First Annual, Creepy Crawl

It was time for a different type of trail run. Something at night, which we have done before, but something spooky, something scary, something... at a GRAVEYARD!! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA....

After many years of toying with the idea, and never putting a plan into action, I finally threw out the idea of a Halloween night run. At first, the interest was very minimal and so my efforts into making this happen were also very minimal. But at the last minute, the event EXPLODED with interest. I was getting emails constantly, and everyone wanted to invite friends. Before I know it, my evite was showing 23 people attending this night run that we later dubbed the "Creepy Crawl".

 (Yes, those are skulls and orange lights in the windshield for decoration)

The meeting location was at Bullwackers Gas near Black Hawk. 14 rigs showed up to come tour a few cemeteries with me. We left around 6:30 and took the Nevadaville Loop to our first destination, Bald Mountain Cemetery.

Quick legend on Bald Mtn... Somewhere in the cemetery are the buried remains of a woman determined to be recognized as a true witch by her peers. At a certain point in the cemetery, whether it be winter or summer, you are to notice a very weak stench of rotting flesh. This is the point where you are assured to be in the right area. If you stand within a few yards of this malodorous grave, a green mist is rumored to appear. If your lighting is suitable you should be able to see the deceased woman stand upright and disperse thousands of maggots, covering the ground.

We did not find any witches, or ghosts, but did find plenty of cool, old graves.

Once we left Bald Mtn, there were six other cemeteries closer to Central City that we checked out. This turned out to be a really short run, but for next year, I promise to make it more of an event, and have lots of things to do. Thanks for coming out to the First Annual Creepy Crawl!

Ryan Boudreau, Patrol 14

Argentine Pass 10/14/12

Patrol 14 headed up to Argentine Pass yesterday. I have never been up there before, and I have to say... That is a really cool area! Very easy to get lost though. Tons of little spur roads that just lead to camp sites. And in my opinion, the signage up there is not that good. The temp was super warm and we only ran into a dusting of snow in a few shady ares until we reached Waldorf. We then continued up to Santiago Mine, had lunch and checked out all the stuff up there. We started higher up on McClellan Mtn. There had been a few rigs up there before us since we saw tracks in the "not so deep" snow, but as the afternoon went on, the wind picked up and started to drift the snow on the inner part of the trail. It was that stupid sugar snow that just doesn't pack what so ever. Got my Jeep stuck once, and then since there was no trees for the winch, and no traction for a pull, I spent a good amount of time digging. At least I got my work out in. We checked out one other spur road after this and then I heard a loud pop and some constant banging coming from the back tub. We pulled over and found my rear passenger shock up against the exhaust. This should not be happening, so when I got under the Jeep, I saw that the upper bar pin had snapped in half and the shock just slipped out. The nuts were both still there and tight, just snapped the bar pin. So once I took the shock off, we were on our way again and called it a day. Great day though, and some really cool stuff to check out up there!! On to the good stuff...