Writen by Lloyd Swartz - Edited by Ray Sala
We were banging on Napa's door just after 8:00am and they delivered as promised!! The new arm was just like the stock and had an extra 2.5" of steel on the mount!! I returned the old one to Pep Boys and made sure they contacted corporate on this dangerous aftermarket part.
Hans and John were able to arrange to meet their friends and headed for Boulder.
After 10 minutes of work and 30 minutes of commentary for their video (that's what they do for a living), I blasted over TinCup. The local guy said 1 hour was the record and it took me 34 minutes!!
At 11:45am I rolled into the pre-arranged Crested Butte Camp. Greg, Mitch and Alex got my message but seriously doubted my ability to get a part so quickly and wanted to ge wheelin and left me a message.
2.5 hour head start? No problem! Once I started Schofield Pass and Crystal River, I was shocked at the beauty. These are truly some of the most beautiful trails in the US, and now one of my Colorado favorites.
Soon, I was glad I did not just hang out at camp after our missed meet up. First you encounter an enchanting waterfall off the side of the trail. Then you enter the incredible Devil's Punch Bowl. The Devil's Punch Bowl is a VERY skinny ledge road through a thin, high walled canyon with the Crystal River thrashing it's way down a quick descent. (Hummer's need not apply)
At one point, a ledgy section (that in the 70's was the site of Colorado's single worst wheelin' accident) must be negotiated, but its not too tough going down.
The water turns a tropica blue/green due to all the minerals in the mountains of the area. Truely a very beautiful area!!
After the Devil's Punch Bowl, I encountered a couple of ATV's that saw a white truck go by and thought it must be a Montero! Great, I am catching up! Greg's truck is white.
The Mill is just around the corner, you'll catch up with them they said. I made a quick stop at the old Mill House where one of the most common calendar photo's is taken. The water wheel recently washed away, but the rest of the neat old mill is in great shape.
Shortly after the mill I encountered the... uh... white Montero, actually a Jeep! If you don't know what a Jeep Cherokee looks like well...
I reached a decision point... the other end of the Lead King Trail which I knew the club would use to loop back to the Devil's Punch Bowl. I also knew they were going to visit the Marble Mine in Marble.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy this visite and apparently there were numerous carvings in various stages of completion by artisans. I only wished I had not missed this portion of the trip.
So, I decided to whip up the Lead King Trail and met up with another Jeep, who knew where my group was earlier (heading into Marble) and they were a little pissed that Mitch had told them Lead King was easy in a stock truck.
Well, he did not ask what brand of stock truck!
I then stopped for a much belated lunch.
After only 10 minutes, the group pulled up and were anxious to get back to the Devil's Punch Bowl. Mitch continued to lead us up the Lead King Trail. The Lead King Trail starts out boring and easy but as it crests a ridge, the scenery gets incredible with numberous valleys and giant waterfalls in view along with some of the only snow fields we saw on the trip. It was sort of like "The Land of the Lost".
The Devil's Punch Bowl end of the trail has some ledges and muddy areas to be negotiated. Finally as rain began to fall, we worked our way back up the Devil's Pumch Bowl, with open diff'd trucks needing much gas or even the dreaded strap to get out of the canyon.
What a great day of wheelin', even if I had to go too fast for the first half of the day.
