Montrose Colorado 4WD Trails (4X4 Trail

With these words emblazoned on the event T-shirts, the hosting Western Slope 4-Wheelers left little doubt as to the purpose of their annual event. This event is by hard-core rock crawlers for hard-core rock crawlers. Period. The idea is a simple one. Put together a series of trails that appeal to the four-wheel drive enthusiast who is more concerned about testing their skills against rock than they are about the cosmetic appearance of their vehicles. Send invitations out to a dedicated group of rock crawling fanatics. Host the event in a great town that is very interested in appealing to four wheelers, and you have the Montrose Memorial Day Madness!

Montrose, Colorado is on the western slope of the Rockies, located at the junction of Highways 550 and 50. Montrose is in the heart of Colorado’s mountain country with the incredible San Juans providing spectacular views to the south and the Elk Mountains visible just to the north. In spite of the towering mountains, it is the lower and much drier canyons cut into the mesas just west of town that are the focus of the Madness. In this rocky canyon country, the Western Slope 4-Wheelers have scouted, routed, and driven four trails that are sure to appeal to "big dog" rock crawlers far and wide. Four trails, all rated "extreme", offering as much challenge as any trail system in the western U.S. (and yes, I have done everything in Johnson Valley).

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Cactus Ridge is an extreme trail in its own right with lots of big rocks on a steep climb up through the canyon.

We attended the 2nd incarnation of this event with our expectations high. With the attendance limited to only 50 guest vehicles, the list of attendees read suspiciously similar to that of recent rock crawling championships. Trail assignments on Saturday were pre-assigned by the hosting club with trail choices on Sunday and Monday left to the discretion of the participants. We were assigned the Cactus Ridge trail for the Saturday session.

Use of spotters is common if you desire to negotiate the tight, twisty, and rocky canyons without extensive damage to your sheet metal.

Cactus Ridge is a trail just the way I like them: Narrow, tight, twisty, and absolutely infested with rocks. We were in a group of about twenty vehicles and 35s, a pair of lockers, and a smattering of sheet metal scars seemed to be the norm for the vehicles in our convoy. The highlight of the day was the final dry waterfall. Protected by a very steep and rocky approach, the five-foot tall double ledge was enough to stop quite a few of the vehicles unless a winch or strap was employed.

The final climb up "the waterfall" on Cactus Ridge is steep and crowned with a five-foot high double ledge. The shorter the wheel base, the easier the climb seemed to be with CJ5s scooting right up and vintage Broncos and CJ7/YJs needing a heavy foot and the right line. My Scrambler got the strap!

When we got back to camp in the late afternoon, the tales of horror from the newest trail were sweeping through the campground. The trail is called Die Trying and it seems like a large number of driveline components had done exactly that. Accounts of numerous axles and even a couple of knuckles fragmenting abounded and word around the registration table was that about half of the twenty-some vehicles were still on the first 200 yards of the mile and a half long trail. By the following morning, the carnage was clear. Out of the twenty-two vehicles on Die Trying, six axles and two knuckles had succumbed to the rocks and the final vehicle rolled into camp at 10:00 p.m. after fifteen hours on the trail.

The BIG question was: Do we attempt Die Trying on Sunday or head for one of the lesser, but still extreme trails? The t-shirts and the eyewitness accounts of the trail made the choice for us. We came to crawl! We headed out at 7:00 am with a dozen vehicles. Less than an hour later, we were locked in, aired down, and up to our doors in rocks. Die Trying is Extreme!

The comment we heard over and over the previous evening, usually quite breathlessly, was "hardest trail I have ever done." "Hardest" is quite a subjective term depending on personal experience, weather, the particular vehicle you drive, the group you are with, and even the presence of the driving gremlins we all get once in a while. Is Die Trying the hardest trail that I have ever done? I’m not sure, but in my experience, I can’t think of any more difficult. How to describe it? Take all of the tight, rocky horrors and ledges of Las Cruces’ extreme trails (Patzcuarro’s Revenge, Tobasco Twister, and Rocotillo Rapids) and cram them into one trail. Then make it as steep and as slick as Jackhammer in Johnson Valley. Okay, that comes close.

The initial 200-yard long "welcome" of Die Trying is a rock-infested axle graveyard. Trail leader Terry’s Bronco ran it several days in a row without major mishap!

The rocks are huge, close, menacing, and non-stop! A scant inch here and there is the difference between clean passage and permanent reminders of the fun.

The high cost in axles was the result of carving high arcs on the rocks while maneuvering around the paint hungry rocks. The down-side axles just weren’t always up to the task!

The first two hundreds yard of the trail are especially tough. A quick examination shows why so many axles bite the dust in this "welcome" section. The size and arrangement of the rocks ensures that vehicles carve numerous arcs up and across hood-high rocks while to trying to maneuver back and forth to make the tight turns. The low side axles are under tremendous stress and some just don’t make it. A front Dana 44 long side, rear ARB, two vehicles, and five hours were on the dead list by the time we got clear of the killer initial stretch. The middle of the trail is "easier" or we at least we made considerably more measurable progress on it. Most of the sheet metal damage occurred here, as there are numerous tight turns and off-camber sections to force the corners into the ever-hungry rocks.

Stevie Richardson in his Chevy-powered and heavily bobbed Toyota was one of very few vehicles in our group that made the obstacles in Die Trying while modeling anything even close to "elegant". This is one "dialed-in" Toy and ultra-heady driver.

It took the small group of twelve vehicles nearly five hours to traverse the first two hundred yards of Die Trying! We felt darn good; it took the previous day’s group even longer! Numerous breakdowns contributed to our pace.

This tree blocks the side-canyon exit of Die Trying. The proper technique is to drive up to the tree, execute a radical left-hand "back and fill" turn, scale the rock slab to the left, do a pirouette with your right rocker panel on the tree, and drive off. Yeah, right.

It was very late in the afternoon by the time we reached the final climb up and out of the canyon. The exit is, without a doubt, the most difficult section of Die Trying. The route is up a steep, rock-filled side canyon. About halfway out, a large tree has fallen, blocking the canyon. This obstacle necessitates a many-point left turn on a steep rocky slope, a climb up a near vertical rock slab, and then an exit over the trunk. Executed properly, the vehicle neatly pirouettes to the right at the top of the slab and is deposited facing the next obstacle. Executed incorrectly… If you don’t have the right line or wheelbase on the slab, it is winch time! Even after scaling the tree, there is a dry waterfall that requires a winch more often than not, followed by the final several hundred yards of steep, powdery dirt with innumerable basketball sized rocks hidden in the dust for added interest.

Die Trying is one trail that gains altitude with attitude! Ledge to ledge, boulder after boulder, it climbs higher and higher to its incredible finish.

Man, those rocks are big! The numerous tire marks indicate that the "good" lines have yet to be discovered and that the rocks are really mobile.

Bronco pilot Pat Brady approaches the tree-blocked section of Die Tying’s exit. Photos don’t do justice to the grade, it is safer to walk than to drive!

The sun was setting as we finally topped out on top of the ridge but we had done it! Our day on Die Trying will provide a new baseline with which to compare other trails. Of course that comparison will inevitably lead to questions about whether the trail is really as difficult as we remember it to be. The only solution to that is to hit the Montrose Memorial Day Madness again next year and challenge the new "king" of the challenge trails once again! After all, we came to crawl.