Pickle Gulch 10/7

[Java]

Fun day today! Great group, we probably spent as much time talking as wheeling. When were surprised at the trailhead by a gaggle of FJ Cruisers that were there to do a cleanup. They were very nice, we did our best to keep out of their way. Cool thing- they maintain Bluebird houses in various locations along the trail. About 2/3 of the way through the trail we ran into a nice Ranger on an ATV who gave us a heads up on some newly closed trails, one of which is marked as OK in the Wells book. There are a few changes- in one of the pics you can see us behind a carsonite / downed tree that is blocking what I remember was a fun spur loop, same thing at the other end. Overall Pickle Gulch was great, nothing too hard but a lot of variety including snow, and great scenery. We also tried to do 705 off Elk Park rd, but when we were having lunch near an old cabin on the first part of the trail an ATV stopped and told us there was a big tree blocking the trail further down, too big to cut by hand, so we headed back out and went our separate ways. Fantastic day.

Congratulations to Mark on his shortly arriving twin girls!

Having trouble uploading photos, here's a few...

[PhillipG65]

Paul previously posted:

[FINOCJ]

Pickle is a fun trail but kind of short. Starting to learn my way around a bit though. I think for my next run up Pickle I will take the left at the first 4-way and go past the silver creek mine and stay on the left (not cross the creek - which is apparently not open, or is maybe private) and then that would take you up the loose talus scramble climb. Looks like you could then go explore Michigan Hill for short out and back. Then at the top, you could either finish the cw lollipop loop around the top and then back down pickle, or you can go over the top and to Dakota Hill road and over to Moon Gulch etc.

Jen and I had a nice hike up to Crater Lake above the east portal at Moffat tunnel after parting ways. Will post some pics soon....

[JandDGreens]

It was nice meeting new people today, Paul thanks for stoking the fire
for today’s run. As always I have a great time with FR 4x4 you guys foster
exceptancs to everyone. I haven’t had time to load my photos but will get
to it soon. Thanks

[JandDGreens]

What a great day!

[Getaklu]

It was a good day indeed. Met some new people and reunited with a few that I had wheeled with before. Nice day in all. Not too many pics. Short trail as James pointed out, but just about right for my wife and daughter to ride along. Nice views of the peaks starting to load up with snow.

[FINOCJ]

A few pics:






Afterwards Jen and I went for a hike to Crater Lakes above the east portal of Moffat tunnel:

[Riotcake]

This was a fun day, it was a nice trail even if it was a little short.

I had a bit of a scare after I got back to the city. After a stop, when merging back on the road at about 35-40 mph I got some death rattle for about 5 seconds until I was able to slow down. It hasn't done a big rattle like that since, maybe I threw some mud off the wheel or something. I still have a vibration somewhere between 55 and 65 mph. Tomorrow I need to do more inspecting and a tire rotation to narrow it down. Does anyone remember me taking a hit on the front right? I don't remember anything but I was wondering if someone saw anything maybe on that rock obstacle.