ON CLIFFS EDGE, Overlanding Through Colorado’s Alpine Loop • Season 2

[Music] this time on Patriot Games the Patriot crew are in Colorado for their very own snowy adventure way out that is amazing date you can never get away with this stuff in Australia the mountains are getting higher and the trails more narrow but this time they'll be in very capable hands you just really shouldn't think too much about it you should just move through it they saved the best trail till last and the impossible happens Justin is actually speechless seriously crying sheet metal was my livelihood but I never thought I'd be building gear like this every week we turn tons of Steel into rolling works of art some of the toughest gear in the world comes out of this Factory [Music] building this game is only half the fun now on Tesla Vader [Music] my passion is taking my family to the edges of the earth watch the game we know how to play it hydrate games after yesterday's sketchy high-altitude conditions it looks like the weather gods are smiling down on the Patriot campus crew as they head back into the high mountains of Colorado's Alpine loop today our USA team had a really special adventure in store we're going out to do the iconic Alpine loop alright buddy the output and loop yep Phyllis we're here so alpine loops about 60 miles worth of trail that loops around one side of the mountain and then comes back around the other side so engineer cinnamon pass and about 65 miles there abouts lots of cool scenery lots of history pretty pretty gnarly passes and stuff let me a good time is this gonna top what we did yesterday you're going this is gonna be better than what we did yesterday uh I don't think we'll get the blizzard but other than that this would be pretty cool or this you'll love this this is kind of like one of the iconic trails for the whole country I mean everybody's got it on their bucket list to do the Alpine loops yeah it it's one I like the top ten I think this is one of the most iconic destinations for the entire world man yeah not just America like we've heard about this back in Australia and this is something we've wanted to do for a long time as Sarah and the boys work out which trail to take around the Alpine loop Justin has a surprise up his sleeve and it looks like this two-car convoy is about to become three what miss Park is gonna get a friend now I miss a big toe out up miss partner don't need friends with baka don't need no friends well let's go hang out with white frame hopefully he'll be on time yep Justin doesn't have to wait long before the next carpool around the winding Mountain Road way alongside the RAM and the black truck Josie you got copy all right hooked up with Justin and Sarah just about maybe six months ago we started a conversation about hey you know having some common interest in the over landing and working together on a build and here we are about six months later with that finalized build are you guys good we're adding a new member to the team today clay from Expedition Overland a good mate of mine was coming along for the trip how's the trip mint good it just did 260 Kaiser yeah which was awesome awesome giving this girl the rundown starting to give it the bait down yeah just shaking it out figuring out how it works learning how to move in and yeah it's really good to run into clay again I do wish for Shelley's wife was here we're all into the same kind of stuff we've known each other for a year now and it's great being out there it's it's a it's a lot bigger than I thought dude is it yeah it's a lot bigger than I thought man that I are a big truck they are a big truck and that rear door is bigger than the front door which isn't sitting in the back seat it's it's like a limousine back there Maddie's been pretty excited rolling around in Miss Parker the only truck in America with a peak or back but today he was going to get a surprise and Miss Parker was going to be introduced to Trinity clay and the team from Expedition overland have worked closely with Patriot campers for the past 12 months and earlier in the year Justin sent his lead designer Jack over to help build the silver Tundra nicknamed Trinity expedition Overland have built a reputation as the authority on over landing in the USA so who better to test out all of the gear coming out of Patriot HQ on the Gold Coast you know one thing at Patriot we're doing pretty well what's that we built some good-looking trucks yes you do oh it's a hot choice from back here between the room and the tundra oh yeah so today we're gonna start off with a little surprise it's called the mineral Creek and it's the access up to engineer pass and it's a little bit gnarly more so than anything we've done while we've been here so I've kind of kept it to myself and gonna get to see how that old black truck really does you guys don't get the tundra and Australia is that right now we don't we've got a few companies that bring it in as a light volume import but um I don't know how well