The rain started before I woke up and I decided not to run with the dark and wet and the major thruway. If we had trails I would have considered it but the hotel wasn't near any. So we basically had breakfast, got cleaned up and again headed to the line up. We managed the same basic positions for the Chili Trail as the day before minus Aaron who was doing a different trail on the easier side. Since he was open/open with no winch he opted for the less difficult path. Before we actually hit the trail head they have a Saturday tradition of running a parade of the Jeeps through town. All the locals come out to watch it and even with the slight rain that was coming down we had a good turnout. It was fun to see basically all the Jeeps in the jamboree because we had to loop back and pass each other through it. After the parade we headed to the trail head and those that needed to disconnect and air down did so.
The rain was light in the morning and the Chili Trail had a different kind of mud than Ridgeline so we really didn't have a lot of traction issues. In fact I only recall one winching or strapping through the entire run. The lead guide, Scott, whom we had met in Killington a few years before is an awesome guide and spotter and we really kept moving the whole day with relatively few stops. I really liked the trails we took. There was challenge without it being so tight in the trees that every turn was a potential brush on the body. Instead it was a lot technical rock gardens that were relatively open and even the water crossings and mud holes were basically fun to go through. We got to our lunch spot basically a little bit late because there was a flat tire that needed to be fixed but overall it went well.
This trail is called the Chili Trail because the lunch stop is at Scott's parent's "Summer Camp" which is incredible to see and his mom makes a huge batch of Chili for each trip and they serve that to all the participants for lunch along with some bread, desserts and mulled cider and coffee. The chili was excellent as was all the foods there. As we ate the rain started to pick up and it got to a drenching type. My sister-in-law had fallen down a couple time while walking around the slick trails and had bruised her leg fairly badly and she wanted to get out of the trails. I knew David would take her out but I also knew he would much rather stay in and finish the trail so I let him stay and drove her back to the hotel. I had to exit through the trails because Scott didn't want to have to de-mud his dad's driveway but it was not too bad to get down. The GPS on the Jeep failed me for the first time and we had to reset twice before we pointed in the correct direction and got back to the hotel. From there I started preparing dinner and watched a bit of a movie while they were still on the trails. I guess they did about 2 more hours worth of trail but a lot of it was basic with a couple neat obstacles. Based on the pictures they took it was obvious they kept moving the rest of the run and while I am disappointed I missed the rest I am fairly sure there was nothing so astounding I should regret I missed it. The better parts of the trail were definitely in the morning.
When David got back we headed out to the fire department Jeep wash. They were much better than the Killington version. When we returned we called Sean and Carl over and had dinner which was roasted chicken thighs, green beans and a pre-packaged pasta side. I enjoyed it. We had a couple beers and eventually the Watermans and Evelyn came over and had a couple too. I was exhausted again and I was glad to get to bed when we finally did.
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