Tales from the Trail (ATV) Taylor Park: Day 1

Where: Taylor Park (Gunnison National Forest, Colorado)

Drivers and Rigs: Alan (Polaris Sportsman 500 HO), CJ (Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI), Dana (Polaris Sportsman 500 HO), Gary (Yamaha Grizzly 700 FI EPS), Jim (Yamaha Grizzly 660), Joe (Yamaha Grizzly 660), Jon (Yamaha Grizzly 700 FI EPS), Leo (Polaris Sportsman 500 HO)

When: May 28 – May 31

At Lily Pond [From left to right: Alan, Dana, Leo, Gary, Jim, CJ, Jon, Joe]

This was a two-and-half solid days of trail riding on all terrain vehicles (ATV) in the heart of Gunnison National Forest.  Each day of riding was capped off with an evenings filled with food, drinks, and most of all, great company around a camp fire.

For Alan, Dana, Jon and I, Day 1 started with an 8am convoy out of the city.  Jon drove his truck pulling the coleman pop-up while I rode shotgun.  Alan did the same with Dana at the helm in their “Cruise America” motor home right behind us.  We headed west for Gunnison National Forest, which sits on the Pacific Watershed of the Continental Divide.  Our convoy’s accent to twelve thousand feet started gradually through Jefferson County on highway 285 to make our way to the town of Buena Vista.

We were in town just long enough to top of our gas tanks.  A quick turn to the west on Main Street and we were up our way to the top of the Continental Divide via Cottonwood Pass Road.  The paved switch backs was fairly uneventful.  The rode hugged the creek transporting fresh snow melt down from the snow capped Collegiate Peaks.  The Aspens were nice, green, and full among the evergreens, which were seemingly still free of the Pine Beetle infestation.  With all the anticipation for the days ahead, the drive up went by in a flash and before I knew it, we were pulling over at the vista point atop of Cottonwood Pass and making our entrance into Gunnison National Forest.  And the view from the top gave all of us a good taste of what’s to come.

From here, you clearly see the Continental Divide.  The ridge you see to the right and fading to the left are the Collegiate Peaks – Mt. Princeton, Yale, Oxford, and the rest – all 14K feet above sea level.

It’s worth noting that Cottonwood Pass cuts right through the Continental Divide Trail.

After a few snapshots, we started for our descent.  Road 209 is a the unpaved road you’ll take as you proceed west from Cottonwood Pass.  It didn’t take very long for Taylor Park Resevoir to come into view down the slow and bumpy road.  And from looks of the snow bank, we knew there were still plenty of melting that needed to happen before we can 4-wheel ourselves to any peaks via the trail systems.

The drive down was slower than the drive up, but every switch back and every turn gave us fantastic different views of the valley below.  And eventually, we made it down to where 209 meets Forest Service road 742 where Taylor Park Resevoir greeted us all for the first time.  After a quick jog south on FS 742, we were at the hub of the park – the Taylor Park Trading Post.

On approach, we immediately saw Joe and Gary who rented a cabin in the park.  CJ was there too, who had arrived the day before.  We all greeted one another like comrades – happy, excited and enthusiastic about the event that had been planned exhaustively through chit chats and emails.  After the quick rendezvous, we all got back into our rigs and headed for base camp.  The only one missing was Jim, who had missed the convoy due to a school event for his kid and whom we feared may be lost for while trying to find us.  Not wasting anymore day light, CJ, Joe, and Gary (on ATVs) led the way to where CJ had already planted his Lance camper and rigs – a spot along the Texas Creek.  To get back into this spot, you take FS 742 north from the Trading Post passing over a small bridge before turning right onto FS 755.  You can find camp site all along FS 755, but our hand-picked location took nearly an hour from FS 742 along a bumpy road, which the pop-up trailer and Dana’s motor home had to take very slowly.  But upon arrival, it was unanimous that the effort to get there was absolutely worth it.  And how’s this for perfection?  As we approached the campsite, there was Jim right behind us – he found us!  It was a gorgeous spot that Jon scouted via Google Earth.  He gave the coordinates to CJ and CJ did an excellent job find it.  And for CJ, a 60+ old gizzer, he’ll always refer to the spot as “Google Earth”.  It looked just as good as it promised from the satellite photos – nicely tucked deep into the terrain with total seclusion and amazing views and sounds of the creek.

