Out of the heat and back again

The day had come for our short trip to High Lakes. This is a local area I have not been to very much because it is popular and crowded. But I decided to go anyway because it would get us out of this heat wave we have had lately. So I made my list and checked it twice

√√ Full tank of gas
√√ Extra oil and antifreeze
√√ Tools
√√ Refrigerator strapped down in back
√√ Plenty of food
√√ Camera
√√ GPS and map
√√ Recovery gear

Had it all. We got in, turned on the AC and off up the hill we went. We got there and found all the camp grounds to be full. Yeppers, everybody had the same idea we did. Used the rest room, ate lunch and headed up the trail. At first I was a little disappointed. They had been working on the road and I was wondering if this trip to Shag Lake was a small waste of time. But soon, the sequester had its affect and road improvements ran out and immediately the road was more to our liking. Not a particle of dirt left on it. Just rock. So on we went. Paused for some nice pics of the forest, dropped down into the lower gears and crawled our way towards the lake. Paused by a small wet spot and took some great pics of bright orange butterflies sucking up moisture on some jet black mud. By now the trail was getting hard to find. Once again I had found a place no one had been this year anyway. Lost the trail a few times and had to get out and walk around to find it, pausing to take a few pics of the flowers and on we went over rocks, logs and nice green grass. The place was beautiful. At last we parked, got out and walked up over the dam to get a nice view of the lake. It was dry. They let all the water out of it. I guess the sequester affects lakes too. Nice mud flat though. Could be a lot of fun some other time. Back down we went, took a few more pics and got to a nice section and decided it was time for a movie. Got the camera out again and this time with my glasses on, I discovered ................. no memory chip :bang: No pics of the entire trip. So on we went. Had all four doing the slow spin briefly and twisted up the suspension a little on a difficult line and headed toward the next lake. About the time we got to the sign saying "Restricted Travel" I stopped to change ranges in the tcase and couldn't get it into forward gears again. The shifter had a strange springy feel to it. Crawled underneath and found my Hurst shifter linkage cable had melted and become a mess. Transfer case was a bit hot from the workout and had melted all the plastic on it. Fortunately I don't use a neutral safety switch, so I found the right gear and headed home. Day was a little short, but fun anyway

sounds like a full day indeed... is it bad for the transfer case to get that hot? I mean besides melting the plastic lol

No, gear boxes get hot. Hot day anyway