Johnny Park Road

On Fri afternoon Charles, Randy and I went out for our second LHN four wheeling trip.  Stacie came down to Boulder with Shy-Anne and met us at work, and then we grabbed some lunch and headed out to the trail.

Since Stacie and I had just been there hiking last weekend, I suggested Johnny Park Road.  Johnny Park Road is a fairly easy trail in Big Elk Meadows, near Pinewood Springs, CO.  We headed up CO-36 from Boulder and got there in about 30 minutes.  The sky was overcast, but it was a perfect temperature and we didn’t get any rain.

We started the trail on the optional spur south and east of the main trailhead.  On the way up to the trailhead, there is a small area on the left with room to park a couple vehicles and the start of CR-118.  This little segment adds about 1.6 miles to the trail and has some fun hills and rocks.

The first part of the trail basically travels up one long hill and then down the other side.  There are several steep, rocky uphill/downhill sections that are challenging and fun.  This was Randy’s first time out with us, but he got his stock F150 through every obstacle on the trail.

The first few rocks we found:

This was short, fun section going up a steep hill:

Some hill climbing:

Heading back down the steep hill toward the main trailhead:

After about an hour we finished the first section of the trail and got the to main trailhead.  We drove straight through and got started on the next section of the trail.  We each took a slightly different line on the first big hill, but we all made it up without problems.

After the first rocky hill we cruised around through Johnny Park itself and came around to the next big, rocky hill.  This looked like the most challenging one yet; near beginning of the hill there were some deep holes that needed rock stacking to get our trucks through, plus there were large steps the entire way up the hill.  At that point Charles was out of time so he was going to head back; Randy and I decided we’d try this hill next time and turned around with Charles.

Coming down was just as fun as driving up.  Here’s me coming back down the first rocky hill:

Here’s Randy coming down after me:

Once we got down to the trailhead we split up; Charles headed out to get to a soccer game while Randy, Stacie and I headed over to Randy’s house for a beer or two.

Our second monthly LHN four wheeling trip was another big success.  Randy is now hooked and already looking at ways to improve his truck on the trail, and all of us are back at work Monday counting the days until next time.

See all of the pictures: Photo Gallery

See all of the movies: Video Gallery

Read the TrailDamage.com description of Johnny Park Road: TrailDamage.com