FSJs in attendance: my 86, Scott's 74, and Paul's sweet M715 with the custom flatbed, and gobs of goodies. Some neighbors of Paul's were along, Bill in a Suzuki, Carlton in a Rubicon, Steve in a Silverado.

I had been sick most of the week and weekend, slept away Saturday and Sunday but decided to give the trail run a try before it was too late in the year for mountain passes and fishing. Nevertheless I was slow getting the FSJ loaded out and was real late getting going, so Scott and I showed up into St. Elmo after Paul and crew had left. We came across them after a few miles on Tincup though, so no worries.

The weather was phenomenal -- 70's, clear skies, cool breezes -- ideal Colorado weather. The trail wasn't tough at all, suitable for a stock FSJ, no problem, just a couple of sections that might've been a little challenging. There's a little offshoot that we took to find a lunch spot that involved some big rocks and tricky driving. Would be real fun going up instead of down. Lunch among the trees was relaxing. Peppers were shared all around to supplement lunches.

Our primary destination was Mirror Lake for some trout fishing. Paul showed us all how its done, with a total of four fish. Scott got a few hits, I and everyone else got squat. I had been doing so well the last few trips. Ah well, it's late in the season and I think it's a challenging lake.

After lots of fun times around the lakeside, we saddled up and headed down to the other side, through Tincup (kind of like St. Elmo a little), and looped back to Buena Vista and then back home after a detour for yummy burgers in BV. Fortunately it was late enough that I missed any of the Labor Day return traffic on 285.