Past Trail Rides of 2-Big Broncos 4x4 Club

China Wall Trail
May 13, 2000

China Wall Trail -- Canon City, CO

Beautiful rock outcroppings dominate the scenery throughout this well-known rock climbing area. You may primitive camp in the area if you wish. However, Spruce Grove campground is just two miles further north on County Road 77. China Wall Road is short, approximately 2.5 miles one way. It begins on the Tarryall Road and descends into the Tarryall Creek drainage.

Map: China Wall

Overview

	Length:	2 miles
	Usage:	Moderate
	Beginning Elevation:	8,760 Feet (2730.7 Meters) Intersection with Tarryall Road
	Elevation Gain:	400 Feet (124.7 Meters)
	Ending Elevation:	8,400 Feet (2618.5 Meters)
	Other Maps:	Trails Illustrated 137 Pikes Peak, Canon City
	Road Number:	212
	Vehicle Accessibility:	High-clearance 4WD

Directions to Trail Head

From US Highway 24 (west of Lake George) turn north onto County Road 77 (Tarryall Road). Follow County Road 77 about 12 miles to the China Wall turnoff, Forest Road 212.
Interesting side route: Forest Road 204, also a 4WD route, takes you through yet more rock formations, then down a VERY STEEP 4WD hill, then through some rolling hills to the Tarryall Road.

The New Member of a New 2BigBroncos Chapter - Rocky Mountains

My name is Bill Adams and I live and wheel in Colorado. I heard about anew chapter of your organization starting up in Colorado. I too have had many people tell me, you're just too big for this trail. But at other times, they are amazed at what an advantage a longer wheelbase can be.

I drive a 1979 F150 short bed (117 inch wheelbase, wide as anything on the road, almost, but I needed the cargo room). It has somewhat breathed-on 351Cleveland from 1971 under the hood. The truck is close to stock, but I am constantly moving it further and further away. I have trimmed fenders, lifted the body 3", fabricated my own custom bumpers, added on-board air (a York AC compressor), modified the carb to improve off-road performance, etc. A mechanic has not touched it since I bought it last year.

I recently went to the China Wall trail with some members of the Colorado 2 Big Broncos organization. My best friend Paul Fogle led the trip. Here is a trip report I wrote about our day.

-Bill Adams

Trip Report for China Wall

The Rocky Mountain Chapter's first wheeling trip, members present were:

Paul Fogle
Keith Lawyer
Bill Adams
Steve Dunham
Mark Hayes
Chris Gzybowski
Andy Gzybowski

Paul Fogle and I went back to China Wall with the new Colorado affiliate of the 2 Big Broncos club. Paul led, and we had Steve Dunham, Keith Lawyer (a guy Paul knows from Durango that we've both wheeled with before), Mark and Shelly (in their leather upholstered, front ARB, read LSD equipped, shiny white Big Bronco), Chris (in his very body-damaged, front locker-equipped gray big bronco) and his brother Andrew (in his fully-locked, bobbed Toyota Pickup). Of course, once again, I was driving the largest vehicle in the group and this time, the only one open on both ends.
We started off with Paul leading, then Keith (with a winch), then me (Patty shooting pics again), then Mark and Shelly, followed by Steve (another winch), then Chris, with Andrew (also winch-equipped) bringing up the rear.

It took us an hour and a half to get Paul up the big obstacle. The trail will never be the same again. On dry dirt, Super Swamper TSL-SXes make great entrenching devices. Paul's lock rite wouldn't engage the right axle shaft. His side gears on that side are too worn down (he's ordered new ones, they'll be in next week). So he is now open in the front, and left wheel driven (only) in the rear. In struggling to reach the top, even the large boulder on the right-hand side moved several inches. At one point, he ended up backed up against one large boulder, and couldn't make either headway or back down.
Break out the winches. We used a tree saver on the huge tree to the right of the obstacle, plus a block and tackle so Keith could pull him forward from behind. We also had to strap Keith to a tree to keep him from pulling himself up as well. We later moved the strap up to the same tree Curtis used two weeks ago. We finally got Paul to the top after stacking numerous rocks, and darn near burning up Keith's Warn 9,000i winch.

Right on the obstacle, Paul engine got too vertical and decided it didn't want to keep running. After about seven restarts, the battery was too low to start it. So here's Paul, hung up right on the major obstacle, needing a jump, hooked to a winch (running down his right side from the rear. So break out the TOYs (I mean Toyotas). Andrew said, "I can get up past him." And he wasn't tellin' no tall tales. That boy can wheel! He walked right up the obstacle (climbing the tall rocks at the left side). He only got stuck a little right on the main obstacle, because he didn't want to goose it and scrape up Paul's Bronco. At one point he leaned right into Paul (no damage done). Five of ended up pushing him to get him clear. We got Paul jumped and on his way.
Then Keith came up. It took a few minutes, but he made it up. He got hung up pretty good on his rear differential (he runs a 10.25 Ford Sterling, it's BIG, and he only has 33 inch tires, and none of them even match). But we got him over with some judicious rock stacking. Keith's winch was tired, so we brought up Steve next.

His right front hub wouldn't engage, so guess where his open differential sent the torque, yup, the right axle got it all). His rear locker would not allow him to conquer even the approach to the obstacle. We opened up the hub, and added a second engagement spring, and that fixed it. Steve was able to get up without too much difficulty. His 35 inch Goodyear MTs worked pretty good, even with 22 lbs. of air in them.

Then it was my turn. I walked right up to the obstacle without anytrouble. Getting up on it was not that easy. They let me try a few times, with Paul guiding me first up one line, then another. Eventually I said out the window, let's get some rocks in there. With my usual gunning of the Cleveland power-producer, it went right up. I leaned heavily upon the front tow hooks, the radius arm drop brackets, the rear differential, and even the steering stabilizer a little, but I got up with no damage.

