Poughkeepsie Gulch
This trail was a blast even though it took us quite awhile to run it and only Aaron made it through the difficult section of the obstacle. I'm sure it's a trail we'll run every time we're in Ouray.
We started out splashing through the big mud puddle at the trailhead (of course) and though it wasn't very deep it was pretty big so we got some good splashing in.
It started out in the trees and the trail was one mud puddle after another. It wasn't long before we saw an optional obstacle off to the right of the trail. It didn't go anywhere but it looked like fun so Mike S. drove up to it to check it out.
It was a steep wall of rock with mud and dirt at the bottom. He backed up right away and didn't attempt it. Bob was next and he tried but the mud made it impossible. Aaron gave it a few tries after Bob gave up and he couldn't make it either. It was just too wet. This obstacle would be nearly impossible unless you were in a very well-equipped buggy and it was dry.
We continued on the trail and passed some beautiful wildflowers and waterfalls. It wasn't long before we were up the rocky hill and around the corner before the big obstacle.
We came around the corner and found another large group of vehicles at the bottom, with a couple vehicles at the top. At the bottom of the right side of the obstacle was a truck with its right, passenger side pretty caved in. They were using a Hi-Lift Jack to try to pry the cab open so it would once again match the passenger door. It turned out they were trying the right-most line and slipped their driver's front tire into the crack. After that they rolled to the bottom. No one was hurt and eventually they got it running again.
Monica tried to straddle the crack of the obstacle on the right and just spun in the mud and dirt. It was impossible to stay straight and she slid all over the rock. She moved over to the middle rock where the "V" is and tried that a couple of times, but that wasn't happening either. She eventually backed down to the bottom again.
Aaron gave the right-most line a few tries as well as the rest of the other group floored it and ran up the left-most dirt hill. The dirt was loose and even that line was hard. Aaron had to move off of the obstacle so the vehicles at the top could winch the injured truck to the top. After that, Aaron made it through the middle of the obstacle without a tow strap or winch. He was the only one!
Everyone else made it successfully up the left-most line, though almost everyone had to wrestle with it.
When we worked our way down from the obstacle and saw Lake Como it was too bad we didn't have more time. The lake was absolutely beautiful and it would have been nice to stop and check it out.
We passed the lake and headed up California Gulch. What a great trail! This is one of those trails that not too many vehicles can conquer, which always makes it fun.
Reports from Other Days: 2
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Poughkeepsie Gulch. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
