Challenging the Richardson Lake Trail

After dropping off the county and engineering firm employees, our group of four rigs headed back up the Richardson Lake Trail, 14N39.

Here is John Briggs going over the Rolling Dip installed in 2014 near the cabin. (To be clear, this is the old hunters or grazing cabin that has the tree in to the roof at Miller Meadow, not the Ludlow Hut much further up the trail at Richardson Lake.)

This is looking up the trail from the cabin.

Don and Galen crossing the Arizona Crossing.

We crossed this puddle but turned around just on the other side. The trail runs to the left of the trees in the center of the picture. I drove past them to turn around and slid down to them as I drove past. Pin striping by nature.

This is where we turned around. I had a nasty side hill which slid me in to some small tress along the side of the trail. This is looking up the trail not too far past the Arizona Crossing just past the cabin.

Note the side hill. Just around the corner in the distance, the trail climbs. That would not be fun. Also, it was three in the afternoon and we didn’t really have time to play.

On the way out, we decided to pull a log to the trails edge to prevent further travel off the trail. The snow drift doesn’t look like an issue in this photo but in previous trips John said the drift was six feet tall and really wanted to send you in to the sediment trap in the lower left corner.

Later in the year, we should move the log over a little more to better protect the two trees along the trail’s edge. This will be a stopping point early in the spring due to the shade that creates the steep side hill.

Remember, the snow will eventually melt. “Turn Around, Don’t Go Around”. Come back a few weeks later and the trail will be passable.