Mid-Illini Jeepers

Thinking last week of July/ first week of August.
Estes Park Colorado.
For those of you that have the Northern Guide to Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel-Drive Trails book. Page 5.
http://estespark-colorado.com/
What do you think?
This is where Sally wants to go.
So yea this is where I am going.
If interested give us a heads up so we can make plans.
I know it is way ahead of plans but it is never too soon.
Let us know if plan on camping or want to stay in a house.

Vicki and I would be interested, the full 2nd week of August would work best for us. ( we would not be leaving Table Rock Lake until the 28/29 of July)
We would most likely be camping.
Bill

If we are able to go we would like to camp with our teardrop. Preferably a campground with electric hookup and on site showers. I can look into nearby campgrounds for this. A month ago I booked the KOA in Central City, 30 miles west of Denver, for this August and all of their cabins were already full. I don't think it is too early to start thinking about it. My wife as well as others in the group are in education and the week of the 12th may be getting too late, but I think the week of the 5th should work.

I'm interested. Would have to be last week of July or first week of August though. I would be interested in staying in a house or cabin.

I'm interested. One for the house/cabin.

I'm in. Nice area. I'd be in for 1 in a house.

We are shooting for August 5 though the 11.

Okay I have found a place for our large group with parking for all the trucks and trailers! This was the big challenge! Estes Park had a lot of restrictions on parking! So we will be stay in a house between Granby and Grand Lakes CO. I have the following people stay in the house...
Tom & Sally, Fraser & Kim, Scott & Pam, Brian & Carrie with their 2 boys, Larry, John, Steve, Shannon, & Bart. The price works out to about $360.00 a person. I"m not charging for the 2 boys since they will have to stay in the same room as Carrie and Brian. I won't bug you for money till next spring. So start saving up! Look forward to this trip! Here is where we will be staying. If have any questions give me a shout!

Sally
https://www.vrbo.com/286321ha

https://earth.google.com/web/@40.096148 ... AIgASgCKAI

Tom, Carol and I may go to Colorado with the club next year.
I have a couple questions: We would probably stay in a motel. Should I look for motels in Granby, or some other town?
Will you guys drive your Jeeps from the house you will be staying at, or will you trailer them to trailheads?
If you drive from house, any idea how many road miles you would be travelling to get to varios trails or other scenic sites?
I’m not sure the old Dr.Dirt Jeep can handle alot of road miles! I’m starting my sales job on Carol about our needing a newer Jeep for Colorado trail riding!
Thanks, jdb

John,
The house we are staying in is closer to Granby then Grand Lakes. Trail wise... haven't crossed that bridge yet. If you have the Northern Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel-Drive Trails book, we are closest to Areas 4,2 & 3. Need to get together with the group going later on and hammer out that part of the plan. Maybe you need to start sweet talkin Jerry and Wendy also!!! Doesn't Carol need a new jeep by now? Sounds like we will have a great group going next year. Hope you can join us!
Sally

John,
I have another couple planning on going to Colorado, maybe if you can talk Jerry and Wendy into going you all can hook-up and get a house together.

Thanks Sally!

Looks like a good place.
Thanks for your efforts.

Vic and I, and Al and Kat will be camping close to Estes park. If you will be camping, check with the campground to see if your camper will be allowed in the campground. Some have restrictions on types of campers.

Dr. Dirt, the mileage from Granby to Estes Park is 62 miles, ( 1 hour and 49 minutes). Looks like a metric ton of trails,

Red difficult
Blue moderate
Green easy
Al, Kat, Vicki and, I will most likely will be making reservations within the next month or so, I will post the campground info. went we decide on which campground.

Link for a small amount of info. https://funtreks.com/product/guide-nort ... d-edition/

I have found a couple campgrounds closer to the lodge. One is about 20 miles north and the other is about 30 miles west and north a bit. What are the dates you have booked the lodge so I would know what dates to try to reserve camping.
Thanks

August 5 through the 11.

Vicki has made reservations at Elk Creek campground, for Al and Kat and us. The campground is now full ( a large group of people with vintage campers have the rest of the camp sites). They do have cabins available, here's the phone number- 970-627-8502.

EDIT: campsites are still available at the beginning of the week, starting Thursday Aug. 8th the sites are booked.

On a side note, the reservation girl told Vic, while she was reserving sites, that a Bull Moose was walking thru the campground.

Some of the people who are going on the trip requested I do some research on the trails in Colorado. I used the Funtreks and Trailsoffroad website to look at a lot of the trails near Granby, Estes Park and Central City. I have also talked to some people that go out there every year. Most of the trails right next to Granby look quite easy while some of the more interesting trails are a little drive to the trailhead. Here is a summary of what I am thinking. I am very open to suggestions if someone has experience out there or just thought something else looked interesting that I did not mention. I won't be able to make it to the November or December meeting so I wanted to share what I had so far.

Trails

Personally I am not interested in the most hard core tear my jeep up trails.
I also don't want to see a Prius on one of the trails we are on either.

Avon South

everyone says this trail is a must
**Holy Cross ( Jeep Badge ) difficult
Trail length - Trail Duration - Drive to Trail
4mi - 7hours - 2h 29m drive

Granby area

**Beaver Creek - Muddy Creek easy to moderate
35 mi - 4 hour run- 16m drive

**Baker Pass - interesting but easy
15mi - 2 hour run - 1h10m drive
Montgomery Pass easy
9mi - 2hour run - with Baker pass
3h5min central

Estes Park Area

**Storm Mountain Bear gulch many offshoots easy
10mi - 1hour-all day - 2h30m drive
2h9m to central


**Bunce School - t-33 plane crash moderate
13mi - 6 hours - 2h8m drive
1 hour to central

Empire area

**Spring Creek - moderate to hard - looks fun
4.9mi - 3hours 1h8m
Cut over to Saxon mountain to exit
6mi - 1 hour


**Red Elephant Hill - Moderate
Connects to Bill Moore to get out
13m - 5 hours - 1h8m drive
Bill Moore lake - moderate to hard
5mi 4 hours - 1h8m drive

Vicki and I will not be going on this event.

After looking forward to this trip for a long time, I am very disappointed to say that Jessie and I are not going to be able to go with the group. Our plans to get our daughter moved to college later in the month have fallen through so hopefully next year.

Sorry guys, I know we are the ones that started this whole thing but we are going to have to back out too.
We bought a new house and will be moving in at this time, and doing some work to the house we live in to put it up for sale.
The good news would be if some one else wants to go there is a opening in the house. Paid for!
They will be sleeping on a futon, or air mattress.

In case anyone is wondering, Kim and I ARE going.

Just rub it in!
Are you sure you two do not want to stay here and help us move and paint?
Have fun and take plenty of pictures!

I would gladly help you carry things across the street, but the painting is all yours.

What a wonderful trip!
The accommodations were 5 Star and the company a 10!
Exploring the Rockies from the seat of a Jeep on back country trails is an experience of a lifetime which I highly recommend.

Looking forward to doing it all again.

Duke