RMM 1999 2nd annual gathering
June 11th - 13th, 1999
The Rocky Mountain Mogger's 2nd annual gathering at Pickle Gulch was the best yet !!! We had 18 Unimogs and 7 Pinzgauers, a Hummer, a Cherokee, and a Suburban on the trail runs. Thanks to Bob Ragain, Darrin & Andie Fink, and Kent Drummond for all of the effort that went into making this outing a success. Bob made all of the arrangements for the camp site, and it was an excellent site, deep amongst the tall pine trees, with plenty of room for everyone. Kent arranged the artwork for the t-shirts (the great artwork was done by Donn McNealy). Darrin & Andie had the t-shirts made up, and took orders for extra shirts.
Kent brought a load of firewood, which was a great help with the chilly evenings (and the rain).
The attendees were:
Mark Beck &
Danny Long
1972 Pinzgauer 710M
Kiowa, CO USA
Kelly Block
Unimog 404.1 Swiss cargo
La Junta, CO USA
Robert & Charlie Christensen
1972 Unimog 416 Crewcab
Cheyenne, WY USA
Robert & Charlie Christiansen have done a beautiful job on their 416 crewcab. If this truck looks familiar, it's because it was at RMM 98, and made a big splash there. Klaus was driving it at the time...
Robert and Charlie have added a winch, a custom brush guard and roof rack, air conditioning, sound insulation, a Diesel engine and cab heater, a new bed with spare tire hoist, air compressor, generator... everything one would need in the back country.
Bill, Cyndy, Sean, Jason
Collister & Megan Afzali
1962 Unimog 404.1 Swiss Troop Carrier
Casper, WY USA
Dino, Jackie, Jonathan,
Joshua & Jacob Darling
1984 GMC Suburban
Wheat Ridge, CO USA
Ron DePugh &
Cassidy Gearhart
1963 Unimog 404.1 VLF fire tender
Boulder, CO USA
Kristopher Dichtl
1963 Unimog 404.1 Swiss Cargo/Troop Carrier
Golden, CO USA
Kent Drummond
1963 Unimog 404.1 Swiss Cargo hardtop
Cheyenne, WY USA
Dan Duncan
1965 Unimog 404.1 Radio Truck
Colorado Springs, CO USA
Per &
Peter Eliassen
1978 Pinzgauer 710K
Aurora, CO USA
Jeff Ellsworth
1983 Unimog U1300 Diesel
Nederland, CO USA
Al Fink &
Kathy Lance
1972 Pinzgauer 710M
Denver, CO USA
Darrin &
Andie Fink
Unimog 406 with dump bed
Douglas, WY USA
Bob Fischer
Pinzgauer 710M
Fort Collins, CO USA
Bernard Gateau
Hummer
Nederland, CO USA
Rodger, Kim, Daniel &
Rebecca Greer
1970 Unimog 404.1 Swiss Cargo
Larkspur, CO USA
Dana & Dawn Jewell
Pickup
Littleton, CO USA
Tom &
Joan Kuhn
Durango, CO USA
Mario LaRouche
Glenwood Springs, CO USA
Charles Martin
1965 Unimog 404.1 Radio Box
Lafayette, CO USA
Ron &
Carol Miller
1984 Chevy Suburban
Seattle, WA USA
Ron Miller
1963 Unimog 404.1 hardtop Radio truck
Fort Collins, CO USA
Bob &
Wiley Newsome
1977 Unimog 416 Expedition
Cody, WY USA
Brian Norton
Unimog 404.1 VLF fire tender
Grand Junction, CO USA
Loy & Mary Oakes
1972 Pinzgauer 710M
Aurora, CO USA
Tyson Pfeffenberger
Unimog 404.1 Swiss cargo
Parker, CO USA
Brett Pickering
1974 Pinzgauer 710M
La Junta, CO USA
Rob Pickering
1961 Unimog 404.1 Turbo-diesel Crewcab
La Junta, CO USA
Bob, Kitty &
Coleen Ragain
1965 Unimog 404.1 Radio truck
Littleton, CO USA
Dale Ragain
Pickup Camper
Ennis, MT USA
Pete &
Derek Rawson
1965 Unimog 404.1 Swiss Cargo
Divide, CO USA
Jim Walters
Pinzgauer 710M
Parker, CO USA
The gathering started on Friday afternoon. We all got settled in, and picked out our camp sites. There were some new friends to meet, and some old friends to visit with. The rain set in a while after I got there, but Kent had put up a tarp next to the campfire, and the Christiansens had brought a large tent, and some of us enjoyed the warmth and hospitality there.
