Friday was a great day to enjoy the day outside.
I pulled into Ted's Place a couple minutes before nine and James and Michael were there chatting. In short order we were on the road to Kelly Flats - eastern trailhead. Michael set a nice, consistent pace trekking up the valley. Aired down and unloaded in a few minutes we were heading up the trail. Bottom line for traffic - only one motorcycle was on the trail while we were there. We were at the Chutes and it took the bypass - a very low traffic day.
We headed up HAH and at the top turned around. We chatted for perhaps 20 minutes then headed down HAH with the desire to then trek up the bypass. This'd give James (first visit) a fairly complete view of the trail. Up the bypass, where Michael said James had a front tire several feet in the air, we stopped at The Chutes.
Michael went first - up the typical route, turned around and down the typical route, then up the difficult route. I went up and ended up on a bad line. I tried to go open/open but I ended up spitting out several of the stacked rocks. I flipped the easy buttons for locked/locked and ham-fisted the jump up the first step. Flipping the lockers off I was able to zig-zag through the next tight spot fairly easy - though I did rub the frame or slider on the right side rock.
James gave it several tries - but the jeep just kept leaning into the rock on the driver side (see video). One busted mirror (it was tucked in and still hit) and a small tear in the top - it was good to toss in the towel. Backing down, the CJ-5 got wedged with its rear diff on a rock. Michael drove down with a winch line. With James free, Michael attempted to run the Chutes in reverse. The first step was no problem but turning through the zig-zag was the problem. Rear-Steer upgrade???
We chatted for a bit and then Michael headed east and James and I west. Shortly west of the Chutes is a chunky down-slope section. We each ran it down, then up, and again down. We checked out the steep up-slope side trail. From there it was quick work to the west trailhead.
The end route was full asphalt to home via the Stove Prairie / Masonville route where James headed south to Loveland and I east to FoCo.
I removed the 'teaser' video. The full length vid's are in a following post.
<video id="1" controls="" width="720" height="400"></video>