When one thinks of Fall and the changing of seasons, one thinks of "Aspencades".  Thanks to Tom Allen and Lavonne Brown, and Dennis Ervin for keeping this MHJC tradition alive this year.  It's a lot of work, so some don't take it on, but they stepped up at the last minute.  If you didn't make it up,,,,,, you should of, because you missed a fun time, either on the trail Saturday or in camp.  It's also the only MHJC sponsored event left other then All-4-Fun to attend as a club.  We are still planning our 4th Annual Hobo Run in Mid-July.  

    On Friday September 28th, myself (with my sidekick Molly) headed up to the Pickle Gulch group campground north of Blackhawk.  We had the whole campground to ourselves.  There was plenty of room to RV or tent camp.  The winds were silent (with the exception of a few gusts near 3am, nothing like 2 years ago), and the weather was nice (colder Sat night).  Drew and I went down to Blackhawk and had a good $5 buffet at a casino, though mine ended up costing me an extra $20!

    On Saturday September 29th, everyone was up about 7:30am to get ready for a 9am departure to hit the trails. As part of MHJC's Aspencades 2001, Tom Allen was leading a trip around Kingston Peak, while I would lead a trip up Pickle Gulch and Miner's Gulch Trails.  The camp was alive with hissing sounds as everyone disconnected for Pickle Gulch (the trailhead was nearby).  Tom's group (sorry if I missed one), consisted of Lavonne Brown P12 (CJ7), Bruce Boomer P4, John Davenport P13, Ken Munger P13, John Over P14, and Robert & Jill Schlegel (YJ).

    At 9am, I (& my jeepin'-sidekick Molly) headed out of the campground with a fun group of Jeepers that included (14 total): Drew Middleton (TJ), Todd Frick P11 (CJ), Steve Annis P3 (CJ7), Henry Pawak (YJ), Frank & Debbie Eichenlaub P14 (CJ7), Neil & Jill McCorrison P14 (TJ), Greg Lundeen (TJ) and friends, and Dirk Ballanger (CJ7) as Tailgunner.

    The trail head for the Pickle Gulch Trail was just a few hundred yards from camp so the wheelin' started right away.  It's a fairly easy trail, but tight enough to warrant your attention.  Up a few hundred yards is the one obstacle Pick Gulch has. It's a granite rock with 2 small ledges to climb up and over.  We all took turns going up and over it, and gave an applause for each.

    Climbing up Pickle Gulch past the aspens that peaked last week, we reached the ridgeline and stayed left to circle the south end of Oregon Hill.  Just past the saddle the Front Range opened up and we headed down to Apex.  Once in Apex, the county road becomes quite rough for a county road and wide on up to Elk Park.  For a second there I thought I was in Arkansas, as a couple of 'yahoos' were doing long range 'shooting' practice with what sounded like ozzzies right near the road.  We stopped to regroup at the intersection of the Tolland road.

    Ready for some jeeping, we headed down towards the Miner's Gulch trailhead. Miner's Gulch is a trail I stumbled on at All-4-Fun in Central City, and ended up leading 3 trips up and down it.  It's named Miner's Gulch since the gulch has the same name.

    Get in, strap down the kids and dogs, and have them get ready for some fun!  It's a short section that takes you all the way up to the ridgeline road that then goes on to Yankee Hill to the west or Central City to the east.  It's not maintained, so good-sized rocks and boulders along with water and logs tickle your jeeping senses. 

    Everyone who was locked and open had fun climbing up the 1st section, and everyone made it thru the main rocky section (similar to Spring Creek's 'rock garden') higher up.  Halfway thru, the area opens up to afford a lunch stop.

    After lunch, the trail still dishes out some decent rocky sections as you climb up out of the gulch. After winding around trees, we reached to ridgeline.  As it was only 1:30, we split up the group to people that wanted to head back down to camp, and those who I offered to take back down Miner's again (cause it was fun!).  Getting a different perspective of the trail going down, it's still best going up.  We headed thru the same rocky sections we had just climbed up.  We smiled all the way to the trailhead. Once thru, we headed back to camp with rumors of dinner being somewhere around 4-5pm.

    After a fun day on the trail, Tom and his group were 'cookin' up some great food before it got dark.  We had hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken 'flame-broiled' over an open fire.  Tom handed out everyone a door prize, as I was awarded 5#'s of salted peanuts (running joke-hadta' be there).  I did have some the other day, should last me all winter.

    Seems we started so early (like 4pm), most everyone ran dry in the 'refreshment department.  Next year maybe we should call it 'Aspenkegs'?  When it seemed like 11pm it was only 8.  The few diehards and Henry Pawak (fire manager) threw the last 2x4's on the fire at 9:30pm, and the camp was soon quiet after that.  Well, except for some stranger that wondered thru camp (most heard) at 1:30am.  

    No snow this year!  Nice weather and good friends..........  A chilly Sunday morning came as everyone seemed to 'sleep in' past 8:30am.  Much to our surprise, Tom and Lavonne set out a wonderful continental breakfast for us at 9am!  It consisted of fresh fruit (Yes, Lavonne actually cut up melons, and peeled the bananas!), huge muffins, donuts, bear claws, cookies, coffee, milk and OJ!  Thanks again!  We all took our time packing up and the Hobos ended up heading down Hwy 119 about 11am, and home by noon.  Just in time to wash the Jeep, then sit back and watch the Broncos get trounced by Baltimore.  

Thanks again to Tom and Dennis for a fun Aspencades 2001! 

As we bid farewell to the golden aspens, and welcome in the winter snows!!!

"Jeep,Jeep"

Bill Hallinan HOBOJEEPERS

*Photos provided by Neil McCorrison, Jason Brew, and myself*

Other Miner's Gulch/Aspencades Trip Reports:

ASPENCADES 2000-HoboJeepers

ASPENCADES 1999-HoboJeepers

Pickle Gulch/ Miner's Gulch 2000-HoboJeepers

Miner's Gulch/Kingston Peak Trails 2000-HoboJeepers

Kingston Peak/Yankee Hill/Miner's Gulch 2000-HoboJeepers

Miner's Gulch 'Nite Run' 2001-HoboJeepers

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