We had not been up to Caribou Creek in a few years, so Calvary 4-Wheelers headed that way on Saturday, August 4, 2018. We had three rigs along for the run: me in my lifted XJ, Karen in her stock JK and Rich and Jon in their lifted XJ. We started from the Rainbow Lakes end and bumped our way down to cross Caribou Creek. The muddy section just south of the creek was not too bad and we all made it through with no trouble. Some of the perpetual puddles have started eroding into small mud pits but all were passable.
Just passed the muddy section we met a Subaru coming down from Caribou. He asked if this was the way to Rainbow Lakes. We told him yes, but do you know what you are getting into? He didn’t and, after a little description, he decided it would be a good time to turn around.
We took a little side trip up Pomeroy Mountain (505.2A) to the Pandora Mine and found a very scenic overlook and some interesting old mining equipment. I found it amusing that the miners apparently shopped at Harbor Freight as the old compressor had “Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company” forged on its side.
After our detour, we continued up to Caribou for lunch and to check out the old ruins. When we had finished lunch, we continued onto the Eldorado Mountain section of the trail and took it over to Eldora. We had one somewhat close call on our way down to Eldora. In the middle of the narrow shelf road an overly aggressive dirt bike came flying around a blind corner at about 20 mph. Fortunately, it was at one of the few wider sections and he had just enough room to skirt by me on the drop-off side. If I had been another 100 feet down the trail he probably would have been a hood ornament or gone off the side.
The weather was beautiful with sunshine to partly cloudy in the morning and temperatures in the mid to upper 70s. It clouded up after lunch and we got a few light sprinkles off and on but no heavy rain.