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Our Fall trip was to Arnold, California for some tougher trails.  We did the Sourgrass Trail, a beautiful route paralleling the North Fork of the Stanislaus River.  Despite it’s easy rating, it had a couple of rock crawling sections to warm us up.  The following day we did the Slickrock Trail from Utica Reservoir to Lake Alpine.  There were multiple large obstacles including the final “gauntlet” rock climb to get out.  Luckily everyones’ vehicles held up to the extreme conditions and only one vehicle required winching on the gauntlet.  We headed home via the Deer Valley Jeep Trail the hard way, south to north.  The first mile was rock crawling before becoming a real road.  There was also a deep water crossing at Deer Creek.  The scenery and camaraderie were amazing.  These were challenging routes but provided a great learning experience.  I’ll be staying on easier trails for awhile!