VC Highlander
Member
In 2000 I moved from Livermore California to Crested Butte Colorado. I knew I was going to need a winter vehicle so I bought a brand new 2000 JEEP Wrangler Sport from the dealer in Dublin/Pleasanton and drove it off the lot with only 7 miles on the odometer. After getting settled in Crested Butte, I decided to explore the surrounding Rocky Mountains. I had never owned a JEEP, any truck, or 4x4 so I was very inexperienced. So naively, I decided to take this horse trail alone in this brand new stock JEEP which had yet to have license plates attached.
I can't believe how foolish I was attempting this on my own with no other rigs accompanying me! However, I made it with only a small compressed air tank, floor jack, fire extinguisher, a couple of bags of sand, and a shovel. Fortunately nothing went wrong and I was able to make it to the 12,705 foot summit and back down to Crested Butte. I decided, wisely, not to continue to Aspen as the snow was still thick on that side of the pass.
I recently watched some current YouTube videos of this trail and can't believe that I made it past some of these areas or even remember them. Of course the trail could have changed in over 20 years creating obstacles that were not there before. In any event, in retrospect, I was pretty stupid doing this all alone back in September of 2000!
This JEEP basically was my daily for the most part and became a work truck when I moved to the Reno/Tahoe area then Back to the Bay Area. I even shipped it to Maui when I lived there for 3 years! I sold my 2000 JEEP in 2018 to my mechanic of 30 years after putting 224,000 miles on it. It currently sits at his cabin in the western Sierra's and still runs like a champ and is still only stock with no mods!
I currently own a 2001 TJ that I bought a couple of years ago with only 88,000 miles on it. These have been the best vehicles I have ever owned!
I can't believe how foolish I was attempting this on my own with no other rigs accompanying me! However, I made it with only a small compressed air tank, floor jack, fire extinguisher, a couple of bags of sand, and a shovel. Fortunately nothing went wrong and I was able to make it to the 12,705 foot summit and back down to Crested Butte. I decided, wisely, not to continue to Aspen as the snow was still thick on that side of the pass.
I recently watched some current YouTube videos of this trail and can't believe that I made it past some of these areas or even remember them. Of course the trail could have changed in over 20 years creating obstacles that were not there before. In any event, in retrospect, I was pretty stupid doing this all alone back in September of 2000!
This JEEP basically was my daily for the most part and became a work truck when I moved to the Reno/Tahoe area then Back to the Bay Area. I even shipped it to Maui when I lived there for 3 years! I sold my 2000 JEEP in 2018 to my mechanic of 30 years after putting 224,000 miles on it. It currently sits at his cabin in the western Sierra's and still runs like a champ and is still only stock with no mods!
I currently own a 2001 TJ that I bought a couple of years ago with only 88,000 miles on it. These have been the best vehicles I have ever owned!
Last edited:
