Coon Hollow Is Open

By Jerry Smith

April 27^th, 2013

Controversial Coon Hollow

The highly controversial Coon Hollow trail has been reopened to “full-size” vehicles thanks to the considerable work of members of the Grand Mesa Jeep Club.

The real awesomeness of all this work was patiently waiting for us near the very end of the trail… but I am getting way ahead of myself.

Happy Trails entering "The Ravine"

The controversy comes from the BLM Draft Resource Management Plan/Travel Management Plan (DRMP/DTMP) and the BLM's apparent wanting to close this very special and unique trail to full-size vehicles. The Coon Hollow Road is cherry stemmed into an area with “Wilderness Characteristics” which makes it an extremely unique road just from that perspective alone.

Cherry stemmed into an area with Wilderness Characteristics

Even without being cherry stemmed into an area with wilderness characteristics, this trail is unique beyond words all by itself. Finding a trail of this difficulty and length is so rare; you'd spend hours counting the zeros while calculating the odds.

Drive It While You Can

While currently open, this trail provides access to an area that in normal circumstances would not be accessible to most elderly, youthful, or disabled Americans.  The Grand Mesa Jeep Club is leading the way to changing the BLM's stance and will hopefully prevail in keeping this outstanding class-6 to 7 trail available to full-size vehicles.

Cody #2 in the first wash

Our meeting at the Horizon Safeway store parking lot put us all in anticipation of a great day of Jeeping. The sky was a brilliant blue and though the air had a slight haze to it, we expected a near perfect day in the mid-70s.

The 30-mile drive to De Beque was uneventful so we continued through town on back to the west to V.2 Road and headed north toward Pyramid Rock where we would turn off on the road to Coon Hollow.

There we aired down and then proceeded up the road that had been savagely torn up by some brain-damaged individual when the road surface had been very wet and muddy.

It was very obvious to all that this guy had no working brain cells when it comes to “proper land and trail use”.  Leaving deep ruts in a road and even into the ditches and sometimes completely off of the road is not what clear thinking people do anymore. 

Coming to the mouth of Coon Hollow, we turned in and followed the road up the valley floor crossing small washes and enjoying the view of this magnificent small valley.

Deep Washes to Cross

Arriving at the first major obstacle, we jumped out to assess the possibility of getting a long wheelbase vehicle through this deep, steep-sided wash. It was decided that Jerry and Happy Trails would cross first as he had already been through it. Then we would see if Cody #2 and his 2013 Rubicon Unlimited could get through.

Tim getting ready for "Launch"

As he dropped over the steep incline to enter the wash there was plenty of reason to believe we would need to do considerable digging to change the angles of approach and departure by “rearranging” the earth, but he was able to crawl right through with only little difficulty.

Cody #1 diving into the 1st wash

Next came Tim and his tall riding Cherokee making it look rather easy so Cody #1 next made his way into the wash with his Grand Cherokee. Cody #1 also negotiated the wash with little or no problem. All of us sighed with great relief at the thought of not having to do an hour or two of dirt work.

Further along the trail, we encountered another deep wash. Soon, except for some scuffed rear bumpers, we were through this wash with no problem.

Climbing Up the Ridge

Coming to the foot of the ridge this trail follows, we began climbing up a fairly steep shelf road that enters a small, narrow ravine by way of some tight, off-camber turns. Jerry drove through the mouth of the ravine with no problem, but before he could walk back down, Cody #1 and Tim had begun moving large rock obstacles to make the ingress to the ravine easier.  (Some people just don't like difficult obstacles).

After all had entered into the ravine, we had a steep, rocky climb out of the ravine on another rock strewn shelf road. Now we would be climbing up a narrow ridgeline for the next few miles.

Some guys don't enjoy a good obstacle

Along this ridgeline we trimmed many branches of Utah Juniper and Pinon Pine trees along with bushes like mountain ash and gamble oak that had grown into the road leaving only an ATV width trail. Except for last fall when Jerry and Harley had driven this part of the trail, it had been unused by full-sized vehicles for several years.

At one particular place where a large, old dead Juniper tree had laid down across the road for a final rest, ATVs had made a track around it. We sawed the tree into several pieces and effectively closed off the braided ATV trail and reopened the real trail.

Removing a dead Juniper Tree from the road

Coming to the place where Jerry and Harley had turned around due to large, tall sagebrush that had grown into the road, we broke trail simply by driving over the hood high or more sagebrush.

For those of you who have never attempted to cut sagebrush, I envy you. The stranded way that sagebrush grows is very difficult to cut. We found that driving over it and crushing it much easier and just as effective.

This was the second pass through this sagebrush

Needless to say, we have some new custom pin striping on the sides of our vehicles.  The smell of freshly crushed sage was actually quite nice and almost “therapeutic”.

As we made our way further up the trail, we all voiced our appreciation for the beauty of the surrounding area and the difficulty of the trail. It is truly such a unique experience that it is hard to put into words.

The “Cherry on the Cherry Stem”

As we reached a saddle between the South Shale Ridge and another small hill to the south, we had no idea of what was to come. As you crest the saddle, the panorama that opens up before you will literally take your breath away.

Powderhorn Ski Area

One moment you are climbing a steep, narrow trail, and the next you  have a nearly unobstructed  view where you can see nearly all of the rest of Western Colorado and even into Utah. Simply awesome! 

It reminded me of standing on the edge of Lands End on the Grand Mesa... just from a different perspective.

Drill rig and Pine Ridge fire burn area

Starting from the south, your view begins with the north side of the Grand Mesa where you can see the town of Mesa, the Powderhorn ski resort, and over to where the mesa drops into the town of Palisade.

Between there and where you stand; you are looking down on the Pine Ridge wildfire burn area and a drill site currently being drilled on the burns perimeter. From here, you get a much better idea of the expanse of the Pine Ridge fire and the devastation that it left behind.

Ever vigilant Hoodoos watch over Coon Hollow

Beyond the burn, some of the wild horse area and the rim of the Book Cliffs hide the Grand Valley from view. Beyond the Book Cliff rim you can see parts of the Uncompahgre Plateau with a small view of the upper La Sal Mountains shining above.

I am sure that if you could be there on a pristine air day, once you top that saddle it would be hard to breathe the pristine air for a minute.  Panoramas of this quality are mighty hard to find, but are over the top when you do.

On the return trip, we all experienced the same effect as when Harley and I did the first roughly 2/3s of the Coon Hollow road.  Due to the thick growth along most of the trail, you don’t see much else going uphill.

Coming back down, the view out of your windshield is very different.  Now you are looking over the trees and brush to where you can see the Coon Hollow area and all the way to the Grand Mesa above De Beque.  To say it’s a nice view is grossly understated.

 An "Off-Camber" moment on Coon Hollow

Overall, this trip is an 11 out of 10 for enjoyment.  If you can’t enjoy this, you are having a really bad day or life.

You might want to run this trail soon because we may lose all motorized access if the “greenies” get their wishes.  Take your camera even though your memories will overshadow any photos you may bring back.

Cosmo hoping his Master can make it

One last thing we have to cover; “When you come to a fork in the road… take it!”  Who knows?  You might find another gem like this one.

Many Happy Trails to you.

Copyright Happy Trails 4wd 2013  All rights reserved.