Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together!!!  If you’re like me you start thinking about the next jeep trip the minute you wake-up sleep deprived from the last trip.  As expected and right on schedule it happened this April when I got back from Moab.   It usually takes us about 20 hours to get home to Eden Prairie, MN.  We leave Moab about 0500 hours and  get in around 0200 hours Central Time.  I showered and went straight to bed.  I was up by 0900 because I couldn’t sleep anymore.  Too nice of a day to sleep away and I was pretty anxious to spend time with the Mrs.

As per usual though I started  thinking about how I should have pack differently.  What I wanted to do to the Rig for the next trip, and of course how I was going to fix the busted stuff from this trip.  I figured I had about one year to get it all figured out.  Fortunately that wasn’t that case!!!

Fate Intervenes

One of the fella’s from our October 2014 Colorado trip needed an alignment done.  We all use the same dude for our alignments.  Reid is a legit crawler who owns his own Midis Repair Shop in Shakopee, MN.  Since we all know him, and he knows were our little group, he tossed out an invitation to go with his group on a run to Canada.  None of us could make the date work. We did, however, notice something cool.  Most of our schedules had a nice little gap in the first week of September….

All we needed was a destination, money and our  permission slips signed by the wives.  The destination we chose was Leadville, CO.  One of the fellas had a connection to the area. I had stayed in Leadville once before when we were passing through to Moab.  It was early spring and there was still a ton of snow on the roads that lead up into the mountains.  We had always talked about going back and exploring a bit more.

So the destination was set.  My wife was willing to sign the permission slip (thanks babe) all I had to do was get by the money issue.  I worked a bunch of OT and got the trip covered.

Just like that an unplanned trip became planned.  Two of the fellas, Jake and Elliot, left ahead of Dave and I.  Jake and Elliot wanted to get some fishing done while Dave needed to spend one last weekend on his boat.   The plan was simple, Dave and I would meet Jake and Elliot in the western part of Leadville, CO then we would camp and drive trails as we made our way east.

 

Dave and I rolled into Leadville around 7 pm and found our way to Halfmoon Road also know as Lake County 110.  Jake and Elliot had set up camp just west of the Mt. Elbert Trailhead.  It was pretty dark and Dave and I had to get camp set up so I didn’t pay much attention to our location for that night.  I could tell we were close to Halfmoon Creek because the sound of the rushing water was like natures sleep machine.  After a quick meal we crashed hard for the night.

We woke to bright sunlight filling the valley and we were surrounded by this killer view!!

We had a bite to eat, packed up camp and were out on the trail.  The sun was bright but still low.  There were amazing shadows all around as the sun struggled to rise over the mountain tops.  Within 5 minutes we were at our first obstacle,  it was a creek crossing.  Not terribly long and just deep enough to make it feel legitimate.  The coolest part about the crossing was this little traverse that was required to get out.

I have to admit I really didn’t know what type of Jeeping we were in for.  I never really looked at the map so the entire day was a surprise to me.  As we climbed up in to the atmosphere there was a series of small obstacles, enough to keep you entertained but never too worried.  A couple more water crossings and we within reach of the tree line.

Seemingly out of nowhere there was a cabin that appeared.  I stopped to take pictures and think about who may have been its early occupants.  I lagged a little bit behind the group because I was in my own little world.  As I continued on I noticed a familiar tapping sound coming from the underside.  The rig is a 1998 so there is always some noise to think about when I’m off road, but I was pretty sure I knew for sure what this tapping was.

 

I got out an confirmed that I had busted the upper shock mount for my driver side rear shock.  I had suspected this may happen because I had broken it earlier in the year out in Moab.  I chose a half assed fix instead of a proper repair.  Suffice to say I should have done it right the first time.  I didn’t have many repair options so I just removed the shock and tried to put it out of my mind for the rest of the trip.

We continued up to Champion Mill.  The weather was perfect and so were the lighting conditions.  I found this fixture was very interesting.  What really caught my attention were some of the incredibly large iron gears still in the mill. I can’t believe that someone got those massive gears all the way up that trail.

After seeing all there was at the mill, we back tracked to the trail split and headed up to Iron Mike Mine.  There was an old building that you could stop at for shelter and photos.  The drive to the mine was very interesting.  The elevation made for spectacular views.  The slippery shale path made for some interesting driving.  Not to mention a great place for lunch…

Stay tuned for more trails!!!

Carter