Saturday, we got up to beautiful blue skies. We had breakfast, and everyone got ready to go at 10am. By the time we left, the blue skies had clouded over. Kristopher led the way, and we got onto Hwy 119, and after a couple of miles, turned onto Apex Rd. Apex Rd climbs up between Colorado Mountain and Montana Mountain, crosses Baltimore Ridge, and descends into South Boulder Creek. As we climbed the road, the gentle rain turned to snow, and then to small hail. I saw 1/4 inch to 1/2 hail as we drove along. After we got down into South Boulder Creek (the Rollins Pass Road, we crossed the railroad tracks. Some of us had to stop and wait for an Amtrak train. After it went by, we went up to the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel, and had lunch.
We had lunch at the Moffat Tunnel.
Due to the amount of rain, we decided not to try the Jenny Creek cut-off, since some of the muddy slopes would have been too dangerous, and we tackled the Rollins Pass Road instead.
Eventually, we ran into a large snowbank in a road cut. Ron Miller went first, and made it up to the far end of the snow, where it dropped off rather steeply. He wasn't sure he could make it back up the snow drift if he went over it, so a bunch of us broke out the shovels, and in a fairly short time, dug out enough snow to make a gentle slope of it. Ron M proceeded on up the road, followed by Rob Pickering.
Ron D's VLF climbs the snow drift.
I went over the snow drift, as well. We ran into another road cut a 1/4 mile up the road, and it was snowed in, too. A short hike revealed that the road beyond was drifted over for hundreds of yards beyond, so we called it a day, and headed down the pass. Some of us stopped off in Rollinsville for a snack (or some beers), and then we headed back for camp.
Sunday morning dawned the same as Saturday, blue skies and sunshine. But it wasn't to last. The clouds came in again, but at least the rain held off, for the most part. We headed out at 10am again, and drove down the hill to Black Hawk, and then up through Central City. We drove up through Spring Gulch, through Russell Gulch, down Oh-My-God Road and on into Idaho Springs. We split up to fuel all of the trucks, since we thought 15 trucks might take too long all at one gas station. Some folks got tied up by the Mining Days parade that was just going on in Idaho Springs.
The group convoys through Idaho Springs.
After fueling, we headed up the road towards St. Mary's Glacier. There was a slight detour, since a few trucks took the wrong turn, but we gathered at the bottom of Fall River Road. We headed up towards the town of Alice, and turned off through the old Alice town site.
At the Glory Hole, we stopped and had lunch. Then we went off in search of a lake called Loch Lomond. I was in the lead, since (we thought) I had the best map, but somehow we ended up on a different road. It was still a fun road, though pretty rough. It dropped down into a valley, and climbed the valley until it came to Fall River Reservoir. There were a couple of snow banks in the way. I made it through the first one, and couldn't quite make it over the second one. Bob Ragain, in the Radio truck HamMog, climbed the first snow bank with ease, and after a couple of tries, cut a path through the second one. Rob followed with his 300TD 404.1, and then tackled the third snow drift. This drift was probably 30 feet deep, with two steep slopes to climb to get over it. Rob couldn't do it by wheel power alone, so he winched himself up it, and then pulled Brett's Pinzgauer up behind him. Some of the rest of us hiked on up to the earthen dam. The lake was still 3/4 covered with ice. The next storm front was moving
in, so we didn't stay too long. We headed on down the road towards home.
It was a fun weekend. I'm looking forward to the next one!
-Ron DePugh
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