it's doing a straight cuz we're kind of diesel mad over there you know yeah I don't blame you know Diesel's pretty nice we've been working on this project back in Australia for quite a few months now clay he does a lot of touring right around the globe he knows what he wants and when he saw the back on the peak or tre he had to have one this year we had the opportunity to build the last body-on-frame platform available for adventure travel in over landing so the next obvious choice for us would be the tundra and with a full-size platform we started looking around and in making decisions on how we wanted to outfit that and the Patriot camper was our obvious first choice but that's an Austrian man over Italy Larkin thank you no tenders are I mean it's a little do you know it mr. Parker might have might've had a second thought for a second but then we go up you know leading the trail blazing the path we're good the schoolyard banter about who's got the best build is cut short as the trail gets gnarly time to put your money where your mouth is boys heading up mineral creek I felt a little bit more at home black truck started working we had suspension flexing all over the place and it was good to see the tundra working in front and the ramp leading the crew this is a little bit it's a little bit tougher yeah it's good yeah yeah flex in the tundra for the first time you're learning new sounds you're like okay this is what this feels like that's what that sounds like we've been driving more narrow vehicles for years now so getting into the tundra it's providing some new challenges and so far with what we got built its bomber come on boys keep those poyo toes Miss Parker is ready to climb with a thousand foot pans at all I think it's gonna make Justin and Sarah both nervous probably Sarah more cuz she'll admit it Justin he'll just you know Bravo through it and pretend like he's not nervous but he's gonna be scared looking out over those drops this is looking like a bet a little bit better sort of wheel and stop Matt yeah this one starts out right at the beginning so you're gonna enjoy this just played it wait a couple more switchbacks you're gonna love it the only way over these tight and technical tracks is out a crawl the black truck is no stranger to narrow and steep trails but what's about to come next is unlike anything the black truck and its passengers have ever seen Hey remember yesterday we were talking about so I've got the upper hand as far as wheel placement goes through here right yeah I mean there's two ways to look at it upper hand on wheel placement or the lower hand on death nicely glad I'm on his side the convoy of over landing trucks are traversing the infamous alpine loop in Colorado and Justin Matt and clay are about to hit the first serious section of dangerous mountain driving there's no margin for error on these tight tracks and the radio banter turns sober you remember yesterday when we were talking about yeah yeah got it now Matty was telling me about this one section on mineral Creek I wasn't really prepared for what Matty had in store for us well that is amazing dude the tracks getting tighter and I'm at a disadvantage been on the right-hand side because I'm that close to the edge in the county damn this is Lockett gazetted bride how's that white truck feeling there Clyde no way so I kind of kept that one to myself kept it in my back pocket you know just to see the look on Justin's face when we came around the corner on the flip side of that I didn't quite remember how narrow it really was so it kind of got me a little bit of pucker also mr. Parker's a bit wide in the hips and we got pretty close to the edge into the cliff wall how am I looking on the right there yeah probably half a foot but it never ceases to make you think twice about where your tire placement is and never get to you just really shouldn't think too much about it you should just move through it this is um I'm not scared but this is nerve-racking I've got the rearview mirror scraping on that side wall but I'm happy that it's more to that side then over Justin's [Music] guys were all white knuckle grab a steering wheels I hold on the truck or worried I don't know what's going on Justin's freaking out in the back the problem is you put one tire in the wrong spot it is deaf there is no there's no coming back from that it's over the right spot painted to it is well and truly Iver if you put a tire off half do you want to drive it a bit no we've got to jump out of them sign this is epic the cars nervously creep around the last cliff face of the mineral creek trail and head on to more even ground it's time to do some wheeling on the Alpine loop now these boys have got two brand new trucks the Tundra's just been completed and sighs the ramp they're getting to know what their vehicles are capable of but man the black girl this is what we do best hey you're gonna tip that old ear come on Miss Parker let's see what you got let's go men say from back here I