Gillespie Gultch

[Waifer2112]

I decided to try out Gillespie with my '99 Grand Sat. morning. 2" lift, stock size tires, no lockers. I figured I'd have to turn around at the old cabin. WTF??? A grader had been up it, and now any two wheel drive truck could make it to the top. Quite easily, I might add. When did this happen? I didn't see anything here on the board about it. Does anyone know when/why this happened? All I could think of was it was made into a fire access road. :mad:

But, there were a couple of guys that were happy to see me, for sure. They had gone up there the night before (Fri.), and had gone over to where the trail goes down to the Ward side of the mountain. At around 8 at night, they got stuck. Bad. They were teetering on the edge of a steep and long hill. They had no provisions, and, of course, their cell phone didn't have any service. They had to stay up there all night. There was no way I could pull them out, 'cause I would have been stuck, too. We ended up giving them a ride to the Greenbriar Inn so they could meet up with a friend. I still don't know if they ever got out. :laughing: :eek: :spit:

[ArloGuthroJeep]

It has been like that for a couple months now. I went up there a couple weeks ago but I remember reading a post 6-8 weeks ago about someone asking if Nugget Hill is gone. Well it is still there along with a gulch on the way to the hill but there is a bypass for that. Really too bad since that was my first trip up there and I saw some nice sized rocks on the side of the trail I wanted to play on:(

[Hippie]

Read the Land use forum ;)

[jcnorman48]

But, there were a couple of guys that were happy to see me, for sure. They had gone up there the night before (Fri.), and had gone over to where the trail goes down to the Ward side of the mountain. At around 8 at night, they got stuck. Bad. They were teetering on the edge of a steep and long hill. They had no provisions, and, of course, their cell phone didn't have any service. They had to stay up there all night. There was no way I could pull them out, 'cause I would have been stuck, too. We ended up giving them a ride to the Greenbriar Inn so they could meet up with a friend. I still don't know if they ever got out. :laughing: :eek: :spit:

They did end up getting out. I came up around noon Saturday and found them trying to pull the jeep out. It was in a very sketchy place off the side of the mountain right above gold nugget hill. The jeep they brought up wasn't able to pull him out so I ran a tow rope from my car to the middle car to get them started. No recovery points on their jeeps either. Never a great idea to tow from an axle or shackle.

The top of Gillespie hasn't been plowed and there is a decent obstacle on it. Im sure that trail is going to be full of ruts in no time from the lose dirt and all the other trucks that can drive on it now.

[otisdog]

What a shame they graded it. Here's a pic of Joel [jeepyjump] just before the cabin before they graded it. On past the cabin it got even better.
Jim

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/otisdog4/Gillespie%20Gulch/DCP_2323Medium.jpg

[ArloGuthroJeep]

Looks like it was a nice trail...I think I remember seeing that rock he is about to drive over on the side of the trail now...next to the hundreds of other rocks on the side:rolleyes:

[Waifer2112]

They did end up getting out. I came up around noon Saturday and found them trying to pull the jeep out. It was in a very sketchy place off the side of the mountain right above gold nugget hill. The jeep they brought up wasn't able to pull him out so I ran a tow rope from my car to the middle car to get them started. No recovery points on their jeeps either. Never a great idea to tow from an axle or shackle.

The top of Gillespie hasn't been plowed and there is a decent obstacle on it. Im sure that trail is going to be full of ruts in no time from the lose dirt and all the other trucks that can drive on it now.

Glad to hear they got out safely and with no (I presume) damage. I hear 'ya about the tow points. I had been pushing my luck for awhile without them. Now that I've got an Arb bumper on front, I'm ready for the stupidity to begin!

[Waifer2112]

What a shame they graded it. Here's a pic of Joel [jeepyjump] just before the cabin before they graded it. On past the cabin it got even better.
Jim

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/otisdog4/Gillespie%20Gulch/DCP_2323Medium.jpg

Actually, and I could be waaayyy wrong here, this is the only spot left that is still fun. There is an easy bypass for it, though. :rolleyes:

[grimgaunt]

damn, that was a nice little trail, I remember going up there to pull a couple of jeepers stuck on Nugget and ended up breaking stuff myself (old Quadratrac on the FSJ finally gave way and took the TH400 rear with it) . Ended up taking a rebuilt up there and changing it out on top :)

[ajse]

wow i actually logged on and found this post... isn't the net grand

So yeah that was my jeep that got stuck... probably one of the sketchest spots i've ever been in by far. after backing up and hitting that rock it literally launched my right wheels to be teetering on the edge. I was nearly a few pounds from indefineatly rolling down that canyon into ward (after feeling that flippy rolly feeling on the edge of a cliff, camping out all night with no provisions besides food didn't seem all that bad)

thanks a MILLION Waifer and JC, it would of been hell walking all the way back to jamestown to be yelled at and/or not being able to pop it out the next morning. because of experiences like this I know I'm more then willing to extend myself to others on the trail when need be...

anyway here are a couple shots of the TJ stuck...

nearly stocker... with 31"


The night of getting stuck...
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/visual15/IMG_1291.jpg

The morning after...
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/visual15/IMG_1313.jpg

Trying to pull it out with one jeep... wasn't enough traction until JC came around with his rig pulled this one from the back... train of 3
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/visual15/IMG_1323.jpg

[OffroadGirl]

Holy crap that's scary!

[Waifer2112]

Holy crap that's scary!

And as we all know, pictures never do it any justice. My buddy that was with me has a fear of heights, and he was freakin' just looking at it!

ajse, glad you got out o.k. It was a good (with no deaths and no damage to your jeep) learning experience!

[OffroadGirl]

It's holy crap scary because of the large amounts of time I've spent standing in that very spot taking pictures -- I know it well and that's not a good place for a Jeep! Glad everyone made it off of that okay.