After watching Lance Armstrong win the final time trial of the 2005 Tour de France Julie and I packed up to head out on our first major four wheeling trip - Argentine Pass. We stopped by The Mountain Shop to pick up some new kicks and then filled the Jeep up with gas before hitting the open road. We'd never driven the Jeep on the highway without the top so that was a new experience for us. It was not too windy, but a bit loud. We probably couldn't play music, but talking wasn't too bad. Traffic was bad as we cruised through Denver and then up I70. It finally eased up a bit as we went through Idaho Springs and it was only a couple more minutes before we pulled off at Georgetown.

We stopped to get a quick drink at the quickymart and to let Poudre out to run free in the back of the Jeep. Julie and I weren't sure how he'd like four wheeling so this was a good test run to see if we should take him the following weekend for our San Juan expedition. He found a good perch in the back and we set off up Guanella Pass. The Waldorf turnoff was just a little way up the road and our adventure began.

I had read trail description that warned us about the confusing maze of trails at the beginning but despite the warning we still managed to take a wrong turn. We had been warned not to cross under the power lines but found ourselves doing just that. However, the trail went under the power lines only shortly and then stayed on the north side. This wasn't technically crossing them was it? We continued on only to find ourselves at a dead end.

We turned around and took the next somewhat substantial trail we encountered. This went up for a ways through pine and aspen stands. As we gained elevation the clouds continued to move in and we began to feel a couple of rain drops. By the time we began to break out into sporadic meadows the rain became more serious so we decided to pull over and put up the top. We weren't well drilled enough to put up the top quickly and we got a little wet as the rain steadily increased.

After we put up the top we decided to cross Leavenworth Creek. I was pretty sure this wasn't the correct way to go but the stream crossing looked pretty cool so we thought we'd give it a try. After making the crossing the trail switchbacked its way up the hillside until it dead ended at a little campsite. We turned around and retraced our steps back across the stream crossing and then continued up the valley.

After a little while we encountered a really rocky section. It looked pretty challenging. As we made our way up I had some traction problems - the rain had made the rocks a little slick. It was 4-low time! This helped and we made some progress until we encountered a couple of pretty big rocks. I wanted to play it safe so Julie got out of the car and helped spot me as I worked my way around them. I still wasn't very familiar with the capabilities of the Jeep and I was worried about clearance, but the rocks turned out to be a lot easier than they looked and with Julie's help we made it up them without incident. As we negotiated these tougher sections I saw a car drive by above us on another road. Soon we joined up with this road and it was much easier - I guess we had taken the scenic route.

After rejoining the main trail it was smooth sailing up to Waldorf and the Big Stevens Mine. There wasn't too much left of the mine, but a big flat spot and a small shack up above. Since we'd left the rocky section I'd been hearing a weird noise coming from under the car. It sounded like something was hanging off the bottom of the car and was occasionally dragging on the ground. What's more I could swear I could almost feel it through the floorboards. I got out and peered at the undercarriage - I couldn't see anything obviously wrong and nothing was leaking. Julie said she thought it sounded like a grinding noise so I shifted in and out of 4wd a couple of times and after that the sound was gone. Maybe I didn't quite have it in gear - I hoped I didn't do any damage.

We continued up around Big Stevens Mine and the trail began to climb through the tundra toward the pass. A little ways up there was fork and one branch went off to the basin nestled in between Wilcox Peak and Argentine Peak. We took the other branch and headed up to the pass. There was one tight, steep switchback to negotiate before the final run up to the apex. We were the only ones on the top of the pass and got out to enjoy the view. It was rainy, windy, and cold on top so we just stuck around for a few minutes before heading down. Originally I had planned to bag Argentine Peak. I was willing to gut out the rain and wind but the thunder and lighting that was also hanging around dissuaded me.

When To Go

July through September

Trail Details

• 9.0 miles round-trip from Guanella Pass Road
• Elevation ranges from 9,900 feet to 13,207 feet
• Guide books generally rate this trail a 3 or 4 on the 10 scale
• Minimum driving time, 1.5 hours

Directions

Take I-70 west to exit 228 in Georgetown and follow the signs to Guanella Pass Road (CR 381). Climb up Guanella Pass for about 3.5 miles. At this point, turn right at the corner of a sharp curve onto a dirt road (CR 352/FR 248). This is Waldorf Road. At this point the road splits into two roads that meet back up at the top. The left branch runs along the bottom of the valley and along the creek. Near Waldorf, it meets back up with the main trail. The main trail is basic dirt road that runs along the ridge above the valley. The trail ends at the top (the Montezuma side is only good for hiking) so you have to backtrack and make your way back down the way you came up.

Topo Map

(external link to TopoZone.com)

Resources

Poudre was really upset to have to get back into the car without getting to hike more but I didn't think it was real smart to hang around with all the thunder and lightning. Besides it was downright chilly up there. On the way down we had the Leavenworth Creek Drainage spread out in front of us. With all the wildflowers in bloom it was quite pretty.

We went down past the Big Stevens Mine and decided just to head back to Guanella Pass Road instead of exploring more - we'd save further exploration for next time. We also managed to drive on the main trail back down so we didn't have any more difficult, extracurricular sections. However, we did make one wrong turn down below and began heading north, paralleling Guanella Pass Road. I knew that this couldn't be right so we turned around and found the correct fork to take back down to Guanella Pass Road.

We decided to go over Guanella Pass and head home via US285. Soon after the Waldorf turnoff we encountered some road construction and were forced to stop and wait because the road was narrowed down for 1-way traffic only. After the oncoming traffic had passed it was our turn. I couldn't figure out what the construction crew was trying to do because the southbound lane was really narrow and it looked like they had excavated out the east side of the road and were making a northbound lane about 20 feet below, right next to the creek. It didn't seem like having two separate lanes at different elevations would last very long if the road remained dirt. Maybe they were going to lower the southbound lane so that it was the same elevation as the northbound lane. Maybe they were going to pave the whole thing and reinforce it.

After the construction it was smooth sailing over the pass and down into Grant. Traffic on the way home was heavy, but moving at the speed limit. The skies continued to look threatening so we kept the top up all the way home. The trip was a good initiation into high country four wheeling and we had a blast. We were really looking forward to the following weekend's San Juan expedition!

Note: There are 15 pages in the following slide show.

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All photos copyright Andy Leach, 2005

Contributed by Andy Leach
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