Offroad Trailblazers and Envoys

Completed: Lead King Basin loop + part of Schofield pass

Trips/trails in the western part of the U.S. (loosely follows the Mountain Time Zone).
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by plaen » Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:42 pm

Took the TB out for some trails with my dad for fathers day, plus to get a good look at what is regarded as the most dangerous trail in Colorado by most 4x4 books as it has claimed quite a few lives, in preparation of running it in Aug/sept.

Links to the trails
Lead King Basin

Schofield Pass

Sadly I didn't get very many photos since my sister was in charge of operating the camera, but was more occupied by the off camber turns on shelf roads and grabbing anything to hold on to.

Below are the ones I did get.

View from the top of Lead King
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With the TB in the picture
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Start of going down
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The width of the trail, just about 1 car wide
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Looking back from the corner at the start of Schofield Pass
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Looking up at the corner after starting down the trail
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Down at the trail before the bridge, snow from an avalanche over the winter
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Snow covering the Crystal river
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More snow and the lowest part of the trail
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Up the hill to the bridge
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Looking down the hill towards the start of the trail, standing on 6 ft of snow, about 15 feet to the people standing below
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Difficult to tell how steep the hill is from pictures
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Standing by the Jeep at the top before the bridge looking back down the trail, about 300 feet to the people below
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From the bridge, looking up to the difficult part of the trail
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Waterfall 30 feet off the trail
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Looking up from the bridge
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The most difficult part of the trail, about 100 feet, barely wide enough for a full size truck, my sister is standing next to the most intimidating view on this part
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Looking down from the rock in the previous picture, its about 100 feet down to the water, misplace a tire on that rock and the car is going over the edge.
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After the turn/rock from previous pictures, slightly off camber, with varying rock sizes from 7-20 inches, the rest of the trail is rated easy past this part
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Panoramic of the old Crystal mill
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The mill from river level
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And to round out the trip, wouldn't be a good time unless you come back with trail pinstriping
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After looking at the trail, I have to get a little more comfortable with the abilities of the TB, then I'd feel good about driving up Schofield. When I do, I'll document and photograph the entire thing.
Last edited by plaen on Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by bartonmd » Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:45 pm

Looks like a good time! Thanks for the write-up!

Mike
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by DirtyBacon04 » Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:46 pm

That looks amazing!!! Seems like a good road trip destination!!! Beautiful pictures! Looks like the trail is worth the drive, difficulty-wise, too!
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by NC_IslandRunner » Wed Jun 20, 2012 1:46 pm

Nice views!
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by Trail X » Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:47 pm

Excellent Paul! Can't wait to see a video of you crawling up that slope.

(by the way, your rank has been updated)
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by mikekey » Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:56 pm

Wow, awesome photos!
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by Infamouz » Wed Jun 20, 2012 5:01 pm

Very nice place.
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by Mudwheelin » Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:03 pm

Very nice. Looks like you had a great time. You gotta love bush wacking scrapes lol. I've got a few of them...
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by gotspeed1 » Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:44 pm

Beautiful photos. What trail are you referring to that you are planning on doing this August?
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by plaen » Thu Jun 21, 2012 12:32 am

gotspeed1 wrote:Beautiful photos. What trail are you referring to that you are planning on doing this August?


Schofield pass, it runs between Crested Butte and Marble, the entire trail is relatively easy with a few larger rocks. The worst part of the trail is what I photographed, and at least one car rolls over the edge a year, the worst 4x4 accident on record in the state is on that section of road.

Here's a pretty good write up of the entire trail Schofield Pucker

The benefit/drawback for me is my dad lives less than 3 miles from the transition of pavement to dirt in Marble, so if I leave from there, it's an all day trip to Crested Butte and back or, taking traditional routes, a 3-4 hour drive back to Denver from Crested Butte.
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