Another U-joint gave its life for the cause. By now it was dark enough that the next parts run included a request for all of the flashlights in camp. Another trail fix and we focused our attention on just getting the next two vehicles up to the canyon edge. With the concentrated assistance of the whole crew, we finally succeeded in adding them to the vehicles collecting on the rim, but by now, the headlights were on.
As we walked back down, our discussion quickly turned to the deepening darkness, our depleted energy, and the difficulty of the remaining trail. Common sense being the better part of valor, we decided to leave the other four vehicles in the canyon overnight for an early-morning retrieval. Our little "Sunday drive" was going to stretch straight into Monday morning! It was not an easy decision. In 30 years of wheeling, we had never been forced to leave our vehicle unattended overnight. Some really late nights have occurred, and other vehicles had left behind for lack of parts availability.
Heck, we had even camped in the middle of the trail when night caught us out in the rocks, but we never came home without a mount under us before. This time, safety factors won out (the risks were just too high in the dark, especially given our shagged-out condition). Since the canyon is on private land, and we were the only ones out there, the vehicles would be as secure as if we were sleeping in them. Still, it felt kind of funny to walk back into camp in the dark and go to sleep with no Jeep parked beside the camper.
The retrieval started early the next morning. The faint unease we all felt (separation anxiety?) drove us out of bed and back into the canyon at first light. We fired the first vehicle up and started the arduous climb to the top of the trail. We hadn't gone far when the rocks of Alamita claimed yet another tribute - this one in the form of a broken control arm.
Right where we left them! Sitting in the canyon on a private ranch is a pretty safe place to store a vehicle overnight, but it still made the group nervous to leave them unattended. |  |  |