Isak (Mountaineer01), friends, and Greg (Kabra) were at the meeting spot when I rolled up a minute or so before 9a. We trekked up to the large parking area a switchback below the trailhead and aired down. We were headed up the creek route - to meet another friend who was camping - on the trail.
The creek crossing gave a couple unexpected bumps from below though the gauges looked good. An inspection shortly down trail saw no issue. We came up from the creek and crossed over the railroad bed / main trail and headed up the tight trees trail. Isak's friend found a pinch air leak in the sidewall of the right rear. A scant ten minutes and the spare was swapped in and we were rolling to timberline. A direct route to McClellan's summit was the order.
The trail wasn't overly crowded but there was activity. Everyone was courteous with traffic on the switchbacks, a typical day. The summit called for coats and hats with the strong, somewhat cool, wind. We stayed at the summit for 20 minutes or so. With the time, we changed plans and opted to see the Santiago Mill and skip Argentine. Down we went, with a stop at the Mill. It's nice that the fence has been changed to allow pedestrian traffic much closer to the mill and office building. From there a quick trip to Waldorf to say "this is it" and we headed out. The Waldorf lot was busy and Argentine looked to be very busy. We moved out before a large group arrived.
Aspen trees... not yet. They're starting to turn. As for the cloudy / rainy weather - that was for the front range cities but in the mountains we had fantastic sun!
Isak, thanks for the seat, I enjoyed the day!
Highlight photos below with the full set (not too many) at this link:
www.JimWilliamson.net/automobile/2022-09-10--mcclellan-mountain-ride-along/
Airing up, it seems one of the rocks made a good dent in the bottom of the gas tank...