Friday started with an early rise for me. The rain had stopped in the early morning along the way and I wanted to try to get a run in. The road were were on was wide with very wide shoulders also so I figured I could give it a shot. I ran 10 minutes out and then back and after checking with the odometer on the Jeep it appears I ran about 2.2 miles or so. It was still basically dark out and cars were moving through a lot so I didn't fully feel safe on it but I managed. When I got back Dave and Beth were having breakfast and such and I had to cool down for a bit before showering. Sean came over and joined us for some coffee then we gassed up the Jeeps and headed to line up for the trails.
We were up front in the line up behind the Watermans 2 Jeeps, they Noyes Jeep and silver 4 door JK owned by a guy named Aaron. Dave got in front of me and Sean got in behind me. We aired down the tires and got the rigs ready for the run before the Jamboree meeting then we pulled out behind our lead guide to head to the trail head. It was a short drive to the trail, maybe 6 or 7 miles. We had a large field to start in and there was the lead trail guide's brother-in-law and sister in a brand new Ford Raptor to follow us. They tore up the field a bit in it. Definitely not a cheap bit of equipment there. After air downs for the rest of the folks who didn't want to drive the roads that way (and disconnecting sway bars for those folks too) and a brief meeting we headed into the trails.
I should state here that the weather was absolutely perfect and we had sun all day with just a few clouds at the very end. The trails however were totally greased up by the rains the previous couple days. It meant that a trail they listed as difficulty 5-6 on a scale of 10 was really probably 7-8 because this mud gave absolutely no traction. The obstacles were overall fun but it took us a very long time to get everyone through all the mud holes and hill climbs that we needed to pass. As the day progressed and we were moving so slowly, especially past 1 hill climb that David had to turn around and winch me up (first time I have ever been winched) they only let a couple more rigs through and then had everyone go around instead. By the time we got everyone around through that we were at the lunch spot. Ironically it was 4pm instead of lunchtime. At the lunch spot while we were waiting for a couple more rigs to show up there was a rockface climb that several Jeeps hit. I was just getting around the path to get to it when the lead guide returned and tried to do the climb himself. It would be lengthy to explain this the full way but basically his Jeep was seriously built up. I am sure it was thousands of dollars ahead of mine. He tried a couple times to get up the face but kept sliding back down. We think it was because he was too heavy in the back. In any event on probably the 5th try he skipped over to the left to a steeper part of the face and ended up rolling backwards. Fortunately for him it was a slow roll and he landed on his spare tire and didn't go all the way back. It meant his nose was fully up in the air. We got pictures from all angles. They eventually pulled him back to the ground and he backed out really pissed that he couldn't clear the face. Another guide took a few attempts to get over it with a flat fender Willy's but I went after him and got over it on the first try. I have to admit the guide scared me to it a bit but I had already committed and it wasn't really so bad after all.
After that he offered us the chance to go through one more obstacle called Moose Back and we said sure. It was a quick climb over a ridge that had a drop on either side then down a very steep set of steps made of tree roots. It was fun but the downhill part was a touch scary, especially for an automatic that couldn't really crawl down it even in 1st gear. From there we headed off the trails and the into the hotel eventually and made dinner. David cooked fajitas. Sean and another friend Carl came in to join us and eventually the Watermans came over to hang out for the night. I will say I was exhausted from the day and I was able to sleep relatively well after all of that.
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