That's right kids, the long awaited spooky night run is finally here. Someone can correct me on the "4th annual" thing if they know better, but my notes have:
#1, 2002, Gillespie Gulch, led by Mike Aaron
#2, 2003, Castle Gulch, led by Mike Aaron
#3, 2004, Gillespie Gulch, led by yours truly.
and finally *drumroll....................................................................................*
#4, 2005, Jones Pass! Yup, that's right, that pass that's just past Empire above the Henderson mine. But if you thought this was going to be a weeny run, think again. Today a stealth prerunner group comprised of myself, Crash, Powderpig, and Bobo met in the early dawn to assess conditions, and we all got our money's worth to say the least. To start, there are now patches of snow that start just after the parking lot below. I should point out that reason #1 to run this today was to make sure there wasn't already an "established" cross country or showshoe route, since this is a very popular winter area. But no way, it was snow & dirt, mostly dirt, the whole way up to the turnoff, so no conflict there. (if it's too snowy, the backup location is somewhere around Bill Moore Lake). So presuming the mountains don't get much snow this week, we should be good to go for this area on Saturday.
Once we made the turn from the main pass, we quickly found ourselves in about a foot of what appeared to be about two-week old snow. Being in the lead, I had a blast getting way too much momentum to get up and through some areas. Had to twist the magic dial more than a few times to get through some of it. I couldn't believe that the whole road was untracked, since last time I ran it it seemed pretty popular, in fact I even encountered a vehicle coming down while I was going up.
Anyway, the first fun project of the day was moving an abandoned Chevy 2WD with a completely broken front end off of the road. I remember seeing this about 4 weeks ago, but someone must have gone back up and tried to yank it out.. then couldn't, and left the rear end sticking out in the trail. It would have been passable had the trail been completely dry, but was pretty obvious that we would have slid down into it. So with some creative winching, we pulled it off the road so the group could pass.
Next fun project was almost to the top. Must have been the wind, but a good sized tree had recently fallen, completely blocking the road. It was easily 40' long, and 18-20" in diameter towards the bottom section. No way any person, or group of people, could have moved it without tools. Hmm.. maybe that's why no one's been on this road lately? So again, after some creative snatch blocking, a little sawing, the trail was clear and we were at the top. Best part of the day for me (other than the great weather, great company, and driving the best vehicles ever that is..) was all the stuff we got to use! Straps, gloves, snatch block, hand throttle, winch, bumpers... suddenly all those mods came together. Needless to say, I was smiling all morning long.
Next
#1, 2002, Gillespie Gulch, led by Mike Aaron
#2, 2003, Castle Gulch, led by Mike Aaron
#3, 2004, Gillespie Gulch, led by yours truly.
and finally *drumroll....................................................................................*
#4, 2005, Jones Pass! Yup, that's right, that pass that's just past Empire above the Henderson mine. But if you thought this was going to be a weeny run, think again. Today a stealth prerunner group comprised of myself, Crash, Powderpig, and Bobo met in the early dawn to assess conditions, and we all got our money's worth to say the least. To start, there are now patches of snow that start just after the parking lot below. I should point out that reason #1 to run this today was to make sure there wasn't already an "established" cross country or showshoe route, since this is a very popular winter area. But no way, it was snow & dirt, mostly dirt, the whole way up to the turnoff, so no conflict there. (if it's too snowy, the backup location is somewhere around Bill Moore Lake). So presuming the mountains don't get much snow this week, we should be good to go for this area on Saturday.
Once we made the turn from the main pass, we quickly found ourselves in about a foot of what appeared to be about two-week old snow. Being in the lead, I had a blast getting way too much momentum to get up and through some areas. Had to twist the magic dial more than a few times to get through some of it. I couldn't believe that the whole road was untracked, since last time I ran it it seemed pretty popular, in fact I even encountered a vehicle coming down while I was going up.
Anyway, the first fun project of the day was moving an abandoned Chevy 2WD with a completely broken front end off of the road. I remember seeing this about 4 weeks ago, but someone must have gone back up and tried to yank it out.. then couldn't, and left the rear end sticking out in the trail. It would have been passable had the trail been completely dry, but was pretty obvious that we would have slid down into it. So with some creative winching, we pulled it off the road so the group could pass.
Next fun project was almost to the top. Must have been the wind, but a good sized tree had recently fallen, completely blocking the road. It was easily 40' long, and 18-20" in diameter towards the bottom section. No way any person, or group of people, could have moved it without tools. Hmm.. maybe that's why no one's been on this road lately? So again, after some creative snatch blocking, a little sawing, the trail was clear and we were at the top. Best part of the day for me (other than the great weather, great company, and driving the best vehicles ever that is..) was all the stuff we got to use! Straps, gloves, snatch block, hand throttle, winch, bumpers... suddenly all those mods came together. Needless to say, I was smiling all morning long.
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