mcgaskins
Rising Sun Member
Jackson put together a Grand Mesa exploratory run last weekend to follow up on the weekend trip we did a year ago (nearly to the day) with Bill Burke. The agenda was simple - meet up, hang out, wheel around the mesa taking in the sights and scout the area.
Last year, the trail was very wet and slippery, and we were expecting the same this year. On Saturday, the trail was dry as a bone except for a few shallow water crossings and small mud sections. Jackson and I marveled that we covered more ground by lunch than we had in the first day on the last trip. By the end of Saturday, we had covered about 130% of the distance we had covered the prior in two days! We set up camp at a gorgeous lake and went to bed just before it began raining around 11pm...and then it rained all night
We woke up to a trail system that was completely different than the day before with all the new moisture, and we faced some traction issues within a quarter mile of leaving camp. The fairly benign mud pit that everyone walked through the day prior ensnared Perry pretty good because it was wider, deeper and stickier with no good lines to go through it. Everyone sprang to action and setup a nice multiple line pull anchoring off a tree, then moved to a different tree to reposition, and finally a straight line pull to get him back to terra firma. Jackson found a bypass through the trees that everyone was able to make it through with little drama.
The rest of Sunday was filled with epic conditions for Colorado - rain that varied from a light mist to complete downpour, sun poking through the clouds making for epic lighting on the canopy, and some dramatic fog in the distance. The trail meandered through aspen groves, open meadows, fields of flowers, lush forest. Sunday was a lot more challenging with rain mixed in, but everyone had a great time and appreciated the fact we had taken the longer route out back to pavement.
I don't want to speak for everyone, but I think it's safe to say we all had an awesome time and have a newfound appreciation for the area. I personally am looking forward to my next trip out there, and I think a fall leaf peeping run would be epic with all the mature aspen trees.
Last year, the trail was very wet and slippery, and we were expecting the same this year. On Saturday, the trail was dry as a bone except for a few shallow water crossings and small mud sections. Jackson and I marveled that we covered more ground by lunch than we had in the first day on the last trip. By the end of Saturday, we had covered about 130% of the distance we had covered the prior in two days! We set up camp at a gorgeous lake and went to bed just before it began raining around 11pm...and then it rained all night
We woke up to a trail system that was completely different than the day before with all the new moisture, and we faced some traction issues within a quarter mile of leaving camp. The fairly benign mud pit that everyone walked through the day prior ensnared Perry pretty good because it was wider, deeper and stickier with no good lines to go through it. Everyone sprang to action and setup a nice multiple line pull anchoring off a tree, then moved to a different tree to reposition, and finally a straight line pull to get him back to terra firma. Jackson found a bypass through the trees that everyone was able to make it through with little drama.
The rest of Sunday was filled with epic conditions for Colorado - rain that varied from a light mist to complete downpour, sun poking through the clouds making for epic lighting on the canopy, and some dramatic fog in the distance. The trail meandered through aspen groves, open meadows, fields of flowers, lush forest. Sunday was a lot more challenging with rain mixed in, but everyone had a great time and appreciated the fact we had taken the longer route out back to pavement.
I don't want to speak for everyone, but I think it's safe to say we all had an awesome time and have a newfound appreciation for the area. I personally am looking forward to my next trip out there, and I think a fall leaf peeping run would be epic with all the mature aspen trees.
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