So we went to Ouray for the 4th of July festivities and had a blast. We had 11 club members in town and 8 participated in the parade. Then we hung around town the rest of the day and enjoyed the activities put on by the city.
     Saturday we met at the swimming pool at 9:00 and headed out for Engineer Pass and Silverton.  In attendance were Leila and myself, along with my mom. Jeff & Michelle Lane and Kali and Sami. Chris & Christy Chase with Cassie & Lucas. Don & Sandy Patton & Nick. Daryl & Viki Cox & Jacob. And our newest members, Pete & Barbara Putnam from Lake City FL.
     We had a perfect high country morning as the sun came shining down in the valley and warmed things up nicely. With just a few puffy clouds in the sky, we started up the mountain. 
     As we stopped at the trailhead to air down, Chris had an issue with his Cherokee which caused him and Don to turn around and head back to town. As we were heading up the trail we came across a good sized black bear just tromping around the hillside minding his own biz. He was a good size too. Luckily he was across the creek and up the opposite hillside from us. The trail was quite busy today as it was July 5th and Engineer, being a most beautiful trail and one of the few that are open, was filled with ATV's and other jeepers out to enjoy the scenery.
     We stopped just above the San Juan Chief Mill at Mineral Point and got out the chairs and food and had lunch on the mountainside. The clouds started rolling in and by the time we hit Animas Forks the rain was coming down pretty heavy. We didn't stop in Animas Forks, due to the rain and about 30 other vehicles parked in the area. As we made our way down toward Silverton, the rain let up. All day the waterfalls coming off the mountains were full and streams were at their max as well.
We arrived in Silverton around 2:30, just in time for the bottom to fall out once again. However, it didn't deter us from our main objective. ICE CREAM !! 
      After enjoying our much deserved reward for our treacherous journey across the mountain......O.K. it wasn't so treacherous and we really didn't deserve a reward, but it was GOOD, the Lanes and Cox's decided to walk the town for a while and the Putnams and us took the highway back to Ouray, and prepared for our next days adventure over Imogene.