enjoy wheeling like this I don't get to do it a lot typically in my years past I've been doing a lot of long-distance miles covering countries so whenever I get to get into a spot where I can slow down and kind of smell the roses a little bit and get some Whelan done and feel the flexing of the trucks and really see what the capabilities are the trucks are it's a lot of fun [Music] as the altitude climbs the convoy make their way up engineers pass along the switchback turns that line the side of the mountain it's a slow tight and technical trail that will really test these big rigs out these switchbacks are amazing and they were put in because of all the mining that happened here in Colorado and because of that they were built for much smaller vehicles at the time you know wagons and things like that so these switchbacks are really tight and it really causes you to have to think about where you're gonna put your tires and and when you start your turn on these you know tight turns and in big trucks turning radius is a big deal and it's been fun to see who can make it on a single turn and who has to back up now having been involved in both of these USA builds it was pretty cool for me to sit back and watch what these trucks were capable of so Matt there's a little bit of wheeling going on here Doug this is different yesterday definitely a lot more technical than yesterday a lot more technical than yesterday tight and unpredictable trails like these give the black truck and opportunity to dance 79 are renowned for this one and then the inevitable happened the 79 popped up a front wheel alright babe you ready wait here she loves to be got wheels now I'm all about experiences and the black truck is the best one to offer it to all right boys who wants to see Sarah popper wheel up in the black truck all right I'm back in the Dan says having to drive last year we got Ashton doing his first recovery this year Sarah's gonna have her first time with the black truck lift in front wheels whatever you do if it's gonna go over just hold onto the steering wheel don't do anything else just hold onto the steering wheel Mawson taught and if it's gonna go over let it go over what am i God you be wrong foots on the brake yeah it's fun to see couples working together on the trail traveling together and so seeing Justin and Sarah travel together is pretty inspirational my wife loves to travel as well and in my experience girls like to get with it just as much as the guys you know it might take a little time to get you know used to it but once once they do of man their game on you you're gonna be fighting over the driver's seat now a little bit right now and then start to pop up now so I thought I'd be all good felt that we'll go up in the air and uh that was not right you another one put the clutch in put the clutch in now just roll it back on the bike leave it in first a little bit left hand down a little bit left hand down yep it'll stop peeking up here bike there you go slightly on the salt down there a little bit left hand down so I just touched the brake and before I knew it that bonnet was up in the air all right she's got a wheel up reverse is heaps worse than forward okay so what do I do now okay so now turning a little bit right hand down and she starts backing back down I could feel that front wheel coming up and up and it got on that hairy line the boys jump straight into it I made sure she was nice and safe well we're up that's good we're a long way from nowhere up here and recovery of a tipped-over vehicle would be a huge undertaking and we just don't want that today so we're gonna play it safe all right ready now she's gonna pop up good clutch brought in down and just drive it forward and then lift that wheel come on thank God you want to go forward that's good yeah that water in there in there take much it's the tipping point right that was awesome Justin and the crew are making their way up the tight ridge lines of the Alpine loop in Colorado Sara's just stolen the wheel from Justin and conquered some of the tricky trails in the black draaga as they climb closer to the summit an obstacle appears on the road ahead heading back up the trail what do you know I've walked right in the middle of the track and I think we've done a hard time of clearing tracks but we're gonna do it in the United States yeah and a big ol boulder in the middle of the road a Boulder Boulder Boulder Boulder I'd call that a rock oh that's a boulder or call it a rock thinking fresh you coming across a big rock on the trail like that it's pretty actually pretty common it happens because of the freeze-thaw effect that happens in the mountains the ice builds up and freezes and contracts overtime and it loosens Rock and eventually this guy was loosened up on the cliff and fell found itself in the middle of the road do you want to try on move it Justin you can do it no no no mine let's give it a guy if it starts going we go all the way yeah I can all right ready yeah Mike why