Chinaman Gulch

[Java]

GREAT run today, tough trail. The hardest part was all of it, beginning to end, but the end... wow. I beat the crap out of my Jeep, used every skid and then some. Thank you to everyone who came out today, it was a really good group. Not too many pics but I have 4.5 hours of video to go through.

[FINOCJ]

Thanks Paul...just got home. A bit wet return near fairplay but not too bad overall. Dinner then see what I got for pics. Awesome trail...tough spots but no one needed a pull.

[Brian]

Awesome day! Thanks to Paul, James and Chris for making it one to remember! Great to finally meet a few more of you as well. Again, it was a really perfect day on the trail!

[Brian]

[Brian]

[FINOCJ]

Some photos - didn't get a lot of good ones but here as some. The ones loaded here have been shrunk down in size by about half - but if somebody wants a full-size version of any of them, just let me know and we'll figure out a way to get it to you.

approaching whale tail:


going up the right side of whale tail:

[FINOCJ]

A no-name interesting spot that represents what most of the 'easy' sections of the trail is like:











Beginning of the long, steep, ledgy descent - add in your own sound effects of scraping, bumping and banging...

[Java]

couple more. We only saw one motorcycle leaving when we started, otherwise we had the trail to ourselves all day.

first pic is a winch point along the way. We didn't winch or strap today.

Last one- CJ-TJ-JK

[RockyMtRebel]

Looks like a great day! Thanks for th me pix!

[The StRanger]

The only trail I've had to take the winch.
The Chutes twisted me up (Open, Open)

[FINOCJ]

Just some thoughts - I used the obstacles names listed on Trails Offroad. We pretty much just drove the route (a lollipop loop) without much stop and play (next time I'd like to hangout at the Rock pile and stairs section a bit) - and it took us 4 hours with absolutely no-one else on the trail.

1) Seems like 33s are the minimum for this trail. On a short wheelbase like mine or a 2dr JK - the 33s were fine with a few scrapes. But for longer wheelbase vehicles like the LJs, 4dr Jks etc (say a Taco etc), there will be quite a lot of scraping, so 33s with protection. The longer LJ and 4dr JK did really well with 35s. Only Chris had lockers, and I don't think he used them, so there is definitely good traction in a lot of spots. There are some alternate, harder lines though that I am sure lockers are needed.

2) hardest part of this trail is the approach/descent up and from to the exit of Carnage Canyon. The hardest part for me was the second obstacle (Rock Obstacle 2) on the climb where the road turns right and has 2-3 ledges you have to walk up. For my short wheelbase it took a number of tries and some helpful spotting to find a line up - lockers would really help. I can see this spot continuing to deteriorate and becoming unpassable for open 33s.

3) The Sqeeze wasn't too bad - the more narrow your width the easier it is ()

4) We kind of cruised right past the Rock pile area on the left - its right after the fork to the right when beginning the loop on the lollipop. As we cruised past I did see the far right line looked quite fun (center is the buggy route).

5) The far right on whale tail is fine for most all vehicles that would attempt this trail (the hard routes are center and left).

6) The Stairs - i think I am the only one who attempted a harder line up the stairs, and only the first, lower portion of the stairs (to the left of the easy line) - 2 'smaller' stairs that were no problem. The easy line/road cuts across to the left between the lower and upper portion of the stair - the upper stairs to the right look interesting but challenging.

7) The Chute - We squeezed just to the right of the entrance boulder, and then cut left behind it and went up the left side. Some of the trail guides suggest staying way right straddling the crack, but that didn't seem so great to us.

8) The descent is much tougher than I expected - expect to bump and scrape and drag etc. There are some steep, somewhat blind downsteps. Both the portion from the chute down to the end of the lollipop, and then descending from the carnage exit down to the trailhead (which you initially came up including the squeeze and rock obstacle 2) is slow, bumping, banging downsteps.

[Jim]

Thanks for the pix and write-up folks.

I really wanted to join in. Another day.

[newracer]

Nice write up.

[FINOCJ]

RockyMtRebel previously posted:

[Brian]

I just have to add ~ this is the max effort for my Jeep. Anything over Chinaman's rating and you can count me out. This trail walked the fine line between 'OMG' and 'I can do this' as far as I'm concerned. It's a measuring stick and a 'bucket list' trail IMO that you have to try...at least once...or you'll regret it. I think it really helped that we were the only group out today, so we could take our time and werk through the puzzles as they occurred. I really can't say enough about the frontrange4x4 peeps in this regard; everyone was eager to help and fast with idea's and solutions that benefited us all along the way.

[xaza]

Wish I could have gone, looks like a much better day than work. This trail is one of my favorite trails. I will be making a trip here this summer with camping and a little sport climbing. My first 2 trips here were run on 31" tires with no rock sliders, but locked. Thanks for the pics and report.

[Java]

a couple of screenshots from VIRB edit:

Our whole track, 7.6 miles, 4.04 hours.
Brian on the first set of rocks @.02 miles.

[FINOCJ]

Interesting line Brian took on the first line...couldn't see you guys up front. I went left of the big rock.

[Java]

Brian took ALL the hard lines, it was a pleasure to watch and a lot of banging and scraping to follow.

I just cut all the stops out of the VIRB video, 2:33 hours of actual drive time. I have the same amount of GoPro to do too, video is likely weeks away but looks good so far.

[Brian]

I didn't get much video at all because I failed to delete previous vids and ran out of storage. I'll go through it and see if anything interesting got captured.