Lots of expletives, huffing and puffing, and general fatigue later, we finished Payne's Pain and made it back to Archers. There was talk at the beginning of the ride that a couple guys might skip the fun of Bales as it's the last trail to hit, but that didn't stick, so we made our way over to Lyda Bypass and then naviguessed our way to Bales.
I was worried about the condition of Bales after the windstorm, but there was no need. Some small stuff down here and there, but nothing major and we made it all the way down without issue. We did find a super cool sign at the bottom of what I like to call the "slip-n-slide", not sure who put it there, but big props. The creek crossing section was good too, thought it might be blown out after all the rain, but it was crossable and fun at the same time.
