Hackett Gulch is the second of two trails by which to access the East side of the South Platte River in the area Southwest of Deckers, CO. Hackett and Longwater Gulches make a nice "loop" that can be run in either direction in good weather, as the lower ends of these two trails are connected by about a two-mile run right along the South Platte River . -- The Binder Bulletin
They had camped out the night before. There were already signs that the work crews were busy getting ready for the days scheduled work on the Hackett Gulch trail... I heard on the CB that the truck with 84 bags of cement was right behind me so we hot footed it to the trail head, locked 'em in and hit the trail...
Bill, Paul and Dean were surprised to hear that NO ONE SHOWED a the meeting place...
Heading down the trail, we came up on the first work crew at the bottom of the incline to Hackett Rock... They had already closed one go-around and told us to expect MAJOR delays when we ran into the 2nd crew which consisted of a Kubota tractor fixing water bars and go-arounds...
 Steve Dunham on Hackett Rock (moments later, his throttle cable broke), he never made it up using this line. |
 Paul Fogle backing partway down the big mogul hill on Hackett. This is about the point he started getting no power to the front wheels. |
 Kim Whitinger maneuvers her way up the hill without a problem (although she did engage both ARBs) |
I was the first to go up Hackett rock, taking the same line I have taken in the past... However, the line didn't work this time and I had to back up... On the 2nd attempt, my throttle cable decided to partially jam with the throttle open... We spent the better part of an hour fixing the throttle and making numerous attempts at the same line, failing over and over... Then, Paul suggested I try another line, one which didn't exist for full-size trucks last year, and lo and behold, I got up and over that time...
Next up was Paul Fogle in his 78 Bronco...
He tried the line that finally worked for me and made it in 2 attempts...
 Kim crossing the Platte R. back onto Hackett to go up Axlebreaker Hill. Paul left his truck on the West Side of the river, he knew it was pointless by now. |
 Bill Adams' F150 on Axlebreaker Hill. Bill made it on the second line he tried. |
 Once Bill got his back tires up those rocks, Paul guided him to the top. |
Next up was Dean Whitinger in his Blue Bronco ARB locked front and rear... It was his wife's Birthday so she drove while Dean took video footage...
A push of a button, and a little throttle and she walked right over theobstacle, making it look like cake... I didn't see any tire spin whatsoever, much to my surprise...
Tail-gunner on this trail run was Bill Adams in his '79 F-150 with new rear locker... Bill made it over in a single pass, taking the new line, but managed to snag his drivers side rear tire on Hackett rock, slicing 2 small slits in the 33" BFG sidewall... We spent 15 minutes pulling off the shot BFG and putting on the spare, then got back underway...
 And up he goes! |
 Kim walks her Bronco right up Axlebreaker, smiling all the way! |
 Kim didn't put this scratch on the Bronco, Dean did it previously. |
Moving down the trail a few hundred yards to a "Y" in the trail... When I came up on it, I saw rocks piledin the trail on the left, so I went ... right... and up to the top of the hill. Paul, Dean, and Bill went left...
This "left side" 75 yard section of trail had been churned up pretty well and it was uphill... There were several deep moguls and a large boulder adjacent to a tree root that caused all three trucks to wheel-stand when they went over it...
We continued down the trail until we ran into the work crew, which was taking out a go-around... The tractor was on the trail and we were told we'd have to wait until the operator was done... We decided to wait awhile and hope the operator would let us by soon... 45 minutes later, Dean had had enough so he pleaded his case to several of the work crew members who knew the operator, and eventually he pulled over and let us by...
 Steve Dunham, our intrepid trail leader, was the last up Axlebreaker. |
 He made it fine. |
 Longwater crossing of the Platte (a.k.a. the Teller County Car Wash) Paul & Steve |
Hoping that would be it, no sooner did we get past this crew than we ran into another. At that point, we decided to not bother these guys any more, turned around and headed for Longwater. At the "Y", we turned left and down into the woods, and up to the mogul hill... I went right up, stopping for a second at the top to check my flex in the deep, loose moguls...
