Colorado Cruiser: October 2019

Saturday, October 5, 2019

2019 Sept Mountain Man - Day 4

Texas Lake

I decided to run the heater on medium last night. When I woke up at 2:00 the thermometer read 27 outside and 57 inside the tent. That's 30 degrees warmer. When I got into bed I didn't even bother zipping up the sleeping bag and I kept having to open the bag to cool off. It really was way too warm with the heater on medium and that zero degree bag.

I woke up a few more times through the night as it sprinkled on us. I was afraid it was going to pour rain on us in the morning.

I got up for real at 5:00 thinking that I'd work more on my blog. I rolled out of bed (literally) then exercised for a few minutes, dressed, and drove to the bathroom. No rain thank heaven.

When I got back I started the solo stove then cleaned up the last of the mess from last night's dinner. There was still allot of pulled pork because I'd brought 4 full pounds of meat which meant 1/2 pound for each of us, and that's really too much.

I fired up my griddle and tried making crispy pork. That is what we often do with left over kalua pork, fry it on a hot pan until it gets brown and very crispy. It was OK but not as good as crispy kalua. I think all the salt in kalua pork makes it taste allot better.

We gave the last of the pulled pork and crispy pork to Kaia.

Then I went back to my tent to write more on the Blog.

After an hour someone yelled "Hey electronics guy, do you want some breakfast?" DaveB was cooking breakfast this morning and he was starting with peaches and cream. He was peeling the peaches and they were freezing his hands but he kept going and they were delicious.

The sun was up by now and I pulled my zero gravity chair into the sun to write more of the blog. Someone started the main campfire so we could burn up what was left from last night's fire, and burn up the trash from breakfast. I pulled my chair close to the fire and kept typing until I heard people starting to tear down tents.

I didn't want to pack a wet tent so I started putting everything else away. I hitched the trailer to the highlander and loaded the griddle.

Everyone seemed worried that the solo stove would take forever to cool down but I wasn't worried. I knew from all the fires in Yellowstone that you could burn out a fire and cool off the stove in about 20 minutes if you needed to so before everyone had a heart attack, I tipped the stove over onto the fire pit, then tipped it back and rolled it away. It was cool within minutes.

DaveB brought out his drone about this time so I walked him through some of the cool features of the drone, like dronies, cork screws, and spherical panoramas. He flew it all around us because his has 30 minute batteries, whereas mine has 15 minute batteries.

I went back to packing. I really had brought too much junk, especially camera gear. I packed it all back into the backpack, then started loading stuff into the highlander and trailer.

One of my biggest hates is rolling up sleeping bags. I've always had bags that had to be rolled super tight and needed 4 hands to force it into the bag. So it's always a pleasant surprise when I roll up these new bags and they stuff easily into the bag. Then I snap the straps in place and tug the straps tight to compress the bags.

Finally I was down to the tent. It's an 8 man Kodiak spring bar canvas tent. It's not hard to pack up, but by this time, I was the only one with a tent left so everyone crowded around to help me.

We pulled the 2 side poles, then the spring bars and the center torsion bar. I used my electric impact wrench to remove all the stakes.

Did I mention that I don't pound stakes in the ground? I have 16 inch long by 5/8" lag bolts with big fender washers that I drive into the ground with an electric impact wrench. Once it has driven the lag bolt into the ground, the tent isn't going anywhere regardless of the wind. And I don't have to kill myself pounding then in or pulling them out.

Anyway, I removed the lag bolts, then we fold the tent in half, then in half again. We then folded the ground cloth in half, then in half again and rolled the ground cloth and tent up together.

The carrying bag is another ingenious invention. Rather than trying to stuff a 60 pound tent into a bag, you just roll the tent onto a big upside down T shaped piece of cloth. You take the 2 ends of the T up over the ends of the tent and snap 2 straps together. Then you can tighten the straps. Now you take the trunk of the T and wrap it over the top of the bag, covering the 2 previous straps and snap 3 straps together and tighten. So you encase the entire tent in the carrying case without ever having to lift the tent. Its great.

With the heaviest thing finally packed, I put it in the trailer, the stacked the rest of my stuff around it and I was ready to go.

We all talked for a bit more, but Thad, Chris, and Jayson had 8 hours to drive back to the Salt Lake City area and were anxious to get going, so they pulled out first.

