As with last year my second trail day was spent on the 5 Corners. Wendell again led the pack and is an excellent guide. Most of the Exploring NH troop was with me today as well so we jammed ourselves up towards the front of the pack, only stuck behind Rocodile and Wendell and had breakfast at the lodge which at least today did have bacon.
Due to his ride being better off trailered with rear differential fluid leaking due to a problem with his locker, I had Walter as a passenger on the run. He and his wife met up with us in line and he rode with me and she rode with Dave and Michal. Walter has been wheeling since 91 or so and has a much better rig than I have. He had a lot of experience and gave me a bit of advice here and there and spotted a couple times for people. He was fun to have along and he told a lot of stories. I am sure he absolutely would have rather been driving his own rig on the tougher trails he signed up for but I think he was glad to just get out and wheel rather than sit in the hotel room. His wife Linda was much happier to have a no stress day where his Jeep wasn't being dragged through body damage central so it all worked out well.
5 Corners is a lot less squishy than Vertigo though it was highly different from last year. The first obstacle was not just the short rock climb we had but rather a long technical hill climb cut out of the side of a hill. There was a rise on the right and a drop on the left and the higher we went the steeper the drop got. It was not a matter of being wedged in between trees and rocks but more just a creepier feeling about the drop which wasn't really as significant a threat as it looked I am sure. Anyway, there were a lot of rocks and roots and a bit of mud up that hill which was pretty much the hairiest experience of the day. From there it was a reshuffle of the trail from last year. We moved on to the trails through the stream beds that we finished with last year. I heard a lot of dinging on the trail as I rubbed my skid plates and Dave was sure I banged my front pumpkin on something that he hit the back one on but I didn't pull up any damage for real. We had lunch in a clearing that was obviously someone's front yard and was very near a cemetery with mainly occupants from the 1800s. We visited a couple water crossing and climb obstacles during the rest of the day that were quite enjoyable and finished all the trails with relatively little problems. In fact I am sure we spent more time in the Jeeps running rather than outside and waiting. The weather surprisingly held up very well and towards the end of the day it was fairly hot.
We got our rigs washed and aired up by the fire department for a donation. I returned and David was not back from his run at Vertigo but I got cleaned up and he eventually called me at 6, more than an hour after I was back in the room. They used a part of trail we didn't touch yesterday and barely made it through that but he said he had fun. He met us all at the lodge for dinner. I won a prize choice from ARB of either a recovery kit or some lighting for the Jeep. Concensus is to take the recovery kit which rings in at $210. After that part was over everyone came down to Chez Savard as we called it and we hung out and traded stories about the trails, had a few beers and just generally had a good time.
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