Missouri Gulch
Some of us met in Castle Rock, while still others met at the trailhead. When we were finally all together, there were 10 vehicles, lots of people, and lots of dogs. The weather was chilly but it didn't look like rain. We were all excited to get started on our adventure -- they were all new trails to us. Who knew what we'd find?
We met at the large parking area at the very start of Missouri Gulch, which was very handy. After airing down, we were off. The trail was much as we expected, with smooth dirt for most of the way. There were a few sections of whoopdeedoos and a couple areas with small rocks in the dirt, but otherwise it was pretty mellow.
We planned on running Illinois Gulch on the way back, and we noted it as we passed by. It looked fun! We kept weaving our way through the trees until we got to a messy intersection.
We needed to curve to the right, but there were three right curves in front of us. Monica tried the highest one but it soon ended at the top of the hill at a campsite. The views were nice, though.
She turned around and tried the middle one, but it also soon ended. However, this campsite was pretty cool so she called everyone down to an early lunch.
This second campsite was a fire pit and a couple of big rocks in an area surrounded by high walls. It was a huge hole, basically, with a flat spot just wide enough for a vehicle to drive into it. There was a lot of broken glass on the ground all over, though, so we didn't drive in. It was a great lunch in the sun, though.
We were out of options so we knew that the lowest curve was the right one. We got started and it proved to be correct. We followed the ridge and the trail stayed pretty easy.
We did find one muddy puddle of water about a foot deep, and some people enjoyed splashing through it. On the way to our next trail, we were on the residential road and Mark's Jeep suddenly stopped running.
The guys tried a few things but couldn't find the problem. Then Mark remembered the mud puddle and discovered that his distributor was all wet. He dried it out and it started right up. Whoops!
We headed out almost to the highway and easily found the trailhead for Hotel Gulch. Missouri Gulch was a nice loop, and there are a couple of great lunch spots. It was a great start to our day.
Reports from Other Days: 4
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Missouri Gulch. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