Geoff also said goodbye and headed out. I don't even think I saw Ben leave, he just stealthed away.

Finally it was just the 2 Daves and me. Often they try to do another long ride on the last day, but I wasn't up for that, and neither was DaveW.

DaveB had told me about a couple lakes he'd gone to see on the first day that I had missed, so I asked him how far away they were and maybe we could go there. He said it was only 2 miles and DaveW agreed that was a short enough ride, so we grabbed a few things and headed up the trail again.

Not very far up the trail we crossed some big rocks, that's why we're camped where we are, because we couldn't get very much farther up the road.

We reached the spot where you turn off to the lakes. I figured we would walk across the bridge, but DaveB was already across the water in his quad. When we looked at going down the same trail, it was obvious it was too narrow for the Can Am.

DaveW got out and looked at where he could get off the road, then got back in to drive us down. DaveB started trying to wave us off, but DaveW just kept going. Right as we got to the bottom we hit a MASSIVE drop off into a big puddle. We got shaken pretty hard but made it through OK. Looking back we could see how the drop off was hidden from view from the top. There was a much better trail just 10 feet over.

We continued on across the creek and up the far shore, then followed the trail through the trees.

The trail was clearly meant for quads, not for the Can Am, but DaveW managed to get us through all the tight spots until we reached the lake.

It was a beautiful lake with a fantastic view across the lake toward the mountains. There was even a mirror image view of the mountains in the lake.

DaveW pulled out his fishing gear and tried catching fish for a half hour but had no luck. I just took pictures and anjoyed the peace and quiet.

I did try to fly the drone, but I'd left the data cable, brought the wrong phone, and sticker with the wifi password had rubbed off. I guess I wasn't meant to fly the drone today.

Once DaveW finally gave up on fish we got back in the vehicles and headed off. DaveB continued up another trail and both DaveW and I wondered where he was going. We both keep quoting Cool Hand Luke, "What we have here, is a failure to communicate!". We're never sure where DaveB is going.

We followed him up the trail. There were allot of tight spots, but we could see where previous vehicles had worked their way around them and managed to get through. A couple spots actually scraped both sides of the Can Am as we got through.

It wasn't long till we arrived at a second lake. It was another good size lake but not as pretty as the first one so we only stayed a few minutes.

Again, DaveB just hopped on his quad and took off on another trail. We said our quote and followed him out the trail. More tight spots, but pretty soon we came out of the woods back out at the water crossing where we began. It turns out the whole trail was a big loop.

We crossed back over the creek and down the road back to camp. Once we reached camp I climbed in the highlander and started for home. I took even longer to get out that any of my previous drives down this road. I took my time, expecting the Daves to catch and pass me at any moment, but they never did.

Climbing back up Cottonwood Pass was as nice as the way in. Such a great road.

As I neared the top, I noticed a paved offshoot right below the top. It seemed to lead to a scenic overlook, so I took it. At the end was a great view back towards Taylor Reservoir and the mountains around it. I took a few photos then back on the road.

When I reached Buena Vista I decided to get a hamburger. It was 2:00 and even though I wasn't hungry I was sure I'd be starving before I got home. When I got in line at K's burger place, I saw DaveB just ahead of me. He'd decided to stop as well, but DaveW had headed straight on home.

We got our burgers but neither of us wanted to sit and eat it here, so we said goodbye and headed down the road.

It was 5:00 by the time I reached home. The Saturday evening traffic down from Woodland Park to Colorado Springs is always terrible.

I unloaded and re-parked he trailer, emptied the highlander then took it for a wash and vacuum. Nan did my laundry (have I mentioned how wonderful she is?)

It was good to be home.

2:00 am and it was toasty a warm 57 with the heater on medium

Eating peaches and cream around the solo stove

The last campfire and the one lone log left from our stack of firewood

The view West of our campsite

Some fall colors near Texas Lake

DaveW trying to catch a fish

Selfie

DaveB sitting against a tree, watching nature

Still fishing

Texas Creek

Getting ready to cross Texas Creek

Powering across Texas Creek

Cottonwood Pass Scenic View

Friday, October 4, 2019

2019 Sept Mountain Man - Day 3

I took a break from the tough work of riding in a UTV

Last night as I went to sleep, I decided to try running the tent heater all night to see what it would be like. I left it on its lowest setting and made sure I had enough ventilation open, checked the CO alarm, and cleared everything far away from it, then went to sleep.

