That one time, in Leadville...

[Grand_Wag_85]

Met up with Nikkormat last week at the summit of Weston Pass.

Hey, that looks like a Wag!




The plan was to head in to Leadville and drop off my trailer so we could summit Mosquito Pass. According to the USFS Mosquito Pass was not open and they needed somebody to get up there and scout out the snow pack situation.

Stopped at the "world famous" Saturday's Liquor/general store for gas and a restroom break.



From here the plan was to head overland(the fun way) to Turquoise Lake, drop my camping gear off then head to Mosquito Pass.

Unfortunately in the years since I've been down that particular trail it got a bit gnarly at a choke point. I was able to get thru with the JK and trailer in 4LO but Gabe got stuck, a bit. The e brake trick didn't work so I had to drop the trailer from the JK, take a sketchy bypass back to Gabe's jeep and tow him from behind.





The JK got the old Wagoneer out but we tore up the trail to where I didn't feel the JK could get thru. Ran into some friendly locals who brought us around 4 miles or so to where my trailer was(just the other side of the stuck Wag) and we were back in business but by this point it was getting dark and a thunderstorm closing in fast so we went our separate ways.

Good wheeling with you Gabe!

[will e]

Looks like fun regardless!

[Tatsadasayago]

Any wheeling adventure where you get the jeep home in (relatively) one-piece is a good one!

[letank]

I see a trailer hitch in Gabe's future so he does not need to crawl in the wet stuff to attach a recovery line.

[Don S]

..


Weston Pass was a nice dirt pass to train on in 1984 with 2wd but a heavy load and small four banger engine made it challenging.

Did Mosquito Pass from Alma four times. The first time we entered a cloud near the top and couldn't see the hood ornament... our '76 401 Waggie didn't have one but we couldn't have seen it if it did! Then rain and hail and there was no place to pull the side so we parked on the trail for forty minutes.
The video of driving into the cloud was wild!

I like the baby blue Waggie.. Don S..

[Grand_Wag_85]

Sounds like a great ride Don! I did MP two years ago with the J10 on a clear day. BTW what's on your roof in the photo? Weston Pass is still pretty smooth on the Fairplay side, some wash board but nothing crazy. Slightly rougher on the Leadville side but still 2wd

[Nikkormat]

That was a good time. If I had gone high I would have made it. I stayed in your tire tracks and the hole was too big for my 225's. Here are a few more angles:



It wasn't too bad where I layed down but the wheels packed full enough to throw them off balance for the drive home.

[will e]

Great pics! You will be picking out and dropping dried mud clumps for a while.

[Nikkormat]

Hey, that looks like a Wag!

Best part of this picture is that the hood is up!

[Grand_Wag_85]

Didn't even realize the hood was open until just now. LOL!

Wasn't sure if that was you until I got close because I was looking for the orange Cherokee.

I think I started high on that line but it sucked the jeep over to the right. Pretty surprised I made it thru with the bald street tires. My balance was off pretty bad as well after all of that mud.

[Don S]

Sounds like a great ride Don! I did MP two years ago with the J10 on a clear day. BTW what's on your roof in the photo? Weston Pass is still pretty smooth on the Fairplay side, some wash board but nothing crazy. Slightly rougher on the Leadville side but still 2wd

..
Truck drivers said the roof load was a raft for doing Texas floods but they were 24 foot poles for our 17' Tepee we set up south of Jefferson at a huge rendezvous.
The grade was steep on the east side of Weston for the loaded four banger. Had to stop, make the wife walk up, back down and make a better run at it. With my toes tickling the jets in the carburetor the Datsun barely made it up!
Going down to Leadville was a bumper dragging festival.


BTW... The reason up hill has the right of way on the trails is because the old drum brakes didn't have squat to work well backing down hill. That was the big lesson of the day!

Have a good one.. Don S..

[Grand_Wag_85]

BTW... The reason up hill has the right of way on the trails is because the old drum brakes didn't have squat to work well backing down hill. That was the big lesson of the day!

Have a good one.. Don S..

That makes sense, always wondered what the thinking was behind it.

[Tatsadasayago]

The etiquette goes back to the horse drawn wagon days.
The theory was that it would be much harder or impossible for the uphill to resume the climb or back down once stopped. Back then brakes didn't work well in either direction and were essentially parking brakes.
Teams and wagons going downhill would deploy chains connected to logs or ropes and pulleys connected to trees in order to maintain control during the decent--therefore were in a good position to be able to stop safely in order to yield to uphill traffic.
With a few exceptions, this rule is universal. In many company owned timberland areas where logging trucks operate, the loaded truck has the right of way. Other timber companies employ the standard rule.

Good to know when out on the trail. Unfortunately most people aren't aware of these informal rules of the 'road'.

[will e]

it's the same hiking. Uphill has right of way. I think part of the reason is uphill is looking down at the trail, downhill can see down the trail.