Well, I haven't had the rig out for another shakedown run yet, but what the hell, let's do this. Sept 20, hopefully the Aspens will be changing by then. Every year I get a few rigs together to do a loop of local trails. West White Pine Mt, Monument Gulch, and Old Flowers Road. It's an all day trip and all easy drives. There are some light rocks on White Pine and a little mud sometimes on Monument Gulch and Flowers. Enough to get dirty, but generally not enough to get stuck.

The route is through Masonville and up Buckhorn Canyon. White Pine is an in-and-out drive of about four miles one way, up the Buckhorn another mile or so to Monument. Monument is about 4 miles and ends right at the Old Flowers trail head. Flowers is about 15 miles back to Stove Prairie. From Stove Prairie you can get back to town through Rist Canyon to Ft. Collins or back down the Buckhorn to Ft. Collins or Loveland.

We meet at JJ's gas station on Taft Hill in Ft. Collins. Leave time is 9:00. JJ's has gas at a good price and a general store (pop, sandwiches, snacks, etc.) It's easy to find JJ's, but since they relaid out the roads in that area I can never remember what the cross street is. Google JJ's Country Corner in Ft. Collins for a map.

Man, it sure is quiet around here...

I like the idea but don't know yet.

I think I can do that. What's weird is that I swear I've been in the mountain states section posting numerous times and this was not here. Yet it says you posted at 7:23am????

Yeah, I saw a couple wierd things this morning, too. One of my posts in the Jenny Creek thread evaporated right after I hit submit. Strange.

Yeah, I saw a couple wierd things this morning, too. One of my posts in the Jenny Creek thread evaporated right after I hit submit. Strange.


Are there any writeups on any of the trails you mention Larry?

If any of those can be run in 2wd I would be more than likely to go. Would give the girlfriend a nice chance to get some good pictures.

Are there any writeups on any of the trails you mention Larry?
I think they're all in Chuck Wells' northern Colorado book.

Here's a couple more:
West White Pine Mt (http://www.4x4trails.net/db_view_trail.php?trailNum=393)
Old Flowers Road (http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=187)

If any of those can be run in 2wd I would be more than likely to go. Would give the girlfriend a nice chance to get some good pictures.
Each trail has at least a small section that *might* require 4x4. Monument Gulch is the least likely to be muddy, it dries out pretty thoroughly this time of year. Monument is essentially a cutoff trail to bypass the longer route over Pennock Pass to get to Flowers Road. There's actually a pretty good sized housing development on the northern end of the road near Pingree Park road.

I don't think I'd recommend anyone with a stockish rig attempt White Pine in 2WD on their first trip. I think it could be done, but I think the decision should be up to the driver after they've seen the trail at least once.

Buckhorn Canyon up over Pennock Pass has some real good color. It can be a great 2WD trip. That'll take you to Pingree Park and back to Poudre Canyon a couple miles downstream from Rustic. Another great 2WD road on the way to the Poudre from Pingree Park is Crown Point which gains a lot of altitude and looks over the upper Poudre around Kinnikkinnik and Elephant Rock.

I think they're all in Chuck Wells' northern Colorado book.

Here's a couple more:
West White Pine Mt (http://www.4x4trails.net/db_view_trail.php?trailNum=393)
Old Flowers Road (http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=187)


Hmmm, that gas station, JJ's shows 4015 S taft hill rd., so it's a ways south of the 14west we need to be going out on??

Or are you planning on going out horsetooth, and then Masonville, and then North on Buckhorn/Stove Prairie?

Hmmm, that gas station, JJ's shows 4015 S taft hill rd., so it's a ways south of the 14west we need to be going out on??

Or are you planning on going out horsetooth, and then Masonville, and then North on Buckhorn/Stove Prairie?

We won't go anywhere near Poudre Canyon. Stove Prairie is where we'll come out on Flowers. Bring a Roosevelt NF map and I can show you where all the better Larimer county trails are so you'll know how to get around here without getting too distracted by online information.

