Wheeler Lake
Wheeler Lake was the only trail that we ran that day. We met at the gas station in Fairplay. They had forecasted rain for the day, but the morning was clear and warm.
We left the gas station and drove to the start of the Wheeler Lake trail where we aired down in the parking area. A few groups passed us before we finished airing down. It appeared there were going to be a few groups out for the day on the trail. We finally started on the trail and didn't stop to look at the Montgomery Mine until our way back down.
It didn't take long for us to run into the group ahead of us at the obstacle named Flopper. We all went up to the right side of Flopper, and none of us had any issues with it. After Flopper, we were at the back of a short line for the V. Most of the group in front of us made it up and through the V, but it took some time as they had some issues.
Then it was our turn. Matt and Brian tried the V obstacle, but they both got stuck on their rear axle and had to winch out. It was nice that they had installed an anchor point. Julie took the center line off to the left bypassing the V. Tim was the only one in our group to make it up the V obstacle. At times it is nice to have the short wheelbase!
The rest of the trail up to Bowling Ball Hill was pretty easy. It rained a little on and off, but not more than to get the ground a little wet.
The small pond area that had water in it most of years was dry, so none of the big boulders were hidden in the water, which made driving through this part much easier than most other years.
When we got to Bowling Ball Hill, the last person in the group ahead of us was just driving up. We all took the right side of the small obstacle on Bowling Ball Hill. Brian waited a short time to let some hikers go by before going up. We all had fun on it.
As we got closer to the parking lot by Wheeler Lake at the end of the trail, it started to rain a bit more, so we stopped for lunch. Some of us stayed in their Jeeps for lunch and some stood under the rear window on Matt's Jeep. It didn’t rain for long, though.
We then got ready to drive back down the trail, but Tim noticed that his steering arm had come apart. It looked like the one end of his steering arm pulled out of the threads in other part of the arm. We found an area on the bracket of his bumper to tie the arm to so he could continue driving his Jeep back down the Wheeler Lake trail. The shaft was free to move without hitting anything.
Fortunately, it was easy going back down the trail to the V obstacle. Matt, Brian, and Julie went through the bypass of the V, but Tim went down the V and had some fun! He made it look easy until the end when he stood his Jeep straight up in the air, with the back of his Jeep up high. It looked like he was going to go end over front, but he hit the gas pedal hard at the right time and his rear end came back onto the ground. That's what saved him from going over. None of us had a camera out to take a picture or video of his big stunt!
At Flopper, the group in front of us was in the process of rolling a Jeep back on all four wheels. The driver had taken his eyes of the trail for a second, and the passenger side wheel went too high up on Flopper and flipped his Jeep over onto its side. The two people in the Jeep were not injured, and the Jeep did not take much damage and started up on the first try. We stayed and helped as needed.
We stopped at Montgomery Mine and walked around some and took pictures. After that, we went to the parking area and aired back up for the drive back home. We had a great time on the trail and being up in the mountains.
Reports from Other Days: 8
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Wheeler Lake. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
