This was a great trip.  It was actually the second time we had been to the Canyon in Chris's Jeep, but the first time his Jeep was still stock so we couldn't complete the run.  Jared accompanied us in his stock Nissan, just to get our gear and camping supplies there and to try his truck out on some of the easier parts of the trail.  The trail to the cabin looked like Oak Creek Canyon and was a piece of cake.  We got out there in the evening and set up camp in a cave area inside the canyon.

The next day we drove on and got to the part where we had to leave J's truck behind.  From there the going got tough pretty quickly, but Chris flew through it like butter with his new RE 3.5 lift and Jared got to prove his skills as spotter.  In most parts there really was no trail to speak of, it was just rock climb after rock climb.  We passed by the old Martinez mine buildings and then began our ascent up out of the canyon.

Near the top of the hill we parked and dawned our explorer gear (complete with old mining helmets) to check out the Columbia/Silver Bell Mine tunnels.  This was the biggest mine we had been in, besides maybe DeSoto, with stacks upon stacks of different levels.  We explored every level we found from the top entrance at Silver Bell, to the ladder that led over 75 feet down to the bottom. 

When we got out it was beginning to rain so we drove up the rest of the hill before it got too muddy.  The view was great, and we could see the whole bottom of the canyon run.  The mud did however make the hill descent, dubbed, "The Luge," quite challenging.  The Jeep mostly slid completely unassisted down that while Chris optimistically tapped the brakes every once in a while for good measure.

On the way back Chris played around on a rock near the cabins, testing out how much flex he could achieve.  He was impressed with the way it handled the supposedly 4 point trail and really got to test out his abilities as well (Of course we're talking about the guy who did the Coke Oven Trail, or better yet, the back way to Crown King stock).