Jeeping the Dolores River
By Jerry Smith
Today, Sunday 11, 2018, seven Grand Mesa Jeep Club members and two guests had a superb day of Jeeping.
After leaving Fruita, we headed for Cisco, UT and Fish Ford on the Colorado River. This was the end of the trail from last week’s trip where we ran the back roads from 16 Road to Rabbit Valley along the BookCliffs. From Rabbit Valley we followed the Kokopelli Trail (which Is the usual Rabbit Valley spring trip) and then stayed on it to the junction at Cisco.
Due to a late day and a freshly modified Jeep on its maiden voyage that had some bad gremlins, last week’s trip was shortened. Today we finished that trip to Hwy 128 down near the Dome Plateau trailhead. From there, we headed to Dewey Bridge for a trip across the Dolores River.
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| On the lower Dolores River Crossing |
Jeeping across a river for many is a first-time accomplishment. We broke some cherries today and didn’t stop at just one crossing.
Because the Dolores River was so low, we did the lower crossing and then proceeded to the upper crossing.
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| Entering the upper Dolores River crossing |
The lower crossing is considerably shallower than the upper crossing. It is also a more conventional ford in that you take a direct route across the river.
The upper ford is not conventional. From the north side of the river (that we were on), you enter the river and go upstream an estimated 120 yards to the exit on the south side. The water is fairly slow and always murky, so “reading” the water is not easy.
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| Entering the upper Dolores River crossing. |
Entering the water the as the first in line is always with some trepidation. You never know what obstacle might be lurking in the bottom of a murky body of water… especially moving water.
Sandbars shift, muddy bottoms can have deep holes and be slick. Rocks tend to find new places to bring you to an abrupt stop. The first guy in the water is hoping none of those little “presents” exist.
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Lucky for me, no “presents” were encountered on the way upstream to the small rocky island just below the exit and road out to the main road. Shortly Jeep number 2 entered the water and made for the island. Not far behind were the others that braved the brown waters of the mighty Dolores River.
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Soon we were all on the island and had a need to return to the north side, so I traveled down and found a spot to face the driver side window toward the others as they came downstream. Some of the pictures here were taken from that position in the river.
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| Snoopy Rock |
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After returning to the north side, we headed for the Coates Creek crossing for lunch and some great conversation. There, we also decided to return by way of Cow Creek and Snoopy Rock. Most had never seen Snoopy Rock so this would be another first.
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Cow Creek Canyon begins very docilely and gains difficulty and beauty as you go up the canyon. Snoopy Rock is best seen from the east side. From there you can see both ears, the nose, and an eye and the outline of the head sloping down to his back as he lays down. The size of the whole thing is enormous, but you have to be there to understand.
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Not long past Snoopy, the trail becomes increasingly difficult. There are steep climbs that gyrate your vehicle causing tires to lose traction. Here, you may still crawl the trail in 2wd, but you will need a very flexible suspension and good momentum. Otherwise, lockers or 4wd are a real blessing.
There are large granite-like boulders that protrude from the road surface and other places that have a white granite-like rock that has large quantities of mica that create flashes of light that make you wonder what is ahead.
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The cliffs on the north side of the canyon rise in varying outcroppings that make your imagination wander to out-of-the-world realms. Some of the small canyons in those cliffs make you wonder where they go and “how can I go there?”
Upon topping the trail we soon come to the road normally taken from Glade Park to Gateway. This is a popular summer trail run. There are some options along with it that can enhance the day of Jeeping into a “Wow”-like trip. One of the favorites is to drive down Lost Horse Creek to the junction with Granite Creek.
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| On the island in the Dolores River |
The way out of the Granite Creek Canyon is a steep shelf road that once had dozens of well placed large rocks that caused folks dread of driving this road. The BLM did their 10 to 15 year maintenance in 2017 so those rocks were dozed over the steep mountainside. As the years go by, they will be replaced, so not all is lost. Good challenges are hard enough to come by without the land management ruining things.
People think I’m nuts when I complain that the USFS or BLM actually maintain a Jeep trail. I would rather the users maintain what actually needs maintenance to OUR standards than to have a perfectly good Jeep trail butchered by a man on a bulldozer who doesn’t care. Of course “our” standards must meet their minimums, but basically, we only want a “passable” 4-wheel drive trail, not some highway.
Special Jeep trails with good obstacles are treasures that aren’t found just anywhere. I am thinking of creating more obstacles on a trail or two that have diminished in difficulty since I reopened them years ago. Some of us enjoy a tough trail that doesn’t stray toward the extreme but scares the pants off of others.
Even today’s river crossing raises the pulse of most until the first in line shows it can be done. I could see the doubt in quite a few eyes before I dove in and ran that second crossing today. BTW, I have driven that crossing with about 20” deeper water. Today, my front bumper barely got wet. In other crossings, the water was up on the hood and fenders.
Any way you do it, a good day of Jeeping is better than any other I can think of, so go out on your next opportunity and MAKE IT an unforgettable day.
