Chinaman Gulch
The day started out cold in town. It was cloudy when we left our meeting place, and it stayed that way for half of the drive to Chinaman Gulch. But, when we got to the trailhead the sun was out and it was noticeably warmer. We aired down and were off to start the trail in no time. We only saw three other Jeeps on the trail, so we would have most of the trail to ourselves.
The Rock Garden was first and it was fun. Neither of us had any issues with the obstacle. Some of the spots in the Rock Garden were dug up a bit but nothing was too bad.
Then we came to the washed-out hill for some suspension flex pictures, of course. We both played on the Rock Pile for a short time, too, and that was fun.
The creek bottom of The Wash up to Whale's Tail had some snow on the trail, finally. The snow made it fun, but was not that deep at all.
The bottom of Whale's Tail was all snow, and that made it slippery trying to go up to the obstacle. Matt tried the center line a few times and could not make it up that way. So finally, Matt went up Whale's Tail on the right side with no issues. Then it was Chad's turn. Chad went for the center line first, and after a few runs at it he made up the center line. We both had fun on Whale's Tail with some snow to make it more challenging.
The next play area was The Stairs. Matt went up the right side with no issues and went back to play around the center wall of the obstacle for some flexing pictures with one wheel off the ground. Then, Matt went up the far left side of The Stairs to park for lunch. Chad also went for the center wall of the slab of rock for some flexing pictures. Then, he too went up the far right side of the stairs and parked for lunch.
After lunch, it was time to go up The Chutes. Matt went for the right side and made it halfway up, and then he slid to the left and got stuck. He had a rock in front of his axle and a very large rock at his rear bumper. Matt could not get his Jeep to move on its own power, so he had to winch his Jeep out of the hole of rocks. Chad went for the left side of The Chutes and made it up the obstacle under his own power.
The hill at the end of the loop was washed out a little bit and it had snow on it in some spots.
We stopped to look at the end of Carnage Canyonon on the way back. Eventually, we made our way back down to the Rock Garden and then to the start of the Chinaman Gulch trail. At the parking area, we went to the start of Carnage Canyon and walked up to the V-Notch to see it for ourselves. We soon decided that we would save this trail for another day. Back at the parking lot, we aired up and got ready to drive home. It was a great day to be out four-wheeling.
Reports from Other Days: 22
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