very good revive a thread
Mikes Toy- as you can see many of us have and do run alone but are not exactly recommending it. If you feel the need to go-and are nervous- you have a variety of us guys to contact and set up a "play date" with. I like a lot of trails down your way and would be glad to demo them with you sir.
There are no stupid questions, just the ones you forgot to ask or were embarrassed that some maroon would bash you for asking.
I do it pretty frequently just because when I go out I choose not to go with a traffic jam. To me I hate eating other folks dust all day long or having them eat mine.
Also I tend to leave town as the sun rises while others are not ready to even meet up until mid morning or noon-ish. Our biological clocks are all out of whack...
It's almost a rite of passage that you need to get into a bad situation once to better appreciate how not to do it again. Being over-prepared goes a long way.
Guys like CSL and Techno lead the way in telling us how to be over-prepared.
I take a huge a$$ recovery bag that honestly I have only had to use once or twice. AT the very least have a strap with you. You can't expect someone to pull you out if you can't even provide the tow strap. Same general idea of carrying jumper cables. You carry these things along just so you will never need them.
Techno- great Aussie story by the way.
A few themes that maybe can be summarized are:
1/Setting out shortly before or after dark is just inviting trouble. Hence another great reason to get your day started early-as the sun is rising-rather than being stuck somewhere as it sets.
2/Not knowing the road you are traveling can lead to a bad time. If you have not been down that stretch of road then it will of course be an adventure. Some turn out better than others.
Unmarked spur roads can lead you into way too steep of climbs or descents. Stop at each confusing junction and ask yourself: Will I recognize this when I come back this way? Which way is the way ahead or the way back?
Colorado seems to lead the nation in idiots that remove or destroy road signs that would assist you. A good map/GPS is a huge help, but can only be relied on enough to get you really lost...
Remember the Hansel/Gretel lost in the woods story? Obviously avoid bread crumbs but perhaps you like to stack the rocks in a certain pattern to mark your path, perhaps you have seen these little Stonehenge like markers? they are fairly common out here.
My little (ok it got a lot long) story is I recall being on Mosquito Pass on my birthday-November 18-I think it would have been about 7 years ago or so. Beautiful sunny day and to even be in the high country that late in the year was just freakin unusual as all get out. Normally we are snowed off the trails by October at the latest... As I began to climb from Alma-south of Breckenridge- to top of the pass it began to snow and I mean heavy. By the time I reached the top to head for Leadville I could not see 10 feet in front of my truck (2nd gen Runner)
Frankly I was getting nervous as all get out. You all know the pucker feeling right? The rocks were getting slick and each time I reached a spur I could not get enough of a view to appreciate/evaluate which way was the main road and which was just a spur. I pulled over to the side and within minutes a Jeep Cherokee came barreling down the road behind me. I got out to ask if I could follow them down and honestly I don't think they even saw me, they were moving way too fast for the conditions but I jumped in my Runner and gunned it after them just to keep track of which road to get down on.
The next spring when I was up there again the folly of my travel was revealed
more clearly. Had I taken one of the spur roads I had pulled over at-it went down so steeply I never would have been able to climb back up it. It simply dead ended with no apparent turn around that would fit my truck. Maybe a short wheelbase Jeep could have turned around there, but it would not have been physically possible in my Runner, in the snow, with no visibility and no spotter.
In short (?) I had lucked out and gotten down safely. But it could have been a catastrophic situation had I gotten in a hurry and made a bad choice. I was really glad that Cherokee had come along when it did and showed me the right way to get down, even if they never talked to me they seemed to know what they were doing, and knew better than sticking around up there.
So since that day I always watch for the last wide spot in the road. I kind of tick off as I go by a spot-and note-there is a good spot if I had to back up, then onto the next wide spot-check there is another one-and so on down the road.
)
arty::smashputer::happens:
