Need me some Elevation ... (1 Viewer)

[KOWBOY]

Down the pass into Tincup ... a wonderful old "ghost town" that Folks are still livin' in the old cabins.

We went on up 267 to Mirror Lake to check out the campin' situation. When I was a young'un, this was a very rough two-track road ... now you could take the family sedan. They gotta campground at the lake now too. Unlike the other lakes we'd been to, it weren't full. In fact ... weren't nobody there. The exposure to howling winds mite of had somethin' to do with that.

We backtracked down towards Tincup just a bit a took a nice spot on the creek by some beaver ponds.

What a great day! Covered alot of miles over 3 dif'rent passes and some beautiful scenery without beatin' the fillin's outta our teeth. Was only on pavement a mile or so!!

... and just can't have a campin' trip without eatin' some dogs.

END OF DAY 6.

 

[66fj40x2]

Looks like a great trip. Dang I can't wait to go wheelin' again

Ya ought do a write up on this trip for Trails.

 

[KOWBOY]

DAY 7:

This here was a big, BIG day!

It was the second and final day that we seperated Rubi from 'er Kamper.

It was the one and only day we didn't pack up our s*** and move somewheres.

It was the one and only day we peeled the top off Rubi.

After a big ol' breakfast ... we stripped Rubi down, loaded up the fishin' gear, and headed up to Mirror Lake to catch our limit of Rainbows.

 

[KOWBOY]

Back in Trinidad on Day 2, we weren't sure where the hell we were goin' ... or what days we'd be doin' some fishin'. Therefore, we had to buy a license that would cover the whole trip. (Ain't no way some friggin' game warden's gonna repo Rubi and 'er Kamper) Ended up that the cheapest option was to just buy a year deal for 60 bucks. We bought bait. 3 kinds of bait. Had done bought fishin' poles and all kinda tackle 'fore we even left Elwood.

I'd venture to say that between me and Josh ... we was easily into the fishin' deal 2 hun'erd and 50 bucks.



















































... and this here stick's the only damn thang we caught.

 

[KOWBOY]

Trust me when I tell ya ... we hauled that friggin' stick all the way home to Elwood and put 'er on the Wall of Fame, Shame, and Historical Artifacts at The 3X's.

So after a coupla hours of losin' fishin' gear on snags and catchin' our 1 stick ... and with the afternoon showers comin' ... we piled in Rubi and headed back to camp.

We put the top back on and headed down into the big city of Tincup to see what was happenin'.

Really a neat lil' place. Bought me an ice cream bar at the General Store that had been hauled up all the way from Gunnison. They got a cafe in town that is standin' room only with a line all the way down the street. It's a HUGELY pop'lar deal for the lil' 4-wheelers and motorscooters to come over Tincup Pass from St. Elmo (where they can easily be trailered in), have lunch, and haul-ass back over.

 

[KOWBOY]

Got back to camp and decided to fight our way across the marshes to get to the beaver ponds next to our camp where we had seen fish jumpin' right reg'lar.

We absolutely ... without a friggin' doubt ... can NOT fish worth a s***!! But sure was purdy country.

 

[KOWBOY]

Back to camp to do the one damn thang we're good at ... drinkin' beer.

Speakin' of camp ... here's a few pics.

Of note:

Yes ... we did have a kitchen sink with us.

The Kamper is actu'ly level in the second pic. The whole rooftop tent on the trailer deal proved to be quite convenient to get level in a very wide variety of terrain. I highly recommend the TechniTop model and Slee cut me a great deal.

The third pic documents Josh tryin' to figure out where the hell we was goin' the next day.

 

[KOWBOY]

Right after I took the camp pics ... the weather turned to s*** ... and I mean FAST!

It went from sunny and calm to winds I profession'ly estimate at 50 knots ... then heavy sleet ... then drivin' rain' ... then sunny and calm again ... all within an hour!! It was amazin'. Josh and I were doin' all we could to hold down the legs of my canopy.

But the charcoal was a cookin' the whole time ... and due to our own incompetence at fishin' ... our planned fish dinner turned out to be pork.

 

[KOWBOY]

After supper ... I took advantage of the hot coals to put on what was nothin' short of a friggin' seminar on proper marshmallow cookin' ...

The patience to cook all sides evenly to a golden brown ...

DAMMIT MAN ... that's good eatin' ...

END OF DAY 7.