In this area, all campsites are free.  The sites have no boundaries, so it leaves it wide open to use however you like.  Here’s a 360 view of our base camp.  View it at 100% and scroll your window across to get a real good feel of being there.

I helped Jon pop the pop-up, which opens up all kinds of possibilities in camping comforts.  Both ends stretches out 2 queen size sleep areas.  In the middle is a pull out nook, sofa, sink, stove and toilet, not to mention running hot water, built-in shower, and electricity.  You won’t believe all that fits into this trailer that looks nothing more than a flat-bed on the road.  I’m no sissy when it comes to pitching a tent, but with kids and a wife now to accommodate, the pop-up is seemingly the way to camp.  And the there was CJ’s Lance camper, which even boasts a satellite television.  And when hauled a Ford F-450, it’s quite an impressive sight.  Complete with CJ’s own Honda generator and Dana’s motor home, it was becoming more like relocation than camping.

Day 1 would soon close out, but not before we hit the local diner and not before we had our first incident of the trip.  Across from the Trading Post is the Nugget Café.

They don’t serve alcohol, but on this night allowed Joe to bring his own Corona’s to wash down our meal.  I was starving since we skipped lunch during the drove in.  We all rode in together for the cafe, but upon arriving CJ, Jon, Gary, and Dana were no longer just behind us and were missing.  We speculated that they took a wrong turn and got lost or someone had a breakdown.  The latter would sure be fuel for fire as there’s a fierce rivalry between Joe, a big Yamaha proponent, and CJ, a Polaris loyalist.  Though all of it boiled down to friendly, manly banter of whose rig is better made, the trash talk is nonetheless hilarious to the bystander.

After waiting almost 30 minutes in the diner, we see Dana, Gray, and Jon pull up… with CJ riding on the back of Jon’s Yamaha!  Oh the humility… and the gut busting laughs we had as Joe rips on CJ the moment he entered the café.  And with Jon being another Yamaha dude, CJ was out flanked.  No need to feel sorry for CJ, though.  This old-man can handle his own – he can eat it as well as he dishes it out.  And when all else fails, CJ always has his favorite come back, “If you ride as hard as I do, you’ll have breakdowns too, ” which is usually followed by his contagious laugh.  After all the bantering subsided, we finally got our meal which was served by our lovely waitress, Trish.

Over dinner, CJ tells us about the damage – a bolt had come loose that was holding one side of the right-rear A-arm. Worst yet, the bolt is lost and without a parts store within 100 miles, we were almost certain his rig was done before it even got started.  But the stars must lined up for CJ this evening.  A kid working outside the Trading Post just happened to have the keys to the ATV rental shop, which was already closed for the day.  And if that wasn’t enough, inside the shop was just the bolt that was needed.  But CJ was still deep in the woods before he can get his rig on its wheels.  With the bolt out, the A-arm is pushed out of alignment by the strut and springs.  And without specialty tools to compress shocks, it still looked fairly dim that they would be able to align the holes to screw in the bolt.  Last I recall, two guys held the rig up on two wheels lifting one side to work on A-arm.  They used the limited tools we had, but between a ratchet and sockets, a hammer, and a break bar, the team got the holes aligned close, but not close enough.

In the dark with only the ATV head lights beaming on the job at hand and the mosquitos preying, things were starting to look grim for CJ.  I headed back to base camp partially giving up.  Base camp is above 9K feet and the cold mountain chill was setting in for the night, so I put my effort towards the camp fire.  It’d been a long day and I’m sure everyone would just love a hot fire when they got back with their defeat.  After I set the fire and an hour sitting and waiting infront of the warm fire, Alan and I heard the rigs inbound to base camp.  Surely we would see CJ once more backside on someone else’s rig.  But the first thing we hear is, “They fixed it!”

With a little MacGuyver ingenuity, they used a ratchet strap to pull and push the A-arm into position long enough to thread the bolt in.  We would have prefered to not have had the incident, but it sure proved to be an opportunity to work as a team, which in the end gave everyone another huge feeling of satisfaction.

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