I took the DV8 (Deviate Off-Road) crew out to run Gold Mountain in Big Bear, and it was one of those days where you’ve got a whole gang of rigs and you just know something’s gonna happen. We had a solid mix—my Colorado ZR2, a couple more ZR2s, two GMC Canyons, a Tacoma, a 4Runner, Jeeps, an old Toyota pickup, and even a first gen Raptor. We started right at the gatekeeper obstacle, got everybody through, and then kept pushing into the trail with snow still hanging around and that classic Big Bear granite everywhere. Obstacle two was a good one—line choice mattered, and with the right spotter it was pretty dang easy. I did scratch the bumper a little (not too bad), and later we got into the boneyard section with big loose boulders where things get sketchy fast. We also had some real trail drama: a driveshaft issue on one rig, diff fluid leaking, and plenty of “don’t blow those popa steps off” moments while we stacked rocks and worked lines. By the end, we aired up, headed to camp for cold beers, and then I made the hot drive back to AZ sunburnt. The trail was awesome—but yeah, I paid for it with front-end trail damage on the new bumper and tore up fenders. Worth it.