You decide luke but I will be up there at 10. Anything sounds fine with me.
Switzerland Trail 4/16
- Thread starter CO_Hunter
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I'll be there.
Figured since there was a trail ride, just not the scheduled one, I should at least write a trip report.
So we ended up hitting the Hackett and Metberry trails yesterday. It was Matt in his FJ cruiser, Brad in his FJ80, Eric in his FJ80, and me in my Fj40.
You can definitely tell it's spring time out, there were 4x4's everywhere. I saw a Jeep JK club go by on the way to the meeting point in the morning, every gas station was full of Jeeps, and then we got to the air down spot before Cedar mountain road and there had to be 35 jeeps sitting in the parking lot. They were from the Colorado Christian 4x4 group and had split up into three groups. One to Hackett, one to Longwater, and one to Metberry.
We ended up hitting Hackett first after airing down and letting the Jeeps clear out. The trail was great and the smell of srping pine trees filled the air. Everything was greening up nicely. Making our way down the trail, we caught up with the traffic jam at Hackett rock. We didn't have to wait very long, as this group was the more experienced of the bunch. I started up first and quickly found out that the approach angle on a stock 40 makes Hackett rock impossible unless you really want to bend some metal. Eric, Matt, and Brad made short work of things with impressive displays of suspension and tires chirping. Somewhere in there Brad scuffed up the bumper on his 80. Once to the top, the decision was made to let the Jeeps go, and head back down the trail to Metberry where we figured we would be just about right to catch that group on the way out.
Once on the Metberry trail, it was pretty apparent how used this trail is. It has become increasingly worse with holes dug around the rocks and log breaks missing and chewed up. In my eyes, Metberry has now become tougher than Hackett. We got some really good flex in the riverbed somewhere in the middle of the trail. I thought I ripped the back fenders off of the 40 because of the 33" tires with no lift. Always impressive was Matt with his Cruiser, showing how much travel you can get with and IFS suspension and a locker. Eric came through flexing the 80 to it's max, and Brad went around after watching Eric almost rip some plastic off of his rig. We stopped at the highline to let my dog out, who was desperatley showing signs of car sickness
Once at the big granite slab known as Chicken Scratch hill, we yeilded to some Jeeps on the way out of the trail. The first two JK unlimiteds came through with no problem, the next JK in line was having some driver "freeze up". She was at the bottom trying to convince her husband that she was NOT going to drive that thing up the hill, and I really don't think he was too keen on the idea either. The washout at the bottom of the rock has become very deep indeed, leading to some major flex and wheels in the air shots. We really never figured out if the first two Jeeps were part of this group, but they sure didn't stick around to help, leaving the ol' Toyota guys to help spot. We ended up getting that stock Jeep up the hill, along with the five or so others behind it, after giving them a lesson on which side actually was "driver, no....turn to your other driver side!" I don't think they will be back. We made it down without much drama, but huge air under the tires. The Toyotas made an impressive display, I never get tired of seeing the big FJ80's flex out and show off their almost perfect balance. I chose to take the easy line, more so for fear of tearing up my tires and sheetmetal than for fear of a rollover. I'll be back with a lift and a locker later this year.
The river was beautiful as always, although very low. there were campers at the bottom and a couple fly fisherman, we walked out on the sandbar and enjoyed the sunshine and mountain air. Woody (my dog) and I tested out how cold and refreshing the water was, I mostly had to wash the dirt out of my sandals
Ahhhh, dirt in the sandals.....finally almost summer.
The trip out was most of the same, More wheel standing at the bottom of Chicken scratch, I ended up finding my balls and drove the 40 through the washout and up the slab with little drama, thanks to the short wheel base. On the way out we passed a huge F250 that was about to go down, and we though about just going to watch that event.
We ended up heading out Cedar mountain road to Westcreek and back to Woodland Park via Hwy 67. Thought I was going to have to get out and push the 40 up those canyon roads, but the downhills got easier.
Great day, thanks to all who came out!
So we ended up hitting the Hackett and Metberry trails yesterday. It was Matt in his FJ cruiser, Brad in his FJ80, Eric in his FJ80, and me in my Fj40.
You can definitely tell it's spring time out, there were 4x4's everywhere. I saw a Jeep JK club go by on the way to the meeting point in the morning, every gas station was full of Jeeps, and then we got to the air down spot before Cedar mountain road and there had to be 35 jeeps sitting in the parking lot. They were from the Colorado Christian 4x4 group and had split up into three groups. One to Hackett, one to Longwater, and one to Metberry.
