Well this is kinda sorta maybe the plan so far. It is in no way written in stone.

I was thinking about driving to Pueblo on Tuesday July 31st. It's about 2 1/2 hours to Salida from there. I can sleep in and adjust to the altitude and meet Chris and his family in the Salida area somewhere Wednesday afternoon August 1st. Then go on up to St. Elmo that evening and find a place to camp.

Thursday and Friday will be for me days. I can stay in camp as long as the bugs let me and read or go poke around town. I'll also check out campsites for the group that will arrive that weekend.

Chad will drive in from KS on Friday the 3rd with his nephew Taylor. I'll meet him in Nathrop and take them up to camp. I have cell and wireless service in Nathrop so I just set and check e-mails and call and check in with folks.

Saturday the 4th we can wheel a bit depending on how Chad and his truck are doing. I have to be back in Nathrop Saturday as Curtis and his daughter Maddie and Curtis's friend Dennis will be arriving.

Sunday the 5th more wheeling and Rollie arrives. I'll head down to Nathrop again.

Monday the 6th I think will be a good day for miners loop.

Tuesday the 7th we'll see how everyone is doing and wheel a bit more.

Wednesday 8th we should be out of trails in this area. Thinking about heading up to Kenosha Pass. Maybe see Mr. Hanky in Fairplay.

Thursday the 8th on doing trails in the Fairplay/Kenosha Pass area. Mosquito Pass, Gorgia Pass, Middle/North fork of the Swan, ect.....

Boss is going out a month early, July 12th, and won't make this one. And he will be in the SW part of Colorado near Ouray.

Now the places I camp have no fee's and no services. Just a patch of dirt with a fire ring. You have to bring everything with you. Water, soap, food, place to sleep, shovel to dig a hole (no tolets anywhere near), ect.... As I posted earlier there are places with facilities in the area. There are places to stay in Buena Vista. Mt. Princeton resort has rooms, a restaurant, a mini store with gas (prices are very high), and of course the hot springs to relax in. There is a full service campground at Nathrop with wireless service. And there are Forest service campgrounds in the area with pit tolets and fire rings. Most likely there will be a fire ban on public land and we won't be able to have a camp fire. So no dutch oven or charcoal cooking. This ban dose not apply to the Forest Service campgrounds though. Or the private ones.

So now is the time to speak up folks if you want to make other arrangements. The pickin's will be thin this late in the year but if you want or need to stay somewhere with facilities then speak up and I do what I can to help you out.

Chad, Curtis, and Rollie I need an approximate time to meet you in Nathrop.

 

Cool. We'll look for you in November.

 

Looks like everyone will run I-70 out to Limon then take 24 through Colorado Springs. Johnson Village is just east of the 285 and 24 intersection south of Buena Vista. Buena Vesta has a couple of grocery stores and about anything you would need. But if you just need fuel and a snack stop in Johnson Village before you get to 285. No need to go north into Buena Vista and have to back track back south to Nathrop unless you need other stuff. Be sure to top off with gas before you head south to Nathrop.

Nathrop has the big private campground (on the east side of highway 285) and is where I will get my showers. I will be parked near the Campground intrance waiting on folks.

And I'd like to head into Buena Vista at least once while we are there for a group meal in a restaurant. We'll take time off every few days for folks to get showers and supplies. I will get supplies in Buena Vista. The General store in St. Elmo has a little freezer with icecream. I hit that when I can. They don't have a lot of other supplies. Mostly tourist stuff.

From Nathrop to camp count on 30 minutes to an hour drive time.

 

Are we going to be anywhere near the royal gorge? Just thinking to my self?

 

I will be going right by it on my way out. It is off of Hwy 50 the NW side of Canon City West of Pueblo. They have an old (and a new one) Prison there that Al Packard did time in. Al Packard is of Lake City fame and the CW McCall song "Coming Back For More". Seems he and his buddies went prospecting for gold west of Lake City CO and were stuck up in the mountians for the winter. Al showed up back in Lake City that next spring not all that hungry and payings for things out of several money pouches. Seems he killed the others and ate them to survive. The Skyline drive is on the ridge above the prisons and can dump you back out on 50 at the prisons. You could go by on Saturday if you like and drive on up to Nathrop that evening. Maybe you could get Taylor to your place Thursday and it would be an easy drive out US 50 to Pueblo (they have a Motel 6 there-kids under 16 I think stay free-or they used to). There are places to camp up by Canyon City but the free ones are not that pretty. And the private ones will cost you around $20 a night.

I might be talked into going back that way as well. Rocky Ford is east of Pueblo and August is a great time to stop on the way back in Rocky Ford and get a bunch of Rocky Ford Cantelopes for folks back home. It would not be the first time I arrived in Wichita with a load of Rock Fords that had been in the fields in Rocky Ford that same morning.

 

That's some good info there Jack. If I could add a little more info for those interested.

I took my son up to the Gorge and Canon City a couple years ago. The Gorge is awesome. Skyline Drive is short but awesome and dumps you right at the prison. You can tour the prison and it's a great tour. They give you a CD player and you go from cell to cell and look and listen. It's really great.

Alfred Packer's story is true. There is a memorial at the lake just east of Lake City. Worth a look if you're going that way.

Would you happen to have GPS coords for the campsite(s) you're thinking of using?

 

Good idea!

