Rough Canyon (Clayton), Dec 27 2003

(Click on image to enlarge)

Post Christmas wheelin'!  We ventured out to check on the new place that's forming just North of Clayton.   Rough Canyon is one possible name, but that's not settled yet.  Rough defiantly describes the terrain!  Awesome, is more what comes to my mind.

The weather forecast called for a chance of rain later in the afternoon/evening.  We arrived about 9am to dreary drizzle and occasional sprinkles.  Good thing we are in trucks, because the rocks are so slick and slimy you can't walk on them!

Here's a map of the general area we covered.  I don't know what the actual bounds are, but it's BIG!

The owner's shop, and the parking area is literally yards away from the entrance.  I understand there are two owners of the property.  We met the one they call 'Slim' at his shop, along with another character, Willie.  I'm sure we will all get to see a lot more of these guys.   Very friendly and helpful to everyone.

We started out at the first creek bottom we came to.  There was a "5" written on a tree at the entrance.   Don't know if that was it's name, number, or rank.  But, it was a cool run of boulders and rocks.  There is water in the creek, so the drizzle and rain did not make much difference on this trail.

If it's a 5 rating, it'll be for the wall at the end.  Everyone had to give it a try.
Wet and slimy, and really inconveniently placed rocks on top make it quite an issue.

Ok, back to the wheelin'.   We found this interesting trail that took off up the side of the mountain.   Here is where this place is gonna be great.  It took us 3 hours to run this trail!  Not because we had problems, just because it's LONG!  Talking to Slim and Willie later, we found out this trail was originally gonna be a 2 or 3 rated.   But, as you can see, several tough spots did pop up.

One of the trickiest is this off camber turn and drop.  Jayson got a little too friendly with a couple trees.   We ended up using a winch and snatch block to drag his back end away from the tree and get him pointed in the right direction.

Once on top of the mountain (it's about 700' total ascent), it intersects an old trail that runs along the top.   The GPS Topo map called it 'Walters Mule Trail'.  It looked more like an old fire road.  Lots of down trees and debris actually make it a fun challenge to get thru as well.  We then hit a gravel road on the top of the ridge that took us back down the mountain and right by the entrance.  So, back in we went.

Here's another cool trail up the creek bottom.  Some of the water holes here looked VERY deep.  The trail carefully skirts around the big holes over the VERY slick rock.

Steve decided to take this route through one section.

Things got kinda ugly when he slid off the big rock and wedged against the tree.  A little tug was necessary to get the front over this bolder, then he drove on out.

For the last run of the day we headed up a trail running a wash about half way up the mountain.  It did not look like much until we discovered how loose it actually was!

Most of the trails are not complete, so some trail blazing was required.  A V8, rockwells, and lots of right peddle are very helpful for this!
For those with lots of bandwidth, here's a short clip of Steve working his way up to the top.  I'll bet those rocks he's rolling around weight half as much as my Samurai...

(Warning, 4.2MB download & Quick Time player required to view)
MOVIE

The potential for this place is endless.  We all had a great time exploring. 
Can't wait for a chance to do it again!