Tag: Cumberland Gulch

Posted on

Yankee Hill Explorations

20160619_160036

After going up Barbour Fork with Rising Sun 4×4 Club, Andrew and I went over to Yankee Hill to do some more 4x4ing.  We started by going up Cumberland Gulch from Fall River Road.  Andrew took over driving for a while to see how much fun a Toyota minitruck really is.

20160619_160050

Bumping up the road.  The last time that Heather and I went up here, this road was full of water.

20160619_163246_Richtone(HDR)

Great views of the mountains up on Yankee Hill.


 20160619_163330 20160619_174822_Richtone(HDR)

Coming down the north side of Yankee Hill, we found the water bar on one of the forest roads had gone out, diverting half the creek down the road bed.

20160619_175044Down the flooded road we went!

We gingerly picked our way down the road bed in low gear (using 4.70:1 gears).  I hate driving through a bunch of water due to environmental reasons but there wasn’t another way down.  We made it through just fine, aired up the tires on Apex Road, and headed back down to Golden.

Posted on

Cumberland Gulch and the Road Between Apex and Tolland in the 4runner

20150530_121915

We took the Toyota 4runner out up Cumberland Gulch to see if we could get over the top at Yankee Hill.  Much of the trail was acting more like a creek than a dirt road.

20150530_122227

The mountains sure are pretty with the new coat of white they received over the last few days.
 20150530_123239

The road is in decent shape although there was lots of water flowing.

20150530_123713

Just before the first snow on the road.

20150530_125431

I tore off one of my mud flaps backing up here.  Down behind me there was a very large area of mud followed by a bunch of snow.  This is Forest Road 271.1F at the intersection with the main trail.


 20150530_130541

Heading back down the hill through the trail turned creek.  The road becomes impassable due to snow at the intersection of 271.1D, 271.1G, and 271.1H.  A 3rd gen 4runner was stuck in the snow there.  We helped pull them out.  We headed down the hill before they tried getting through the snow drifts again.  There was another 4×4 farther up the hill that looked like it had chains on.  I don’t think anyone will be going over this hill without some serious traction tires and chains for another few weeks.

20150530_175459After heading down to Idaho Springs for some lunch, we went up Oh My God Road, through Nevadaville, and out to Apex to try and get over the top to Tolland.  Close to the summit we ran into a very deep snow drift.  It was late in the afternoon and the snow had softened up quite a bit.  We sunk up to our axles and spent the next two hours using the hi-lift to slowly work our way backwards.  The last ten feet, a Toyota Tacoma appeared and snatched us out the rest of the way.  This route is going to be closed for at least another couple weeks.  Beyond where we became stuck it is one long snow drift to the summit.

Privacy Policy Proudly powered by WordPress