 

I don't have gps on the popular campsite. Larry has one gps listing in his old volume 4 book. Lat 38 42 07.9 Long 106 21 33.0 I'm not sure thats the popular site. If it is that site it will be on your left as you go up from St. Elmo. If no one is in the site it will be hard to see. It is a little below the road and you drive along the side of it for a bit to the access to the site. I don't remember it bering that close to St. Elmo but most of you know how bad my renenberer is.

I have 2 new coppies of that book I would sell for my cost of $10.25 (retails for $16.95) plus shipping. It has some great information on that area and hand drawn maps and GPS of both the St. Elmo area and the Kenosha Pass area as well as some other areas.

Chad had my copy of this and a few other of Larry's books. Folks are welcome to look at them but I do need those back.

Or you can do a search for OutbackUSA and buy Larry's books. Not sure if 4X4 Now is still selling them or not. Larry no longer owns Outback Publishing and has received some information that changes have been made to the books.

I looked at my track from the last trip I made out to this area and have gps for the upper campsite. There are two very large sites. The first you come to from St. Elmo is at: Lat 38 41 58.42 Long 106 25 35.62 The next one is just above it and the one I like best as folks can't see the site from the road till you get on up the switch backs to Tincup Pass.

I have my track and the map on a BIT print file. As soon as I figure out how to make it a JPG file I'll post it or I can e-mail the BIT file to folks if you want it.

 

This is bear country so it is wise to talk to the the Forest Service on how to avoid bears in the back country.

FS Ranger: When walking in the out back wear bells to make noise so bears can hear you and you don't surprise a bear. It is also wise to carry pepper spay so that if you do surpize a bear you can spray it with pepper spray and get away. It is also important to recognise bear scat (droppings).

Flatland visitor: Hope do know what bear droppins look like?

FS Ranger: They have bells in them and smell like pepper spray.
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Looks like us here from the WI chapter are coming a week too later to run with the KS chapter. Sounds like you all have run here before so I am wondering if anyone could help us with a few questions-

1. We are staying at the FS Chalk Creek camp on 162 W of Nathrop- any thoughts on that?

2. Any where to pay for a shower- either at a private campground or the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs?

3. We will be arriving saturday Aug 11- leaving on the 18th- Any recommendatons for trail length would be great. Would like to run some simpler scenic ones the first few days and then harder the better later in the week.

Thanks Mike
77 EB

 

Chalk Creek is down in the valley and not very senic. But it is close to fishing ponds. If it were me I'd try to get spots at the Cascade FS campground.

Showers can be obtained at Mt. Princton. http://www.mtprinceton.com/reservations.html They are open and like in high school and not much privacy when folks open outside doors. Or it was that way when I was there 10 or so years ago. The private campground at Nathrop has private showers. This is a link for them: http://www.chalkcreek-campground.com/

Mt. Princeton is the easiest trail. It runs through or next to private property at the start and I need to check if we are still permited up there. Signs were posted to make you think it is closed last time I was up that way. It has some steep grades and just one moderate switch back the last time I was up that way. Been well ovewr 5 years though. Tincup Pass is the next easiest and Cottonwood used to be a car road if you want to take it. Cumberland is a car road ands I took a Dodge Caravan uo from 50 through Pitkin to the Alpine Tunnel then over Cumberland to St. Elmo and then west over to Gunnison. You need 4wd to get from the Sherod Loop up and over Hancock though. Pomeroy Lakes is moderate like Hancock. Then Mt. Antero and Baldwin Lake are just a tad more difficult. Then Grizzly Lake has just one place at the beginning that will cause folks with open diffs a problem. Then there is Williams Pass and Iron Chest. Those are not recomended for stock vehicles. I have not done Chinamans or the Mary Murphy Mine (not the headquarters. The actuall mine is way up high on the opposite side of a ridge from the Iron Chest Mine.

Tell me more about your trip. Is there a thread on it on another board? Is this everyone in your groups first trip to this area? You going to fish or white water raft? How many folks in your group? What vehicles will folks be driving? I have some guide books of that area that I could let you have at cost. Or you can buy them at Outback USA or 4X4 Now. The books I have were written by a friend of mine Larry Heck. They have a bit of humor in them. Charles Wells writes more technical books on these trails. Most of the trails have reports on them at: http://www.4x4now.com/trlrpt.htm or http://www.4x4trails.net/db_search.php?been_here=1

 

Jack, I'm sure I can find those campgrounds. But if you want to email those map files that would be cool. The last ones you sent me of the April trip helped a lot. So it sounds like we'll meet you for a while Wednesday in Salida, then you'll head into the hills. You'll already be at the CG Saturday morning and we'll head on up early when we leave Salida. We'll wheel and camp w/ ya Saturday, then go home Sunday. Wish we could stay longer.

 

Sure thing. I'll go ahead and highlight where Delorme says some of the other trails are. I'll try to get it done tonight.

 

It's on the way. I left it full size so you could zoom in and still have clear detail. It is a very big file. A little over 13 meg.

 

I got it Jack. Thanks. Lotsa good detail on the map. Is the upper campsite just before Tincup Pass the one we will be using?

BTW above I said the Alfred Packer memorial is at the lake east of Lake City. Well it's SOUTH of Lake City on the shore of Lake San Cristobal, near the north end of the lake where the east and west perimeter roads intersect if I remember right.... DUUHHHH!!