Today's run started when my co-worker Steve told me he was ready to head up to Crown King again.  We planned it for the 20th, a Saturday which happened to follow a week of wild weather that dumped a lot of snow in the high country. We had hopes of some snow on this run but after seeing the daytime highs in the 40's we figured there would only be snow in the shaded areas.  Anyway, the 20th arrived and we set off bright and early in the hopes of getting up there to grab some breakfast at the Mill.

You could tell the area north of Lake Pleasant had seen some pretty good runoff from the previous days storms.  It was pretty muddy so momentum was a good thing on most of the obstacles.

There were 5 of us on this trip, myself, Dennis, Steve, Dave and Mike.

Dennis and Steve on one of the optional obstacles near the start of the trail.

Mike had a bigger version of my LJ with less fender and more tire (37's).

Getting farther away from Lake Pleasant.

Steve putting on a good show in his unlocked Cherokee.

Dave (in the red TJ) was also open at both ends but made up for it with good driving.

Our goal could be seen in the distance - snow on the mountain to the east of Crown King.

Halfway there and there were signs everywhere of the cold nighttime temps at this elevation as well as some of the local predators.  At this point the only casualty was one of Steve's rear shock mounts on his XJ.

Our goal getting closer.....

Heading up the switchbacks.  There were several pretty washed out spots just before the switchbacks, you could really tell the water in Humbug Creek was flowing earlier in the week.  About halfway up the switchbacks Dave broke the lower bolt on his front track bar.  He ended up pulling a bolt from one of his rock sliders to patch his rig up.

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