by The Flatlander for
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This article contains a trail description, directions, several trail reports and 7 pictures including some of my first Bronco II at the site where I rolled and totaled it.
This is a scenic and challenging high mountain trail in central Colorado west of US 24 between Leadville and I-70. It is an old mining trail that gold miners built and used until 1883 when the mines on Mt. Holy Cross played out. Some cabins in the Holy Cross City mining town remain as well as the boilers that powered the mining operations. It is one of the more challenging 4WD trails in Colorado especially the short stretch just past the Holy Cross City ghost town. The trail has been hard on Fractured Axle Club 4WDs, especially Bronco IIs. The Colorado Association of 4WD Clubs rates the portion of the trail below the ghost town as an 8 on a 10 point difficulty scale. The section above would be a 9.
To get there from Denver go west on I-70. Take exit 171 off I-70 for Minturn and Leadville. Go south on US 24 to the turnoff for Blodgett Campground (Forest Route 703, aka Homestake Road) and turn west. Coming from Leadville go north on US 24 and turn west on FR 703. Follow FR 703 for about 8 miles to the trail head which is marked just off the parking area at the beginning of the trail. The 4WD trail is only about 4 miles long but a full day should be allowed to complete the trail and do some exploring.
The Fractured Axle Club is an informal group of 4-wheelers from all across the country that met on on the Prodigy Offroad BB and talk vehicle build ups and plan trips there. The Holy Cross City trail was the first 4WD trail we did together. It was our 1st Annual Fractured Axle 4th on the 4th of July, 1993. We had been planning the trip all winter. Up until this time none of us had actually met except on the Prodigy BB.
We met on top of Hoosier Pass on Colorado 9 south of Brekenridge. We had been exchanging notes on the Prodigy BB for months but had never met in person. It was exciting to see everyone and their rigs. Lizard in his CJ-7 from Salt Lake City Utah, CRACKER in his classic Bronco from Pueblo, Colorado, Eclipse in his Bronco II from Denver, Gunslinger in his CJ-7 from Denver, Wild One in her Pathfinder from Denver and me in my recently built-up Bronco II from Nebraska. We exchanged greetings, looked over each others rigs and headed south on Hwy 9 toward Mosquito Pass.
We had planned to go west over Mosquito Pass to Leadville and from there
to the Holy Cross City trail. But this was not to be. Mosquito Pass was still snowed in
from the previous winter. CRACKER tried to get us winched over the drifts by hooking every
tow strap and winch cable we had together. After hearing the whine of broken winch cable
as it flew through the air we came to our senses [a very notable and but rare
accomplishment for us :-) ] and doubled back. Lizard had made it over but CRACKER's winch
cable snapped. The picture shows CRACKER's classic Bronco in the foreground with Lizard's
brown CJ-7 in the background at the location he had just winched too.
We had to cross this mountain range farther south at Weston Pass instead. The trip across Weston was warm, dry and dusty, but by the time we got to Leadville we could see dark clouds to the north above Holy Cross Mountain. By the time we reached the Holy Cross City trail head it was raining.
The first obstacle on the trail crushed Eclipse's steering stabilizer. It was the
beginning of a bad afternoon for him and his near stock Bronco II. The Fractured Axle Club
was learning about the challenges and pitfalls of attempting one of Colorado's more
challenging trails.
My first Bronco II is shown here coming up the second obstacle on the trail. Susan and her
stock Pathfinder were having a hard time here. Finally she used enough momentum to 'fly'
over it. Thus Susan became 'Wild One' and her Pathfinder became the 'Pathflyer'. Wild One
and her Pathflyer 'flew' over several obstacles that day. Fortunately the Pathflyer
sustained no damage.
This is a fairly typical shot of the Holy Cross City trail. The lower portion is well
forested, rough and rocky as can be seen here. Not far past this location Gunslinger's
battery came loose and we had to stop and re-secure it.
Yes, you can see that it is snowing heavily in this picture, and on July 4th! This is the
stream crossing not too far below the ghost town. The middle vehicle on the left is
Eclipse's Bronco II. He got hung up on the rocks coming out of the stream and slipped to
his left into another bigger rock. Lizard is going across to hook a strap to him and pull
him back. We were seriously concerned that this snow was going to turn into a full blown
blizzard! It was snowing so heavily we could barely see across the stream. So once we got
Eclipse's Bronco II free we headed back down. Fortunately, as we dropped in elevation, the
snow turned back into rain. When Eclipse got back to Denver he found he had cracked his
transfer case also. Between that and the body damage he sustained, his Bronco II was
totaled.
I wanted to do some more 4-wheeling with my freshly built-up Bronco II. In June I had added Bushwhacker cut-out flares, a 3" lift, 33x12.5 BFG Moab MTs on Mickey Thompson Alcoa 8X15 rims, tube bumpers, a winch, a rear locker, and a brand new paint job. So I headed back to Colorado in mid August. I met CRACKER and we did the 9 rated Iron Chest Mine trail together the first weekend. I also did several trails on my own including the 8 rated Wheeler Lake trail. My Bronco II was doing all of these almost effortlessly and I was getting very confident - too confident.
About the middle of the week I decided to go back to the Holy Cross City trail and try it again. It was a sunny summer day and the Bronco II was just walking right up everything the trail had to offer. It wasn't long until I crossed the stream where we had been snowed out on our first attempt. I worked my way on up to the Holy Cross City ghost town devouring fresh obstacles. When I got to the City I was so overconfident that I decided to continue on the 9 rated section of the trail just above the City. My brand new paint job and body work wasn't going to last much longer.
