This year the Nucla-Naturita Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual West End 4x4 Jeep Tour event takes place on June 8. A Saturday, the event has nearly met capacity, with 28 of the 30 spots filled. According to chamber president Paula Brown, that’s nothing new. The jeep tour has been an esteemed event, and it typically fills up. Last year, it sold out in two weeks.
Open to licensed drivers, participants must bring their own jeeps or 4x4 trucks, something similar to a Tacoma. Each year, the trail runs a different route, which is decided by a community-led committee.
The jeep tour will leave the West End around 9 a.m. that Saturday, and local Glade Hadden, beloved archeologist, will lead the group with stories, history and culture. His talks are different every year, and tailored to the trail’s course. Brown said those who’ve been on the tour before really enjoy what Hadden brings to the experience.
Participants will be out all day, on Atkinson Mesa this year, past Uravan. Brown said the trail is moderate, though portions might be “jeepy,” or bumpy. Sometimes water crossings happen. There could very well be rocks and rugged areas, since the terrain varies, but Brown said no vehicle modifications are necessary.
At the end of the tour, all come back to town for dinner and eat as a group.
Those joining the tour are from places in the region like Montrose, Craig, Grand Junction, and from as far as Missouri. Brown said a few people return to join the tour every year, and most are out-of-towners. The cut-off remains at 30 vehicles, and that’s plenty according to her. As of press time, only those two spaces remained.
This year, the major sponsor of the event is the Halt the Dolores Monument group. The Rimrocker Trail is a mid-level sponsor. Brown said she’s grateful for all the support.
She agreed that it’s good to get out and enjoy the public lands that abound.
“It’s good to celebrate what we have,” she said. “Everybody is taking the opportunity to get out and enjoy what we have.”
Since February, many have been concerned about access to public lands in Western Colorado, especially since a national monument is proposed along the Dolores River encompassing hundreds of thousands of acres.
Sean Pond, of Nucla and the leader of the Halt the Dolores Monument group, told the Forum on Monday his group is proud to sponsor the local jeep tour. He said his group has showcased the damages that would happen to ranchers, grazing allocations and the mining industry as a whole. He said his group hasn’t talked as much about recreation, jeep trails and side-by-sides.
“We chose to sponsor that to show there are so many people in our community that stand to lose, if this monument designation were to happen,” he said. “Literally, in this place there are thousands upon thousands of roads and the opportunity for people to get out."
In fact, Pond and his wife, Danielle, rented a side-by-side for Memorial Day and rode 89 miles of trails within the proposed monument boundaries. They saw only one person the entire day. Pond said people need to know the local public lands are not threatened or in danger, and no monument is needed.
He said people need to look to Bear Ears National Monument in Utah, where under the travel management plan there, 1 million acres have complete road closures. He said the same thing will happen in western Colorado.
This Saturday, the Ponds are heading to Fruita, since Halt the Dolores Monument is vendor at the Rock Junction and Rocky Mountain Off-Road Expo, another jeep tour event that celebrates public lands.
Pond added that the momentum for Halt the Dolores Monument feels like it’s subsided a bit recently, since the Mesa County Commissioners officially opposed the monument. He said, though, locals can’t sit back and relax.
“The proponents are not stopping,” he said. “People need to stay energetic and engaged.”
The Ponds have another meeting in Cortez coming right up, and they’re planning the Aug. 3 event at Mesa County Fairgrounds. There, they want those unsure and undecided to attend, so people can educate themselves on conservation and see that there’s a better way than a national monument.
