This past weekend, we went snow wheeling in the Yankee Hill area of the Colorado mountains, which is just outside of the gambling towns of Black Hawk and Central City. The area is fun because to get to the trail, you drive through the Main Street of Central City, which really doesn’t look much different than it did in it’s mining heyday in the 1800s. After driving through town, you pass a cemetery that has likely been in use since the same time period. You have to wonder what kind of crazy tales lead those to their final resting place in a cemetery outside of a mining town!
As we rolled down the graded dirt road to the trailhead, we observed what turned out to be more than 20 side-by-sides preparing for the trail in the large parking lot. We parked and took in the scenery: everyone with the side-by-side crowd appeared to be from Mexico- and they were proudly displaying their country’s flag, light-up chase whips, and bumping sound systems. We parked our Jeeps and deployed the Thor’s Lightning Air Systems prototype rapid multi-tire deflation/inflation tool. Derek and I have worked very hard at making sure the system is built with top-notch materials, and we were impressed at how fast the system deflated all four tires on both Jeeps (eight tires total for those of you that are math-challenged) in about 4 minutes.
We jumped on the trail, and were happy to see that the recent snowstorms in Colorado have left a fairly large amount of the white and powdery stuff on the ground. You see, the Denver metro area relies on the snowpack in the mountains to provide water via the spring snowmelt. While Denver itself is still suffering from drought, the mountains have received a substantial amount of snow in the past few weeks. That’s the positive side of having snow on the trail. Now, for us four-wheelers, the snow can be a fickle bitch. While the Jeeps were doing awesome (partially because of having the tires deflated to a soft 15-17 p.s.i.), the trail quickly got congested because of the 20-plus side-by-sides that were mentioned earlier. About a mile from the summit of the trail, there was a city-like traffic jam that could not be bypassed. So, Derek and I set out to make some friends on the trail- it’s amazing what all outdoor-types have in common: the love of adventure, and perhaps a tinge of impatience for sitting still…..which will come into play later.
Derek and I hauled out the prototype Thor’s Lightning Air System and showed everyone on the trail how it worked: simply putting all four quick-connect air chucks on the tires, and opening the valve allows for all four tires to be deflated to the same tire pressure in record time (and if you connect it to an air source, it will also inflate the tires!). Don’t worry, I’m not turning this beloved blog into an informercial- I just want to clarify for my voluminous amount of readers (ha ha!) what the system does. Anyway, we ended up making friends with the few side-by-side folks that could speak English, and ended up with a few pre-orders for our new system. In fact, the trail camaraderie was strong enough that Derek and I ended up with ice-cold cans of Modelo Especial in our hands courtesy of our trail-mates. We enjoyed standing on the side of the cold and snowy trail with the Modelos ticking our throats. After a while, we decided to hike to the to the front of the traffic jam to investigate what the hold up was, toting our trusty recovery boards in case they were needed.
It was at the front of the traffic jam that all hell was breaking loose. There were three groups that were at odds: the front of the side-by-side parade, a group of well built Jeeps, and a group of well built Toyotas. The problem at hand was a steep incline that had approximately 4 feet of snow on top of the trail. A massive Jeep Wrangler JLUR (four-door Rubicon for the non-Jeepers) on 40″ tires was trying to break through the massive snow drifts so that everyone else could make it up the incline. However, the side-by-side crew was insistent that the side-by-sides could break the trail- and went so far as to cut off the Jeep and Toyota groups. Of course, this led to numerous side-by-sides being stuck on the incline, with smoldering Jeepers and Toyota guys sitting at the bottom of the incline. Eventually, Derek and I were able to get our Jeeps to the bottom of the incline- and were positioned behind the maligned Jeep and Toyota groups.
I contacted an older gentleman who was in a nicely equipped Jeep Wrangler JLUR (you know what that means now!) who was in radio contact with the big dog on 40s, who was creeping his way up the hill well beyond where we could see. The report received on the radio was pretty interesting: the side-by-sides were blocking the upper half of the hill, and two Jeep Cherokee XJs were attempting to go down the very same hill everyone was trying to get up. The gentleman I was in contact with had deemed himself as the man-in-charge of the operation, and insisted on clearing the hill so the XJs could make it down and have them pass us at the base of the hill. There was one glitch: there was no room to pass us in our current position. Derek then moved his Jeep up to the middle of the incline, which was a mistake in retrospect- it wasn’t nice to cut off the two groups ahead of us. Instead of being diplomatic about the events, there was verbal fracas on the trail between Derek and the head honcho of the other Jeep group. While I wasn’t there to see the actual confrontation, both men were incensed and yelling at each other.
In the end, the incline turned out to be too much for everyone: the Jeep on 40s, the side-by-sides, the head honcho, the Toyotas, and us. So we all ended up getting turned around and working our way back down the mountain. At one point, We pulled off the trail into a clearing to get some pictures of the Thor’s Lightning Air System when the head honcho passed us. He shared his fist vigorously at Derek, and appeared ready to launch himself out of his Jeep toward Derek. I played the peacemaker and got everyone to calm down and go their separate ways. I felt conflicted because I saw both sides to their argument, but I was deeply saddened that two Jeepers had so much animosity toward one another. I now recognize that it wasn’t so much each other, but perhaps the fact that we had all been battling snow, reduced traction, friction amongst multiple groups of trail users, and fatigue over the course of 2 1/2 hours. It’s important to remember that stress creates conflict, and that rings true even when a group of people have the same goal: getting as far as they can up a snow-covered mountain!
After we got off the trail, we went to the famous Colorado pizza joint in Idaho Springs, Beau Jo’s. While getting pizza, Derek and I re-hashed the days events, and we both felt as though the trail had won today because of the number of people on the trail, the heightened frustration, and turning back before the summit. Normally, I would equate our day with some life lesson- failure creates character! This time, I’m chalking it up as a lesson learned: turn around earlier if you feel the day starting to go to shit! On the bright side, I did get to see a brand new JLUR Hemi 392 on 40s launch itself up a snow-covered incline- and it was GLORIOUS! Maybe one day I will be piloting a v8-powered Jeep on huge tires up the Colorado mountains. Dream on, everyone!
Get Out There Colorado 