I woke up at 2:00am and checked the indoor/outdoor thermometer. It was 35 degrees outside, and 55 degrees inside the tent. The heater was keeping it 20 degrees warmer. I hadn't been cold the previous night, and with the added heat, I was very warm and even had my arms out of the sleeping bag some of the time.

I struggled a little falling back to sleep but eventually did.

I woke up at 5:30. I didn't lolligag today because I had to cook breakfast. The heater was already on and I left it on while I got up.

I rolled out of bed rather than sitting up, so my legs didn't cramp. I did a few stretches and exercises to warm my muscles up, then I got dressed and drove up to the latrine.

I stopped on the way back to pick up a bunch of small sticks where we'd cut firewood. We left thousands of twigs and small branches so it only took a couple minutes to pick up a big bucket full.

Back at camp I loaded the Solo Stove with a bit of paper towel, some strips of fat wood, and a bunch of twigs, then lit the paper towel. I barely waited for the fat wood to catch before I loaded 4 larger pieces of wood on top.

I started pulling food out of my trailer, tent, car, and wherever else I'd stuck it. I can often remember seeing the stuff I need, I just cannot remember where it was that I saw it, so I run around from place to place, over and over till eventually I pick up whatever was covering it and find it. Today was no exception. Eggs, potatoes, bacon, onions, all right where I expected. But the hot sauce, spatulas, spices, and a few other things took another 20 minutes to find.

Every so often I'd check on the solo stove or just stand by it to warm up. It was plenty warm by the time I had to start cutting things up and freezing my hands.

I made breakfast burritos with enough for everyone to have two and they seemed to go over well. At least no one complained of being hungry when I was done.

After breakfast I continued writing the Day 1 blog. I started in the shade of my tent, but my hands quickly got cold, so I moved out into the sun. It was warmer than yesterday and felt really good with the sun on my back.

While I sat there I also thought about what I wanted to do. I've been going non stop for nearly 3 weeks now, first with the 2 week motorcycle ride, then with catching up at work and prepping for this campout, and now with the campout itself.

I finally decided I wanted a real break for at least a day. I decided not to go on today's 4x4 ride. Instead I would go lookup some friends that have a cabin here in Taylor Park, and maybe go to Crested Butte to see the fall colors there.

I went to tell DaveW that I wouldn't be riding with him, and told a couple other guys that might want to ride in my place.

Then I got the drone out and flew around a bit trying out sport mode (scary) and some other features of the drone. I practiced smooth flying, controlled decent and got a few other fun videos.

When I heard the engines start up I swapped batteries and prepared to get a video of everyone leaving. As they took off, I waited a bit, then followed them with the drone. I even kicked it into sport mode but it's actually hard to follow someone in sport mode. After just a minute or two I stopped and let them ride away, then turned the drone around and came back.

I put the drone away and sat back down to finish the blog. Sitting there in the sun, typing the blog was very relaxing. I even put the laptop down for a while and took a short nap, listening to the birds, the sussurous of small animals in the grass and, of course, the gentle whine of ATVs in the distance.

I typed and typed until I was finally finished. It took 2 hours to get everything written. Doing these blogs is a huge investment in time, but I really enjoy going back an reading about fun trips. There's always little things I've completely forgotten and it brings back the joy I had the first time to re-remember them.

By now it was nearly 11:00, so I put everything away, closed up my tent and because the wind was really blowing, I closed the other tents as well and picked up everything that looked like it would blow away.

Then I hopped in the Highlander and started the drive out. I don't think I was much faster leaving than I had been coming in. It took almost 30 minutes to go 5 miles. After the road we were on yesterday, this really wasn't a very rough road, but it still shook the highlander as I went over some of the bigger bumps.

Once I reached the main road, I turned left. Just a couple miles later it turned into a paved road, then a couple miles after that I stopped at the Taylor Park general store. I didn't need anything, but I'd never been here before so I wanted to see what it had to offer.

It reminded me of the stores in Yellowstone. Eggs, drinks, sugar, tents, propane, live bait, snacks, etc. Just an eclectic bunch of items that they have been asked for over the years.

There was good cell service by the store so I gave my friends a call. The phone rang non-stop for many minutes before I gave up. Then I looked up their address, it wasn't far. I drove over to the house, or what I hoped was still their house. No one answered the door. So much for that part of the plan.

