Rick and I did this yesterday, and conditions were prime. Due to me having to work until 5:00 in dntn Boulder (and pack), I rallied up late and met them at the Pot Belly in Red Feather, then retreated to the 517 and camped out.
I had done Seven Mile and the 517 over Labor Day weekend, and knew that Rick would have a really difficult time fitting the Burb through all the leaning trees on the 517. My K5 was laughably close in many sections. This area is extremely thick with trees, with unfortunately tremendous areas of beetle-kill. I would say a chainsaw on-board is borderline mandatory, even this late in the year. And watch where you park.
We left Red Feather at 11:00 am, did Deadman to the 300, then the 517 to the 177. We "finished" at 5:30, with very minimal stopping. As we did this top-down, the day's challenges were much more focused at the tail end (closest to the lakes). Thing's are always tight for us full-sizers, it seems these days. As such, we were tackling the muddier holes/re-routes when we were most blown out. The majority of the puddles were of no consequence, with very little true mud at the bottom, and the highest water levels being bumper-high on Rick's Burb.
The sections north-of/at the lakes were definitely more challenging. On one hand, we were restricted by vehicle width, on the other, ourawesome Chevy articulation kept things hooked up. I could easily see an open-diff/low articulation vehicle really struggling in the section by/above the lakes. There are some seriously deep ruts in this zone, and if you are running much under a 33" tire, make sure you have friends along. Jeep width will be more nimble, but you're still gonna get sucked in.
We were in strike-force/many-miles-before-we-sleep mode, so only have a two pics, and they are totally not representative of what you will run into near the lakes: