The LaPlata Mountains in the spring

[BusaDave9]

I loaded up the CJ early this morning and headed out for the trails. My favorite trails are too high to be tackled this early in the spring but I have some other trials in mind.
This time of the year I need a saw. There are always trees that fell during the winter. I also use my winch more this time of the year.
I left my home in Durango Colorado headed to some lower trails near Pieadra CO. When I got to my destination I found the trail gated and closed. Here is a picture from 2 years ago at about the same time of the year.

This trail would be closed for another month. I headed back west through Durango and on to the LaPlata Mountains west of Durango. These mountains are only 20 minutes from my home but I arrived 2 hours and 20 minutes after leaving this morning.

I turned north at Hesperus Colorado.

Here is the road heading into the mountains.

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I stopped to take some pictures of a very old building and barn.

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From here the road starts off paved. It then turns to gravel. Later it becomes very rocky. This road going up the LaPlata valley into the LaPlata Mountains doesn't get much maintenance.

I know I wont make it to the end of the road. It won't open that far until late June. I am just trying to see how far I can go.
Many parts of the trail is bone dry, but there are plenty of snow drifts. I kept my OX locker locked and I was able to blast through most of the drifts. Then I see one that is deeper than the others. I keep the pedal to the floor and the RPMs up but I dont' make it through. I put it into reverse and back up as far as I can. Not as far as I would like. I try again going forward but I'm stuck.

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Of course my only winch is in front so I winch myself to dry ground. Now I want to assess the situation. Shall I go on or does it get worse. I walk ahead. There is a big avalanche path.

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No worry of an avalanche this time of the year but there are no trees in an avalanche path to winch from. I walk on ahead. The snow gets deeper. I decide not to go further but I take some pictures.

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I used HDR software to enhance the above picture.
There were some nice waterfalls from the spring runoff.

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After hiking around I head back to the Jeep. I have my lunch. It's getting pretty warm as I head my jeep back down the trail.
The snow is very dense. I can walk on top of it and for the most part my CJ was able to ride on top of it. But now the sun has been melting it and it is very wet and heavy. I can still walk on top of it but my CJ keeps sinking in deep. Once my axles start to plow the heavy snow I start to spin my tires. I have an OX locker in the rear and a Detroit Locker in the front. I spin all four tires but I am suck again.

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I winch myself out again.

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I try to stay to the side of the trail.

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If I can keep 2 tires on the dry ground I can stay moving but there are times that trees force me back to the middle of the trail. Sometimes there is snow everywhere. I try to blast through it like a mud pit. I made it up this trail fine but now the sun is making this snow impassible. I was riding up on top of the snow but now I am sinking. I am amazed how deep it is. My CJ was riding on top of 3 feet of snow. Now I am getting stuck everywhere. I Had to use the winch 5 times. Only once going up but 4 times going back down. I thought it should be easier going down.

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I have a Milemarker Hydraulic Winch. That thing is a workhorse. It works of the power steering pump. The only disadvantage is it is slow. It has 2 speeds but it will only pull you out in the slow speed. And it's slow speed is very slow but it pulls like a tank. I am starting to think this is getting to be too much like work. But I tell you: a bad day jeeping is better than a good day working any day.

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So now I am getting down to lower elevations. The snow drifts are not as deep.

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At the lower elevations there are some water crossings.

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This next crossing I chickened out. The trail continues just behind (to the right of) the bush in the water.

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The LaPlata River (usually a creek at this point) was swollen with spring runoff.

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[gillmore]

Great pictures and story - thanks.

 

[TrebleHook]

Those are some great pics. Makes me miss Colorado. I am convinced that when you are born there, you'll never be satisfied anywhere else. I sure haven't been.....someday I'll be back.

Thanks for the post.

Cheers,
TrebleHook

 

[the chief]

great pics!
Looks like you have a lot of air in your tires for snow crawling. I ride on top pretty well with 5 or 6 lb.s in my 35X13.5s. Of course, a lot depends on the water content. It's tough to drive through a slurpy

 

[BusaDave9]

great pics!
Looks like you have a lot of air in your tires for snow crawling. I ride on top pretty well with 5 or 6 lb.s in my 35X13.5s. Of course, a lot depends on the water content. It's tough to drive through a slurpy

Yes, I didn't air down because I don't have a way to air back up.
I am thinking about getting a CO2 tank setup.

 

[the chief]

Yes, I didn't air down because I don't have a way to air back up.
I am thinking about getting a CO2 tank setup.

yeah, that's the way to go, save you a lot of time in winch work

 

[IOPort51]

Thanks for the photos Dave. tickles the adventure bone to be sure. You have done well, pilgrim.

 

[Sasquach]

Busa you sure know how to have fun! Me I was at home mowin the lawn and pulling weeds, thanks for the write up.

 

[Old Dog]

Yes, I didn't air down because I don't have a way to air back up.
I am thinking about getting a CO2 tank setup.

Looks like you had a great time even if you were winching.

If you get a co2 tank make sure you have a local shop that can fill it.

There was a place close to me where I got mine filled, they went out of busniss, now I have to drive 30 miles to get it filled.

 

[BusaDave9]

Okay now I have air. I have a CO2 tank I used for kegging home brew. It's a 20 lbs tank, a little bigger than necessary. The thing is heavy. Now I need some way to secure it in my CJ.

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Plus I have new SuperSwamper SX Bias Ply tires (also in the picture above). I should do much better next time. I won't be able to get into the mountains next weekend (I will be in New Mexico). Then after that I will be on call and won't be able to leave town. It looks like May 14th I will try the LaPlata Mountains again.

 

[IOPort51]

Do you have a paint ball shop in the area?? they use air or nitrogen not CO2 I think the CO2 is affected by the heat of the tire but I don't know for sure. I had a friend that used freon in an emergency and the tire expanded enough to explode. fortunately it was on a trailer and not a vehicle. but it was still pretty exciting. CO2 is a low pressure gas.but we all know how much of a temperature drop it has with a drop in pressure.

 

[BusaDave9]

Do you have a paint ball shop in the area?? they use air or nitrogen not CO2 I think the CO2 is affected by the heat of the tire but I don't know for sure. I had a friend that used freon in an emergency and the tire expanded enough to explode. fortunately it was on a trailer and not a vehicle. but it was still pretty exciting. CO2 is a low pressure gas.but we all know how much of a temperature drop it has with a drop in pressure.

Nitrogen in tires. That sounded interesting so I checked on it.
Nitrogen really is better to fill tires. It does keep a more consistent air pressure. Air can actually seep through the tires but not Nitrogen.
If your air source is an air compressor or the gas station then to find a nitrogen air source will cost more and it doesn't sound like it would outweigh the costs. But since I was already planning on looking for a CO2 source when my tank in empty I can look for nitrogen. We do have a paintball shop here. My tank has CO2 because I used it for homebrewing. Instead of going to a fire extinguisher place I will price out a paintball shop.
It's not the cure-all for tires but it's worth checking out.
Here is a link that has more info:
Nitrogen in Tires : Information about Nitrogen Tire Inflation News, Benefits, Generator Dealers, Location Finder & More

 

[BusaDave9]

Yesterday I went back up into the LaPlata Mountains to see how far I could go.
They say going 1000 feet up in elevation is like going 1000 miles north. At the lower elevations it was like summer but there was still a lot of snow up high.
I had new SuperSwamper tires and CO2 to refill my tires.
I wanted to see how my new tires would work but to compare apples to apples I wanted to try them out before airing down. The SuperSwampers were great. I was able to plow through the snow without any problem. Then I started to cross this snowdrift that was mostly hard on top. The side started to give way and I started to slide off the side. I ended up at quite an angle.

I got out and chipped away the snow from the higher tires before trying to get out. My tires were still at full pressure and it got me wondering. What if I was aired down? My left tires were holding most of my weight. If I was aired down they would really be compressed. The right tires wouldn't be as compressed. Would I have rolled my jeep if I was aired down?
Anyway I got out of it without any problem. I soon aired down to 10 psi. I may have gone down further. I didnt have as much bulge to my tires as I was expecting. I have new tires on 11 inch wide rims and I was wondering if I would be more likely to break a bead.
Airing down all my tires took 25 minutes, longer than it took me to refill them. All I had was a key I pressed into my tire valve. I think I will pick up some tire deflators. There are lots of choices. These are pretty cool.

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You can pre-set them to stop at a certain pressure. But at $90 are they worth it? I don't think so. I will get something more like this:

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Airing down helped out lot and I could refill before hitting the road.

 

[gillmore]

I went with this Viair deflator for ~$15.
Viair 00032 - Viair 3-in-1 Air Down Gauge - Quadratec
So far, I like it. I just wasn't willing to spend the money for the preset kinds.

 

[JR74CJ5]

It looks like May 14th I will try the LaPlata Mountains again.

Almost there man...

(looks as if i didn't see page 2 before i wrote that.. XD )

 

[BusaDave9]

Almost there man...

(looks as if i didn't see page 2 before i wrote that.. XD )

I thought I was going to be on call last weekend but I got out of that.

I won't be able to get to the top of the trail until the end of June or the beginning of July. I'll keep you posted. Fantastic views from the top.

 

[JR74CJ5]

Fantastic views from the top.

Looks like some fantastic views from where you got already... Mostly cause there was a jeep in the pics

Cheers man

~ JR

PS look at my profile pic... THAT was a fantastic view!! lol

 

[BusaDave9]

I went into the LaPlata mountains again Sunday. The high point in the La Plata Mountains is the notch on Cumberland mountains. I did not make it that far but most of the side trails are open.

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Going up Cumberland mountain I ran into this snowfield.

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I walked only AMC 150 yards to get to the Cumberland Basin. The trail was dry there. This is a boiler in the Basin.

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I modified this picture with HDR software.
This boiler was in a mining building that is now long gone. You can see the notch beyond the boiler. That notch is the end of the road. A foot trail continues.
Another HDR photo for no apparent reason.

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From here I returned to lower altitudes and tried some side trails.
I went up the trail near Neptune creek toward Deadwood Mountain.
There is a stream I had to cross at the beginning of this trail. There was a lot more water because of the snow melt.
This is a very steep trail. I ran into several trees but I never had to use my saw. The trees were low enough I could drive over them. This one rolled as I tried to crawl over it.

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It moved around quite a bit before I got over it.
This next shot is the farthest I made it.

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I am on a snowbank but it's not the snow that stopped me. There is a tree ahead of my jeep that would take a bit of sawing to get past it.
Next I headed back down. Here is the stream I had to cross at the beginning of this trail.

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I am up on a bank above the stream. You can see it's very fast moving.
This steam is the main reason I don't think many people try this trail. I don't think people realize the trail continues after the stream.