Here we are on the way back down from the lake.
This is FJinCO going back through one of the drifts in the old mud put area
I only included this one for the sake of seeing the temp.
The high for the day in Denver was 82, and the low at night was 59.
Trying to get a cool out-the-window shot...
After we busted the trail all the way to the lake, a number of other groups followed...
...though none as far as a group that had a Jeep and two Toyotas in it.
This obstacle looked so different on our way back that it almost looked silly.
This is the spot where we hooked up FJinCO's winch to my rear on my way down through it.
It was no where near as bad of a spot to have to get through on the way up,
but it was certainly more difficult than going down without that gravitational advantage.
Here's video of the rest of FJinCO's trip through this section
After a couple runs at it, we decided it would be helpful to clean it up a bit to help me get through.
We weren't really thrilled about one more winching event. With a few more tries, I got through.
Here are a couple vids of my turn getting through this section
This one was originally recorded sideways. So, I used a program called 'Free Video Flip & Rotate'
to rotate it so you don't have to hold your head sideways to view it.
OK, now we really come to the 'too many photos' area of this page.
It was so hard to decide which pretty scenery shots to include. So, I included most of them.
Here's what the first snow obstacle of the day looked like on our way back down.
Clearly a vastly different snow-scape than when we bashed through it earlier.
Here's a link to open a copy of the same view fro when we had just gotten through it that morning.
It's not very obvious after I cropped this one, but the original photo here showed where others had gone way off trail.
Why can't guys either stay on trail and plow through the snow like a man, or just turn around, and call it a day?
Here's one of the other groups that followed us after we opened the trail. This is the only group that we saw get all the way to the lake.
Here, there's a Jeep, 4Runner and Tacoma (in that order). The Jeep in particular was quite modified. Certainly no stock Wrangler.
We had a chance to chat with them at the end where we aired up, and they seemed like nice folks.
Here's one of the videos I took on our way back down.
Here's that other group again...
a little artistry
Here's one last video from our way back down
lookin down the valley
Back off trail, and airing back up.
Well, that's it for my photos and videos from this trip.
Thanks again to FJinCO (and Mrs. FJinCO). I was extremely pleased to be out with someone else that was as adventurous as I was and actually wanted to go ahead and open the trail. Ya, it was a lot of work, and maybe a lot of people would have skipped it and just waited a few more weeks (and maybe that would even be smarter), but I really enjoyed it. :)
Looking forward to the next run with you guys.
To the red Jeep guys....nice that you joined up with us out there.
I hope to get to see that FJ-buggy of yours some day. Take care.