Taylor Park Colorado - August 2009

[digginfool]

Here are pics and a video from our trip.  Taylor Park is awesome and as you can see, the view is spectacular.


View from our campsite overlooking the rental cabins


Our first trip out took us on the road from Taylor Park to the town of Tincup


Another view from the same spot in the road, opposite direction


The town of Tincup, looking up towards Tincup Pass.  We were so shocked that first day at how quickly the trail went from smooth dirt road to brutal rock-strewn mountainside when we accidentally went up Slaughterhouse Gulch after passing Mirror Lake.  I don't think we remembered to take any pictures of that!   


This is Cody, our defender against dark intruders (otherwise known as a mouse hound).  The kids thought we brought him because I like him.  I didn't have the heart to tell them he was actually mountain lion bait.   

[digginfool]

This is a stream along the Tellurium Trail.  That's the Austinator crossing the rocks.


Further up the Tellurium Trail, we crossed the stream and this is the view up stream.


The Fool's crew taking a break along the Tellurium.  The Tellurium Trail was the second hardest trail we encountered but the scenery was mind-blowing.  The trail loops around a mountain that has an abandoned mine at the top.  Those pics haven't been downloaded yet.


Another view along the Tellurium Trail.

[digginfool]

I say the Tellurium was the second toughest but probably because we rode it the same day we climbed the summit of American Flag Mountain.  The trail to American Flag is no walk in the park, believe me.  This was our longest day, covering 90 miles.


This is the view just to the left of the previous pic.  The flag is flying at the end of a finger jutting out from the mountain and the drop on all sides is a sheer cliff, at least 800 feet high.  I was 5 feet from the edge and very nervous taking this pic; the drop is scary.  GPS said we were over 12,000 feet there.


This entire area of Colorado is riddled with abandoned mines.  This one was literally on the edge of the trail leading away from American Flag Mountain.  I took this pic from the seat of my Rhino.


The ride from American Flag Mountain to Taylor Park is beautiful.  I took most of the pics of that run on another camera.  Here is a pic of a deer we saw along the trail.  During our stay we saw elk, deer, wolverine and a moose.

[digginfool]

The highlight of the trip was our attempt to ride to Aspen from Taylor Park.  We had met a family from Boulder that was a hoot.  The parents rode quads and the kids (13 and 15) rode Yamha 125 cycles.  The day we left was very cold and rainy but cleared later and we made our shot for Aspen.  The trail to Taylor Pass and on to Aspen is unquestionably the toughest in the area but, again, well worth the effort.  This was an easy example of what we ran into.  The father and I spent a good amount of time helping the kids get up the mountain on their cycles and we ended up with no photos of those extraordinarily tough trail sections.  Believe me when I say you need skid plates out here.  I'm ecstatic that I put a set of Ricochet skids on all the bikes before we left.  On our ascent to Taylor Pass, we had to endure a hail storm (our second of the trip - the first was in Limon that included golf ball sized hail) and numerous falls by the cycles and getting the two-wheel drive quads unstuck from the rocks.  I slept extremely well that night, especially since the worse injuries besides scrapes, bruises and sore muscles was to the pride of more than one of our riders.  The rest of the pics tonight are of the ride.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that it snowed during this trip, about 5 miles before we reached Aspen (which coincided with us turning around because the day had gotten so late).


This is Taylor Lake, looking up at Taylor Pass

[digginfool]

Snow on the mountain above Taylor Lake.


Austinator celebrating our ascent to Taylor Pass.  This is the view back to the south.


This is the view from Taylor Pass towards Aspen.


This is the view of Taylor Lake from Taylor Pass.



Another view along the Taylor Pass Trail

[digginfool]

Now this here was funny.  This was the last in a line of 7 brand new Land Rovers making what was obviously a dealer sponsored crossing of Taylor Pass.  There was about a dozen other riders who waited to see the carnage as these rookies headed down into the stream on the following video.  I don't know how bad it was but there was clearly fresh paint on the rocks when we came back.  The video makes it look easy.  The riders (my wife and niece) are on a CanAm Outlander 800 Max XT with Ricochet skids.  If you listen closely, you will hear my wife leaving more than her fair share of aluminum shavings in the creek.  

http://s230.photobucket.com/albums/ee134/digginfool/?action=view&current=MVI_5384.flv

The video.  At this point, it's late, we're cold, beat up, tired and, and, well, just tired.  It's been a tough but extremely rewarding day.

[250rsith]

A W S O M E ! ! !  Looks like a beautiful place, scenary alone is worth it!

[T2]

Great Pics thanks for posting them finally something to LOOK At

[AintSkeered]

You had me fooled! But, that sir is proof that you're a great Dad for sharing that kind of life adventure with your kids! As the great philosopher Kenny Chesney said, "That's the good stuff"!

[Gato]

great pics bud you say your heading up in JUly again maybe our gang will join that looks awesome say hello to the austinator and on the rhino pic that is Charlotte? she is freekn huge considering the last I saw her she was ride behide wifey at Holeylands. MAybe we hook up for RR but when it is colder haha

[digginfool]

great pics bud you say your heading up in JUly again maybe our gang will join that looks awesome say hello to the austinator and on the rhino pic that is Charlotte? she is freekn huge considering the last I saw her she was ride behide wifey at Holeylands. MAybe we hook up for RR but when it is colder haha

You got it, buddy!  Yeah, it's hard to believe how big Charlotte has gotten.  She just started kindergarten yesterday.  You should see her big sister!  She's taller than her mother and in the 8th grade.  When I download pics from the other cameras we had with us, there should be a pic or two of her.  As far as RR goes, we plan to start spending a lot of time up there once it cools down.  I bought a camp earlier this year on the main grade and spent too much time playing rather than fixing.  It needs a new roof and repairs to the water tower so it should be pretty easy to find us up there this season.  By spring, I expect to have everything wired, plumbed and air conditioned so we can enjoy RR next summer as well as a follow up trip to Taylor Park.

[Gato]

great pics bud you say your heading up in JUly again maybe our gang will join that looks awesome say hello to the austinator and on the rhino pic that is Charlotte? she is freekn huge considering the last I saw her she was ride behide wifey at Holeylands. MAybe we hook up for RR but when it is colder haha

You got it, buddy!  Yeah, it's hard to believe how big Charlotte has gotten.  She just started kindergarten yesterday.  You should see her big sister!  She's taller than her mother and in the 8th grade.  When I download pics from the other cameras we had with us, there should be a pic or two of her.  As far as RR goes, we plan to start spending a lot of time up there once it cools down.  I bought a camp earlier this year on the main grade and spent too much time playing rather than fixing.  It needs a new roof and repairs to the water tower so it should be pretty easy to find us up there this season.  By spring, I expect to have everything wired, plumbed and air conditioned so we can enjoy RR next summer as well as a follow up trip to Taylor Park.

Cool looking forward to RR when it cools down If you need help with something don't hesitate to ask. be in touch

[TNTaylor]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing your family's experience.  That had to have been a much better family experience than anything offered in Orlando.  My parents are from a little town called Cripple Creek, CO. (now a gambling town)  where I spent every summer of my childhood.  Your pics brought back many great memories of family excursions hiking and horseback riding on Pikes Peak.  I can only imagine what it would have been like if we had quads back then.

 

Hope your wife doesn't see your comment about Cody being Mountain Lion bait.  Just curious, did you carry any weapons for protection?

[digginfool]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing your family's experience.  That had to have been a much better family experience than anything offered in Orlando.  My parents are from a little town called Cripple Creek, CO. (now a gambling town)  where I spent every summer of my childhood.  Your pics brought back many great memories of family excursions hiking and horseback riding on Pikes Peak.  I can only imagine what it would have been like if we had quads back then.

 

Hope your wife doesn't see your comment about Cody being Mountain Lion bait.  Just curious, did you carry any weapons for protection?

As a matter of fact, I did.  The first day out, I was carrying my .44 Magnum in a shoulder holster under my jacket but it is too large to bounce around in a Rhino all day so I started carrying my .40 S&W in the glove box.  I know it's extremely rare for human-mountain lion conflicts but it can and does happen and the last thing I wanted to witness was my 5 year-old getting mauled by a mountain lion.  It doesn't necessarily have to be that small of a child; the last documented case of a fatal mountain lion attack in Colorado occurred just a couple of years ago when a female jumped a 10 year-old boy who had run down a trail ahead of his family.  We had a family discussion about bringing the dog because the mountain lion awareness articles I read stated not to bring a dog into lion territory unless absolutely necessary as mountin lions see dogs as easy prey.  Not only that but the article said a dog under pursuit from a mountain lion may bring the lion right into the middle of your party, seeking protection. That wouldn't be pretty.  There is quite a bit of traffic on the trails but there are also areas where you never see anybody and for that reason, I would never go out there without a sidearm.  As you look at my photos, you will notice we were always tightly packed and that wasn't an accident.  BTW, we only took the dog with us on two rides; the first, where he seemed to enjoy it, and the pictures you see here, where he turned out to be a big PITA.  After that, he stayed home in the RV.  The Sig didn't, though! 

[digginfool]

Here's some more photos for your enjoyment.

[digginfool]

SavvyJ Feeding Chipmunks

[digginfool]

So who's ready to follow us back to Colorado?   

[Sleazy_Rider78]

Diggin,

Those pictures are incredible. Thanks for sharing.

[D33411]

I can hardly wait to head west on an ATV trip.  That would be so awesome!  Thanks for the pics!  You are such a great dad!  Dawn

[Gato]

So who's ready to follow us back to Colorado?   

July you are heading back west right? Unless something drastic happens we are hookin up with you all. Already it is Wifey, my 2 kids, and neighbors that you met on our little ride to Ft. Myers area Already gave all them the heads up to get vacation time in July 2010 just gotta square down a date. How long did you drive for? ANd how long were you there for?

[digginfool]

So who's ready to follow us back to Colorado?   

July you are heading back west right? Unless something drastic happens we are hookin up with you all. Already it is Wifey, my 2 kids, and neighbors that you met on our little ride to Ft. Myers area Already gave all them the heads up to get vacation time in July 2010 just gotta square down a date. How long did you drive for? ANd how long were you there for?

It took us 2-1/2 days to get there but we drove nearly straight through.  The wife isn't afraid to drive the motorhome so that really helps.  We left Coral Springs at 4 AM Saturday, stopped in Illinois around 3 AM Sunday because roads were too rough for me to sleep, hit it again around 7 AM Sunday then arrived in Limon, Co around 8 PM and spent the night.  Left Limon around 9 AM Monday, stopped in Colorado Springs and Gunnison for groceries and arrived at the Taylor Park Trading Post around 6 PM Monday.  Basically the same program on the way back except stopped at my Mom's place in Alabama for a few days.  We were in Colorado until the following Monday and rode 6 days, 438 miles.  We never got bored and hated to leave.  The advantage of going in August is that all of the passes are clear by then.  In July, you may ride 20 miles just to be turned around because the snow hasn't melted yet and you can't get across the mountain.  The reason I say July is because the wife had already put in for her vacation before we left but if you guys are serious, we can talk about changing back to August again.  Not as much snow on the mountain in August and a little drier ground.  After I talk to the wife, I'll get the dates she put in and PM you with it.  We'll talk some more later.

[Gato]

cool ok