Williams Pass

We drove over some of the same ground today as we did yesterday but it was worth the effort to reach Williams Pass. We drove through Tin Cup and over Tin Cup Pass, then Cumberland Pass to Hancock Pass. This circled us around a mountain so that we could access Williams Pass and come out near the Alpine Tunnel.

Most of these roads are rough but not hard to drive. Williams Pass, on the other hand, is very difficult. This road (if you can call it that) is only open in August and due to the fact that the snow melt has no where to go the meadow is always knee deep in water. A local Jeep club found this pass, which used to be used by miners to get their ore to the railroad, and maintain it by bringing in small rocks and gravel to fill in around the boulders. But the water and mud erode out their efforts and we are left with a challenging run.

But we are not complaining! This is what John and I enjoy about off-road Jeeping - the challenge of us in the Jeep against Mother Nature. Five of the seven Jeeps that made this run are Rubicons, and the other two are stock Jeep Wranglers. Three of the Jeepers have never done this route before but one of them is a very experienced driver so we didn't worry about him. One of the Rubicons was driven by a very in-experienced driver. He got stuck and it was 15 minutes before anyone realized that he had driven almost half of the pass in two-wheel drive when he should have been in 4-wheel drive. Once he was geared down he had no problems. One of the stock Jeeps got stuck and had to be pulled out but that was no problem for these guys. Once over the pass we all whooped and hollered! We Did It!

The rain came in, as usual, this afternoon but tapered off as we returned to the campground. We got back from our drive in time for Jeff and Linda to crank out some home-made ice cream! The party started under our awning but moved to the meeting room when the rain started coming down again. Carol and I whipped up some appetizers and everyone sat around telling stories, reveling in our adventures in the mountains and enjoying our friendship. Four couples in this group had anniversaries this month and of those four, three were this week including John and I. We all celebrated!