Well, Tuesday started out as a fine day, as we meandered up to St. Elmo. We stopped to take a few pictures and headed on up to Tincup. The trail was extremely knarly, however we took our time as we soaked in the rays of sun and scenery. Along the way we saw several choice campsites along beaver dams.
On the way down from the summit is where it began. We took a side road to check out a prime campsite ( which I marked on GPS BTW) and went in a bit too deep. I guess the road turned ATV on my ass and we got all hooked up. All alone and off the path. Ooops
I was able to get us backed out, at the expense of a driver cv axle.
ok, out comes all the stuff, spare cv pulled out of the tub and we are back on the road in about 30 minutes.
ok, now it is getting to be about 4:00 PM, so we decided the fastest and best way off the mountain was down Cumberland trail, over to the alpine tunnel loop ( which is supposed to be a 1---?????) and then back up Hancock. After all, Hancock is only a 5 trail right?
Well, the scenic trip up and over the Cumberland pass was nice, however we really expected to make good time on the alpine tunnel trail. This turned out to be at least a 3 rated trail, with exposed embedded rock covering about 90% of the road. No way would I ever take a 2wd vehicle there, however the trail guide book says it is a fine 2wd road.
At this time I must say how unreliable that book is.
Back to the trail, we turned up Hancock and OMG what did I do? We chose to navigate this thing in the difficult direction, as it is a 5 rating traveling toward ST Elmo--4 traveling away. We were heading the bad direction, and it was getting late. In front of us loomed about 9 miles of 18" boulders scattered up what they call a road--ha
About 1.5 miles into the 9 mile hell we broke cv #2 on the driver side when I got us into a very tight turn, got onto a rock at full right turn lock and gave it gas. Another mistake, as we could have taken a route around this obstacle. If I had been a bit more skilled I would have gotten out and walked both routes. Bummer--so here we are on a very small hill crest to get the truck level enough to change the cv AGAIN!!. Good thing I decided to take all I had with me.
ok, we get the grease wiped off, pack up the tools and decide it is best to plug on and not go back thru what we already had, however, we had 8 more miles of it--
We completed Hancock very slowly, in locked 2wd low so as not to stress the last axle in our possession, and completed The trail in darkness. We emerged back onto paved road about 9:00 PM --battered, bruised and still trying to decide if that was fun or not.
Tincup , and Hancock, and , especially Alpine tunnel trail are under rated by the trail guide IMO--be careful out there guys!!!
