Great Divide Expedition

[cbmontgo]

First I have to admit that I have not read every post in this thread, so if I missed something or you have this figured out, apologies.

But one of the Rebelles, Thayer Gray, is the president of some local Land Rover club. I mentioned this discussion to her and said that she might be able to find the original route, if you are interested.

She also knows the whereabouts of at least one of the original trucks, which I thought was pretty cool.

Very cool!

 

[BritKLR]

Just to

Hi all, I'm blown away by the interest and research the group has put together. There are a lot of good ideas here that I think are worth discussing more, but it'd probably be easier in person at the next meeting. Ill work with Dom and Angelo to introduce me to everyone so we can get a good side chat going at the meeting.

For some updates, I've also had good traction on the LR forums and fb pages and was able to get a copy of the exact route they took. I mapped it in gaia and it certainly has some accessibility issues with today's access, or like was said before being normal people and not LR. Tom Collins, the original organiser, did a heck of a good job with this.

I like the idea of a group. That said I'm not much of a manager of people. Cool to see what this post has lead to. At any rate please don't get a group together and do this without me haha.

Q's
- Getting around Rollins, I'm leaning towards Berthoud since I primarily wheel in the front range and have seen a decent bit of that part of the route. Not sure how permanent the barrier on Rollins is but it'd be cool if we could get approval from the forest service for a one time pass if it's not physically impossible.
- Sargents to Cochetopa Pass, the only part of the route that gets vague in Tom's notes. The best I can tell the original route is atv/dirt bike only now . There's certainly a way through but not sure what the best route would be.

A's
@HDavis - that's right they turned east at tincup and went to the Princeton hot springs for some R&R
@DaveInDenver - they did indeed drive up the lifts in Aspen. Your first day is nearly dead on.
@BritKLR - sending you a dm, we should talk more about your group trip and sponsorship points. I have had similar thoughts
@DaveInDenver - They spent an extra day in the San Juan's so they could retrace over black bear. Again your day 8-12 is very very close
@Cruisertrash - yep, a lot of the routes I'm seeing give us a pretty narrow late August early September window
@DaveInDenver - I agree reaching out to forest service, BLM and sheriffs offices is going to be the key to success here. There are a lot of private property and mining claims that could potentially reroute lesser known portions
@Burt88 - I think you nailed it, this was my original intention. It should be fun first and foremost

Thanks again everyone, I've been really impressed by the interest.

Bump

Would love to see something like this happen. But, I'm drafting my 2024 calendar and can see it's going to be a very busy year. Please update this thread if it looks like it will happen! Thanks.

 

[Cruisertrash]

@SaintAgatha even a photo of that original Rover would be cool. Is it in Colorado?

 

[SaintAgatha]

@SaintAgatha even a photo of that original Rover would be cool. Is it in Colorado?

Not sure but I'll ask.

 

[SaintAgatha]

@SaintAgatha even a photo of that original Rover would be cool. Is it in Colorado?

It's in AZ, being preserved for all of eternity, haha.

 

[fyffer]

Sad to see event just crapped out, would it even be considered again. Mapping from @DaveInDenver disappeared?

 

[Curly]

This would be EPIC
I volunteer to make contact with the necessary agencies if this ever picks up steam again. And if someone else is better connected for that, I volunteer to help in any way I can to make a run like this a reality. Today was the first day I heard about it

 

[DanielChase]

Anyone interested in to running this on the down low, high speed, low drag, minimal complexity etc?

 

[LC200TX]

in!

 

[On the RX]

Very interested! I'm limited on PTO but would love to explore the feasibility.

 

[BritKLR]

Anyone interested in to running this on the down low, high speed, low drag, minimal complexity etc?

Still interested. Scheduling is everything now that's 2025.

 

[LC200TX]

Agreed

Still interested. Scheduling is everything now that's 2025.

agreed, let’s put some dates down?

 

[Trail Bum]

I'm interested. Looks like it could be a lot of fun. Agreed with quick and low complexity.

 

[Corbet]

I’m interested but my 2025 calendar is pretty full.

 

[Capriblue45]

I'm interested as well.

 

[Yarn Cruiser]

Pending on how something’s shake out @DomOfTheDead and I are trying to line up our big summer wheeling trip for this year.

 

[sierramechanica]

Lemme know if you would like help mapping this out and filling in some gaps

 

[DanielChase]

Lemme know if you would like help mapping this out and filling in some gaps

You’re speakin to Dom/brandy right? I for one should never be in charge or planning anything accept a bad ass holiday party… but I’d be there with bells on!

 

[DaveInDenver]

Sad to see event just crapped out, would it even be considered again. Mapping from @DaveInDenver disappeared?

Yes, I had done some maps and routes but there were a few issues with leaving them publicly available. I've re-traced much of my intended route from Leadville and south via truck or MTB, some over by Gunnison via dirt bike, over the last year and some. I have not been north of RMNP since 2017 and did not check hyper accurately (mostly just verifying the USFS map route numbers exist) from Del Norte to the N.M. state line. My concern was to get a better idea of Aspen to Lake City

I ran into more spots I had to work around than I expected. It'll be a challenge with a large number of trucks logistically and will require a fair amount of detouring on pavement and improved roads. I kind of dropped the ball until I knew more. There's some sections where a group of 10 is no problem but there'll be lots of #OLAF and side-by-sides to contend with. Others where corraling 2 or 3 trucks is going to be headache trying to camp and do the through drive. It will depending on how much of a stickler one is for following the actual hydrological Divide not on foot or horse.

 

[Yarn Cruiser]

I should add that I have no intention on taking lead on this. If other summer plans don’t work out and someone is leading this we might like to join. Sometimes it’s nice to be a participant and not the leader.