Feature > Events/Trail Rides
All-4-Fun
Georgetown Genuinely Welcomes Off-Road Adventurers
story and photos by Allen Merritt
For over 38 years, Denver’s Mile-Hi-Jeep Club has hosted its spectacular All-4-Fun Week each summer in one of Colorado’s mountain communities. In 2004 fortunate four-wheel-drive enthusiasts from many states and Canadian provinces rendezvoused in Georgetown to enjoy a spectacular week of jeepin’ plus social functions held every night under the big tent. And, as its excellent Web site proclaims, “All-4-Fun, spelled backwards is Fun-4-All!”
Georgetown, nestled between some of Colorado’s highest peaks at 8500 feet above sea level, is hidden in upper third of this photo.
Georgetown, an 1870s mining town, is in the center of the Colorado’s oldest silver-mining region at the eastern base of Snowy Range, 52 miles west of Denver on Interstate 70. Nestled between some of the most majestic peaks in the state, with an altitude of 8,530 feet, Georgetown offers endless trails to explore. And the community genuinely welcomed hundreds of All-4-Fun off-road adventurers.
Georgetown is a pleasant surprise. First, it offers enough good trails — including a few challenging trails, and lots of high, scenic trails — to enjoy for a week; second, the area merchants appreciate jeepers. Additionally, everyone enjoys watching the mountain goats up close on Radical Hill.
All-4-Fun folks are an upbeat group of friendly four-wheelers. Even the statewide ban on open fires couldn’t cool their camaraderie. After a long day on the trail, everyone gathered in or around the big tent for the night’s social event before forming smaller groups around propane campfires.
All-4-Fun Week provides a variety of guided trails every day except for Wednesday. Georgetown trails include Kingston Peak, Bill Moore Lake, Empire Loop, Red Cone, Twin Cone, Radical Hill, Wheeler Lake, Spring Creek, Geneva Basin, Argentine Pass/Santiago Mine, Miner’s Gulch/ Pickle Gulch, Barbour Forks, Cascade Creek, Lamartine/Saxon Mountain, and mine tours.
Evening social events include Saturday night orientation meeting; Sunday, Georgetown Appreciation Night with door prizes from local merchants; Monday evening, entertainment from trained TV star pigs; Tuesday is always Bestop’s Ice Cream Social; Thursday evening is Mile-Hi Jeep Club’s Door Prize Night, when every registered driver receives a prize, many of which are nice things like tire sets, winches, tops, etc.; Friday, after the last trail ride, is Warn Winch Night with another fine BBQ, live music, and prizes from Warn.
Wednesday is Show-N-Shine Day at All-4-Fun. While wheelers paraded through Georgetown, sponsors set up displays of their products in and around the big tent. The 4x4 aftermarket industry reps spent the day chatting and offering discounts to participants. While the club provided games for the kids, many wheelers entered their 4x4s in the Show-N-Shine Contest. Everyone who didn’t go river rafting inspected the vehicles in the show and analyzed products in vendor displays. Of course, there were burgers and dogs for lunch and a big BBQ and the Show-N-Shine award presentation in the evening.
Though Georgetown is beside I-70, off-road adventurers prefer using the switchback trail that leads into All-4-Fun camp.
All-4-Fun Week isn’t just about fun, it’s also about the Children’s Hospital of Denver. Over the years, Mile-Hi Jeep Club has raised more than $100,000 for the hospital. The club raises money year ‘round, but All-4-Fun raffles bring in a lot of the money. Mile-Hi members work diligently all year getting sponsors and individuals to provide thousands of dollar’s worth of valuable prizes for All-4-Fun raffles. Participants buy tickets for the prizes, some groups pool their money and buy blocks of tickets, and if they win something, they auction it and donate the cash to the hospital.
Check out Mile-Hi Jeep club’s great Web sight (www.mhjc.org) and follow the All-4-Fun links for some great photos.
