Howdy,
Just got a hankerin' to do some research and decided to see what
I could find out about Dakota Hill. For those of you that might not
remember, Dakota Hill (elevation 10,929' - it would be called "Dakota
Mountain" if it were out east) ;-) is a feature that Jason found when
looking over some topographic maps of the area west of Denver. Anyway,
as you might recall, given the name it would obviously be pretty cool
to work it into the meet somehow. :-) Jason and I looked at it a
little bit last year, and based on aerial photographs, it looks like
there is a clearing at the top which might allow for a truck group photo.
Looks like there is a decent amount of good offroading to be had in the
general vicinity as well.
Anyway, I did a 'net search and found the following:
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Summary: An apparent confirmation that there is a road going to the top
of Dakota Hill
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http://www.mhjcontherocks.com/Community/Trips/149.aspx
This is a trail report right in the Dakota Hill area, and somebody who
replies mentions a switchback that goes to the top of Dakota Hill. So,
that is certainly promising. :-)
A side note, there are a lot of other trails listed on this site, so
it might be a good one to keep in mind once we get to figuring out if
there are any particular trails or areas we might want to see. These
trail reports are nice as they include a lot of pictures and have
information about the difficulty, etc.
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Summary: Sounds like there are a lot of 4x4 roads in the Dakota Hill area
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http://svinetfc2.fs.fed.us/fp/r2/arnf/arnf_prototype/vision/1_b_geographic_areas.asp
The relevant blurb from this site:
There is a very extensive transportation system in the geographic area.
Primary access is via Colorado Highways 72 and 119. Portions of these
highways make up part of the Peak-to-Peak Scenic Byway. Many county and
private roads provide passenger car access to numerous subdivisions,
private parcels, and the National Forests. There are a significant
number of 4WD roads and road networks. The most well known of these
are located in the Winiger Ridge, Haul Road, Dakota Hill and Jenny
Lind Gulch portions of the geographic area.
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Summary: Dakota Hill contained part of the Caledonia Lode. Thar be gold
in that thar hill! (Or thar was, anyway...) Not really relevant
to us but I thought it was interesting.
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http://www.pagetwister.com/generic/templates/news_wide.cfm?id=77&secver=sec1name&pid=10
&storyid=534
Blurb: The Caledonia Lode was discovered in 1860, and dozens of
disparate claims were filed on the lode and its associated
vein systems that ran up the shoulder of Dakota hill
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Summary: Dakota Hill is fun
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http://www.goingoutside.com/lake/101/1013403_Beaver_Lake_Colorado.html
Blurb from the site:
Going up to the top of Dakota Hill is great fun any day.
Note: The site mentions that this is in the Beaver Lake area, and
I did find many Beaver Lakes in Colorado, but none of them in
the Dakota Hill area. However, every other landmark, gulch, etc.
that they mentioned are in the Dakota Hill area so I am confident
they are talking about the same Dakota Hill.
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Anyhoo, just wanted to pass along what I had found. TTYL!
--
-Jon-
.- Jon Steiger --- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
| 67 Dodge Coronet, 70 Plymouth Barracuda, 76 Peugeot TSA |
| 78 Dodge B100, 90 Dodge Dakota Convertible, 92 Dodge Ram 4x4 |
| 96 Dodge Dakota, 96 Suzuki Intruder 1400, 96 Kolb FireFly |
| 99 Jeep Cherokee 4x4, 2001 Dodge Ram 3500 CTD |
`--------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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