Taylor Park, CO

One wild Labor Day Weekend!

Rip roaring through the dirt, rocks, hills, trails, dust, dust and more dust! We rented a 4-wheeler and a Polaris Razor for the weekend and tore it up in Taylor Park, CO: ATV Heaven! What fun! We hit the trails from 9am to 7pm on the first day and 10am to 5pm on the second with only about a 30 min break each day. (Kevin thought we should get our money's worth on the rentals!) Hopping onto the 4-wheeler felt just like the good 'ol days riding the snow mobiles except I was higher up and there wasn't the promise of a soft snow landing if I crashed! Kevin spun out to his heart's content and enjoyed watching me hang on with a vice grip whenever we spun a big farther than I was ready to go! Jadeyn on the other hand hooted and hollered, clapped his hands and begged to "Go Faster!"
Each of the trails we took had their own individual personality which gave us unique experiences on each.
Texas Creek took us on a narrow jeep trail alternating between rough rocky trail and smooth dirt undulating in wave after wave. We followed along Texas Creek going in and out through the pines and beaver ponds. We finally ended up at the end of the trail and decided to cross the river to find the lake. That's where the interesting part began. We tried the loop around back to the main trail and apparently took the trial intended for ATVs or bikes, cause the Razor, well didn't want to fit between a few trees in one spot. When the machine goes at an angle, the roll bar of course tips too and would allow him and Jadeyn through! Oh dear. So with a lot of maneuvering, moving a few downed and decaying tree stumps and logs, Kevin managed to wiggle his way out and was free! (Oh, we did take Jadeyn out for this technical maneuvering!)


Piebald Trail was a wide soft road up to an abandoned mine site that had been turned into a bakery years ago. On this one, I got to drive Jadeyn in the Razor and Kevin tore it up on the ATV. Well, despite the bumps, and jarring motion (or perhaps because of) Jadeyn fell deep asleep bouncing around in his car seat! We climbed the narrow trail to the base of one of the old buildings and were promptly surrounded by at least 15 bikes, and 4 ATVs! Talk about intimidating! Here we were with our little boy asleep and all these strangers surrounding us. A few words and all these guys started teasing us and telling us how sweet our little boy was. Then the one guys starts telling all the other, "hey give her some room to turn around guys! where are your manners!"

Italian Trail was beautiful and scary! We started out on a lovely soft trail through meadows and aspens, then we got to a gate that said 4x4 only. That was our hint that tough roads were coming. Instantly the trail got really steep and rocky! We couldn't believe so many 4 wheel drive trucks were on it bouncing around. It was amazingly beautiful though. We went for miles and miles because on the map, it showed that this trail hooked up with a campground again at the main road and we would take the road back. We started to get nervous. Kevin was under 1/4 tank and the sun was setting! Suddenly, the trail wasn't as beautiful 'cause I was getting scared! It got below freezing on our first night, and all I could imagine was tips from "Survivorman" on how to make it through the night in high country. Finally we hit a place that said, "Private Road, If You Continue, You Better Be A Friend!" We stopped and asked a man for directions who was working on a rundown cabin. Nope, only way out was back the way we came. If we continued on, we could only make it by bike! Back we went, and I was still nervous. Then Kevin stops his vehicle, turns back at me with a big ol' happy grin and shouts, "Having fun?!?!" I love my husband. He know what I needed to hear to enjoy the ride again, and old stress when it was necessary. Well, we made it back to camp, in one piece, and still having gas left over!

Kevin & Jadeyn enjoying Jelly Filled Powder Donuts for lunch!!! Yummy!

On our second day we decided to surmount the big challenge: Tin Cup Pass to St Elmo! Wow!! Earlier in the summer we had come from the other side: Pitkin to Tin Cup and had lunch at Frenchy's! This was incredible! It was quite technical especially for us rookies. Parts of it were quite scary, and all of it was beautiful. Up at the top of the pass we took a quick look at the beauty, zipped up our fleeces and continued on. It was quite an accomplishment, I have to say. Kevin drove like a pro with Jadeyn and I both buckled into the passenger seat of the Razor. Halfway back down, Jadeyn again fell sound asleep in my arms bouncing all around! At St Elmo, Jadeyn fed the famous chipmunks and then we headed back down. Funny thing, back in '04 when we first met our friend Jonathan and Brigitte Barnes while camping at Chalk Lake, we had come to St Elmo from the other side! Small world!)























It was kinda sad to have to turn our machines back in, but we had a blast, were COVERED IN DIRT, were a bit sore and loved every minute!!

Camp life was as usual, lots of fun. We camped at Dinner Station next to the river. We couldn't believe how many people filled the Taylor Park valley this weekend. Well over a few thousand, but once you were deep on the trails, you would have no idea there were that many people. We got to know our neighbors, three retired men who offered their heater to us for the last two nights (Oh, that will spoil us!!). We ran into my co-worker Wanda's husband Ray on the trail as well! Small world! We fished a few of the lakes, caught two very nice trout at Pothole Reservoir Number 2 (nice name!). Then headed back home on I-70 (a 2 1/2 hour drive that took over 5 hours!

Happy Labor Day!