Paul Fogle started up and seemed to be making progress when something let go and progress stopped... It appeared to me to be a classic open front diff problem, the front tires alternating between sides with wheel spin... He later commented that it felt like something would grab, then let go, then grab again... He made it up the hill but went through about a half tank of gas doing it...
Dean and Kim came next, and true to form, walked right up the mogul field without any a tire spinning...
Bill Adams came up last, taking a slightly different line, and walked up too.
A few minutes later, Bill got it fired back up, and wanted to go back across the river to try an obstacle called "Axle Breaker"... It consists of a short, steep hill with several big boulders strategically placed in a V on the top of a loose hill... Bill went first, and with Paul spotting him, made it through on his 2nd run... Then, Kim took on "Axle Breaker" and walked right up it with the little tell-tale buzz of an ARB compressor... I think she actually did manage to get a little air under one tire this time...
 Kim wanders a little to the left as she crosses |
 Kim works her way up one of the many mogul hills in Longwater Gulch |
 And she keeps going... |
I then came up to "Axle Breaker" opting to go last after my lack of finesse on Hackett Rock earlier, and with Paul Fogle spotting, made it up and over, stopping only for a second when Paul went completely out of sight under when my front end went skyward.
Back across, the river, we then headed for the next river crossing, where Bill sucked a little more water... This crossing was deeper, being up to my headlights, Paul's bumper bottom, Deans bumper top, and Bill's grill.
We dried his ignition out and got underway again, heading for Longwater's river crossing.
At Longwater, I went first and made it across without a problem, although I did hear the fan hitting the water... Paul went next and had no problems, pushing a tug boat size wake in front of him... Dean and Kim came third and had no problem, and then Bill came across and seemed to suck water again, but managed to keep it running this time.
Heading out of Longwater, the trail is uphill all the way... I lead with Paul following, Dean and Kim third, and Bill following in the back.
Paul was having lots of problems as his front axle (later diagnosed as either a hub or stub shaft), was giving him fits and basically leaving him in 2 wheel drive, although locked in the rear.
 And going, whoa, there's a deep hole up here!! |
 One of the many interesting rock formations in Metberry Gulch |
We all made it up Longwater Rock with no problem as traction was not a problem on the rock face... At one point, there is amogul, loose, steep hill... I went through and got a pretty good wheel stand going, and stopped to wait for Paul. Over the CB, telling him to stay on the gas or he'd not make it... Right about then, he lost all forward momentum and needed "the strap" ... I strapped him to my rear clevis and pulled him up past the obstacle.
Dean and Kim walked right through it again, making the day's activities seem like a testimonial for ARB lockers in front and rear axles. Bill came up last with no problems... Several more minor obstacles and we were back at the intersection of Longwater Gulch and Cedar Mountain Road.
Dean and Kim decided to pack it in and go home, probably because they hadn't encountered anything all day that caused any problem for their ARB locked "sleeper" Bronco..... Kim did an excellent job driving and humbling the rest of us.
Paul had had enough of 2-wheeling and went back to camp to drown his sorrows in a few Budweisers... Bill and I decided to go run Metberry Gulch and did so without any problems... We arrived back at camp around 6:00 or so and re-hashed the day until we crashed at 9:00.
Steve Dunham -- sdunham@lsil.com
Sunday morning was chilly and still. With some high clouds threatening to produce rain for the day, but with the sun rising uninhibited to the east. Dean and Kim had departed the night before, probably to go out to dinner in honor of Kim's Birthday (and excellent job behind the wheel on Saturday). Paul had passed on offers to help pull apart his left front hub to see what was wrong with it (Steve even offered him a spare hub, if needed). He wasn't up to going anyway.
That left Steve Dunham and myself. Steve had led on Saturday, and we had discussed running in Hackett and going to the left this time and out what some folks call "South Hackett", a branch that runs back South East for about five miles and connects with F.R. 879, or Sportsman Road, and easy FWD road. Since Steve was unfamiliar with this part of the trail, but I had read about it in the Guide to Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails book by Charles Wells, we decided I should lead.
