Riding the Mountains of Colorado with Polaris RZRs

By Jim Brown

What began as a casual RZR Forum invite to ride in the Collegiate Peak region of Colorado, ended up as a full blown gathering that included 28 Polaris RZRs and 45 people representing Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Texas, and California.  Two vendors sponsored the event and provided full RZR doors (Pro Armor) and a set of four tires (Pit Bull Tires) to be given away at a free drawing during the Saturday night spaghetti dinner.

The official location was Taylor Park Reservoir located 32 miles west of Buena Vista, Colorado August 26-30.  I arrived two days before the event to grab enough real estate to support trailers, toy haulers, and tents.  Those that did not camp rented cabins at the nearby Taylor Park Trading Post.

The first official group ride was Friday morning.  The ride included passing through the town of Tin Cup and on to Mirror Lake.  On the far side of Mirror Lake we began our ascent up a rocky Tin Cup pass and an elevation of 12,154 ft.  The afternoon ride was a trip down Slaughterhouse Gulch which led us into a huge meadow area called Union Park.  Once there, we took an excursion down Lottis Creek Trail.  The last ½ mile of the trail was tight and required some maneuvering over larger rocks.

Saturday was a 54 mile ride over three 12,000 foot mountain passes that included a stop at the historic Alpine Tunnel.  At the Alpine Tunnel, we met a Ranger that provided information on some of the current ongoing restoration efforts for some of the remaining buildings/structures in the area.

As I lead the group down from Hancock Pass, I made the turn and headed into the town of St Elmo.  With St Elmo in sight, I glanced back to find I was heading into town alone.  I turned around to investigate and came upon a Forest Ranger (referred to by the group as “Bob”) with 20 plus RZRs pulled over and his finger waving in the face of one of the drivers. Further investigation by RZR Forum member “rzrcop” led to the unveiling of the dreaded “kicking up too much dust” violation.  With badge in hand, but remaining respectful, rzrcop was able to convince “Bob” that the “kicking up too much dust” violation was solely located in his head.  I would like to note that we were on an isolated trail (no homes/residences), it had not rained recently, and we had 20+ RZRs on the ride.  We were able to cover the ride in just under five hours.

Saturday late afternoon was our first precipitation which carried into the spaghetti dinner.  Our own Frank Keane provided a huge tent, tables, and chairs that allowed everyone to eat together and provide us shelter from the rain.  Frank and family were also gracious enough to provide the food and labor involved in feeding close to 50 people.  The Pro Armor doors and Pit Bull tires were given away to two lucky winners.  The night ended with a camp fire in a fire pit made for a king.

I departed Sunday morning as did a few other folks.  Others organized small trail rides in the morning and departed in the afternoon and a few remained until Monday.  Best group of folks I’ve ever been around.  Everyone watched out for each other and the camaraderie was outstanding.  I was honored to be the Colorado host for the event.  I was able to get information out to members and try to make their arrival a smooth one.  A big thanks goes out to Frank Keane “FJK” who put the call out to members to sign up online and was directly responsible for the great turn out.  Special thanks to Frank’s family for all they do to support RZR Forum members and especially the help they provide Frank.

I would like to let the 19,000+ RZR Forum members  know that I expect to host the Second Annual “Riding the Mountains of Colorado” coming in August 2011. Be sure to keep an eye on RZRForums.net for more information.

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Category: Featured, Polaris, Trail Rides