just a tad on the chilly side. It was around 5 miles of paved road before we hit the dirt towards Ute Creek and another couple miles after that before we had to lock in the hubs. Myself and my co-pilot were pretty cold at that point.

Soon we came to the last house and the trail maintenance ceased. There was also a natural spring in the road that caused an uphill ice rink. Leona was leading the way and attempted this hill but found it too slick. She slid back down to the bottom and let me make an attempt. I knew it was going to take some momentum as I gained speed and up we went. We didn't have as many problems as I thought we would and we made it to the top. Next up was Richard in the Pinz. He got about 2/3rds of the way up and spun out. Someone had strewn roof shingles over the ice at some point for traction and, utilizing those, we got Richard up a few more feet, but soon they would just spit out and no more progress was being made. I backed down and pulled him up the hill while the two XJ's below added chains to the front of their rigs. We helped Richard do the same and soon we were all past the ice rink.

We continued on, Leona’s XJ leading again. Leona was a little rattled after sliding down the ice so Bill took over driving. We got to a spot where the road was covered in about 8" of snow and Leona's XJ would flex out and loose traction. Her Jeep is stock with some oversized tires on it. Bill pulled the Jeep off to the side to allow someone else to break trail. That someone else was Richard. Being chained up on all four, he had little problems getting thru. I was next and again, used momentum to get thru. Then Bill and Charlie made it on up and we continued on our way for a while.

The snow was getting deeper and the drifts more frequent. Soon Richard ran into a spot that was giving him a little trouble, but he made it thru without too much difficulty. I was next and was worried I wasn't going to get thru, but mashing the petal to the metal, I bashed my way thru the series of drifts. Then it was Bill's turn. He had to make a few runs at it and was making steady progress each time, but then began to slide off the broken trail into the side of the trail where the snow was much deeper. After a couple more attempts, he decided he needed a strap.

As I backed down, my Bronco also slid into the deeper snow and soon I was stuck. Richard backed down the trail and we tried a tandem pull. That gained us another few feet but we still couldn't get myself or Bill unstuck. We unhooked Bill, and Richard pulled me up the hill. Then he came back for Bill and we successfully got him up the hill. Next it was Charlie’s turn. Charlie gave it his all and made good progress until he got into the deepest spot. He is no stranger to the throttle and the 4.0L was taking a beating as were the borrowed chains on his front tires. When he broke one of the chains that brought and end to his attempt to make it unassisted. The official recovery vehicle of the trip, the Pinz, came to the rescue and strapped him the rest of the way up.

Once at the top of the hill we took a break for lunch and to repair Charlie’s chains. After lunch it was decided that we'd push a little further to see how far we could get. This time, I had the opportunity to lead. It wasn't but another 1/2 mile or so that even a lot of throttle wasn't going to get me thru the deep drift. The bad part about bashing snow via momentum is that when you get stuck, you're really stuck. The Pinz, spinning all four, couldn't get me out of this drift, so out come the shovels, which was a common occurrence during the day, and we did some digging.

With some of the snow out of the way, Richard was able to free me. We decided it was time to turn around and head back home. There was a cabin nearby and we deemed this the best place to turn around. Richard backed into the driveway with only a little difficulty. Leona, back in the drivers seat, was working her jeep and trying to get it turned around but with the ruts in the snow, she just wasn't getting there. With a little pull from Richard, we got her backed into the driveway and then it was Charlie's turn. Hard on the throttle, Charlie nosed into the driveway and, with the assistance of man-power we got him turned around.

Then I had to try to get turned around. I attempted several times to get backed into the driveway, but was having the same issues as Leona so I back past the driveway and nosed in like Charlie did. That worked after a few attempts. Charlie lead the way back down, we made our way back thru the trail without issue. As the rest of the group unchained, I pulled up on a little berm for the obligatory poser shot. Then we all headed home having filled that adventurous void for a few days at least.
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