The Granite Creek Trail

In the Lower Delores River Drainage

By Jerry Smith

April 5, 2014

The Granite Creek trail is one that has had little use by full-size vehicles for several years. Gamble Oak and Juniper trees had grown into the trail leaving little room for full-size vehicle access. Even the overhead is grown over in places.

The Granite Creek trail takes you through some spectacular Colorado and Utah Canyon Country. Deep within the canyon, one has no idea when you cross from one state to the other unless you closely watch your GPS. That requires a great deal of concentration as the scenic values of this deep canyon and the trail keep your eyes quite busy.

For years, the Grand Mesa Jeep Club (Colorado's Club of the Year - 2013) has been discussing this as an opportunity for a “club project”. Reopening trails closed by Mother Nature has been an annual endeavor by a few club members. Last year they reopened the Coon Hollow Jeep Trail after Mom Nature had physically closed it for years.

Shortly after the 8 AM meeting time, we struck out for adventure with a side dish of work from the Albertson’s on Broadway in Grand Junction, CO. In no time we were weaving our way through the east entrance to the Colorado National Monument. What a way to open your sleepy eyes on a cool Saturday morning.

Passing through Glade Park, we picked up the last member of our group – totaling 11- vehicles. A great turnout considering we intended to begin what was billed as a two-day work project.

Roy proved to be "the workhorse" on this trip

At the Colorado/Utah border, those who desired to do so, aired down. Most members elected not to drop air pressure for the short roughly thirty-mile drive to Granite Creek. Some lived to regret that decision.

The road along this route is generally rated easy and recommended for stock vehicles. Last fall, we encountered more difficulty than would be normally expected on our way to Gateway, CO. Snow has a way of increasing the difficulty of many trails.

Melting snow and slick mud made this hill a challenge for all

This early in the spring, some snow and mud was anticipated in the higher elevations of upper Granite Creek. That would only add to the “fun” in achieving our destination… until we learned that Jason’s Grand Cherokee was without a front driveline for the day.

One rocky hill climb proved to be too much for the 2wd vehicle and Roy came to the rescue with a tow strap. Then we crossed upper Granite Creek and encountered a steep, rocky, muddy, and melting snow covered hillside.

Jason again hit the “automatic reject feature” button and required a tow from Roy. It took several tries to find a line to get them up the greasy hill, but Roy made it look easy once enough traction was found.

The next one to find that same reject button was Collin in his carbureted CJ. The incline caused the engine to cough and sputter to a halt mid-way up the hill. Once again Roy came to the rescue.

Lost Horse canyon has some awesome scenic values as well

Not long thereafter, we turned off the main trail and entered Lost Horse canyon. After a few miles, this canyon intersects with the main Granite Creek canyon and proceeds westerly.

After entering Granite Creek, there were many stops for brush trimming parties. Several trimming tools and a chainsaw were put to good use for the next few miles. Gambel Oak and Juniper trees were trimmed back to allow for full-size vehicles to pass without fear of losing paint to the stiff branches.

Hoo Doos and arches adorn the Granite Cr. canyon rim

Last fall, on another trip to the region, several club members had walked down from the top of a steep, really rocky and narrow shelf road that drops you into Granite Cr. They reported one rock protruding from the upper hillside that barely left room for Luke’s narrow CJ to pass by.

The rest of the trail was said to be grossly rocky, dangerously narrow in places, and quite steep. It sounded like my kind of trail.

Upon reaching what Harley refers to as “the Homestead”, we could see the steep shelf road along the side of a steep box canyon. This would be the end of the brush trimming for the trip. We had done in a day what had been predicted to be a two-day project… so far!

After exploring the “Homestead”, we began ascending the lower tight switchbacks to the shelf road visible from below. Once above the switchbacks, the road became even more narrow and very much more rocky.

Ascending the the tight switchbacks to the shelf road exit

Many of the rocks were of the size a small-tired vehicle must totally avoid. Some caused a terrific view from the passenger side of the box canyon on the lower side of the road as the outside tires searched for something to hang on to.

To give an additional understanding of the word “steep” when describing this section of the trail, Collin’s CJ stalled again requiring Roy to back several hundred yards to provide assistance. Roy certainly proved to be a major asset to this trip.

The narrow shelf road crawls a steep cliffside

Having attained the mesa top, we found that we had used up the majority of sunlight for the day. No time was squandered getting back to the end of DS road at the CO/UT border where we aired up and split up into smaller groups for the drive back to town.

We offer many thanks to all participants for all their patience, cooperation, and hard work in reopening another trail. To some, new experiences with using a tow strap and brush trimming tools were a source of learning.

The Grand Mesa Jeep Club ascending the shelf road on Granite Cr.

Reopening a trail is a joy that not many of the wheeling community have experience with. Yes, it can be a lot of work, but it is done with the knowledge that the worker and many others will be able to enjoy these trails well into the future… barring any land managers and “Preservationists” getting in the way.

This box canyon is what you avoid while climbing the shelf road

This day was loaded with learning and working experiences for all. It also provided for a great day of Jeeping that our memories will hang on to for a long, long time.

Hopefully, the Granite Creek trail will remain open to excite many seeking an adventure in a wonderful part of the great American BackCountry.

Note the narrowness of the road near the JK. You get a dandy view there!

