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Clear Creek - Closing Saxon Mountain

jps8460

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Word on the street is that the clear creek county sheriff is trying to get Saxon mountain closed.

I’m trying to verify this, but I’m not finding any hard data.

does anyone have any additional information on this? I’ve searched the county and county commissioners website to no avail.
 

DaveInDenver

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This is where I saw it:

The post says, in part...
URGENT ACTION NEEDED: Please email the Clear Creek County Commissioners asking them not to close the Saxon Mountain Road above Georgetown. We have little information on this, but apparently the sheriff has been campaigning to get the commissioners to close the road to vehicles, apparently because he considers it too dangerous. We have heard this will be discussed at the County Commission meeting next Tuesday, but no details have been posted yet.
-and-
UPDATE: The Saxon Mountain closure has been added to the agenda for the County Commission meeting on Tuesday, July 20 at 10 AM. You should be able to join and make a comment via Zoom. Here is the official agenda item:

"10:00 a.m. Work Session to discuss temporary closure of a portion of Saxon Mountain Road pursuant to CRS 42-4-106, and consideration of resolution approving the same-Peter Lichtman "

Did some poking around but I'm not familiar with Clear Creek and where to find the proposed agenda for an upcoming meeting. It should exist, I just don't know where to find it on their website.

However the agenda from their most recent meeting from last Tuesday (7/13/2021) can be found here:

Where it does appear to reference the statute C.R.S. 42-4-106 referenced in the Facebook post in regards to a discussion that happened in executive session (just says temporary road closure, not specifiically Saxon).

Screen Shot 2021-07-15 at 6.24.26 AM.png


The executive session would have been done in private, not part of a regular public meeting, but that's not always nefarious since financial and legal topics might dictate privacy. Something discussed in executive session would logically come prior to a regular meeting.

What you have to watch is when commissioners and city councils do something in executive and put it on the consent agenda because it won't get a full public hearing. They don't debate the items on the consent agenda individually and vote to either accept or reject everything on it. They can vote to pull things off the consent agenda for a future meeting I think, though.

That it's called a work session and there's already a resolution being considered for approval is worrisome.
 
Last edited:

nuclearlemon

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patrick mckay is one of the guys involved with the colorado trail defenders. other members include brian o'connors (who was a long time president of the colo assoc of 4wd clubs and their cohvco representative) and marcus trusty of core. they are all reputable four wheelers who are very active in trail advocacy so if they say there is an issue, i have no doubt that there is a serious issue. emails to the cc commissioners i believe is what ctd is asking everyone for their help with.
 

mcgaskins

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Sounds like the premise for closure is perceived danger. Has there been incidents up there lately? I last ran it more than 10 years ago, and I remember it being pretty narrow and sketch in one place but don't have any recent experience.
 

jps8460

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This is where I saw it:

The post says, in part...

-and-


Did some poking around but I'm not familiar with Clear Creek and where to find the proposed agenda for an upcoming meeting. It should exist, I just don't know where to find it on their website.

However the agenda from their most recent meeting from last Tuesday (7/13/2021) can be found here:

Where it does appear to reference the statute C.R.S. 42-4-106 referenced in the Facebook post in regards to a discussion that happened in executive session (just says temporary road closure, not specifiically Saxon).

View attachment 96755

The executive session would have been done in private, not part of a regular public meeting, but that's not always nefarious since financial and legal topics might dictate privacy. Something discussed in executive session would logically come prior to a regular meeting.

What you have to watch is when commissioners and city councils do something in executive and put it on the consent agenda because it won't get a full public hearing. They don't debate the items on the consent agenda individually and vote to either accept or reject everything on it. They can vote to pull things off the consent agenda for a future meeting I think, though.

That it's called a work session and there's already a resolution being considered for approval is worrisome.
Thanks Dave, this is what I was hoping for. Guess I better sharpen my digital pencil. I just got a text from a buddy that lives near by that was pretty vague.
 

nuclearlemon

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Sounds like the premise for closure is perceived danger. Has there been incidents up there lately? I last ran it more than 10 years ago, and I remember it being pretty narrow and sketch in one place but don't have any recent experience.
i also hadn't been up there in years so i checked trailsoffroad...here's a recent review

"Offroaded on:06/08/2021
Ran this about 2 weeks back in my Cherokee along with a couple other trails in the area. Full width guys, take note: My Cherokee is on full width axles and is 84" wide. The narrow rock section mentioned in the description? Fairly terrifying. I would not try this in a vehicle this wide without a spotter to gauge your clearance around that rock. We failed to get video/photos of that section, but my driver side tires were pretty close to the edge of the road. Hard to tell if it's well packed or about to collapse there. As well, the rock-fall sections immediately afterwards are a very tight squeeze. If you have multiple people, get someone to walk ahead and hold downhill traffic at the turn after the rockfall section. Neither of you will want to reverse once you're in there."
 

DaveInDenver

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i also hadn't been up there in years so i checked trailsoffroad...here's a recent review

"Offroaded on:06/08/2021
Ran this about 2 weeks back in my Cherokee along with a couple other trails in the area. Full width guys, take note: My Cherokee is on full width axles and is 84" wide. The narrow rock section mentioned in the description? Fairly terrifying. I would not try this in a vehicle this wide without a spotter to gauge your clearance around that rock. We failed to get video/photos of that section, but my driver side tires were pretty close to the edge of the road. Hard to tell if it's well packed or about to collapse there. As well, the rock-fall sections immediately afterwards are a very tight squeeze. If you have multiple people, get someone to walk ahead and hold downhill traffic at the turn after the rockfall section. Neither of you will want to reverse once you're in there."
I have not been up Saxon in at least a decade and probably more. It does sound like there could be some justification to the sheriff's concern and perhaps the issue is maintenance (SAR/EMS responsibility, time, money, the same old questions, etc, etc), not to mention what seems like backroom deals that threaten to close it. That's kind of the problem in the end, everything's polarized so sides are drawn and no room to find some way to compromise. The county and sheriff could seek a local club to adopt it who'll maybe work with USFS and road department to stabilize it.
 

nuclearlemon

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Core is working on it and will have until the 15th to improve the road. If you're on the book of face, join the "core trail crew" page

"We need a road repair crew to work Saxon Road south of Georgetown over the next 15 days. We will need to coordinate with Clear Creek road and Bridge to gain access as they closed the road for the next 15 days. County commissioners expect US to do the work and make a change in these 15 days. I have asked to meet with the officials face to face to define the work and to you to help organize interested offroaders to help"
 

Shuksan

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Core is working on it and will have until the 15th to improve the road. If you're on the book of face, join the "core trail crew" page

"We need a road repair crew to work Saxon Road south of Georgetown over the next 15 days. We will need to coordinate with Clear Creek road and Bridge to gain access as they closed the road for the next 15 days. County commissioners expect US to do the work and make a change in these 15 days. I have asked to meet with the officials face to face to define the work and to you to help organize interested offroaders to help"
That seems like an unreasonably short time to do the repairs. Hopefully, they can work something out in good faith.
 

KC Masterpiece

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Surprisingly saxon is still the most white knuckle road I have ever driven.

Stock FJ cruiser. Out too late in the day. Ended up getting almost all the way down and we were stopped by a giant rock slide (watched it happen). Road was no passable so we needed to go up and back out. Was really fun with 3" of snow on the ground in the dark.
 
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