For those trying to track this trip on maps, the roads are:
White Pine FR100
Monument Gulch FR135
Old Flowers Road FR152
Buckhorn Canyon FR44H
I don't have the Stove Prairie road designation at hand, but it's a paved road and easy to find on the map relative to the others.

Stove Prarie is the 27. I've got the trail loop mapped out. Since you mention not being near Padre Canyon (which is 14), I assume then that we will be going through masonville after we leave JJ's.

Affirmative :D

You know it's kinda amusing watching the two horses talking back and forth. (Avatars) Kinda like watching Mr. ED

Larry, looks like I'm being overuled on this run. having just done a run and gotten it all cleaned, I've got "shopping" to do this coming saturday since I've blown it off the last 2 sats. It's still under discussion, so we'll see at this point.

Man this sounds like fun but ill have to check the budget for fuel tho!

Welcome to the group. I'm just on the otherside of the tunnel in frisco

Well, the CJ survived with just a few remaining issues that have dropped to the annoyance level more than show stoppers, so the trip is on. I'll get a final headcount about wednesday or thursday. I y'all can't make this one, I'm going to try to pull another one together in February or March for Sevenmile. Five river crossings, two to three feet of snow, ice on a large part of the trail, and an optional hillclimb that'll stop all but the best :smokin:

well sevenmile would be fun hopefully lockers and gears by then. lol

I might be able to go. Fixed the valve cover gasket a couple weeks ago so bronco should be good to go..

Shadofax, you live in Erie.. Does Erie even have a town?? I lived there in a rental home at vista ridge for a year a d never found the actual town??

I might be able to go. Fixed the valve cover gasket a couple weeks ago so bronco should be good to go..

Shadofax, you live in Erie.. Does Erie even have a town?? I lived there in a rental home at vista ridge for a year a d never found the actual town??

You did not look real hard. Erie has a nice little downtown area but it is about 5 miles north of Vista.

I think I will be out for this one also gota work on Saturdays. You guys better take some good aspe pics.

I think I will be out for this one also gota work on Saturdays. You guys better take some good aspe pics.
The way things are going, I may be alone :cry We were up to about 9900 feet on Storm and the trees weren't changing at all yet. A buddy of mine was up to 12,500 near Dillon over the weekend and he said the trees were just starting to show some color around timberline. They may change late this year.

I might be able to go. Fixed the valve cover gasket a couple weeks ago so bronco should be good to go..

Shadofax, you live in Erie.. Does Erie even have a town?? I lived there in a rental home at vista ridge for a year a d never found the actual town??

If you had ever gotten onto county line road, you couldn't have missed it (although it is very small). County line runs south to county rd 7 or north, through Erie, from Vista Ridge.

I had a feeling Larston (about trees not really turning yet).....and this week is going to be upper 70, low 80's the whole week, with still decently warm nights, so don't expect much change by this weekend. Maybe we could try for this trek in a couple weeks, although I know Don is trying to put together Bill Moore for around that time too.

I'm starting to figure that with the temps it's just going to be a perfect day for 'wheelin :chili:

I'm probably going to be on short notice after this weekend. We're looking into buying a house and have a lot to do to get ready to sell ours. I'll keep an eye on the board to see what comes up.

Larry i think I'm in hell i can leave 5 min ahead of time and be at J.J.'s early

Larry i think I'm in hell i can leave 5 min ahead of time and be at J.J.'s early

Sure like to see you there :thumbup

Sounds like fun. I can't believe I haven't run the Bronco all year. Part of that was getting turned down at work for leave for All 4 Fun. I'm moving from Craig, CO to Cheyenne in a couple weeks. Hopefully I can tag along with you guys on a run or two one of these days-

I was up in Frisco from the 3rd to the 9th this month on vacation and saw a mean looking black bronco parked on one of the side streets off main (3rd, 4th or 5th st?). I did not have my bronco with me (motorcycle).