We left camp by 6:30, hoping to catch the weekend work crews still sleeping. No one was in site at the trail head, so we started in. We had no problems until we got to Hackett Rock. There, Steve walked up and spotted me on the same line I had used the day before, but had me turn a little earlier to the left at the top, so my left rear tire climbed the sidewall-eater rock at the top. It work perfectly. Next came Steve. I tried to guide him up the same line he had me, but I turned him a little late for his shorter, Bronco, wheelbase, and the sidewall-eater got him. A single, inch-long, vertical tear was hissing out air every time it got to the bottom.
Steve's spare tire has a rim with lug nut holes that are not real good, so he was reluctant to put it on. We first tried a simple patch I had in my toolbox, but that didn't seal it good. Steve kept hearing this hiss ...hiss ... hiss ... as he rolled down the trail.
We then headed up the steep mogul hill Steve had bypassed Saturday. This hill has some really deep holes, but is made difficult by two similar obstacles, combined rock and tree root ledges straight across the trail. The first one has you climbing a two-foot high ledge on either side at the same time, with a tree to the right you don't want to hit. I made it right up, of course without being able to tell exactly what line I took. The second obstacle is a little lower, about 18" high, but still fun. After I crossed that one, I ran back to guide Stave through the first.
Steve tried several times to clear this, and he could get his front tires over fine, but his back tires just kept holing it out, deeper and deeper. We finally got him up with a little burst of power from his 460, and just the right line. In the process, we had him sitting at several angles where his Bronco was squatting on it's haunches, front left tire over four feet from any kind of ground. It took a couple pictures, I hope they turn out.
We stopped about a mile later to try a different fix on Steve's tire. I had read you can plug a sidewall tear using a bunch of tread puncture plugs. So we let all his air out, stuffed in five or six plugs from my other repair kit, and then aired him back up to trail pressure using my on-board air system.
Back on the trail, we headed up the left fork on F.S. 220 (F.S. 220A is the" shortcut" to the river and the big mogul hill). We had to stop to let the work crew by to go farther up the trail and get to work. The five-minute delay here was well worth it. We reached the bottom, near the river and the now VERY closed off Widowmaker Hill. The trail turns hard left at the river crossing, up a very steep, narrow hill with two rock obstacles mid-way up and almost at the top. Steve walked up and guided me through the first one and I got by the second on my own. I parked at the top and ran, slid, and stumbled back down to the first big rock (a very steep hill, indeed). Steve came up and crossed the rock without difficulty. After giving me a lift back to my truck, we continued on.
The next three miles of the trail was all off-camber (left side down) shelf road. It was narrow enough that our ride-side tires were on the side hill the whole way, while our left tires were mostly on the road, but often half the tread wasn't. It wasn't really very far down if we slid off, but believe me, we were ALERT the whole way. Several times the road twisted and dropped so quickly that I had to get out of my truck to see where it went (having the largest hood on the planet has its drawbacks).
The last major obstacle we encountered came out of nowhere. It turned a corner, and there goes the trail, right between a vertical rock face about six feet high, and a steep-sloping rock promontory about twelve. The actual flat trail in the middle was wide enough for an ATV, barely. This meant we had to put our left tires on the promontory and climb the lower sections of it, while it leaned us into the rock face on the right. This obstacle is considered "very dangerous", especially for short-wheelbases. Many jeeps have rolled on it.
I made it over without too much trouble, after stalling my engine at the maximum climb/lean angle. Much to my surprise, even at these extreme angles, it fired right back up and powered me over it. Read my tech article at www.bighorn4x4.com if you'd like to see how a carb can be made to work that way. Steve came up next, and made it over the rock with no problem. When his back left tire was on the promontory (about four feet higher than the right rear) and his front right was on the path, his front left was once again, airborne.
The rest of the trail was shelf road and nice woodlands, with a couple stream crossings and some really tight trees (one spot required careful spotting). We saw about a half-dozen ATVs going the other way, but no 4x4s. It looked as if no one had driven a full-size back that way since last year. We turned left onto Sportsman Road and made our way back to Cedar Mountain Road, a mile or so on the other side of our campsite from the entrance to Hackett Gulch. Sportsman Road was scenic, a little rocky, with lots of water bars. We reached camp by 10:30 a.m. just as I had promised the Fogles. All in all, a nice morning run with plenty of challenge that most people don't even consider doing.
Bill Adams -- shorty79f150@superford.org