I went up a ledge and crossed the off camber section on top of it with no problem. But the 9 rated obstacle just beyond was too much for my level of experience. Surprisingly, I realized this and turned back after a couple of reserved tries at the obstacle. Then, while crossing back over the off camber ledge my left front tire slipped off. I heard a bang as the undercarriage hit and the truck lurched to the left. I remember thinking "I hope it doesn't roll" as I looked down at the ground to my left. That ground just kept getting closer and closer. When it was about to hit me in the face, I turned my head to the right and looked up out the passenger side window. That window is only an arms length away but it looked incredibly far and small then, as if it were at the end of a long dark tunnel. I remember looking at it and thinking "I hope I can crawl out of this thing when it stops rolling". About then I heard the sickening sound of the large rear side glass fracturing into a million pieces. Then I was upside down and heard the same sickening sound as the large right rear glass went. Then I was upright again, jolted to a stop by some pine trees.
I had my seat belt on and didn't get a scratch. But all I could think about was that I had just demolished everything I had worked so hard all spring and summer to build. I wondered how I would even get it out of there. When the shock wore off a little, I got out. This wasn't easy as there was a drop off just outside my door. I opened the door and lowered myself down to take a look around. Every piece of side and rear glass was out and every piece of sheet metal was mangled. The windshield was still in but was fractured and distorted. My equipment was spread out on the slope I rolled down on. I gathered it up and threw it back in through the now missing side windows. I had never used my winch before but realized that I might be able to winch out. I didn't even know if the truck would start yet. But I went ahead and put a tree saver strap around a pine tree and hooked the winch cable up to it. I climbed (quite literally) back in and turned the ignition. It started right up. It took both the pull of the winch and the torque from the tires to get back up on the trail but I made it.
Once I got the winch hooked up, I thought to snap a few pictures. This one shows the part
of the trail I rolled off of in the right foreground and the Bronco II down below where
the roll was stopped by some pine trees. Notice the missing glass and the
"restyling" which shows up best here on the hood of the Bronco II.
This is a shot from the front where the Bronco II came came to rest. The trees on the
right are part of the line of pines that stopped the roll. If those Pines hadn't been
there I probably wouldn't be telling this story. Notice the "restyling" in the
roof line. How can all those wild flowers be blooming when I'm having such a bad day? :-(
This shows the Bronco II winched back up on the trail. You can see the off camber ledge
that caused the roll in the background. It terminates in a 3 foot drop off hidden by the
truck. I latter heard it referred to as Tip Over Rock. How can my Bronco II be so wrecked
and yet still so shiny? Brand new paint and wax still shines even after something like
this! :-(
There are some lessons here, I think: Don't get overconfident. Don't 4-wheel on difficult or remote trails alone. DO wear seat belts. DO take good recovery equipment.
We had been beaten but not broken. On July 4, 1994 we were back on the Holy Cross City trail. I had switched over the axles and accessories to an 88 Bronco II Eddie Bauer and painted it just like the one I totaled the year before. This time Gunslinger managed to lay his CJ-5 over on its side below the stream crossing. We winched him back upright but he had bent his front leaf springs and was done 4-wheeling for the day. We continued on up the trail to the 4+ section above the City. When we got to the obstacle I had rolled on, I commented that my binoculars were still down there somewhere. Someone suggested looking for them. I was just starting to say how unlikely it would be for us to find them nearly a year after the accident, when Cruiser reached down just below the obstacle, picked them up and handed them to me.
My Bronco II walked up the next 9 rated obstacle but on the one after that I had a coil spring come loose from the tower. With a little help I made it on up and got the coil spring back in. We then made it to the end of the 4WD trail. We had finally made it to the top!
But the clouds were getting dark again as we started back down. I was just crossing the stream below the ghost town when I got a CB call requesting me to bring my Hi-Lift jack back up. We got one CJ free and then Engineer's CJ-7 got hung up in the same spot even worse. While we were trying to free him it started to rain, then sleet, then hailed - and hard! I'm beginning to think Holy Cross City has it in for us. By the time we got Engineer's CJ-7 free he had a broken front drive shaft, knocked a hole in the oil pan, and his transfer case wouldn't engage. CRACKER had to tow him back down. It was after midnight when they got back to camp.
But we had made it to the top!
We were back at it again on July 4, 1995. We knew the heavy snows from the previous winter would limit how far we could get this time. But we hoped to get to the ghost town. Holy Cross Mountain would not allow it. The previous winter's snows were still drifted deeply across the trail just above the stream crossing where we had been snowed out at the first Fractured Axle 4th.
We were back in August of 1995 after doing Blanca Peak and Wheeler Lake. The previous two trails had cost me my spare and a front axle so I wasn't able to try Holy Cross this time. Two members of the Fractured Axle Club had come through the previous two trails in good enough shape to give it a try. Both DAMo and Andy made it to the top and back down without incident.
Holy Cross City mountain has denied us more often than it has allowed us to reach the end of the 4WD trail. And it doesn't deny gently. But you can bet we will be back! The Holy Cross City trail is one of our favorite trails. Maybe we'll see you there sometime.
4X4NOW Editor's note: Holy Cross is in The [Colorado] 4X4 Trail Book Number 1
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