Middle St. Vrain
We were all excited to do this trail and end up at our annual barbeque at the Coney Flats "lake" at the top. The weather looked like it was going to be perfect, unlike the freezing downpour we had last year.
Most of us met in Boulder and headed up to meet the rest of the group at the trailhead. After airing down and disconnecting sway bars we were off. It was the weekend after the 4th of July and the trail was pretty crowded. We would see lots of people all day.
We weren't too far into the trail when Perry ended up with some mechanical troubles. He was third in our long line of vehicles. It took a little bit for him to get up and running again, and in the meantime Monica and Don did the rock obstacle.
Monica went through the rocks like usual, hoping to finally run her passenger tires over the big rock at the end. It finally happened this year, for the first time. It's about time!
She drove ahead, far enough to fit the entire group behind her and in front of the obstacle. Then she came back to take pictures of Don in the rocks.
Don played around in the rocks for a bit, and then some ATVs needed to get by us. He pulled his Jeep off to the side of the obstacle to let them get through and past us. When he started up again, he found out that he had pulled over a bit too much. He was really risking going over the side, so Monica went to get her Jeep to be used as a winch point to get Don back on the trail.
Don used his winch to make sure he didn't fall off the trail. As a reward, he folded his passenger-side fender flare a bit. We both hoped that this wasn't an indication of how the rest of the day was going to go. At this point, we saw the rest of the group finally joining us.
Everyone picked their own lines through the rocks and everyone was successful. Perry and Steve played on the big rock on their way through it. Eric tried it in Corrie's Jeep and managed to take off the front license plate in the process.
Todd got some great flex on the big rock, twisting his way through the obstacle. Ladd also caught most of the rock, flexing nicely.
Jed was the first one to take the other side of the rock, getting some great twisting out of his suspension. Julie weaved her way through the rocks next, making it all look very easy.
Bill followed Jed's line, also getting some great flex on the edges of the obstacle. Mike was going to follow that line, but then changed his mind and ran his passenger tires over the big rock instead. He was rewarded with some awesome flex as he ran over the big rock.
Walt ran over the big rock in the same way, and you could see lots of sunshine through the twists in his suspension. Gary brought up the rear, choosing to take the relaxing route through the rocks.
We were all through, and we headed out to do the rest of the trail. The sun was shining and the weather couldn't have been better. The water and mud crossings were pretty mellow, and no one had any troubles.
When we got to the crossroads for Coney Flats, we headed up rather than going to the end of Middle St. Vrain. We were all ready to eat a great lunch at the top. The day had a bumpy start, but it looked like it was going to finish out very well.
Reports from Other Days: 13
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Middle St. Vrain. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
