Argentine Pass 10/14/12

Patrol 14 headed up to Argentine Pass yesterday. I have never been up there before, and I have to say... That is a really cool area! Very easy to get lost though. Tons of little spur roads that just lead to camp sites. And in my opinion, the signage up there is not that good. The temp was super warm and we only ran into a dusting of snow in a few shady ares until we reached Waldorf. We then continued up to Santiago Mine, had lunch and checked out all the stuff up there. We started higher up on McClellan Mtn. There had been a few rigs up there before us since we saw tracks in the "not so deep" snow, but as the afternoon went on, the wind picked up and started to drift the snow on the inner part of the trail. It was that stupid sugar snow that just doesn't pack what so ever. Got my Jeep stuck once, and then since there was no trees for the winch, and no traction for a pull, I spent a good amount of time digging. At least I got my work out in. We checked out one other spur road after this and then I heard a loud pop and some constant banging coming from the back tub. We pulled over and found my rear passenger shock up against the exhaust. This should not be happening, so when I got under the Jeep, I saw that the upper bar pin had snapped in half and the shock just slipped out. The nuts were both still there and tight, just snapped the bar pin. So once I took the shock off, we were on our way again and called it a day. Great day though, and some really cool stuff to check out up there!! On to the good stuff...