Colorado's Black Bear Pass isn't for the amateur off-roader. Experience with high mountain terrain and off-road trails with narrow ledges is a must, but there's still no absolute safeguard from potentially deadly accidents. They have occurred before, sadly, but some other accidents have better endings. This is one such case.

According to the Durango Herald, on October 10 a Jeep Wrangler rolled off and down several of the Pass's switchbacks before finally landing on a road at the bottom of the mountain. Inside the Jeep were a 23-year-old woman and two dogs. They were waiting for the driver to return as he helped a driver behind them around a tight turn.

Before exiting the red Jeep, the driver shut off the engine and applied the emergency brake. Unfortunately, gravity had other plans. The vehicle began to roll and the driver says he tried to jump back inside in an attempt to regain control but was thrown into rocks as it continued to roll off the road.

The woman was ejected from the Jeep as it rolled down several switchbacks. There were also two dogs inside and one of them is still, very sadly, reported missing. Both the man and woman were quickly taken to the local hospital with unspecified injuries, though the woman suffered more serious traumatic injuries.

As for the Wrangler, well, it's completely totaled, as clearly evidenced by these haunting photos. It's nothing but a twisted metal mess and the woman is extremely lucky to have survived. So let this be a clear reminder to everyone who loves off-roading: please be careful out there.

It doesn't matter how much experience you have, accidents happen. In this case, even killing the ignition, pulling the hand brake on, and the driver's quick response wasn't good enough to stop what happened. This accident could have had a much more tragic ending.