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Unfortunately not many photos were taken from this point. Lighting was not very favorable and because it was getting later
we had concerns of deeper snow ahead and the possibility of solid ice on the road ahead. I became more focused on
keeping the truck on the road than snapping the occasional photo. I believe we were on the highest point of the trail,
somewhere in the 7200ft range and the temperature was well into the low 20s.
Malcolm wasn't having any trouble on the snow and ice and only used his 4X a few times just to start rolling on inclined. I on
the other hand with only 2x had to put a little more effort into getting up the many hills we had to drive. There were two
notable inclines that i had to bare down on and slowly creep up with rear wheel flying at 35mph. The altitude had really cut
into the power and torque of the 327 SBC but it just had enough to keep the wheels going literally cutting a path through
the snow. During the worse of the hills Scott was behind the truck and gave a valiant effort to help me out. He found that
the bumper guard on the front of his quad was at a perfect hight to push up against the rear bumper of Tuba. Even with his
help though i never got going more than a few miles an hour up the incline.

Nearing the end of the trail we passed a county jail facility that hold prisoners that are on mountain services duty. The snow
was coming down more and more, and drifts were building against everything around the trail. It was at this point also that
the rail went back to being paved and started a steady decline. Now Scott who was still on his quad , zipping up and down
the train ahead of us drove up on a couple of trucks that were pulled off to the side of the road, He at first thought they
were some guys stuck, but it turned out to be a pair of forest rangers. Now I wasn't there when they first met up but I was
told that at first the officers were baffled as to where Scott had come from and why he was driving around at night in sub
freezing conditions. Once the situation was realized the rangers got an attitude and not so delicately told Scott to get off the
quad and pack it back on the truck. According to them there were posted signs stating there was no ATV riding aloud on
paved roads. We doubted that but loaded the bike up regardless and hit the road. From there it was a series of paved
switch backs that let out onto a two lane highway. We gradually drove from ice and snow to a light rain and split up when
Malcolm volunteered to take a stranded motorist down to a nearby city. That was about it.

D