By the time the gates opened at the Colorado State University Extension Apple U-Pick event in Yellow Jacket and 9 a.m. Saturday, hundreds of people had lined up at the gates armed with bags, boxes, buckets and an appetite for locally grown apples.

Just two hours later, nearly every tree had been picked clean.

"There is not much left," a volunteer said, to those arriving at 11 a.m.

Those that slept in, were forced to choose between the less popular varieties: Golden Delicious and the Pinova apples.

"The Honey Crisps went first, the Liberties and the Royal Empires followed," said Tom Hooten, CSU County director extension agent.

Hooten counted 175 people lined up at the gates Saturday morning.

There weren't as many apples to go around this year.

"It was the freezes Memorial Day weekend and a couple days after," Hooten said. "Three consecutive nights of temps in the mid 20s - that's not good for apples."

The Golden Delicious apples, however, fared well.

"They were higher up in the orchard, and cold air tends to settle, so they produced well," Hooten said. "We had a lot of golden delicious, but people do prefer the red apples."

Hooten said some varieties handled the cold temperatures, while others didn't. Some of the trees were bare of fruit before the apple pickers descended, and others had very few apples.

The event was still a success. Families trucked through the orchards with big smiles on their faces, snapping photos, sampling the different types of apples and offering picking strategies.

"Don't go for the little ones, they will make your stomach upset," one mom told her daughter.

"Up here, I found the perfect apples," another said.

"Don't eat that one, it has a worm hole," another mom said.

In total, about 500 people made the trek to the Southwest Colorado Research Station in rural Yellow Jacket, and a total of 7,691 pounds of apples were sold. Those numbers were down from last year, when nearly 800 people attended the U-Pick event, and nearly 12,000 pounds of apples were sold.

"We even had apples left over last year," Hooten said. "We were loaded with apples last year."

New this year was the music stylings of the San Juan String Band, a band made up of local public land officials.

"People loved the band," Hooten said. "We are trying to add a few things to make it more of a community event."

The band yodeled, sand songs about apples, a teddy bear picnic and warned children about playing with matches.

In addition, Battle Rock 4-H members sold food, soda and cold water.

"It was a great fundraiser for them and a good way to make it a community event and provide food and drink for participants," Hooten said.

People came from as far away as Kayenta for the event.

Most people talked of turning the apples into pies, apple crisps and sauce.