We took a stock 2006 4-Runner to the top of Georgia pass. Fun had by all, but the Bronco would have been more fun.

Sorry for the off-topic.

Scott

Time for a final head count. Who's gonna make it?

I was up in Frisco from the 3rd to the 9th this month on vacation and saw a mean looking black bronco parked on one of the side streets off main (3rd, 4th or 5th st?). I did not have my bronco with me (motorcycle).

We took a stock 2006 4-Runner to the top of Georgia pass. Fun had by all, but the Bronco would have been more fun.

Sorry for the off-topic.

Scott

Probably mine off of Belford and 6th. There is a black 96 running on 37's up here. the entire drivers side is bashed in and it has the ttb 6in lift. It was for sale they wanted almost 7k. LOL no axle upgrades or anything. At that rate I sould be able to get 10k out of my 78. No it's not for sale....Then again for the right price.

Next time your up here or anybody for that matter let me know.

Still don't know, sorry. It depends on if jen wants to take out her new BKO. I may end up being a passenger

Well, I'll throw this out then. We'll be leaving JJ's at 9:00. That way if anyone has last minute changes they can show up or skip it as they wish without trying to notify anybody ;) Hope to see some of you there!

Larry i'm in

When wheeling up Webster Pass near Red cone today. Here's a couple of pics. The leaves are turning. Just the beginning though, aspens are just starting to turn. Of coursre this is around 10000-12000 ft.
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/672353/fullsize/142.jpg
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/672354/fullsize/147.jpg

When wheeling up Webster Pass near Red cone today. Here's a couple of pics. The leaves are turning. Just the beginning though, aspens are just starting to turn. Of coursre this is around 10000-12000 ft.
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/672353/fullsize/142.jpg
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/672354/fullsize/147.jpg
so u comin or not

Up on Storm last weekend, the willows at 9000 feet were just starting to change at the very tips of the branches. I hope we get a little more color than that. There are two groves of giant Aspen on White Pine that the trail goes through. When you get it right, it's like driving through pure gold light.

Still don't know, sorry. It depends on if jen wants to take out her new BKO. I may end up being a passenger

what's the population of Frisco Hefty? Have some "business' friends that live up there, they moved from their boulder house, wondering if you might have ran across them.

5000 in Frisco, 25000 in the county

Larry i'm in
See you tomorrow then. Hope a couple of the rest of you can make it.

See you tomorrow then. Hope a couple of the rest of you can make it.

I'd love to, but...tomorrow I'm off to shop for a sports jacket!!!! Obviously I don't own one currently, and need one for an upcoming cruise. Then after 2 long years of searching I am going to finally get some "men's sandals":shocked

They aren't actually sandals (I won't wear those, never saw a sandal I would actually wear). they are more like a sport sandal/ open shoe. :chili:

So yes, I am still stuck shopping for clothes tomorrow. Probably one of my most hated things.:doh0715:

hey I got called into work tonite so I am not going to be able to make it maybe next time sorry bud

It turned out to be a pretty lean trip. There were about seven trucks that had also signed up from my work and only two of those made it. So, three of us headed up. On the way we found that the Masonville entrance of Bear Gulch was open, so a quick vote was held and we changed destinations. The drive from Masonville to the top of Storm Mtn is about 13 to 14 miles total and the terrain varies a lot along the way. The middle of the trail goes through the heaviest hit part of the Bobcat Gulch fire from 2003 or so. The snags have almost all blown down and the views are incredible. It was a great trip. At the top of Storm, we got caught up on the edge of a monumental rain storm. From our vantage point, we watched it move out of Rocky Mountain park, through Estes Park, and down Big Thompson Canyon towards Loveland. We managed to avoid a soaking for the most part, and it was a treat to watch. There wasn't much color along the way. The willows and swamp maple have all changed. The aspens were showing color by about 9500 feet, but they were just changing. They should be good by next week, but may not peak for 1 1/2 to 2 weeks yet.