pskhaat said:BTW lockers are not a requirement in Moab! Never decide not to do Moab because of a lack thereof
Lack of experience on the rocks is also a deterrent.... But hey, could be (as we say in Louisiana) a lernin sperience.
Colorado in Mid November?
- Thread starter LaOutbackTrail
- Start date
Lack of experience on the rocks is also a deterrent.... But hey, could be (as we say in Louisiana) a lernin sperience.
devinsixtyseven
Explorer
Not all of Moab is rocks...some is bottomless sand . There are plenty of great scenic trails to get a guy started, even with a bone stock truck with open diffs and small tires. It's about 5.5-6 hours from Denver.
Some of the stuff around Buena Vista might still be open, tho Old Chinaman Gulch is NOT an easy trail, lockers highly recommended and full armor pretty much required for a large rig like a Tundra or current model Tacoma. Smaller stuff like Jeeps, FJs etc can sneak through the tighter sections w/o a problem...but honestly that's not really a scenic trail, more like a playground loop.
If you can get as far as Grand Junction and you like to hike and mountain bike, Colorado National Monument is beautiful, as is Fruita in general, the Little Book Cliffs wild horse area, and the Bangs Canyon area includes hiking, wheeling and mountain biking.
-Sean
. There are plenty of great scenic trails to get a guy started, even with a bone stock truck with open diffs and small tires. It's about 5.5-6 hours from Denver.Some of the stuff around Buena Vista might still be open, tho Old Chinaman Gulch is NOT an easy trail, lockers highly recommended and full armor pretty much required for a large rig like a Tundra or current model Tacoma. Smaller stuff like Jeeps, FJs etc can sneak through the tighter sections w/o a problem...but honestly that's not really a scenic trail, more like a playground loop.
If you can get as far as Grand Junction and you like to hike and mountain bike, Colorado National Monument is beautiful, as is Fruita in general, the Little Book Cliffs wild horse area, and the Bangs Canyon area includes hiking, wheeling and mountain biking.
-Sean
Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
FWIW I made it most of the way down Hole-in-the-Rock (East) in an unlocked (LSD-only) Montero running 235/75 x 15 tires, including some pretty intimidating shelves.
Wanna show us around??? :arabia:Martinjmpr said:FWIW I made it most of the way down Hole-in-the-Rock (East) in an unlocked (LSD-only) Montero running 235/75 x 15 tires, including some pretty intimidating shelves.
Rubi-Khan
Observer
LOT,
I'm not that far from Colorado Springs and might be able to show you around a bit.
There's a remote chance Medano Pass going into the Dunes might be open, but I wouldn't plan on it. It's lower in elevation than many of the passes. If you go in the main entrance to the Dunes be sure to at least see how far they'll let you go up the Medano 4wd road. You'll get a lot closer to the dunes in your truck than you otherwise would.
-neal
I'm not that far from Colorado Springs and might be able to show you around a bit.
There's a remote chance Medano Pass going into the Dunes might be open, but I wouldn't plan on it. It's lower in elevation than many of the passes. If you go in the main entrance to the Dunes be sure to at least see how far they'll let you go up the Medano 4wd road. You'll get a lot closer to the dunes in your truck than you otherwise would.
-neal
Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
Rubi-Khan said:
Well, I made it as far as the base of Gray Mesa. At that point, the road was too badly rutted for me to get up with my stock tires/no lift/no lockers/manual transmission. I tried 5 or 6 times until it became obvious that I was slowing everyone else down (it's also significant that I had the smallest tires of anyone in the group and the only MT.) So, I just parked and locked my truck at the base of Gray Mesa and rode the rest of the way with one of the other guys to the end. Going through "the Chute" was a trip! One guy almost rolled onto his side, and everybody needed spotters to make it to the bottom.
Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
pskhaat said:
I love my MT but I have to be candid and admit it was a problem going up gray mesa. Basically, I kept stalling out, even in 4 lo. The guys with the autoboxes could go as slow and steady as they wanted to up the obstacles, where I kept lurching up, killing the engine, and sliding back. I think with bigger tires, a suspension lift, or possibly just more experience, I could have made it, but like I said, it was obvious that I was delaying everyone else so that's why I threw in the towel.
Back on Labor Day I did Saints John, Radical Hill (the West side - not the difficult side) North Swan River and Georgia Pass with a couple of auto-equipped TJs. On that trip, which had some scary-steep downhill stuff, I was grateful for having a manual box that I could put into low-low and just let it chug down the hill, while the guys with the autos had to use a lot of brake.