WARNING: Road to Freedom trail dangerous !

Saturday while going to the Freedom trail I saw a red tail hawk lifting a 2 plus foot long snake into the air. I reached for my camera so fast I broke the charging cable. Some kind of sign of how the day could be, I thought.
On my way in I saw 2 Women from NEW YORK CITY get stuck in the mud. A rental car of course. I pulled them out of course.
Then as I got to the bottom of the first hill going to the springs. I heard 4 girls from L.A. yelling for help. I ended up spending the rest of the day trying to get them unstuck. They had gone down a hill too steep to climb out. And were stuck behind some boulders.
So my message is this : The road has been washed out in many places. The ruts are larger than before. Water puddles are still in the road. Some of the steep hills are worse than before. Sandy spots are mud puddles that look like sand pits.
If you do not have a high clearance and good driving skills. Park at the Bowen ranch or park at the Bradford ridge.