Thursday was our second day in Colorado and we had the mighty Holy Cross trail planned for the day.  Due to the difficulty of the trail, it was going to be an all day event with 8 Jeeps.  We chose to get an early start and hopefully beat any traffic that might be out on the trail.  We met up with a local guy that I had made contact with online who had done the trail 6-7 times already and who could provide guidance as needed.

After airing down and a photo op at the sign at the entrance to the trail, we began the climb.  Pretty much immediately, you could tell this wasn't going to be a walk in the park.  Bigger rocks in the trail and off camber obstacles met us nearly right away.  One of the rigs at the back lost a tail light pretty much right away as it's rear slammed against a large boulder on the side of the trail. 

On this trail, there are three major obstacles.  The first gives you a few options, some tougher than others.  I chose to go the tougher route and that is the image where we are in the "launch position" as we call it.  Unfortunately, my long wheel base didn't allow this line as at the top, my passenger slider kept bottoming out.  Since we were off camber and hitting the skinny pedal wither wasn't going to work or put us in a very precarious position, we decided it best to back down and take the easier route, which is still a difficult climb that is off camber.  I didn't have any trouble there and everyone else went that route too, some doing it easier than others but we all made it.

Shortly thereafter, we arrived at the mighty French Creek.  The water level was down due to the drought so we had a pretty good view of the rocks and boulders we would need to traverse.  We all walked it first, trying to pick a good line for our particular rig.  I was the second one through and it was certainly a battle.  Armor is your friend here and the sliders paid dividends on the large boulders.  Once out of the creek, you still had to navigate a tight corridor around a large boulder before being clear of potential damage.  After I successfully navigated the creek and following obstacle, it was time to get everyone else through.  We wound up having to winch 4 rigs through as the creek exit proved to be too much.  We now had one rig with a bent tie rod, another with a bent tie rod and blown steering stabilizer and one with a scratched painted fender.  Luckily for them, the rest of the climb to Holy Cross City was much easier than the creek and we arrived at the top some time later where we stopped for lunch and some drone flying.

After some entertaining discussion about the trip up, it was time to make our way down.  Usually going down is easier but there were many steep drops that were climbs on the way up and they had to be taken slowly or you were bashing your rear bumper pretty hard.  We got pretty far off camber on one so that was exciting but other than that, we had a good run down.  I think others scraped up their bumpers some but there was no further parts destruction that I am aware of.  We all made it to the end, surviving the unforgiving Holy Cross trail and earning our Jeep Badge of Honor award that will be sent to us in the mail.  What an great rail.  I wouldn't hesitate to go back and do it again.