I had already planned to go into town, so I headed that way.

The canyon that leads from Taylor Park to Gunnison is really beautiful. In places the canyon walls are steep with nice rock formations and in other places it is gently sloped with large stands of evergreens and the occasional patch of aspen. It follows a fast running stream and the fly fishermen were out in force. Every little pullout was filled with cars and men pulling on waders or stringing their fly poles.

Some stretches of the stream had a fisherman wading out in the middle every 20 yards or so. I don't know how they kept from tangling into each other's lines or why they'd bother with so many people around.

Once I reached the main road I turned South toward Gunnison. I wanted to pick up some mushrooms for tonight's dinner. I'd forgotten them and it was only 7 miles to town from here. I got my mushrooms then decided to go to McDonalds for lunch. Not that I'm a huge McD's fan, but I really really wanted a nice clean salad after all the protein and carbs I've had this week and they always have good wifi.

My salad was great and so was the wifi. I uploaded a few pictures to facebook, answered a few emails, and called my wife.

After lunch I headed back North. The highway up to Crested Butte runs up a small valley with large stands of Aspen on the surrounding hills. I went almost all the way to Crested Butte and saw very little fall colors. I guess it was just a bit early, so I turned back toward Taylor Park.

I enjoyed the drive up the canyon again but didn't stop at the general store.

Just as I got to the Texas Creek turnoff a Quad pulled up on a trail to cross the road. It was DaveB just finishing their ride. My camera wasn't ready, so I didn't get any pictures of him.

I turned behind him and a few minutes later I saw Jayson come up behind me on his quad, then Thad in his, continuing to function, Razr. I pulled over to let them pass, then stopped to get a video of DaveW but he never came past. I waited 3 or 4 minutes before giving up and continuing on to camp.

It was only 4:00 so I didn't need to cook dinner yet.

Everyone started pulling out their rifles and pistols to do a little target practice. I had brought a black powder rifle and a shotgun, but I'd forgotten to buy clay pigeons before the trip, and I'd also forgotten when I was just in Gunnison. So, instead, I got out the drone and carefully took some video of everyone shooting at anything that moved.

Not really. They defined some shooting lines, some targets, and were very good about gun safety. The shooting didn't seem to last very long, just an hour and a half or so.

I started gathering the stuff for dinner at 5:00. Another round of "Where did I put that?" ensued but eventually I found everything.

The wind was really blowing and stealing all the heat out from under my griddle. DaveB suggested I pull my trailer over to act as a wind block and that really helped.

I was cooking zucchini mushrooms onions and bacon for one dish. Potatoes onions and bacon for another dish, and pulled pork sandwiches as the main dish.

I started by rendering all the bacon till it was half done, then storing some of the grease to use in cooking the rest. The zucchini takes the longest. I have to cook it until it looks nearly burned, but all those dark brown spots is the best part. I wimped out and stopped about 20 minutes too soon. I felt it was taking too long to get dinner ready so I stopped before it was really read and started the rest of the meal.

The food was all good, but the zucchini would have been better if I hadn't flinched. No one complained and there was only about 1 helping of veg and potatoes left when everyone was done.

I picked all the bacon out of what was left, then fed the rest to the dog.

The rest of the evening was spent watching the fire and laughing. It's not hard to laugh when you get a funny bunch of guys that like each other, around a camp fire.

I didn't fully clean up after dinner. I was tired and ready to relax by the fire.

There was still at least half of our firewood left, and DaveB was determined to burn it all before the night was over. Including a bunch of evergreen branches they had to trim earlier in the day.

Geoff decided to Kaia (the dog) some of the left over pulled pork. We all watched as he tried to get her to speak and shake hands. Then Ben got up and showed us just how many tricks she could do including crawling, spinning, waiting, and a few others.

Every 10 to 20 minutes, DaveB would get up, walk over to the log pile and grab another massive log and chuck it on the fire. The fire was growing faster than it was burning logs off, and as it grew, everyone would scoot back a bit, then a bit more.

When we arrived at camp, it had 2 big logs positioned for sitting around the fire. We weren't using them because we all had chairs. But soon we'd backed up against them and couldn't go back further. So I got up and rolled the one behind me out of the way so I could move back in increments.

Eventually I was a good 15 feet back from the fire and still sweating. My face, stomach, and legs were hot but my back was freezing cold so I finally pulled the chair back another 10 feet and just stood up so I could play like a rotisserie and slowly turn to keep all sides warm.

