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Please Note:  Club trips are designed for licensed vehicles and often enter and exit at different locations. Trailered unlicensed off road vehicles could therefore violate motor vehicle laws when returning to the start. Be sure to consider this if you intend to drive an unlicensed off road vehicle. Official Club Radios are GRMS channel 19 for travel to-from an event and 5 for during an event. NOTE, subject to change by event leader.

News / Articles

2019 September newsletter

Published on 9/5/2019
Trailridge Runners 4WD Club Newsletter
Trailridge Runners 4WD Club
P.O. Box 1716 * Longmont, CO 80502

  September 2019 Newsletter

Club forum, email to forum@trr4wd.com, which will go to all TRR members
Club Business
Club Meeting
Wednesday September 11th, 6:30pm to 9:00pm - Meeting, Moose Lodge #1548, 2200 Pratt Street, Longmont, CO 80501. Open to all members and guests.

The lodge is one street west of main, between 21st and 23rd on Pratt Street. We'll be in the north hall. Folks who arrive early will need to enter at the main entrance, take the 2nd left, off the lobby, enter the middle hall and continue north to the north hall. The front door is a key card door but there is a button for the bar tenders to open the door. Those that arrive early can prop the door open on east side of the north hall so folks can park on the east side of the building and enter through that door.

Next Meeting:
6:30pm to 7:00pm - Board Meeting
  • COA4WDCI membership
  • Promotion Committee
  • Trips on web site and Facebook
  • New members, online process
6:30pm to 7:00pm - Social Time
7:01pm to 9:00pm - Meeting
  • Welcome guests.
  • Treasury amount and Fund amount.
  • Vote in any new members.
  • TRR Club Express update.
  • Club promotional committee update.
  • New/Other business.
  • Update calendar of events. Leaders to inform club on changes made to the online calendar.
  • Discussion on Nugget Hill project.
  • Planning for the 35th Anniversary in 2020.
  • Planning for the Peru Creek and Santa Fe Peak.
  • Planning for the Miller Rock FR523.1C proj.
  • Planning for South Dakota trip.
  • Planning for Caribou trip.
  • Planning for Larimer fall color run.
  • Planning for Moon and Pickle Gulch trip.
  • Planning for COA4WDCI 4th Q meeting.
  • Review of Red Cone and Radical Hill.
  • Review of Rollins Pass west.
  • Review of Pass Hoppers.
  • Review of Red Elephant and Bill Moore Lake.
  • Review of Caribou mine tour.
  • Close meeting.
Past Meeting Minutes
  • Welcome to our guest, Duke and Julie, and Thomas Bennett.
  • Welcome to our newest members Thomas Bennett, Bob Feilke, Michael McEowen, Duke and Julie Hall, David and Deborah Rodger, Stephen and Kathryn Hulet.
  • Treasurers report was read. Fund report was read.
  • Club Express update. To send emails to all TRR members who have signed up for forums email send to forum@trr4wd.com We are using the web site calendar to plan all of our trips. Check the calendar to find out about any additional trips, or updates to existing trips or events on the club calendar.
  • Status of promotional committee work. Unknown future of this committee.
  • Discussion on Middle St. Vrain and Coney Flats map and brochure grant. This was shifted to do Miller Rock signs. The Forest Service has not come back with quotes for what would be needed. Middle St. Vrain and Coney Flats map and guide with grant with COA4WDCI to be taken up again. Money would not be available until next year.
  • TRR Trivia was postponed for now.
  • Planning for the TRR 35th anniversary event. The survey results, so far, were read at the meeting.
  • Planning for Peru Creek and Santa Fe Peak, moved to September 14.
  • Loch Lomond, Chinns Lake, and Yankee Hill, cancelled.
  • Planning for Red Cone and Radical Hill trip. Meet at 9am at Loaf and Jug at Bulldogger Road, exit 43A Hwy285.
  • Planning for Rollins Pass West trip.
  • Planning for Red Elephant Hill and Bill Moore Lake.
  • Planning for Pass Hoppers trip to Saguache area.
  • Planning for Caribou Mine tour, September 7.
  • Review of Moon Gulch and Pickle Gulch. Ran Moon Gulch first, then over Dakota Hill and down Pickle Gulch.
  • Review of Red Feather Lakes trip. Had 4 vehicles. Did Seven Mile, Greenridge, and Middle Bald Mountain.
  • Review of Gunnison event. Had 18 vehicles with 34 people attending.
  • Review of Wheeler Lake. Had 5 vehicles with 8 people attending. Fishing was good.
  • Motion to close meeting by Greg B, second by Carrol Anne S.
Club News

TRRTALK / TRR Forums

The TRR Forum is on our Club Express page. Go to TRR Main page and login. Click your member section in the upper right and then click on your profile. Select the Froum link at the bottom to set your preferences and forums you want to join.
You can also send an email to forum@trr4wd.com, which will go to all TRR members.

