Independence Trail January 2000

E-Bay Motor Search

Independence OoutdoorWire Trail Report Menu

Explore Your World!

Short Cuts

Ken and Dennis checking for trash on the entrance to Liberty in Ken's rock buggy

Jim dropping down the first stair step

Joe on the second stair step

Jim catching some air

Joe a bit off-camber, photo by Scott Riebel

Joe a bit off-camber after the squeeze

Paul on his side

No need for a winch, photo by Scott Riebel

No need for a winch when there are a bunch of people around to push your Jeep back on its feet

Nothing but a good time, photo by Scott Riebel

Terry takes the low line after the squeeze

Terry enters the Air Hole with his CJ-2A while Sean works through the squeeze with his Ford Bronco

Sean on the last obstacle, photo by Scott Riebel

Sean on the last climb out of Patriot

Story by Terry L. Howe and photos by Scott Riebel 1/23/2000

It is pretty rare for people to find work fun, but four-wheelers can find fun in strange places. One such strange place is Penrose, Colorado, home of the Independence Trail System featuring the trails Patriot and Liberty. The Colorado Rock Hoppers, the adopt-a-trail club for Independence, scheduled a work trip for the 16th of January and they invited a bunch of local four-wheelers to help out. The goal of the work trip was to pick up any trash and clean up any oil spills.

The turnout was excellent, so after a couple of hours of walking the trails and the surrounding scrub, the trash was all picked up. There wasn't much to speak of, just a couple empty pop cans and some miscellaneous parts broken off vehicles. When the work was done, the fun began.

Patriot, Freedom, or Liberty

There are three trails in the Independence Trail system: Patriot, Freedom, and Liberty. Patriot is the first trail that was marked out and it is still the hardest. Freedom is a trail out of the canyon that branches off Patriot before Patriot gets hard. About 80% of the people that come down the trail for the first time take Freedom once they see what Patriot is like. Liberty branches off Patriot after Patriot gets interesting. Liberty is not quite as hard as Patriot, but it is longer. The total mileage for all the trails is only about 1.5 miles, but Patriot or Liberty will take the average group a full day. Some groups don't finish in one day.

One nice part about the trails is they are great for spectating. About any time there is a group down there, there is also a group of spectators. It is a short walk down to the trail and people can park very close to "Heckle Hill" which overlooks the final obstacle of Patriot and is one of the most common places to see a roll.

The Fun Begins

Ken Ristau and Paul Curoe got an early start and headed straight down Liberty with Dennis Brown riding shot gun in Ken's rock buggy. Ken and Paul recently took third place in the Warn Rock Crawling Championship in Ken's rock buggy. JT Taylor, Jim Nelson, and Joe Cannella dropped in to run Patriot and Sean Lazelle and I followed a bit later.

Just getting to Liberty and Patriot is not easy. There are three large stair steps that you need to drop off to get to the bottom of the canyon. The first one is about 3 feet tall and very steep. You need to run your tire in a crack to minimize the risk of doing an endo. If you do not have a lot of clearance, you can get hung up on this step and you have to give it some throttle to get over. It is important to keep the tires straight when you go over, they tend to pull to the right. Backing off this step is a good way to break a front axle.

The second waterfall isn't as tall, but it is more off-camber. Paul managed to lay his CJ on its side here when he went through without paying much attention. Fortunately, he just hit his roll bar and he winched out before anyone caught it on film (if a tree falls in the forest...).

The third drop-off is harder than the first two because there are more options. Last year, Dennis found the third step was a good place to roll his Jeep a couple times when he slid off a rock at the wrong angle.

Once you are past the stair steps, there is an optional obstacle that is good for some body damage. Past that is an "easy" flat area before the fork in the trail where Liberty starts and Patriot heads uphill. Our group headed up Patriot, the first climb is a hard one. Jim managed to totally explode a Dana 30 shaft trying to climb this hill. Fortunately, no one was hurt by the flying axle parts that ricocheted off the rocks. Jim finally got through this part and he got through the squeeze.

Joe had no problem with the first climb, but the section of the trail after the squeeze gave him some grief. After the squeeze you need to climb high or stay low. Body damage is likely if you stay low, so most people go high, but if you don't make it, in between is a disaster. Joe got all off-camber here and had to throw a cable to keep from rolling.

Since Paul and Ken had an early start and our progress was slow, they finished up Liberty before we were done with Patriot. They decided to drop in behind us and run Patriot as well. Paul slid off the first climb on Patriot and put his CJ-5 on the side for the second time in the same day. Winching wasn't necessary; there were enough people around to push his Jeep back over on the tires.

After the squeeze is the Air Hole, known as the A-Hole for short. The air hole doesn't look like much, but you'll see groups spending more time on this obstacle than anywhere else. Short wheelbase vehicles have an advantage here because they can turn fast enough in the wedge before getting stuck in there. Longer wheelbase vehicles have a tough time because the rear wheels are climbing up while the front ones are going down. This sends the nose of the vehicle right into rock. Body damage is highly likely here because you need to get way off-camber to get through at all. If it is done right, the front end catches lots of air as you come around, hence the name of the obstacle.

I'd been through the A-Hole many times and so I decided to try a different line hoping to catch more air. Instead of catching more air, I just got jammed in the Air Hole hard and broke a front axle shaft. Fortunately, the outer shaft was okay and I had a spare u-joint and inner shaft. After winching out and replacing the shaft, I was back in action.

The obstacle after the Air Hole is a climb that always seems to change. There are several large loose boulders that shift around this area making it different every time. I managed to make the climb by heading straight up the hill to the left and dropping down to the right. I promptly got stuck on some loose boulders after the climb. This is where Sean pointed out I forgot to lock in my hub after breaking the axle. Once the hub was locked in, it was easy from there.

The final climb out of Patriot is the hardest because it is so steep. The climb is visible from Heckle Hill where spectators like to gather and laugh at anyone foolish enough to drop into the trail. It is very common for people to have to winch out of the final step, fortunately, there is a winch anchor conveniently placed here. JT, Paul, and Ken were the only ones to make the last climb without throwing a cable. Everyoned managed to finish the trail and trail clean-up before it got dark.

Keep It Open

The hard work of the Colorado Rock Hoppers and Predator Four Wheel Drive make the Independence Trail System possible. If you are headed to Independence, stay on the trail, do not damage any trees, and clean up after yourselves. Obviously, these rules should be followed anywhere, but the Independence Trail System is under very close scrutiny. It is common to run into BLM employees in the area, so if you see someone walking down the trail, keep in mind they might be a BLM employee. For more information about Independence, contact the Colorado Rock Hoppers.