Written/Photography by Albert V

The US mid-west offers some of the best off-roading opportunities on the continent. Utah's Moab is well known and well covered, but just to the east lies Colorado with over 100 mountains above 10,000 feet.

Our trail group was dominated by Jeeps but All-4-Fun is open to all brands of 4x4's. The trails twist and turn through the hills just south of Gunnison (the largest town with services for a group this big) in Crested Butte and Altmont. The trails' altitudes can reach in excess of 14,000 feet! A few even require crossing small glaciers, which rarely melt in the summer months at this altitude.

I have wanted to do some trail riding in Colorado for some time but it just hasn't worked into my schedule. This past summer three events came together on one weekend so I poured some gas into the Toyota and hit the road.

No it isn't close - a solid 22 hours on the road was needed to get to Gunnison from our offices in Kelowna, site of this year's All-4-Fun event put on by the Mile-Hi Jeep club. My trip took me on the same path I would take to Moab, I just didn't make that last turn off I-70 and an hour later I was in Colorado heading for Grand Junction. Gunnison is a small town in the southern part of Colorado. I-70 takes you into the city of Grand Junction. Hooking onto Route 50, the highway takes you south into Montrose, the site of our Die-Trying article a few issues back. A secondary two-lane highway leads out of Montrose for 60 miles into the mountains to Gunnison.

All-4-Fun is a week-long event, which moves between several locations. This keeps the event fresh and participants coming back for more each year. Base camp was a local fairground just off the main strip. Camping can be had all around the event site and there were motor homes and tents pitched everywhere. The first come, first served arrangement means if you come later in the week, like I did, spots are scarce. That said, there are hotels (I pre-booked well in advance) and other camping opportunities in and around town, though many were also full when I arrived.

An alternate route on the Cement Creek Trail took the group along this precarious rock ledge. With a perfectly good road in the bottom of the valley I can't imagine why anyone would cut this road into a pure rock pile - but I am glad they did!

The Mile-Hi Jeep club also limits participation to 200 vehicles - which makes for a huge event once you add all the great trail guides. Trails range from scenic to moderate with a hard trail or two available. Over 20 trails means the trail groups are kept to a manageable size. All you had to do was figure out from the 20 or so trips run each day (except Wed.) what trail you wanted to do!

Trips included:   Cement Creek, Crystal City, Kebler Pass, Slate/Gothic, Brush Creek, Cabin Creek, Gunsight Pass, Beaver Creek, Reno Divide, Willow Creek, East Brush, Italian Creek, American Flag Mtn., Lead King Basin, Pearl Pass, Devil's Punchbowl, Tomichi Pass, Hancock Pass, Alpine Tunnel, Taylor Pass, Die Trying-Montrose and the San Juan's-Silverton/Telluride/Ouray.

Trails are run every day except Wednesday, which is family fun/vendor day. A large play area keeps the kids occupied while the "older" kids are kept busy with all the goodies on display from the multitude of companies present. Wednesday is also the first of two barbecues put on for the event. Unfortunately I arrived Thursday only in time to pick my trail for the following day. We joined Clifton from Poison Spider on the Saturday for our trip to the extreme Die-Trying in Montrose which we pulled out as a separate article.

The destination for our group was Flag Mountain. At over 13,000 feet we still had peaks around us that were higher. The view was amazing, though a little treeless this high up. After a lunch stop we continued down the steep side of Flag Mountain in a loop that would take us to Altmont and back towards Gunnison.

We lined up on one of the side roads for our trail early on Friday Morning. Our trip was rated as mid range for difficulty and the rigs that turned out were anywhere from close-to-stock to well-built. While the event is multi-brand, it does show that Jeeps dominate, as my lone Toyota was the only non-Jeep in our trail group.

Wild flowers covered the hillsides at every turn.

Our destination was close to Crested Butte via Altmont on Route 135 with the access trail through Cement Creek. The trail would take us up Flag Mountain to over 12,000 feet through alpine meadows and deserted mining sites. The trail wasn't difficult but the scenery was amazing. Part-way along the trail, an optional route took us along a cut in a rocky hillside. If you didn't like 300-foot drops only a foot away from your passenger door, this was not the route for you. While not difficult to drive, the drop off did keep you on your toes!

The explosion of wildflowers on all sides of the trails made it hard to concentrate on the road and the mountains surrounding you at every turn still showed signs of snow even in August, reminding you constantly of how high up you were. Our route took us up the back side of Flag Mountain. One person in our group mentioned we were above 12,000 feet - and mountain peaks were all around and above us!

This wasn't the place for a low-lander like myself to do any aerobics as I could feel the thin air every time I exerted myself. Good thing there was no winching needed!

In places the rocky trail wasn't much wider than the vehicles. A few of the passengers decided to be "photographers" and get that great picture when the trail got really narrow.

After a late lunch break we headed in a loop below the face of the cliff of Flag Mountain through some derelict mining sites along creek crossings and rocky trails exiting on a logging road which ran back towards Altmont and the return loop to Gunnison.

With our busy trip schedule, we didn't have any more time for more than the two trails we ran, but I hope to go back soon. Friday night had a bevy of goodies given away after a great BBQ dinner back at the fairgrounds. Thanks Mile-Hi for the invite and I hope to join you again soon.

For 2006 the Mile-Hi Jeepers are hosting All-4-Fun in Silverton Colorado. Silverton is in the same area but further south past Telluride - another name you may know well. I can feel another trip coming on! If a fun filled family wheeling week in Colorado sounds good to you this will be an event you don't want to miss.

If you are interested in join the Mile-Hi Jeepers drop into their web site at: www.mhjc.org. The event will take place July 29th to August 4th.

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