We ended up hitting Hackett first after airing down and letting the Jeeps clear out. The trail was great and the smell of srping pine trees filled the air. Everything was greening up nicely. Making our way down the trail, we caught up with the traffic jam at Hackett rock. We didn't have to wait very long, as this group was the more experienced of the bunch. I started up first and quickly found out that the approach angle on a stock 40 makes Hackett rock impossible unless you really want to bend some metal. Eric, Matt, and Brad made short work of things with impressive displays of suspension and tires chirping. Somewhere in there Brad scuffed up the bumper on his 80. Once to the top, the decision was made to let the Jeeps go, and head back down the trail to Metberry where we figured we would be just about right to catch that group on the way out.
Once on the Metberry trail, it was pretty apparent how used this trail is. It has become increasingly worse with holes dug around the rocks and log breaks missing and chewed up. In my eyes, Metberry has now become tougher than Hackett. We got some really good flex in the riverbed somewhere in the middle of the trail. I thought I ripped the back fenders off of the 40 because of the 33" tires with no lift. Always impressive was Matt with his Cruiser, showing how much travel you can get with and IFS suspension and a locker. Eric came through flexing the 80 to it's max, and Brad went around after watching Eric almost rip some plastic off of his rig. We stopped at the highline to let my dog out, who was desperatley showing signs of car sickness
Once at the big granite slab known as Chicken Scratch hill, we yeilded to some Jeeps on the way out of the trail. The first two JK unlimiteds came through with no problem, the next JK in line was having some driver "freeze up". She was at the bottom trying to convince her husband that she was NOT going to drive that thing up the hill, and I really don't think he was too keen on the idea either. The washout at the bottom of the rock has become very deep indeed, leading to some major flex and wheels in the air shots. We really never figured out if the first two Jeeps were part of this group, but they sure didn't stick around to help, leaving the ol' Toyota guys to help spot. We ended up getting that stock Jeep up the hill, along with the five or so others behind it, after giving them a lesson on which side actually was "driver, no....turn to your other driver side!" I don't think they will be back. We made it down without much drama, but huge air under the tires. The Toyotas made an impressive display, I never get tired of seeing the big FJ80's flex out and show off their almost perfect balance. I chose to take the easy line, more so for fear of tearing up my tires and sheetmetal than for fear of a rollover. I'll be back with a lift and a locker later this year.
The river was beautiful as always, although very low. there were campers at the bottom and a couple fly fisherman, we walked out on the sandbar and enjoyed the sunshine and mountain air. Woody (my dog) and I tested out how cold and refreshing the water was, I mostly had to wash the dirt out of my sandals
Ahhhh, dirt in the sandals.....finally almost summer. The trip out was most of the same, More wheel standing at the bottom of Chicken scratch, I ended up finding my balls and drove the 40 through the washout and up the slab with little drama, thanks to the short wheel base. On the way out we passed a huge F250 that was about to go down, and we though about just going to watch that event.
We ended up heading out Cedar mountain road to Westcreek and back to Woodland Park via Hwy 67. Thought I was going to have to get out and push the 40 up those canyon roads, but the downhills got easier. Great day, thanks to all who came out!
Thanks luke. My friend Ben and I ran those two last Saturday and we thought metberry was harder of the two as well. His Tacoma flexed out on the mud puddle rocks and chicken scratch rock as well. I should post up some pics of our run later.
Nice writeup - I'll get some of my pics up later ... haven't looked at them myself yet.
A few pics
Two more
The ol' FJ40 sure does look better without that damn mustard yellow paint. 
Spent a couple hours scraping all the old tint off the rear windows too. Really cleaned everything up, that 40 is a real pleasure to drive.
Spent a couple hours scraping all the old tint off the rear windows too. Really cleaned everything up, that 40 is a real pleasure to drive.
And that 40 made Chicken Scratch Hill look easy.
Or was it the driver?
Or was it the driver?
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I had a great time out there with everyone. I was having so much fun I forgot to get the camera out and take any pictures. Nice pics and videos you guy's.
Man did I blow it!
The fam's been asking to go back to Metbury since we went last year.
I'm just going to find an open weekend & throw it out there--hopefully it's worth another trip for everyone.....
The fam's been asking to go back to Metbury since we went last year.
I'm just going to find an open weekend & throw it out there--hopefully it's worth another trip for everyone.....
Absolutely! I was telling everyone on this trip that Metberry was the the number one spot on my "favorite Colorado trails" list. That spot is now occupied by Holy Cross, but Metberry being my second favorite-- and a whole lot closer-- I will go there whenever the opportunity comes along. Just let me know.