Metberry 2010 Trip Report

TRIP REPORT FOR: April 24, 2010 - UNIFIED TRIP TO CEDAR MOUNTAIN

The first CSC4W trip for the 2010 calendar year began on Saturday, April 10, at 8:00 a.m., with a wonderful breakfast that was hosted by Four Wheel Parts & Performance Center, one of our many Club Sponsors. We circled up for instructions, trip details, prayer together, and headed west toward Divide, where we regrouped into what ended up being slightly over 30 vehicles of all types.

We proceeded north on CR51 to Cedar Mountain Road, also called FR360 to a wide area where we could stop, air down, disconnect and shift into 4 wheel drive. The snow from the day before was quite deep in many places, but we broke on through and made it on past Hackett Gulch and Longwater Gulch Trailheads. When arriving at the Trailhead for Metberry Gulch we shifted into 4 low and began the trail down from about 9200 feet to about 7000 feet in altitude. The snow was deep enough that we had several vehicles slide over to the side and had to be pulled out. Oddly enough, as we approached the bottom at Chicken Scratch Hill and the steep granite slab beyond, the snow lessened until it was totally gone by the time we all got down to the South Platte River.

There the sun peaked out and we were able to get out of our vehicles for a lunch together next to the river while all the little children played and threw rocks into the river. We then had a brief driver's meeting and decided that everyone would break up into smaller groups, as it was later now in the mid afternoon, and skip going to either Hackett or Longwater as an official group. So some went back home the way we came and one group went Cedar Mountain Road north all the way into West Creek. For being the day immediately after a big snowstorm, it really went quite well with no big mishaps. We all found it to be a most enjoyable time together!

Denny Hage, Trip Leader

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