meet two three oh you know I'm not doing this trip I'm not spending the next week in bed let's winch it out yeah yeah now we've got a pretty experienced crew this isn't the reason we wanted to pull the winches out but at least we got to use how do you want to do it snatch block off of this rock here hopefully it'll hold off of this ledge in yeah the only way we're getting this rock out of the road someone's going down the hill and I look around at all the boys all eyes are on me my military experience this is gonna come in handy Justin definitely knows his way around a winch and during his recent time in Arnhem Land has proven the capabilities of the winches in the mega Torah and the super em maybe this time though the Americans pull out a little winching Flair we gonna put that's some weather we're gonna pull that one or this one fifty-fifty yeah I think we'll pull this one you think yeah hey runs clear stand back oh there guys yeah that's not happening we try to play it safe and use a reason rock right at the top of the hill it wasn't big enough started pulling it out let's regal this winch there's a bigger rock down the hill oh that's that next choice huh if that one's on really loose and it slips yep that one's bigger than that one not yeah it would just pull it might pull the whole system down Rock and then we might have to goddamn and then we get a strap hung up down the bottom and then we got a problem then we got real problems well so we had enough of clearing rides anomaly no I think the rock just just went there just beautifully what is it without some clearing rods I'm not doing anything I'm just something sitting back and watching sir I'll say how they do it up here thank goodness we had the ability to remove that rock and we took it on as a challenge but Sam back up that way I'm going I'm going hi yeah it's not gonna hang come pull the big ones baby working working little by little good yeah that's good stuff I love it when a plan comes together huh and when you have steel cable and when you have steel cable there's a lesson there because I don't run steel cable [Music] will there you go you can teach an old dog new tricks the steel cable on the ramp which stands the sharp and harsh rocky ledge and the boulder or the rock whatever the obstacles cleared from the road enough of Scone hills we got the summit to reach well that's our good day done for the day I think yeah they were the next crazy people would come up here in full Sun strokes at you first as the Alpine loop trail begins to open up the convoy continued their journey toward the summit as the altitude climbs the terrain changes and the crawling speeds allow the crew to soak it all in this is nothing short of spectacular Colorado is definitely home to some of the most amazing truly epic mountains that North America has to offer especially the mountains that you can drive in once you get above what's what we call treeline which is around between eight and ten thousand feet everything changes becomes like a really high alpine type of terrain and it's rocks and real short shrubs and grass and and the animals change and just the feel of the mountains becomes more I don't know almost enchanting and powerful I hope you guys don't take this for granted man because this is epic it really is epic and it it never gets old I'm about guys I just love spending any time I can in the mountains especially the high alpine stuff this is this is good living right here seriously I've never seen anything like this before my life and this is like another planet and being able to approach the summit and going through all the deep cut out snow that you can kind of see what winter was like up here and then now you're reaching towards the top Matt disease ever get old for you buddy not at all I mean even come every year do the same trails it's still every year's magic and it's the salmon trot on top of that peak up there that I can see yeah so the summit of engineer pass is called Oh like Oh H point coming up the switchbacks to to the top engineer and knowing what's around the corner when you get when you finally get there it never gets old I mean you can come a hundred times and you always see something different or see it through a different viewpoint and it was really special this time to get to come up and share a place that I love and it's special to me with you know my distant family from Australia you you [Music]

Channel: Patriot Games

Views: 61,244

Rating: 4.9253211 out of 5

Keywords: Patriot Campers, Patriot Games, Snowy Mountains, Colorado, Off roading USA, colorado off roading, off roading snow, snow wheeling, snow driving 4x4, offroad adventure show, all 4 adventure, pat callinan, 4wd action, 4x4 australia, overlanding, offroad, Alpine Loop, Colorado Alpine Loop Difficulty, landcruiser, land cruiser, landcruiser 79 series, lc79, ram trucks, ram trucks australia, ram 2500

Id: kGwAQ2mH6Uc

Length: 23min 50sec (1430 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 01 2019