High Mountain Driving – part 4

High Mountain Driving – part 4

By Jerry Smith

Director of Environmental Affairs for the United Four Wheel Drive Associations

Some of the Hazards

In the mountains, you are going to encounter a few obstacles and situations that are seldom seen in other areas.

The Weather

At the higher elevations, the weather is a very, very, fickle thing.  You may begin your day as a bluebird sunny day with the top down and the doors off.  You’ll be thoroughly enjoying your day when over the mountain top comes a rain or snowstorm.  Unless you’ve experienced a mountain deluge, you don’t know diddly about how cold rain can be. 

Even just a misty rain can soak you in minutes and you can suffer hypothermia in a very short time if you don’t find or make shelter and get dry and warm.  Find yourself in a soaking rain, and this all happens even faster. 

Then there are the storms that run inches of water down the road in just a few minutes.  Yes, flash floods can happen on the road surface and can wash away the road right before your eyes.

Figure 1 Flash floods can do enough damage to stop you from getting to camp.

I have seen 3” to 4” of water RUSHING down a steep mountain road.  Let me tell you, when you start thinking about the fact that you and that water are going the same direction, and as you go more water will be joining what’s in front of you already making washed out roads and bridges a distinct possibility.

Don’t forget about lightning.  It often accompanies these violent storms.  You haven’t seen hell’s fury until you’ve been through a high-country lightning storm.  It is best to stay in your vehicle in one of these, but it is a very good idea to find something taller than your vehicle to park under or near (not the only tree for miles).  A low gully is good, but don’t get caught in a flash flood.

Other weather you may encounter will be thicker than the rain.  Every kind of white precipitation known can occur, sometimes all in one storm.  These storms can happen at ANY time of year, so foul weather gear is mandatory, not optional.  If you happen to be in the wrong place at the right time, heavy wet snows are common.

High winds can be a problem too. They come from nowhere and can carry limbs and even trees from the forest to the road.  Usually, these heavy blows will be brief, but don’t count on that.  High winds and rains can even trigger rockfalls that can be dangerous. 

I have driven roads in a deluge of wind and rain in steep mountains and have seen rocks the size of large beach balls come tumbling down the mountainside, bounce on the road, and continue over the roadside.  If one were to hit your vehicle, you could be severely damaged and/or hurt.

Another hazard in that kind of storm is falling trees.  You never know when a tree will reach its final ability to stand up in high winds.  We’ve all seen the damage a falling tree can do.  All you can do is be where they don’t fall.

Altitude Sickness

Altitude sickness is a phenomenon that most people don’t give a thought, yet it is very real at the altitudes you will find yourself driving in the Colorado high country.

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Admittedly, I have no reason to think this accident happened due to altitude sickness.  There is a slight possibility that it may have had a part though.

Altitude sickness is a sneaky thing that slowly begins taking away your ability to focus.  Then you may have a dull headache that keeps intensifying.  Nausea may accompany the headache as well.  If you allow this to continue, there is a chance you may pass out.  If you are alone, there is a chance you may die. 

If you are driving, your concentration may begin failing and you could drift off the road or hit something without knowing how.

About the only thing you can do is to quickly drop down in altitude significantly.  Try to breathe deeper than you normally would.  This is difficult to maintain because it is not normal, and your concentration is compromised.

Altitude sickness is nothing to ignore.  In fact, you’ve been warned about it now.  Pay attention to what your body is telling you.  Remember, high country roads are unforgiving of small lapses of concentration.

Soft Road Shoulders

On steep mountainsides where roads have been cut into the mountain (shelf roads or dugways), the outside road shoulders are often soft and unstable.

I often kid people I see who tightly hug the uphill side of the road in narrow sections as “amateurs” or inexperienced.  Truth be told, they are taking a prudent course for their level of expertise.

With over 50-years of mountain driving behind me, I have a bad habit of riding the outside bank of many mountain roads for the “better view”.  I do this with total concentration to the “look” of the roadside to keep from “finding” that soft place unexpectedly. 

If you pay close attention; it is easy to see potential soft roadsides.  When the road is being bladed, the operator will be pushing whatever loose material out and over the side.  This soil will require several very wet storms or snowmelt to “firm-up” before driving on them will be safe. 

I have learned to “read” the outside bank with nearly 100% accuracy and because I constantly practice tire tracking of all 4-tires, I will chance the possibility of hitting a soft shoulder for the closer view of the valleys below.  I do NOT recommend this practice!!!  It takes years of experience and a good knowledge of soil compaction to pull this off.

YOUR best bet is to stay in the middle of the two-tracks on most roads to be safe.  Being safe on mountain roads should be your first priority.  Few people will take the time to learn critical tire tracking on Jeep roads.  They only want to enjoy a day on the trail.  That is a very good choice.

It is fairly common for mountain roads to have soft shoulders due to the amount of rains and snowmelt found in the high country.  As rain and snowmelt accumulate on a road surface, it will increase in volume and velocity until it finds a place to exit the side of the road.  At those points, there is often a “V”-notch carved into the side of the road.  These “V”-notches are dangerous and should be avoided.  The other thing is that they sneak up on you.  Many are difficult to see from very far, so you are surprised by them often.

In my younger years, I would stop and throw rocks and other stabilizing debris into the deeper “V”-notches to keep the roadside from excessive erosion.  If you catch them before they are too big, they don’t require too much work.  Allow them to grow and soon the trail will not exist.

When I reopened the Pace Lake Jeep trail back in 2008, I worked a whole afternoon filling a 3-foot deep and 3 to 4-foot wide trench of about 75-yards length to re-establish a passable road base.

Let’s resume this on part 5.

Happy Trails.