Lee and I joined the Middle Saint Vrain and Coney Flats ride on Sunday. We arrived at the North Longmont Walmart by Highway 287 and Highway 66 by 8:30 a.m., attended a quick drivers’ meeting led by Michelle, then rolled out at 9 a.m. I counted 19 rigs before we left the lot, and later someone said we had as many as 22 on the trail. It was my first time on this loop with Lee, and he had been wanting to check it out for a while now. The weather was cool, in the 60s and mostly overcast.
Middle Saint Vrain, west of Lyons in Roosevelt National Forest, is a 4×4 trail with multiple creek crossings, puddles after storms, and short rocky steps. After airing down at the trailhead, we started up and found a lot of standing water from recent weather. A few spots still had piles of hail that looked like snow at first glance. The trail itself was in good shape. There were a couple of rocky sections where a few vehicles needed a quick tow-strap tug, but most obstacles were manageable in a stock high-clearance 4×4 with careful lines and steady momentum. We were in a lifted Jeep on 37s and had a little scraping here and there, nothing serious.
We stopped for lunch just before the long creek crossing, enjoyed the views, and grabbed a few photos. When a light rain moved in, everyone climbed back into the vehicles, crossed the creek, and kept rolling. From there we continued out on Coney Flats to complete the loop. That side was a bit rockier and bouncier, with tight brushy sections that could add some pinstriping and there were a handful of bigger puddles. We had on-and-off light rain on the way out, then drove through a little heavier rain off the trail heading home.
Overall, it was a fun first run of Middle Saint Vrain and Coney Flats for us. Good company, beautiful creek crossings, and just enough rocks kept it interesting without major risk of damage.