My cofest 2016

[/url]DSC_0062 (1) by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0063 (1) by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0064 (1) by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0066 (1) by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0070 (1) by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0074 (1) by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0086 (1) by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0141 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0147 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0151 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0155 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0158 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0171 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0173 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0195 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0211 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0212 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0218 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0233 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0246 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]DSC_0255 by Mike L, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]Untitled by Mike L, on Flickr[/IMG]

Overall the trip was a great success. I feel like the jeep did great considering it drove out and home under its own power and had minimal issues, even only being its second trip.
We met a lot of cool new random folks on the trail. I was admittedly turned off by the 100's in the hills event, and couple of rented jks we ran into on poughkeepsie, just based off of attitude and lack of concern for others. I guess some folks just do it differently. And it was cool to see those big things lug around all that gear over the trails.
Got to deal with the FS down there, and aside from a few crazies in UTV's tearing things up or going off trail, the area seemed very well managed. Cant wait to get back out there and see what other trails i can see.
My Durango I left at my folks got hammered by the hail in the springs so coming home to that wasnt fun at all. But the raffle winnings from saturday night eased the pain a little.

Was great meeting everyone & seeing your Jeep. Thanks for the pictures! COS got hammered with hail. My neighbor is a teacher at Sky View off Powers and was telling me about some of his coworkers that had windshields destroyed by the hail. Fortunately we live in a mostly hail free part of town!

Yeah. Came back to my Durango being thrashed. Sucks.

How do the San Juans compare to Pearl Pass between Aspen & Crested Butte? I would love to run that with this group. Just need to know what I need to show up with? For those that haven't been, Aspen & CB are great for folks like us. They don't turn up their noises because we aren't dropping $500 a night for a room...

No idea.

Pearl Pass is one of my favorites. I normally run it starting at Taylor Park and going over Taylor Pass to Ashcroft for lunch. That section is good for giving you a case of Colorado pin striping. Then head back over Pearl. The north side has some awesome views of the ridge that also has Maroon Bells. Nothing hard on that side. Towards the top, it is totally covered with a grey scree and literally looks like a different planet. Coming down towards Crested Butte is pretty but the road is long and has a ton of basketball sized rocks for the next 20 miles. While nothing hard, it will take a toll on tie rod ends and such. That loop makes for a long day.

Another of my favorites in that area is to head west over Schofield Pass and down through Crystal Mill and Marble. Not hard, but really pretty.

Geez Tom you make it sound so benevolent. I've read that today Schofield is one of the deadliest places in the state. We've been to Marble, would like to see Crystal Mill one day. We have places here in Colorado Springs hiking that make me feel like I'm on a different planet, I think I can handle the grey scree.

md21722 said:

Geez Tom you make it sound so benevolent. I've read that today Schofield is one of the deadliest places in the state. We've been to Marble, would like to see Crystal Mill one day. We have places here in Colorado Springs hiking that make me feel like I'm on a different planet, I think I can handle the grey scree.

Click to expand...

It got its rep due to some dumb church camp kids that packed a bunch of people in a Suburban and drove it off a cliff. It is a very mild trail.