Saturday, June 19, 2021
Pickle Gulch, Miner's Gulch, Yankee Hill






A counter-clockwise loop today. I came down the red road to the Pickle Gulch Campground. From there I met the group (about 12 or 15 vehicles - a large group). We split into two groups. From the Pickle Gulch Campground, we traveled the curvey line. The straight line at the top center was ?Apex road? A few vehicles headed home after that stretch of trail. The second portion of trail will have a couple spots that are higher in difficulty. For the folks that went to the difficult part only five of us went through the difficult part - many looked and turned back for home..
















Trent and guest




About to drop down a steep slope
We're riding on old mine tailings / waste







Shane driving up one of the other paths




Pictures flatten the view and don't show the steepness.




The water has the tint of mine rock







Deadfall
A few years back we came across this tree laying across the trail. The group spent a bit of time clearing it. Today we'll enjoy driving past it w/o doing any work.













Nearing the end of the first half of the trip.
















From that straight road at the top center of the map, we have now turned west. Those looking for more challenge are heading up Miner's Gulch.

A section of it runs in the creek. Wet tires on wet rocks will make things more challenging.
















For the five vehicles processing through this area, we spent about 50 minutes. James, here, zipped through in about three minutes. I made a poor decision and needed guidances from Janes and Trent to get through - in perhaps 10 minutes. The last jeep in our set of five had the largest tires - it was able to go over one or two of the rocks that were causing issue for most of us.




The tires on the right side of the jeep are atop one of the larger rocks. I had my passenger tires to the right of that rock - and it was keeping my rear axle from moving forward.




Trent tried and then took a break. Shane giving it a go (with success).




Trent was willing to try again. A different line and success.




Up near Yankee Hill - with the wind.




and nice views. Right about timberline - thinning trees.




Of our remaining five, three turned east to head to Central City. James and I will head down thru Alice. He'll I-70 to home and I'll I-70 for a short bit to route up through Central City taking the two lane Peak to Peak highway to Nederland. There I'll drop down to Boulder to visit Longmont for a client and head home.