Getting back down off of the Pomeroy trail, put us back on the Hancock pass/alpine tunnel trail. This section of the trail is actually the remains of the old railroad bed that went up to the alpine tunnel. Along the way is the Allie Belle mine. It's pretty famous as it looks like it may tumble down the mountain at any time. Since my last visit to this area with Larry many years ago it looks like time is taking it's toll.
Looking back to August of 2007 when we were up there before shows the upper roof still intact. (pulled the pic from Larry's flickr page)
The trail is pretty tame through here. We see the turn for Hancock pass and skip it, to make our way up to Hancock Lake or a campsite below in the trees. We indeed found a nice secluded spot in the trees, protected from the wind. Camp set up, us guys decide to make our way up to the lake. I ride along, but use the time at the trail end to take a nap. I did snap a few photos before sawing some logs though.
We came back down to find that the wives had got the fire going and we needed to get cooking on dinner as the normal afternoon rains were still due to happen. I went into the camper to get the campstove out to find a stowe-away inside. Startled me for sure as it kept buzzing it's wings to get out the closed window.
My buddy's son Gino and the wives getting ready to cook up some burgers.
After a comfy but boiling hot night in the camper, we made our way for Hancock pass. The pass itself is mainly rocky and steep. Hard enough to keep most of the rif-raf out, but it's just a Sunday drive for mine.
One note, the silver JK Jeep is a friend of Gino's from school. This was his first time actually driving his Jeep off road. Complete with tube steps and mud flaps no less. Oh and it's a 4banger 5 speed too.
He suffered his first trail rash in part by attempting to follow a line through some large rocks that I had just rolled over. He even said it looked easy when he saw mine do it, so he figured he could too. That's when he smashed the tube step. After spotting him through a better line for his rig, I explained we can't always play monkey see monkey do when trail riding. I was usually taking lines he could follow but this one was a little challenging. It bit him. By the time we hit the top of the pass he was over the damage and having fun.
The planned next target was now visable across the valley to Tomichi Pass.
Coming down Hancock at the steepest tightest switchback. The alpine flowers in full morning bloom.
We got to the bottom and at the turn to Tomichi found this little gem. The trail is closed. A rockslide took out a section and it's closed until repairs can be made. BOO!
That left us with some decisions to be made. Tomichi was our way back to Hwy 50 and on our way home. We could backtrack over Hancock and come back the way we came, but knew we'd be hitting massive ATV traffic. The other option, continue down the section of the Alpine tunnel trail that Hancock connects with and go over Cumberland Pass to the town of Tincup and return home via Tincup pass.
We took the last option and continued down the Alpine tunnel trail to Cumberland Pass. The actual trail up to the Alpine tunnel was also closed due to a recent avalanche closed it. Still, the promise of mining history was the positive offset to loss of wheeling fun. We passed by the old Sherrod Loop. Some of the tracks are still here and the loop was used to allow the train to make the turn needed to tackle the steep grade.
Further down the trail, we came across an old water tank for the old steam engines. 30,000 gallons is the capacity for the Williams Gultch water tank. It was restored by the Mile-Hi Jeep club back in 1965. It is the only water tank left standing on this line.
We boogied over Cumberland pass as it isn't anything more than a graded dirt road any car could tackle if they didn't care about it. Plus the group of Yota/Cruiser Overlanders was taking pics at the pass sign, so we pressed on thanking our stars they were behind us. Cumberland ends at the town of Tincup and so we decided to break for lunch a couple of miles up Tincup pass to avoid the crowds. We stopped at Mirror Lake and ate our lunch and pressed on as we knew the afternoon storms were coming.
One of the locals near the top of Tincup. Well fed little bugger.
Then, just before the summit, we came across this fresh kill of a Mazda CX-5. Some bonehead thought he could take Tincup as a shortcut to the Mt. Antero trailhead and avoid having to drive out of his way through Gunnison via Taylor park. Well, he almost made it to the top. All 4 tires flat. Rockers bashed hard enough to get into the doors and knock the moldings off. Who knows what it looks like underneath the car. A group of dudes riding in a TRD 4Runner said the driver had hiked down to where they were camping and asked for their help. Somebody took him back to Buena Vista and was told the wrecker fee would be $250 an hour to fetch it. We all had a good laugh at somebody else's stupidity.
At the summit. The little red YJ of Shane's was missing as he took off last night due to a babysitter timing issue.
All in all, it was a good trip. First time with the wife and the dog riding along in the camper. I'll have to get off my butt and finalize the setup on the camper furnace. I brought along my big buddy heater and on low it had me cooking in the upper bunk. I swear I got so hot last night (when it got down to 38 outside) I was about to barf. The wife was bundled up like an Eskimo to the point I couldn't see her head. So I reached over and shut the burner off. I neglected to close the roof vent I had open to allow for ventilation. Needless to say in about an hour or less I was better, but by morning it was flipping cold inside.
I was bummed we couldn't do Tomichi, but we still had fun. After all a weekend of wheeling is better than one without.