One last thought you should remember; “When you come to a fork in the road… take it!”

Happy trails.

Looking back down at the "Homestead"

This is a rocky trail

Steep and narrow, but oh so beautiful

Winding along the narrow shelf road

Things Are Not Always As Presented!

By Jerry Smith

August 23, 2013

The following came to me today as one of those Emails that friends and relatives send. It had more meaning to me than the usual article for a variety of reasons I will share after YOU have an opportunity to read and think about what these words and pictures mean to you.

67 years later!   

What happened to the radiation that ”Will last thousands of years?”

HIROSHIMA 1945

We all know that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed in August 1945 after the explosions of atomic bombs.  However, we know little about the progress made by the people of that land during the past 67 years.

HIROSHIMA - 67 YEARS LATER

DETROIT- 65 YEARS AFTER HIROSHIMA

Which has caused more long-term destruction-  

The A-bombs

Government welfare programs created to buy the  votes of those who want someone to take care of them?

Japan does not have a welfare system.

In Japan, you either work for it or do without.

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all are applicable to this experiment we call America:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Can you think of a reason for not sharing this? Neither could I.

Those pictures and few words no doubt raised a “political” thought or two for most of you. I must admit, me too. Those pictures “say” a lot!

But after a few minutes of thinking a little deeper, it came to me that my oldest daughter and her family live not far from both of these cities in Japan. Their safety is of course paramount to me and all seems pretty safe judging by the building that has gone on.

As my mind tends to do, we shifted gears one more time to a whole new train of thought.

Who is Right?

As many of you already know about me, Jeeping and Land Use are nearly a constant issue mulling over and over in my sometimes-hard head. My head and heart have been working on this issue since the mid 1970s.

You are probably wondering; what the devil is he talking about? How does this relate to Japan and “who is right about what?” Please stick with me a minute or two as I try to explain.

As we have just seen and heard, sometimes people are pretty much exactly wrong when they are really sure they are right. Add to that the fact that a lot (probably millions) of people jumped right up and joined the thinking that “Radiation will last thousands of years!” It’s my guess that they were absolutely sure they were right. The same was said about Chernobyl even after knowing what happened in Japan.

In my 60+ years on this world we have gone through times where millions of people believed we were entering the next ice age and now, a few years later, it’s “Global Warming” that is the big “world ending” “man caused” event.

Seems like it would be easy to call a healthy “Boloney!” (a kinder way of saying ‘Bull Crap’) on people who buy into these “crisis”. Time has and likely will again prove them to be on the wrong side of the argument… yet many will never admit they have been wrong under any circumstances. For these people, there is little reason to argue with them. They know they are right and you'll never convince them of anything else. Save your breath.

Since about 1960, we have had a growing number of people who firmly believe that “preserving” all public lands for some unknown future use is the proper, noble, and right thing to do. They argue that we need to preserve more public lands for future generations and that motorized use of these lands is detrimental in about every way conceivable.

They seem perfectly content to lock away all the natural resources… both renewable and nonrenewable.

Renewable Resources

One of the renewable resources that they insist on locking away has to do with motorized recreation. This renewable resource has never been proven to be of any grave detriment to any lands that I have ever heard of. Even where some idiot drives into a muddy area leaving deep tracks over time will heal.

Depending on the particular area in question, roads and trails normally are less than 3% of the total area. In many cases they can be less than 1% of the total area.

Taking these percentages into account, common sense should dictate that motorized use of no more than 3% of any given area should have little to no detrimental environmental impacts.

Shall we ban all windstorms?

Granted that on any given backcountry trail or road, the passing of motorized vehicles will raise some dust, but take into account that on any day with exceptional wind present, tons of dust will be raised and deposited some were downwind… sometimes thousands of miles from where it was raised. During these dust storms more material is lifted into the air than all the vehicles that have passed by for dozens of years could have raised. Shall we ban all windstorms?

Preservationists claims of motorized use causing extreme damage to both land and water quality are not only false, but extremely false!

That is not to say that motorized use does not contribute to these problems, but the extremity to which this contribution is made is so grossly exaggerated, you'd think it was the only cause.

Shall we ban all wildfires?

Take for example just one small area burned by wildfire. Erosion from just a few acres of one of these burned areas causes far more pollutants and siltation than hundreds of miles of backcountry roads and trails. Is this a good reason to ban wildfires?

What about river systems?

Rivers such as the Colorado River, the Green River, the Mississippi River, and many others carry thousands of tons of silt and debris every day. No one knows how many digits to the right of a decimal point one would be before being able to measure the impact use of motorized recreation on backcountry roads and trails contributes to this pollution, but it seems logical that you would be many zeros from that decimal point. Does this mean that we should ban river systems?

Whether your chosen recreation in the great American backcountry has to do with motorized or non-motorized uses, nearly all uses come down to utilizing a road and or trail at some point in time. It would seem that we all participate in some level of the pollution process.

Even a hiker or equestrian leaves behind a certain level of pollution. (How many pairs of shoes have you worn out walking backcountry trails?) How does that worn synthetic sole fit into the natural environment? How about the steel in a horseshoe? Does the trail you use contribute to any increase in siltation and erosion?

Happy Trails 4wd

Sunday, April 6, 2014