Club Refreshments

The following people are signed up to bring refreshments to the club meetings.
  • Sep – Alan and Tammy Peterson
  • Oct – Larry and Paulette McGimsey
  • Nov – Paula Kratzer
  • Dec – Gary Bogott

Trailridge Runners 4WD Club and COA4WDCI Membership

Should Trailridge Runners 4WD Club, as a club, continue to be members of the Colorado Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs? This topic has come up a number of times in the past couple years. TRR needs to make a decision before the end of 2019. The intention of this article is to inform the TRR membership our past involvement with the State Association (SO). I’ll use that abbreviation in the rest of this article. TRR members have been active in the SO since 1992. Our members have served in virtually every position (vice president, treasurer, committee chairpersons, land use, and of course delegates). Even this list does not cover all the work Trailridge Runners members have done to support the SO. We have been one of the most supportive 4wd clubs in the SO.

The major fund raising project for the SO is the annual raffle vehicle. This project has over the past few years struggled to receive the support needed to complete the vehicle and seems to have lost some of its appeal to the general public in the form of reduced raffle ticket sales. Building the raffle vehicle requires a huge volunteer effort. This also appears to have dwindled.

The SO used to be present at the annual RV Adventure Travel Show in Denver (it has gone by various event names). The Raffle jeep was on display, tickets were sold, and TRR provided personnel to populate the booth. This was a good way to create interest in 4-wheeling and communicate our presence (4-wheelers), to other recreationalists. Due to changes in the management of the event, the SO has not participated for at least the last year if not longer. This is not the fault of the SO, but is unfortunate for the 4-wheeling community.

The SO supports its member 4WD clubs by offering qualified project grants, and one annual scholarship for a member’s child of college age ($1,000). TRR received one project grant in 2013 for the Middle St. Vrain trail ($1000). Nearly all our project grants have come from Colorado State Parks OHV.

COA4WDCI membership dues paid by TRR for 2019 were 46 families @ $10 ea. = $460.00.

The SO has had difficulty in recent years filling officer’s positions. For some periods positions have gone unfilled (I believe that’s true). Many quarterly meetings are without a quorum and thus cannot present issues to a vote. Financially and organizationally the SO is in disarray. Basically it’s an organization that lacks the ability to fill its positions with enthusiastic volunteers. Without a firm charter of their purpose and only a couple enthusiastic officers/delegates, it’s not a healthy organization.

We as a member club should, but do not, receive the minutes of each quarterly meeting and annual financial statements.

What should TRR look for in four wheel drive or OHV organizations? Possible benefits include.
  • A financial source for project grants.
  • A strong voice of advocacy to lobby state and federal agencies of our desire to keep trails open.
  • An organization that not only professes Tread Lightly, but also provides aid and training to new off-highway trail users.
  • Organized activities that draw together numerous 4WD clubs.

The TRR “supporting membership” includes membership in other state and national organizations. These include Blue Ribbon Coalition, Colorado Off Highway Vehicle Coalition (COHVCO), and United Four Wheel Drive Associations. What benefit do we receive from them? Are they organized, functional, respected? Do they provide advocacy, financial grant support, are we proud to be members?

TRR as a club decided last year to continue our membership one more year, at which time we were to make the decision for 2020 and beyond. The information presented in this article is intended to streamline the discussion and consequent voting process.

The following information was communicated to us on 8/28/2019. It has been added verbatim. From Brian O'Connors, Secretary, COA4WDCI.
Re-Branding of the Colorado Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs?
This was briefly discussed at the 3rd Qtr meeting, but what it means it may include:
1. Doing an Annual Convention once a year (late January early February) in lieu of four quarterly meetings.
2. Promoting and supporting all member events and other 4x4 activities in Colorado.
3. Networking and Partnering with the ATV/SxS/UTV Associations, Clubs, Groups and Rental Companies. They use our trails, we need to get them to be part of the solution to keeping them opened and maintained. This is also a focus area for COHVCO, ORBA, Stay the Trail and United 4WD Association.
4. Doing the same with the Social Media Clubs and Groups that also use 4x4 trails in Colorado.
5. Changing the name of the Colorado Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs, Inc. (COA4WDCI) to the Colorado Four Wheel Drive Association, Inc. (CO4WDA).

Trip Pictures

You can find picture albums of all the recent trips on our web site at

http://www.trr4wd.com/content.aspx?page_id=187&club_id=651395

We are going to presentations, or verbal descriptions of the trips at the meetings, less written articles.

Recent Trip Articles
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