And still DaveB fed the fire. Chris too started adding logs in the hopes of getting it all finished. I thought for sure we had stayed up till 11:00pm, but when I checked the time on the last picture, it was only 9:15 when we called it a night and went to bed. Some wild and crazy guys we are.

I did get some interesting action shots as they would toss those big logs onto the fire. The mass of embers shooting into the sky was pretty cool.

For some strange reason, DaveW left one single log when he went to bed. We asked if he was going to burn it and he just said No and walked off.

I stayed for a few more minutes, then headed for my own bed.

Jayson's hammock camping setup

A closer look at the camp. Kitchen to the left and tents to the right

Drone view of the camp

Enjoying the quiet after everyone left.

I got cold in the shade, so I moved out to a better view and sunshine

It was so nice, I took a short nap

Taylor River Canyon

Taylor River and little fall color

Jayson crossing a stream on the Tellerium Trail

Thad crossing the stream

Ben and Thad traversing a steep section on the Tellerium Trail

DaveW

Jayson

Tellerium Trail

Switchbacks on the Tellerium trail

Geoff and Dave

Lunch Break

Spotted a moose on the trail

The road into camp

Armed and Dangerous

Killing time while we wait for dinner

Potatoes and zucchini, and lots of bacon

Pulled pork sandwiches

Eating around the campfire

Geoff bribing Kaia to do tricks while Ben watches and the fire burns

Still a pretty big stack of firewood

Loading on the pine branches

Made a good dent in the stack of firewood & forced everyone way back.

Chris's turn to toss a huge log on the fire

Down to about 8 logs

Just one log left and DaveB goes to sleep

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

2019 Sept Mountain Man - Day 2

2019 Sept Mountain Man - Day 2

The top of Taylor Pass

It was a very cold night. I first woke up at 2:30 and checked the temperature. The first time I checked it was 31 degrees, but by 4:30 it was 25 degrees.

I was still very warm in my big heavy sleeping bag. With my CPAP, I could crawl all the way down into the bag and still breath well. I could even pull the extra air tube down into the bag and pre-heat the air just a bit. It was nice and cozy.

I actually love that feeling of being in a very warm sleeping bag with super crisp cold air outside. It makes for great sleeping.

Finally by 5:15 I couldn't sleep anymore. If I keep trying to sleep when my body is awake, I will get a real bad headache and I was starting to get one by the time I got up.

I reached out of bed and turned the heater from pilot to high. The heater lit up with wonderful warmth that quickly took the chill off.

So I sat up and pushed myself up and out of bed, but by the time I was up, I had a horrible cramp in my leg. I don't know if I was dehydrated, but it didn't feel like a normal cramp. I hopped, squatted, stretched, and finally managed to get the cramp to ease. Then I grabbed my pants and started to pull them on and got the exact same cramp in the other leg. Another 10 minutes of massaging and stretching finally got that leg better, but now I was scared to finish getting dressed.

I finally decided to do about 10 minutes of stretching and exercises to get my muscles warmed up and drink some water. Once I was done with that I dressed without any issues. I decided I was going to roll out of bed rather than just sit up and try to stand right up. Rolling out let me press myself up with my arms instead . I did exercises the next 2 mornings and didn't get anymore cramps, but I could feel them right on the edge as I'd start to warm up.

Once I was up, I drove my car 1/4 mile up the road to the National Forest Latrine that we were using. It was a nice brick structure with the tall chimney that helps remove the odor. It was allot better than the pit latrines we usually use on these campouts.

Back at camp I loaded my solo stove with wood and lit it to get some heat going. It takes about 15 minutes for the stove to start gassifying, but eventually it was putting off a nice warmth. I tried sitting by it to write the day 1 blog, but the fire was heating up the laptop too bad, so I eventually put the laptop away and just stood with everyone else warming my hands.

DaveW made a fancy egg and sausage breakfast in a dutch oven. I don't remember the name, but it was very good.

After breakfast I flew the drone for a bit. I got a few good shots, then it was time to get ready for a long ride.

I packed up all my camera gear, my drone, water, fruit, and some sodas. Then put on every piece of warm clothes that I have because I always start the first ride thinking "It isn't too cold, I should be fine with what I'm wearing". Then we get out on the trail with the constant 25mph wind hitting you and I freeze. NOT THIS TIME!!!

