Fun solo wheeling.

[rushthezeppelin]

So I've looked at this trail multiple times on Trailsoffroad https://www.trailsoffroad.com/scout-routes/1479-sante-fe-mountain-hidden-wilderness-road. Says easy so I've always though it would just be a good trail for views and being away from crowds. Planned to just go up there and do some reading and prayer and explore a bit. Turns out that the "Easy" rating is a wee bit misleading. Don't get me wrong it is easy but it's not low clearance, awd easy like others with that rating (although I did see a subaru at the bottom most campsite that had navigate a little bit of a gate keeper). I'd put it between a 2 and a 3 on their scale.

Anyway, it was super fun, just enough to where I didn't feel uncomfortable wheeling alone but still be exciting. Nice tight swithcbacks with increasing snow the further up I went, some ruts, some mild rock obstacles and even some fairly off camber spots. Absolutely stunning views of the Indian Peaks Wilderness and a really awesome vantage point on Idaho Springs. I didn't quite make it to the end as I did end up running into some deeper snow that had tracks that looked like someone was slipping alot trying to plow through. Decided to reverse out a few hundred yards until I could turn around.

After that i found two really cool cliffs that look like they could make good climbing spots.

Also managed to run into another guy in a 3rd gen who had just done his axle seals at a campsite lol (he was living out of the 4runner so makes sense). Next switchback down I ran into the guys from Colorado Mall Crawlers (check out that youtube channel, they do video trail guides showing how not heavily modified vehicles can do as well as very modified on ceretain trails).

 

[subzali]

I’ve never been up here before so I also decided to check it out this afternoon on the way home from skiing. Conditions were tricky, as the snow was soft enough that breaking through the crust was possible, and then the spinning of tires would turn it to ice. The series of switchbacks about 1.5 miles in turned out to be challenging, requiring all the lockers, 2nd gear wheelspin, and the grip of the MTRs. I was not aired down however. Then the trail topped out a bit and was easier (where @rushthezeppelin took his pictures above). At about mile 4 it entered another shelf road that had pretty deep snow, and after going a little way I decided to turn around and not push my luck. A jeep I met said he had to winch himself down, and I didn’t want to push things that far.

Will have to check it out further sometime to see how far up it goes. Thanks for the tip on this being here.