Hello! So my wife and I had 2 short days to have a little anniversary getaway. I thought since we had just gotten a truck, it would be a great time to get outside and enjoy the excellent July weather. As you may know, in July most of the snow *should* be melted from the higher areas in Colorado. We're gonna find out if that is in fact true.
So as far as a route goes, we picked up a Northern Colorado 4x4 trails guide, which offered excellent descriptions, difficulty ratings, maps, and directions.
48 hours, 1 tank of gas, lets see what kind of adventures we can have!
The route would have us going SW from our home in Fort Collins, CO to the Nederland area. We were to take the Jamestown/Ward road, which is a rugged 12 mile road connecting 2 small mountain towns. From there, we would take the Caribou trail west of the peak to peak highway, and find somewhere to camp. The next day, we would tackle the harder portion of the Caribou trail, then take the Switzerland trail, the Sugarloaf mountain trail, and finish by driving to Black Hawk, CO. The next day, we would take the Apex trail and link up with the Rollins Pass (East) trail, hit the top and turn around. From there, we would drive to Nederland and take 119 down into Boulder to effectively end our trip.
Here's the vehicle we took for this trip. It's our new 2008 Nissan Frontier 4x4 Crew Cab, equipped with a 6MT and a powerful 4.0 Liter V-6 engine. While not having a locker, it does have a 4-wheel limited slip system (ABLS) that uses the ABS system to limit wheel slip. Later on we'll see how well that works. The rear seats fold up to give us lots of sealed cargo room in the back.
Yes, it's completely stock except for a minor modification to the stock airbox.
So lets get started.
*********************Day 1: ****************************
We left the house in the afternoon and headed up towards Lyons, then jumped into Lefthand Canyon outside of Boulder. We don't have any pics of lefthand canyon, but it was quite beautiful.
Our first trail experience was supposed to be the Jamestown/Ward road, which is rated moderate by most standards. Unfortunately, when we got to Jamestown, the road was closed indefinitely due to erosion control. Dissapointed, we jumped back on the road from Jamestown to the Peak to Peak highway. The Canyon was very pretty, but the road was asphalt, thus not much in the way of adventure. It did get very steep climbing out of the valley.
Caribou Road was not well marked, we almost missed it. It was a narrow but smooth dirt road, at least at first. Well traveled I would say. Here we get a view back into the Indian Peaks area.
A little side note. There is an area at the end of here called "Rainbow Lakes". There is a 16 spot campground and 2 trailheads. When we got there at 5pm on a Thursday, all the campsites were taken. That's okay, it's more adventurous to find a free spot in the national forest. And find a spot we did. It was actually a little difficult to maneuver down into this campsite, but not too bad.
We had a little stream running right through our campsite! Across the stream, there was enough room for maybe 10 or 15 tents to be set up, with about 3 more areas for fires. You have to love the national forest! It was a little wetter than normal for July, and the fire danger was only moderate.
With our tent set up we headed out on the Rainbow lakes trail. By Colorado standards, this trail is pretty tame. However, at 10,000 feet starting elevation, flatlanders will find themselves quickly gasping for air stumbling over the rocky trail.
Here's the view west from the FIRST lake:
After 1.2 miles and 250 ft of net elevation gain, you reach the 3rd and largest rainbow lake. You can swim in the first one, but the last has the best view. There was a surprising amount of flies and mosquitoes about. Here's a view at the 3rd lake looking East:
Also at the third lake looking west:
Nothing like some cool Chardonnay to cap off the evening.
So, with the temperatures starting to fall, we climbed into the tent and let the sounds of the rushing creek soothe us to sleep.
***********************************
So as far as a route goes, we picked up a Northern Colorado 4x4 trails guide, which offered excellent descriptions, difficulty ratings, maps, and directions.
48 hours, 1 tank of gas, lets see what kind of adventures we can have!
The route would have us going SW from our home in Fort Collins, CO to the Nederland area. We were to take the Jamestown/Ward road, which is a rugged 12 mile road connecting 2 small mountain towns. From there, we would take the Caribou trail west of the peak to peak highway, and find somewhere to camp. The next day, we would tackle the harder portion of the Caribou trail, then take the Switzerland trail, the Sugarloaf mountain trail, and finish by driving to Black Hawk, CO. The next day, we would take the Apex trail and link up with the Rollins Pass (East) trail, hit the top and turn around. From there, we would drive to Nederland and take 119 down into Boulder to effectively end our trip.
Here's the vehicle we took for this trip. It's our new 2008 Nissan Frontier 4x4 Crew Cab, equipped with a 6MT and a powerful 4.0 Liter V-6 engine. While not having a locker, it does have a 4-wheel limited slip system (ABLS) that uses the ABS system to limit wheel slip. Later on we'll see how well that works. The rear seats fold up to give us lots of sealed cargo room in the back.
Yes, it's completely stock except for a minor modification to the stock airbox.
So lets get started.
*********************Day 1: ****************************
We left the house in the afternoon and headed up towards Lyons, then jumped into Lefthand Canyon outside of Boulder. We don't have any pics of lefthand canyon, but it was quite beautiful.
Our first trail experience was supposed to be the Jamestown/Ward road, which is rated moderate by most standards. Unfortunately, when we got to Jamestown, the road was closed indefinitely due to erosion control. Dissapointed, we jumped back on the road from Jamestown to the Peak to Peak highway. The Canyon was very pretty, but the road was asphalt, thus not much in the way of adventure. It did get very steep climbing out of the valley.
Caribou Road was not well marked, we almost missed it. It was a narrow but smooth dirt road, at least at first. Well traveled I would say. Here we get a view back into the Indian Peaks area.
A little side note. There is an area at the end of here called "Rainbow Lakes". There is a 16 spot campground and 2 trailheads. When we got there at 5pm on a Thursday, all the campsites were taken. That's okay, it's more adventurous to find a free spot in the national forest. And find a spot we did. It was actually a little difficult to maneuver down into this campsite, but not too bad.
We had a little stream running right through our campsite! Across the stream, there was enough room for maybe 10 or 15 tents to be set up, with about 3 more areas for fires. You have to love the national forest! It was a little wetter than normal for July, and the fire danger was only moderate.
With our tent set up we headed out on the Rainbow lakes trail. By Colorado standards, this trail is pretty tame. However, at 10,000 feet starting elevation, flatlanders will find themselves quickly gasping for air stumbling over the rocky trail.
Here's the view west from the FIRST lake:
After 1.2 miles and 250 ft of net elevation gain, you reach the 3rd and largest rainbow lake. You can swim in the first one, but the last has the best view. There was a surprising amount of flies and mosquitoes about. Here's a view at the 3rd lake looking East:
Also at the third lake looking west:
Nothing like some cool Chardonnay to cap off the evening.
So, with the temperatures starting to fall, we climbed into the tent and let the sounds of the rushing creek soothe us to sleep.
***********************************
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