DaveB says it like herding cats trying to get everyone ready. There are constant shouts of "Oops, I forgot something" as people hop in and out of their vehicles to grab last minute things. Eventually we were all ready and started back out to the main highway.

I was riding in DaveW's Can Am side by side again. DaveW usually drives at the back of the pack and falls way back to avoid all the dust. We cruised down the road and I was wonderfully warm. We went 14 miles before we stopped at the local ranger cabin. It was run by a man and his wife and they were out front talking to the rest of the group by the time we pulled up.

They gave us a tour around the one room cabin. There was no running water, no TV, no cell or internet, and no power. They stay from the late spring to the early fall and were planning to be gone before the first deer hunters arrive. But it's been a warm year and they might stay just a bit longer.

It was a very nice cabin, but I don't think Nan would enjoy it.

We got back on the trail but pulled off after only a couple miles to look at some of our old campsites. My first mountain man campsite was right beside a stream with a beautiful view up a canyon.

We left the campsites and crossed the main road onto the trail we would be running today, Taylor Pass. If we followed this road to it's end, we'd be in Aspen, but we weren't planning to ride the whole way, just part.

The trail started with large rocks spread out across the road. DaveW was able to drive around most of the big rocks, then the trail became nothing but big rough rocks from edge to edge on the road. We bounced from one rock to the next with me trying to hold my camera up and get some video footage. Despite how rough the road was, the camera seemed to smooth it out. The gimbals on the Osmo Pocket are very impressive.

After a quarter mile we climbed up into an aspen forest. The leaves had turned yellow and begun to fall, so we were bounding our way up through a yellow tunnel. I really hope I got some good pictures and video through there or I'm going to be sad.

I was under the false assumption that we were in the worst part of the trail, but then came the actual boulders. They were stuck on the side of the trail, or in some cases, right in the middle of the trail and you had to climb up over or figure some way around them.

DaveW never hesitated, he'd pick a route and up we'd go. Sometimes with a bone jarring THUMP in the middle as the frame would slam down on the rock, but Dave wouldn't stop, he'd keep the revs up and continue climbing. He said that if you stop and loose your momentum you'll get high centered or even roll. Boy was he right.

The quads and 4 seater ahead of us kept climbing as well. The quads seemed to be able to fit between most things, but they have such a short wheel base I kept thinking someone was going to roll backward, but they never did.

After 40 minutes of this we came to a stream bed and crossed it back and forth a couple times, then the road turned and went straight up the stream bed.

The water had washed away all the dirt, sand, and even small rocks, so that all we had to drive on was double fist sized rocks or bigger. In some ways it was smoother, but it was continuous with no breaks.

We followed the others for a good distance until everyone stopped. DaveB was up ahead and set up to get videos as we drove up a fairly straight part of the stream. We waited our turn, then I turned on my camera and got a video of DaveB getting a video of us. Of course DaveW had to speed up to show of his driving prowess and to try to splash DaveB.

After the stream was a very steep section of trail with big boulders all over it. Thad was driving his 4 seater ahead of us with 3 people on board. He was struggling to get up the steep section and over some big rocks. There was smoke was pouring out the back of his UTV. Finally Chris and Geoff climbed out to lighten the load and Thad got up through the rough section.

DaveW just bulled his way right up and through all of the rocks. He's driven enough that the paths seem obvious to him, but he seldom takes the path that seems natural to me.

Once we got to the top of the tough section, we stopped for a few minutes to let Thad's UTV cool off.

After the break, the ATCs and motorcycle took off up the trail, then Thad headed up after them. We hadn't gone very far before Thad stopped again, saying that his Check Engine light had turned on.

We started shooting ideas around, maybe it was still hot, maybe the fuel was boiling and getting vapor lock, etc.

Chris read the manual and found that the Check Engine light meant there was an EFI problem. That kind of supported the boiling fuel idea but we found no evidence of that. I suggested disconnecting the battery for 5 minutes to let the computer reset. They tried several things including the battery but nothing changed.

Eventually Thad decided to turn around and head back down the trail. I was a big surprised when no one was going to follow them down. But they seemed OK with it. So DaveW backed out of the way and Thad turned around, then loaded up and headed down the hill.

We didn't even wait for them to get started before we were headed up toward the pass. For the whole rest of the drive I kept wondering if we'd come back to find them right where they turned around.

