What a way to end it!

 The first couple of days of quadding were awesome.  We were tired so we woke up later the third day and we decided to just go quadding where we were.  We were going to drive by Coleman and go where it was more rocky....that ended up being a huge mistake!

 Mud, Mud and More Mud!  Spring time in the mountains. (July)  We should have turned back when we could but of course we kept thinking it would get better after the next mud hole!  If you look at the above pictures you can see how the day went.  Sean would go first and test it out.  If he made it through he walked back and we each went through one by one. 

 We went down lots of trails.  They were narrow and this one was very steep!  I mean VERY Steep.  Sean stood at the spot we had to turn and pushed on our quads to make sure they made the corner rather than plunging down the steep cut line below!  It was so steep that you see the top of the hill here and then the bottom (above) the rest was straight down! ( this hill was probably a 1/8 of a mile staight down. The picture really doesn't show it!)  I was too scared to do it, so I walked and Sean drove my quad through.  This became the pattern of the day!

After we did that one, I said I never want to do that again and I would never try to go up that it was so steep....stay tuned...foreshadowing of story here!

 driving my quad on the cliff curb!

 After we white knuckled that part, we decided we needed a break and some lunch.  Some guys drove past us as we were dining.  As we waited there, I could hear the guys ahead and I could hear they were stuck.  So off to the rescue we go with our winches ready to go!  Winches not Wenches!  lol

 This is what we found!  A great big mess! There is no lake here by the way, this is the path and the only path further in!  Well, we pushed and pulled them out.  Moved the bridge over and then one by one we have to try and get over through this mess!  The one guy is wearing hip waders as he is going fishing. That was handy!  I think the picture of Sam putting the stick in to see how deep the pond is so funny!  See the size of the stick?

 Grandpa and Sean both love to solve a problem, so everyone was in there pushing us through!  It was still early enough in the day that we thought it was fun at this point!  I am starting to get a bit frustrated though.

 London almost went over here!  eek

 The wolf's turn.  It had to be centered perfectly or it would have gone off.  Good driving Grandpa!

 OK, NOW it is getting not fun for some of us.  Sean is still thinking this is an adventure.  It was one mud puddle after another the deeper in we went.  We would just get through one and then travel 1 minute and there was another set!  Mine is the biggest so it went through first on lots or had to go through to rescue Sean's because mine has a winch.  Look how deep the water is.  You don't know that until you start driving!  This one was crazy deep and it was a real challenge to get it out and us through.

 This mud puddle was special!  All three quads got stuck.  London rolled hers and it was leaking out gas.  I have to pause here to try to bring you to understand my frustration level.  It is now getting late.  We don't really know where we are.  I hadn't been putting way points on my GPS because I am an idiot!!!   We have now done 40 of these puddles...no word of a lie.  We went down a goat trail that was so narrow we were all scratched up and there was no way to turn around.  I was fearful that we would have to turn back.  I am scared.  Sean would go ahead and drive for 10 minutes or so while we waited and come back and say that way is impassible we have to turn back.  Only to do it again and say the same thing.  We were now trapped in my mind.  Sean, to this day, will say he wasn't lost or worried but we were and I was!

 At the end of this, a terrible accident happened.  Dad's Wolf rolled and he wasn't wearing a seat belt which may have been a good thing in this case.  But he was trapped kind of underneath beside the quad.  Sean is trying to lift it up.  We were all trying to pull dad out.  We (the girls) are all crying thinking Grandpa is dead (almost!)  then the worst happens. It starts pouring out gas and we are still miles from home so:

1) we could have a fire and burn up dad

2) it will pour all the gas out and he will be stranded as we didn't bring extra gas!

It was terrifying.  We all were praying for a miracle.  We got dad out, but still had to quickly right the quad.  London was trying to winch it up while laying on her side and it was to heavy for us to lift it.  We tied the winch to a tree and wounded grandpa (my hero!)  jumped on the one side like a gymnast and hanging on and leaning his weight to one side with the help of the winch we got it up and over.  He hurt his hand and so luckily we had a first aid kit and got him fixed up.  Good thing he was wearing a helmet. He really banged his head.    We had no choice but to keep going.  We ended up back at the horrible steep hill I told you about that I was terrified of.  Sean said we had no choice we had to go up it. All other ways were impassible.  I cried, he drove...we finally made it out.

We were all soaked, the sun was going down and we were cold and muddy.  Here is London showing off her mud.  She was amazing too.  She did everything her dad would yell at her to do.  She was the one in the mud with him pulling everyone else out.  I just looked on and stressed out.  Dad went into a little bit of shock, I think. He was so cold and just couldn't warm up.  I was so worried that we almost killed him.  He is such a trooper and is an amazing man.  I don't know if we will convince him to come again.   We made it and I was grateful to Heavenly Father for guiding us out.  I was so happy to see camp.  We were suppose to stay another day and stay for Thunder in the Valley but we were too shaken up (some of us) so we decided we better get everyone home.

Special note:  Sean is amazing and was so patient helping us all out.  Thanks honey!