Liberty Trail

Tons of fun! The first drop into the trail is a good idea for how the rest of the trail will be. Ran with a group of 3. A TJ on 35s with a rear truetrac, Bronco on 40s locked, and a CJ Crawler on 50s locked. It was doable with the TJ but only because it had a winch. Had to use it three times. Pick your lines VERY carefully if you've got smaller tires. The bronco had a few issues through some of the narrow spots between trees and rocks. The windshield of the bronco took a few high fives from some trees that arched across the trail. We for sure should have brought a LOT more water than we did. We saw a rattle snake off the side of the trail towards the end. Driving my TJ was a handful of fun. Had to be very mindful of my lines as my axles would hang up very easily. The V obstacle was very difficult for the TJ. Hung up the front bumper. Only had 2" of lift so some more lift might have helped. The rockfall obstacle has a bypass for it, thankfully. The CJ crawler got completely high centered on the rockfall. Would not recommend that obstacle unless you've got a full crawler or buggy. We started the trail at 10:30 am, but in hindsight, should have started earlier as it got really hot, really quick.

Definitely open, definitely difficult! We didn't run into any tarantulas or rattlesnakes, but saw some sizable spider holes on the sides. Thanks for that warning! As described, the major obstacles are all there, but rocks get moved all the time. It was hot and there is very little shade and no water. Come prepared with supplies and more tools than you think you'll need. We ended needing a ball joint press 🥴

The day started out a little on the cooler side than we had been used to. Nothing too bad though, just needed a light hoodie. I've been noticing lately that they have not been updating the open/closure status on the website as often as they should. We've been going down there just to check for the past few weekends. Every time the gate has been open even though the website states it's closed. This is probably why there has been so few people down there each time. But this time we loaded up the trucks to hit the trail. The drop in has changed a little, seems more gravel covered than before. We took the passenger side line down as it's more of a stair step path. The trail does seem to get more and more bouldery each season due to the rains, so the dirt washing away exposes more rocks. A lot of weeds were growing up too due to the decreased traffic. We made good time to the end of Liberty and a friend attempted to climb up Bunker Hill on Independence Trail. The large hole/drop off proved to be a bit too difficult on the left side of the hill. So we exited back out through Liberty after taking a break for lunch. It only took us a few hours but it was a fun day!

It was a gorgeous day to hit the trail. Surprisingly there was only a couple people out in the Penrose Commons area so it was pretty quiet. The trail went off without a hitch! The drop-in seems a little more washed out than usual but was manageable. There was some trail maintenance done so the winch points were painted and I did notice some rocks were moved around in places. A couple of those turned into quite the diff hangers unfortunately, but you can navigate them so long as you don't overlook them while driving. What's cool is we even came across some frogs down there too. I didn't think they were in this area. They were really big too! Might have been toads even. They were just hopping along the trail. We made sure to encourage them off the road so they'd be safe as we passed by.

There has been a significant rock slide that has fallen into the trail past The V (Waypoint 6). The rocks are car sized. The rock pile itself might possibly be passable by buggies only. The slide appears to have occurred within the past week. It appears that someone attempted to go over the pile but it looks like they did not make it over successfully. Luckily the slide occurred on one of the few wider parts of the trail and there might be a possible route around it in the future, but it is not currently approved as it's considered off trail.

All the trails in the area had a Trail Cleanup and Maintenance day put on by the trails adopters the Colorado Rock Hoppers. Trash was picked up, signs fixed, any stacked rocks on the obstacles were cleared, and winch points were painted so they are a bit more visible.

Today our group consisted of three Toyota Pickups, a 4Runner, and a Nissan Xterra. Everything started off pretty straight forward. Everyone dropped into the entrance without much more than a few wheel stands. Some of the bigger rocks in a few spots did seem to get shifted into the trail a bit, so there were a few more diff hangers than usual. There was also one particular rock that snuck up on most of us, one rig even getting a little door dent from it. The trail does change a bit each time a vehicle goes through since the rocks move around easily. Most of our group wanted to exit up Independence and some wanted to exit out Patriot. Unfortunately neither happened as luck was not on our side. Long story short, between the entire group we lost: 2 axles, a ring and pinion, 2 driveshafts, a hub, and a front axle u-joint before even attempting the harder sections of the trail. Most of these were stock parts and it goes to show you that upgraded components are necessary for this trail.

Hot, hot, hot! Is all you need to say, but we braved the heat (over 100*F!) and hit the trail for Father's Day. I was amazed to see how green the area was from all the rain we've been getting. Never had I seen it that lush. The trail has changed quite a bit due to that as well. The drop in at the trail head has even bigger ledges than before. Some easier lines have been made difficult from large rocks that were once hidden under the dirt that are now exposed. Used to be flat areas are now all rocks. We ran the trail with some friends to put their freshly built truck, lovingly named Felix, to the test. Overall the day went fairly smooth. The heat was a good test and they did run into a few kinks to work out due to the heat. We had to stop and let the trucks cool off every now and then. I'm glad I brought some bug spray as the gnat population has exploded from all the moisture down there. Luckily they don't bite, but they do drive you crazy. We all had a great day on the trail!