We weren't far from the top of the pass when they turned around, probably less than a mile, and it wasn't very rough either. We cruised around a few small ponds, then climbed up to the parking lot right at the top.

We all stopped at the top and I pulled out the drone to get a few videos and photos. Trying to get good drone footage is harder than you'd think. I took several quickshots that didn't really show anything other than all the dirt in the parking lot. But I did finally get a good dronie that started close on use, then pulled back to reveal all the mountains and valleys behind us.

Also in the parking lot with us was a plain looking jeep cherokee. It looked completely unmodified, so how it got up there we didn't know. Certainly not the way we had come, but maybe some of the other roads leading to the top were much smoother.

In my pictures and videos from the top, you'll see a motorcycle with us, but you almost never see the motorcycle in my trail videos. That's because Ben and his motorcycle can travel 2 or 3 times as fast as the rest of us. Where we have to pick our way and crawl over things, Ben just zips between things. He said the big things don't bother him at all because they stay still. It's the small loose rocks that he hates. But that's why there's so little footage of Ben, he's usually miles ahead of us.

After the photo session, we continued on the road toward Aspen. The road was much smoother than the West side, but it was still pretty rough. After another hour and a half of driving, DaveW turned off the main highway and led us to the top of a large hill. We had a great view of the area around us, and even a view of part of Aspen from the very edge.

We ate our snacks and chatted for a while and just admired the views. The wind was blowing when we arrived, but it picked up even more as we stayed. The temperature also started dropping so we decided it was time to go. We had come about 39 miles in 6 hours, but DaveW thought we could make it back in 3 hours without all the stopping.

Ben on the motorcycle was out of sight in just minutes, but DaveB and his brother Jayson on their quads were also really fast and soon left us half a mile behind.

I don't mind DaveW going a bit slower. It's nice to have my kidneys and liver in one piece.

We came back over the pass and started down the back side when we came across Jayson standing beside his quad that was laying on it's side. We asked if Jayson was OK and he said yes.

The road here had cut down into the hill a bit so there was 2 foot raised walls on the sides. He had come through the road fairly fast. A rock in the road had hit one tire which caused the handlebars to jerk hard to the left, and before he could wrench it back straight, it had climbed the side wall and rolled over.

Jayson's quad doesn't have power steering, and after the long day we had, he just wasn't as strong, so the quad rolled.

There was no way we were just going to pick the quad up because it was right next to the side wall. So DaveW drove is UTV up the wall and onto the hillside, then worked his way over until it was above the quad. We rolled out his winch cable, attached it to the quad, then he winded in and pulled the quad back upright.

About this time, DaveB finally came back. He'd stopped to wait for us and when no one showed up, he came looking.

We picked up the various pieces that had broken off and Jayson tried to start the quad. It took a while, but eventually it started.

Jayson's right thumb was hurting him, and he was sure something was wrong but he wasn't sure. His brother Thad is a doctor, so we wanted to get down to camp so Thad could check him out.

The other problem is that the right thumb is what you operate the throttle on the quad, so Jayson really couldn't ride his quad down. There was NO way I could do it on these nasty roads, so we decided that DaveW would ride the quad down, and I'd drive the Can Am down with Jayson as a passenger.

I started us down the road following DaveB's lead. He'd point which direction he thought I should go, and Jayson would point which way he thought I should go. They seldom matched. I'm sure DaveW was behind us screaming directions too, but thankfully I couldn't hear him. Of course, knowing DaveW, he was probably just saying "GO FOR IT!!, MORE POWER!!"

We went a couple miles until we came to a massive drop that I felt very uncomfortable driving down, so I stopped and signaled DaveW to come drive it down. He did, then he mentioned that the quad was nearly out of gas. Laying on it's side, allot of the gas had leaked out, so we had a limited range left.

We were talking about how slow I was driving and that maybe Jayson driving could go faster. I wasn't too upset to relinquish the driving duties to Jayson and we started down the road at a much faster pace.

We got to another steep section, but Jayson kept going until he got jammed between a couple rocks on a very steep angle. He hit the brakes and the Can Am slowly rolled over on its right side, my side, right onto the big rock we'd been trying to avoid.

I was smart enough to keep my hands inside, but my shoulder thumped the rock pretty hard.

