Travelogue: The Lowlight

I'd like to say that the only downside to the trip was "we just didn't have enough time, but the rest of it was absolutely perfect." but that's not true. Everyone had a different highlight, but we all had the same low point:  the road in to the ranch. 

I have fabulously fond memories of the Diamond D from the time I was about 11. I remembered the road, too.  I remember that first time we drove it in our Country Squire station wagon, and my Dad telling me and my brother to not say a word, and both of us actually doing it (for my five year old brother, that was quite a feat).  I remembered the switchbacks, and how the road would fall away on one side, nerve-wrackingly close to the edge of the car. I remembered how far it still was even after we got down from the summit, and how big some of the rocks were that protruded from the road.

I asked my Dad which part of the road he remembered as being the worst, and he immediately said, "just over the other side of the summit."  Hm. I didn't remember that part specifically.

As we started up the road, it wasn't too bad. Yes, there were some big rocks on the road, and Sarah & Lauren got out to clear a lot of them out of the way.  If we'd been in a truck or SUV, it wouldn't have been such an issue, but in a Cruze, we were pretty low to the ground.  Still, it wasn't too bad. The grade wasn't as steep as in the Bighorn Mountains. We only met one car coming from the opposite direction, and squeezed past them without too much trouble. We got to the summit and took a break to look around.

Then we started down the summit.  Holy . . . well, supply your own expletive, because it was so much worse than I expected. The road wasn't a lot narrower, but there were a lot more rocks to move out of the way, and parts of the road itself were half boulder, and short stretches were incredibly steep. On the way out, there was one part that we were going up so steeply that I couldn't see the road ahead of us over the hood.  If I thought I'd be able to turn around, I think I would have.

It took us three hours to go twenty miles. I know lots of people have done it in an hour or less, including my mom back in the day. I have no idea how that's possible, even in a truck. It was easier going back out, because we had all spent so much time clearing the worst of the rocks out of the way already.  It still took two hours to get out.

I'm glad we went in to the ranch, and now I can cross it off my list. Because I'm not driving that road again.