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Self Recovery South of Estes Park, Colorado

vezePilot

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I went out to recon Johnny Park Road in the mountains between Pinewood Springs and Estes Park. Planning a camping trip later this year, probably after the snow starts. This Forest Service Road is described as Easy/Moderate/Difficult. Easy and newly black-topped up to a hiking trail head & camping area. Then Difficult rock crawling, and then Moderate and Easy out to the West where it reconnects with State Highway 7.

Here is a neat 10 minute video that a guy made. My Trail Boss had less trouble than he had, and I didn't even Air-Down for it:

That is ... until I took a really bad line coming back out of a remote spur off the road. I caught the passenger side Shock/Axle behind a big rock, and the Differential ahead of another big rock. Rocking back and forth just started digging in, so I shut down and rigged a Double Line Pull with my winch.

Brand new Rocket Strap (30ft? 50ft? I forget ... ) and a Rhino tree saver.
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All of my Winch Line down to the first layer, for maximum pull force of 9,500 lbs.
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New Rhino Tree saver, a Soft Shackle and Winch ring.
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Using my OpenRoad winch and Front Receiver for the first time in earnest.
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The rocks don't look like much in the photos, but with about a Foot sticking out of the road, they were enough.

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Serious rock crawling, enough to hit the passenger side step rail ... again.
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I'll need to organize my gear and put it all away ... tomorrow. Good thing I took it all along for this simple day trip/recon.
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