Trail wins again!

Last year I attempted to go up the Columbia trail that starts near the town of Hungry Horse here in Montana. It is a steep, narrow, and seldom used trail that was brought to my attention by some other riders who said it was one of the harder trails in the area. While I didn't find it all that hard, there are some narrow spots and a few sharp switch backs that are a bit tricky. 
What was the issue last year was trees that had blocked the trail and were simply too big for me to lift my motorcycle over. I Might have made it over, but then if I ran into more trees (which is almost a given if there is one, there will be more) I would have had to lift it back over on the way down after I was even more tired. So, I decided to give it up and try again later. The problem is that time is limited and I never had the time to attempt it again. 
This year, with a riding partner (Andy Reed) I decided to try it again. A decision that I don't regret, but in hind sight, think it might not have been the best trail to take Andy up for his second ride on a trials motorcycle. :-/ In my defense, I did leave it up to Andy to make the decision as to when we turned back. If he felt that it was more than he wanted to tackle or if it got to intense, we would come back down and go find a different trail. 
Here are a couple of photos from the trail. 
This first one is what stopped us this time. About 1/2 mile farther than I made it last year.. but still about 2 miles from the top of the divide. 

The next photo is of one of the switchbacks that make the trail "interesting" to ride. The trail goes by this root wad hole and makes a Hard right turn before going on up the hill. The fact that there was a Big sharp rock in the middle of the hole, no added pressure at all! :-)

A few times we almost were going by feel on the trail as the brush has so overgrown it this year that it disapears from view. Add to that, some of the over hanging brush is Devil's Club. If you don't know what that is, think leaves like giant raspberry plants, but with a spinney stalk that would put a rose bush to shame.

Since we couldn't make it to the top (the trail crew had been  up here, but must have only had one day to work on it, and didn't make it to the top either) we had to settle for terrible views like the two that follow. Don't worry, I'll be back either later this year or next year and WILL make it to the top of the divide on this trail!



One of the interesting things was a "hair trap" that was on a tree next to the root wad switch back that has a bit of Grizzly bear fur caught in it.. proof that we were not the only, or perhaps even the main, users of this trail.

What do you, my readers, think? Look like a trail I need to return to and make it to the top? Let me know your opinion!