Duckling with a V6

There’s a particular kind of guy who’ll spend a Sunday teaching a stranger to drive over rocks, and Kevin is that guy. He’s also a software guy. So am I. The class was technically two men who work at computers discussing dirt.

To be fair, Kevin has been doing this for decades and teaches on the side, I suspect mostly because he loves it. We met in Boulder and did a walk-around/inspection then headed to the trailhead. Before we went anywhere, he walked me through all of it: trail conditions, difficulty, maintenance, recovery, what a beginner actually needs to know versus what the internet tells him to buy. Then we aired down and went. He led, narrating over the radio, and I followed like a duckling with a V6.

The trail was the Switzerland Trail, in the hills west of Boulder. It’s an old narrow-gauge railroad grade that once ran from Boulder out to mining towns until the railroad was abandoned in 1919. For a while it ran as the Denver, Boulder & Western, which its carefree passengers nicknamed the “drink beer and wine”. That’s the most honest railroad branding I’ve ever heard.

Partway up, there’s an old fireplace from when this was a rail stop for miners. Everything that was built around it is gone. The fireplace is still standing, which feels like the right priority. You can also spot some of the support infrastructure left behind throughout the trail.

It was fun as hell. I opened everything that opens, including the rear hatch glass, which rolls all the way down. It’s the best feature on the 4Runner, and I will not be taking questions. A perfect fall day, the trees just starting to turn, the tires working slowly over everything.

At one point the trail turned into a muddy creek, with brush pressing in from both sides. Kevin drove straight through. So did I. That’s how being a duckling works.

Airing back up afterward, Kevin mentioned the 101 class. Harder trail. Rock sliders required, unless I didn’t mind damaging the truck.

I minded.