4 members of the local LR club met to go wheeling in Conifer, CO today. There were 2 Rangie Classics, a Rangie p38 and my Discovery. The trail we intended to take, Slaughterhouse Gulch, was closed by Forest Service so we had to go with plan B. Plan B was also still closed so finally plan C worked, a trail with no gate.

All the Rangies did better than my Discovery but I owe most of it to the tires they were running. 2 of 3 Rangies were running mud tires and the third had BFG A/Ts. Even as worn as the BFGs were they still performed better than my Dueler A/Ts. Any moisture on a rack and I was spinning like crazy. Without me the rest of the group could have made it as far along the trail as we went in half the time. One of the long steep climbs also still had snow on it which didn't help my traction issues any. Two of the guys were kind of enough to dig out in front of my tires so I could get some traction. We finally made it to the top without further complications and dropped down in the valley where we had lunch and talked before turning around and heading back from whence we came.

I call it successful despite my problems for 2 reasons. 1. I made it in and back without any damage, at least major damage. I know I slammed stuff underneath on rocks a couple times to I will inspect thoroughly for damage on Monday. And 2. It showed what my priorities need to be for the truck. I need more aggressive tires before anything else, then rock sliders and diff guards.

And before you ask, I'm working on pictures. Should be up no later than tomorrow.

 

With the mention of a run, pictures, lots of pictures come first, the story later.
So what trail did you finally run?

 

Jim said it was Stony Pass but I couldn't find it on the map of trails at traildamage.com. I think it might have been one end of the trail. The trail was too muddy for us to continue, especially with no winches. We turned off Hwy 285 in Bailey and went past Wellington Lake on the way to the trailhead.

 

Here' the link to the pictures from today's trip.

http://s487.photobucket.com/albums/r...view=slideshow

 

Great pics, looks and sounds as if your trip was a success by any measure!

I went to Haspin Acres last weekend with a Land Rover club (MVLRS.com), and am meeting up with a few MVLRS guys tomorrow morning to go down to the Gorge here in KY. I think there's going to be 5 of us; 3 Discos, 1 RR Classic and 1 Defender. I've never been down there, but it's supposed to be fantastic. I'll take lots of pics and start a thread for it on Monday. I've also got pics from last weekend at Haspin, but out of respect I won't post that link here! Instead, I'll link to both albums in my thread Monday.

Cheers!

 

Thanks for sharing. I got a question. First, I work in mining exploration. I do fourwheeling for a living basically in every continent. In a terrain like the one in the pics, we would go with tire chains. Most of the time we either carry a whole set of tractor tires or chains. On/off road tires just don´t get it done for us. So, why don´t you use chains in a trip like that? Is it illegal here in the US? I know you can use them for snow. I just relocated to the US recently and my experience of four wheeling as a hobby is cero in the US. To make things worse I am located in Illinois where there are no mountains and every road is paved.

 

I don't actually carry chains and most people here don't carry them unless they expect deep heavy snow. Personally I am not a fan of chains because of the potential damage to the vehicle. My all-terrain tires were barely adequate to get up this trail and I really had to work to make it to the top.

 

I fully agree with you about the potential damage to the car, I´ve seen a fender riped off more than once. Specially with improperly mounted chains or cheap ones. But in any case, the danger is there. You are right. The other issue is the driving. With chains one has to really take control so not to spin the tires, in that case they either cut thru like a saw into the dirt or if on rocks, something breaks.

 

Why not get Mud terrains?

Also, AK, who is the guy with the P38 and the slimline bumper? Does he post on the forums?

 

I am planning to get much more aggressive tires than I have now. More than likely going with Green Diamond M/Ts.

I just met the guy with the P38 yesterday when we met to head out on the trail. I know he post on the Solihull Society forum, no idea if he's on other forums. I'm actually going to get a hold of him sometime and see if he wants me to work on his CB. His CB could hardly be heard more than 5 feet away.