After meeting a few folks at Camp Jeep, we met up with them for our first club run. Actually, we weren't really even a club yet. That didn't until about a month later.

This trail is close to Lake Lopez, a reservoir near Arroyo Grande, CA, and run by the San Louis Obispo County Park Service. We didn't actually stop at the lake, but it's on our "to-do" list before we leave California.

What we really enjoyed about this trail is the diversity. It's a beautiful trail. There are plenty of water crossings, mud puddles and some difficult sections that challenged our rigs and our driving skills.

There was also an interesting area that was loaded with lady bugs. It was bizarre - there were millions of them. The whole ground was red and crawling.

Photos:

	This was the first time we crossed this stream. The stream and trail cross dozens of times along the trail.
	Another river crossing. The kids really liked going through the water.
	At our first stop, Justine parked on this little hill to get a flex shot or two.
	Flexing for the camera. She doesn't have sway bar disconnects yet, so the front end is still reluctant to really flex.
	More Wrangler articulation.
	Back on the trail. Our new friend Brett lead the way. He'd been out on this trail before, so he had an idea of what to expect. We were lovin' it! At times, the stream was the trail.
	More of Brett in the stream.
	There were plenty of these mud puddles along the way too. They were just stagnant water along the trail. And they stunk.
	Here's a shot of the puddle in the rear view mirror. You can see all the goop that's slung up onto the side of the Jeep. We were the only ones with our top down, so we got a little bit inside.
	Along the way, we found a really big mud puddle in a nice big clearing. I was driving at this point, and I couldn't resist! I hit the puddle hard and did some "donuts" to sling as much mud inside the Jeep as possible! We all got liberally splattered with the stinky sludge. The kids were laughing and screaming the whole time! What fun!
	More water crossings.
	Here are Gary and Linda in their Wrangler, poised to try to climb a really nasty hill. I didn't get any shots of the hill, but it's brutal. None of us made it up. We had to go around following the stream. Gary actually broke one of the shock mounts off of his rear axle trying to make it up. We had to disconnect the shock from the frame so he could keep going.
	Before going around that hill, we walked up it to "analyze" it and try to pick a line what we all might be able to use to make it up. When we got to the top, we noticed that the ground was red... and moving.
	As we looked closer, we realized that the ground was absolutely covered with ladybugs! They were everywhere.
	You can see patches of lady bug clusters on the ground around Aspen. Most of them were behind me in this picture. That's where they were thickest, and you couldn't see the ground beneath them.
	I turned and took a quick shot of the Jeeps where we had lined them up to attempt to climb the hill. You can see a bit of the nasty terrain in the foreground, at the bottom of the picture. They're not actually on the trail at this point, but in a clearing off to the side. The trail is the stream itself.
	Gary and I grabbed some handfuls of the ladybugs and let them crawl all over. The kids really got a kick out of that.
	As we continued on the trail, we found more and more of these bizarre ladybug clusters.
	Great shot of Brett's rig in Justine's rear view mirror.
	This is the back side of the hill we couldn't make it up. It was just as steep on the other side. Needless to say, we didn't make it up this hill on the way back, either.
	Another mud puddle for us to play in!
	We hit the stream crossings hard every now and then to help rinse some of the mud off the Jeeps.
	We found another nice clearing and took the opportunity to get some flex shots.
	Justine with her rig. She's one happy and proud Jeep owner!
	Brett doing a little flex for us.
	This is a great shot of all the Jeeps lined up ready to continue on the trail.
	The trail was really overgrown in some areas, and getting through meant either hacking it out with a machete or bowsaw, or getting a few scrapes in your paint. We were just too lazy to get out, so the paint was just going to have to suffer.
	You can see how much the branches had overgrown the trail here.
	It's even worse here.
	Nice shot of the white Wranglers together.
	On the way back, we backed all three Wranglers up onto this big hill with massive trees. It really puts the terrain into perspective. The Jeeps seem small in comparison. When we backed the Jeeps up the hill, all the mud and water that was trapped in the frame rails came pouring out. It looked like three Jeeps puking.
	Somewhere along the way, Brett's tie rod came off. We had to do a little field fix to get him moving again.
	It was in a nice spot, so we got another shot of Brett's Jeep.
	It was such a nice spot, in fact, that we took a shot of Justine's Jeep too.
	A day of blasting mud puddles, crossing streams and crawling up hills can really wear a girl out! Even though the trail was really rough and her head was bouncing around like crazy, Aspen still managed to fall asleep. She was filthy from all the fun and adventure!
	Speaking of being filthy, the Jeeps were crusted with mud and goop. So on the way back out, we took the opportunity to "wash" some of the mud off. Brett showed us how it was done.
	Justine followed suit. This was a great day!