I had to help push on Jayson and unbuckle his seat belt, then he climbed up and out his side of the UTV. I got myself unbuckled, then just kind of squeezed my way out the front windshield.

The 4 of us all got on the side of the UTV and lifted it right back up onto its wheels. It had slid forward and down enough to stand upright, then DaveW got in and drove it about 100 yards down the road and out of the roughest section.

It was about this time I asked if anyone had taken any pictures. None. I was so mad at myself, the least you can do, once everyone is safe, is get pictures to tell the story.

As we got back in the Can Am, I felt around for all my gear and suddenly realized that I didn't have my phone. It must have fallen out of my pocket when we rolled. I got out and looked but could not find it. Everyone else helped but after 5 minutes we just couldn't see it so we got back in and took off.

We kept going down the road with Jayson driving (we still needed to go faster than I could drive). We got down and started up the highway toward camp. It was 14 miles to the Texas Creek turnoff, then another 5 miles in to camp.

We made it about 10 miles before DaveW pulled off to the right and shook his head. The Quad was out of gas. I offered to stay with the quad while DaveW drove his Can Am with Jayson in the passenger seat. Jayson really needed to get to Thad to have his thumb looked at.

Speaking of Thad, we didn't find them anywhere on the trail, so they must have made it down the trail without a problem.

I grabbed a coat, a soda, and some food. I waved as they drove away.

I played with my DJI Osmo Pocket camera for a while, trying all the various settings, then thought I'd setup a timelaps, but I can't because my phone is gone.

I walked over to the lake, took some photos, then thought I'd listen to an audio book for a bit, but I can't because my phone is gone.

I went back to the bike and was checking it over for broken parts when I noticed the key was still turned on. OH NO!! I recently left my motorcycle key on for 40 minutes and it left me with a dead battery. I didn't want a repeat of that experience so I quickly turned the key off and hoped I'd caught it in time. Then I thought I'd play a bit of solitaire, but I can't because my phone is gone.

I was starting to feel nature calling. There was an outhouse about a quarter mile down the road. I pulled the key out of the quad and set off for a nature call. Inside it was a bit dark, I thought I'd turn on flashlight mode, but I can't because my phone is gone. Instead I gingerly felt my way around and got everything done ok and walked back to the quad.

A couple of cars came past but they didn't even slow down or ask if I was OK. I guess they figured that if I needed help, I would have waved them down.

Finally DaveW came racing back down the road. I'd tell you how long I was there, but I can't because my phone is gone.

DaveW gassed up the quad, then said he'd ride that and I could drive the Can Am. He reached inside to get his hat and said "Oh, here's your phone". The phone was on the driver's side. It must have fallen out when I was driving and not during the accident. DaveW thinks I was waiting about 1 hour. He said he just drove to camp, got out and grabbed a gas can, then drove right back.

We started driving back to. About 2 miles down the Texas Creek Trail we spotted a spare tire laying in the middle of the road. It was brand new and it hadn't been there when Dave drove out to get me. We set it prominently on the side of the road so whoever lost it would easily see it, then continued driving.

Back at camp, I unloaded my gear, then sat by the fire relaxing while Chris and DaveB made dinner. I should have worked on the blog, but I was too tired. That was a very long day.

We had massive steaks, loaded mashed potatoes, and grown up mac and cheese for dinner. It was very good.

While we ate, Thad caught us up on what had happened with his Razr. They had descended the trail without any problems, except the engine light stayed on and there wasn't much power to climb over rocks. If they came to something too big, Chris and Geoff would climb out while Thad drove over it.

Somewhere along the way the Razr finally stopped running. A group of guys stopped to check on them, and one of them happened to be a mechanic. He explained that the drive belt was shredded which let the engine over-rev and that was what had caused the EFI light to turn on.

Chris and Geoff walked back to camp and got Thad's truck and trailer. Chris drove back and they winched the Razr onto the trailer, then drove back up over Cottonwood Pass to Buena Vista and had the belt replaced, then drove back to camp. They had arrived just before DaveW and I got back, which meant that the lost spare tire we found was actually Thad's.

Thad just hung his head in frustration at yet another thing going wrong. But that didn't last long. No one was seriously injured, or not anymore. Thad had popped Jayson's thumb back into place, it had been displaced during his rollover.

After dinner I sat around the fire for an hour talking, but decided to go to sleep before 9:00 because I have to cook breakfast in the morning.

Panorama looking East from Camp