Mark proved that a front locker alone, in some situations, is better than a rear locker alone. He made it up with no more than some scratches on his rear differential case. He came a little too straight up, and instead of turning around, he just backed up through the squeeze to the left at the top. His wife said, "You're crazy," but he made it. Chris went last, and showed us all how it should be done. With only a front locker, he took the far right line, didn't scrape anything, we stacked no rocks, and he was up before we could point a camera at him. It was beeeeeyoootifull!

The rest of the trail was fun, we took the hardest routes we could on everything, snapped lot's of pictures on various rock piles, and had a load of fun. We had planned on running another trail near Rainbow Falls if we had time, but the Avalanche vs. Stars game was fast approaching, and Mark and Shelly needed to drive home to Denver to let the dog out, so we saved that trail for another day.

So we all made it through, with:

No body damage (not even when Andrew leaned his Toy into Paul's Bronco
No broken Axles (salute to Curtis)
Only one vehicle being winched (as we had no jeeps along)
One stubborn hub coerced into full function
A few differential scrapes (and some radius arm drop brackets too)
A lot of tired rock movers
A fun day had by all (even Shelly from her high perch on the rocks)

Paul Fogle (Trail Leader) -- syber@pcisys.net
Bill Adams (Trail Report) -- gloredon@pcisys.net
Kurt Hartsig (Web Page) -- bigbroncos@yahoo.com

	Paul Fogle and I went back to China Wall with the new Colorado affiliate of the 2 Big Broncos club. Paul led, and we had Steve Dunham, Keith Lawyer (a guy Paul knows from Durango that we've both wheeled with before), Mark and Shelly (in their leather upholstered, front ARB, read LSD equipped, shiny white Big Bronco), Chris (in his very body-damaged, front locker-equipped gray big bronco) and his brother Andrew (in his fully-locked, bobbed Toyota Pickup). Of course, once again, I was driving the largest vehicle in the group and this time, the only one open on both ends. We started off with Paul leading, then Keith (with a winch), then me (Patty shooting pics again), then Mark and Shelly, followed by Steve (another winch), then Chris, with Andrew (also winch-equipped) bringing up the rear.
	It took us an hour and a half to get Paul up the big obstacle. The trail will never be the same again. On dry dirt, Super Swamper TSL-SXes make great entrenching devices. Paul's lock rite wouldn't engage the right axle shaft. His side gears on that side are too worn down (he's ordered new ones, they'll be in next week). So he is now open in the front, and left wheel driven (only) in the rear. In struggling to reach the top, even the large boulder on the right-hand side moved several inches. At one point, he ended up backed up against one large boulder, and couldn't make either headway or back down. Break out the winches. We used a tree saver on the huge tree to the right of the obstacle, plus a block and tackle so Keith could pull him forward from behind. We also had to strap Keith to a tree to keep him from pulling himself up as well. We later moved the strap up to the same tree Curtis used two weeks ago. We finally got Paul to the top after stacking numerous rocks, and darn near burning up Keith's Warn 9,000i winch.
	Right on the obstacle, Paul engine got too vertical and decided it didn't want to keep running. After about seven restarts, the battery was too low to start it. So here's Paul, hung up right on the major obstacle, needing a jump, hooked to a winch (running down his right side from the rear. So break out the TOYs (I mean Toyotas). Andrew said, "I can get up past him." And he wasn't tellin' no tall tales. That boy can wheel! He walked right up the obstacle (climbing the tall rocks at the left side). He only got stuck a little right on the main obstacle, because he didn't want to goose it and scrape up Paul's Bronco. At one point he leaned right into Paul (no damage done). Five of ended up pushing him to get him clear. We got Paul jumped and on his way. Then Keith came up. It took a few minutes, but he made it up. He got hung up pretty good on his rear differential (he runs a 10.25 Ford Sterling, it's BIG, and he only has 33 inch tires, and none of them even match). But we got him over with some judicious rock stacking. Keith's winch was tired, so we brought up Steve next.
	His right front hub wouldn't engage, so guess where his open differential sent the torque, yup, the right axle got it all). His rear locker would not allow him to conquer even the approach to the obstacle. We opened up the hub, and added a second engagement spring, and that fixed it. Steve was able to get up without too much difficulty. His 35 inch Goodyear MTs worked pretty good, even with 22 lbs. of air in them.
	Then it was my turn. I walked right up to the obstacle without anytrouble. Getting up on it was not that easy. They let me try a few times, with Paul guiding me first up one line, then another. Eventually I said out the window, let's get some rocks in there. With my usual gunning of the Cleveland power-producer, it went right up. I leaned heavily upon the front tow hooks, the radius arm drop brackets, the rear differential, and even the steering stabilizer a little, but I got up with no damage.
	Mark proved that a front locker alone, in some situations, is better than a rear locker alone. He made it up with no more than some scratches on his rear differential case. He came a little too straight up, and instead of turning around, he just backed up through the squeeze to the left at the top. His wife said, "You're crazy," but he made it. Chris went last, and showed us all how it should be done. With only a front locker, he took the far right line, didn't scrape anything, we stacked no rocks, and he was up before we could point a camera at him. It was beeeeeyoootifull!
	The rest of the trail was fun, we took the hardest routes we could on everything, snapped lot's of pictures on various rock piles, and had a load of fun. We had planned on running another trail near Rainbow Falls if we had time, but the Avalanche vs. Stars game was fast approaching, and Mark and Shelly needed to drive home to Denver to let the dog out, so we saved that trail for another day.