Chinaman Gulch and Wheeler Lake Report

Petzl88

New member
Last Saturday, two buddies and myself left the Denver metro area and headed down to Buena Vista to try out Chinaman Gulch. I haven't done this trail before but it is a good one! A couple of comments about this trail for those who want to hear.

- it is hot in that valley. This trail is really a spring/fall trail in my opinion
- it has some good obstacles and a couple of nice playgrounds with bonus lines
- that dirt covered granite is slick! Just when you think you have good traction, you slip.
- I'm on 33s and the other JK is on 35s. We kept getting high centered. We should have picked better lines on some of the obstacles. When I go back, I have a better idea of the lines to take. The slick granite just kept throwing us off.

Anyhoo, on to the pictograms and video.

https://youtu.be/XX_R3rQbwMc

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The original plan was to run Chinaman Gulch and then my buddy with the TJ wanted to run Carnage Canyon. His fuel pump kept acting up so that was postponed until he orders a new fuel pump. We walked over to the exit of Carnage and holy cow! The TJ and the silver JK went and ran Independence and Liberty in Penrose a couple of weeks ago and they said that this exit looked harder than Independence or Patriot. I couldn't imagine anyone driving out of this without pulling a line.

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After we finished Chinaman Gulch, it was time to get up in the high country and cool down. The white TJ trailered home and me and my buddy headed up through Alma to Wheeler Lake. The difference in environments from BV to Wheeler was way cool. We got started super late and got up to the lake after the sun has set over Mount Democrat but it was still light enough out. We slept in the Jeeps and woke up and headed back down. When we woke up we could see about 10 people on the summit of Mount Lincoln.

Wheeler Lake trail is awesome. There are a couple of good technical obstacles and the scenery is too cool.

https://youtu.be/BGnysfawA8k

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Linebacker

Caught the Bug
Awesome pics. Chamber of Commerce stuff. The Colorado high country is hard to beat during the dog days of summer.:thumb::thumb:
 
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