 

[KOWBOY]

Day 8:

We woke up on a mission from Gawd. We were outta beer. We were outta clean clothes. We were real low on grub. Rubi didn't have much fuel in the tank. And we smelled REAL bad. (I had my portable shower with me but the afternoon rains kept spoilin' our efforts to use it. )

After a week in the mountains ... we needed civilization.

So we packed our s*** and headed up Tincup Pass.

As previously mentioned, the backside of Hayden Pass was the steepest we went DOWN ... Tincup Pass was the steepest we went UP. Narrow, steep, and loose in spots ... I had Rubi in 1st gear, 4wd low, and the only time we had 'er locked up front AND rear. But ... By Gawd ... she pulled it.

Once again ... the pics don't do it justice.

 

[KOWBOY]

Why in the hell would cows be at 12,000 feet??

Damdest thang ... they actu'ly had a friggin' cattle guard at the summit.

Josh and I were convinced these stupid bastards would die in a single day back in the Elwood heat.

 

[KOWBOY]

This here lil' marmot had it all figured out though.

Get on the side of the rock outta the wind ... and in the sun ... and take a lil' siesta.

 

[KOWBOY]

It was cold at the summit.

And it was windy.

But a Fella's gotta get them cheesy tourist photos.

 

[KOWBOY]

A salute from your President at the summit to all The White Trash ... glad you weren't there.

 

[KOWBOY]

So down we go ...

The backside was much, much easier to navigate. We pulled over on one of the mellow switchbacks to allow a group of 11 Land Rovers/Range Rovers to pass. Nice modified rigs. Some diesels. Some righthand drives. Several were plastered with the 'Overland Journal' magazine stickers. Most of 'em took the time to stop as they passed and compliment us on the Rubi Kamper. That was cool.

I was actu'ly disappointed that we didn't see another trail trailer the entire trip. We sure got alot of comments on ours though. Best one by far was a Fella asked what jeep dealer we bought it at. To me ... that's the ultimate compliment.

Anyways ...

Drove down into the cool lil' ghost town of St. Elmo ... the "sister" to Tincup on the other side. Didn't take no time to walk 'round though 'cause they was settin' up a huge circus tent for some kinda festival or somethin' and the street was packed. Hate tourists.

Right on down the valley on the major dirt road that turned paved ... passin' all the Dude Ranches and summer camps ... and then hit 285 again.

We drove north and shamelessly checked into a tent site at the KOA in Johnson Village just south of Buena Vista.

Hot shower. Laundry. Ran into Buena Vista for coupla hun'erd bucks worth of beer and grub.

Stopped and drank/ate at a bar named Coyote Cantina in Johnson Village. Ice cold beer. Phenomenal mes'kin food. And they had ... among all types of other s*** ... John Denver's motorscooter hangin' from the ceilin'.

 

[KOWBOY]

And 'cause this here's technic'ly a Ty-ota club ...

here's your token pic.

This specimen was behind a luxury motorcoach checkin' into the KOA.

END OF DAY 8.

 

[Fireman]

Kowboy, normally I aint real partial to trip write ups, but this one makes me wish Moday were here and me and the family were heading out. Devin done called and told me that they had made it to Durango, and I am really itching to get a move on up North.

 

[KOWBOY]

Day 9:

Cleaned up and re-stocked ... we realized we needed to make some miles to get outta of our own shadow and see some new territory. So far I had the pleasure of coverin' some ground that I did when I was a young'un and now we headed out to do the same for Josh.

Hit the Coyote Cantina again for breakfast ... and sure weren't disappointed.

Back south on 285 to the Arkansas River and then west on highway 50 to go up and over Monarch Pass at 11312'. This one was painful. 2nd gear and 30 mph again in Rubi but this time the speed limit was like 55. We got passed by a fawkin' motorcoach ... pullin' a car. Oh well.

Least our brakes didn't fail on the way down so we'd of had to hit one of them runaway truck ramps. Pitty the soul for the big rig driver tryin' his damndest to hang on till he got to one of them badboys. (first pic)

Down we go back through the lil' town of Sargents and on to Doyleville where we hung a left to hit the dirt on 14PP. Damn-fine road that cut us across to highway 114 South 'bout a mile and then back on dirt on NN14. Hang a right on KK14 to get to Los Pinos-Cebolla Road (788) ... and back up into the mountains.

Rains came hard and steady ... and turned to sleet again as we went up and over Los Pinos Pass at 10514'.

 

[KOWBOY]

Some pleasant drivin' with some real nice views as we worked our way down and the weather finally broke.

 

[KOWBOY]

The problem with dirt Forest Service Roads and rain ... is ... mud.

IH8MUD!!