The drive up was tough; for some reason it was really difficult to get out of the metro area Friday afternoon. Further complicating things, NASCAR had a big race up in New Hampshire that weekend as well, so traffic was backed up down I-91 past Hartford and west onto I-84. If fact I had planned on going I-84 to I-91 up to Rte 2 in Massachusetts, but by the time I got to Waterbury in Connecticut, because of the traffic, I changed plans and headed up Rte. x into Massachusetts. And a driving thunderous rainstorm. I was actually happy to see the rain as I knew it was preceding a cold front sliding down out of Canada, sweeping out the hot muggy air that had lain like a soggy blanket over the northeast for a week, bringing in cooler (less hot, anyway) and drier air. Saturday turned out to be almost perfect for ‘wheeling. The rain put a bit of a damper on Friday evening, especially over at the Mohawk Park Campground, the headquarters for the event. I was staying at the Whitcomb Summit Motel because the campground didn’t allow dogs (huh?), the Blair family was over at the motel too. The only other Long Islanders who attended, Lil' Marc and Bob Two-Jeeps, stayed at the campground, which was verrrry soggy on Friday night, though the rain let up by 8:00 pm or so.
Saturday morning dawned clear and bright. After a quick breakfast, the Blairs and I (Scoutmaster Bob and Joan in Howler, Rob “Young Blair” in his growing XJ named Thrasher) linked up and rolled down to the campground just in time to catch the group leaving for Florida Road. Along with Lil' Marc we made up four of the 21 trucks heading up to xxx Road. Bob Two-Jeeps was planning on running the hardcore trail at the Mickles Property up in Vermont, but that is whole other story.
After a short driver’s meeting in the parking lot of the Pub at Mohawk Park, we set out westward on Rte 2 to the trailhead of xxx Road. That last hill down to the trailhead is long and steep, and my brakes were smoking by the time we pulled in off the pavement. xxx Road is a great trail that never fails to disappoint. It is an actual road, marked on the map, and is simply unmaintained by the town of xxx. On the top end of the trail there are even warning signs posted by the town, stating that this is an unmaintained road, to be traveled at one’s own risk. I got a chuckle out of them.
Some trails are such that you ride a dirt road for a while and then everyone hangs around watching each other climb the obstacle; then drive dirt road for a while, then another obstacle. What’s really nice about xxx road is that although it is not hardcore tough, it is a trail that requires one to drive it the whole way. There are almost no sections of it that are smooth dirt path, it is strewn with rocks and ruts its entire length. And it does have 3 or 5 decent obstacles along the way, as well. The first obstacle is about a quarter mile in from the trailhead, I’ve always called it “the Grinder” because there’s a vertical rock wall to the right side of the trail that, if you take the line to the right, serves as a large grinder, scraping off paint, mirrors, flares, anything that is on the right side of your truck. The guys from Eastern 4-Wheelers call it “the Skewer” because right in the middle of the trail is a large boulder, which pretty much determines how one is going to attack the obstacle. You can take the line to the right, and discover how bare metal looks on the right side of your truck, or you can climb directly over the rock, if you have clearance. I tried that line once and sheared the bolts off my skidplate; didn’t have the clearance. I got skewered by “The Skewer.” The third line is to the left, requiring you to put your right-side wheels up of the Skewer, going off-camber to the left and hugging the trees that stand there. It seems tough, but a stock Suzuki, with a little help from 4 or 5 guys, made it over that rock.
I must mention here that for our ‘wheeling buddy Marc this trailride was a landmark ride. I have never seen him make it past this obstacle without getting hung up, but he did it this time. In fact, Marc made the whole trail without getting hung up once; a first, I think, for Marc. Congratulations, Marc-o!
Some of the intermediate obstacles along the way have begun to erode into obstacles that deserve names. There are three or four patches of especially tricky rocky stretches before arriving at the second major obstacle of the trail, a steep step of about 3 feet that lies across the entire width of the trail, with a rocky approach to the bottom of the step. I have always called this “The Wall,” as it lies there intimidating the inexperienced driver with its blank rock face. The trick to climbing the wall is to not approach it straight on, but, as you come up to it start your left side up first. When you left wheel nears the top, and you right front is about three quarters of the way up the wall, you cut to the left and goose the throttle a bit. This kicks your rear around to the right and you now have purchase to climb the wall. (By the way, Big Eric was telling me this is how he makes it over the Pinnacle at Beacon Trail, too.) Most people will try the obstacle head-on, resulting in bashed skidplates and rockers, and no movement. What makes this particular obstacle most entertaining is that it does have great potential to put a driver in one of those situations that could make them wish they’d missed this particular day of ‘wheeling. Sometimes, if your angles aren’t right, when you goose the throttle coming up over the Wall, instead of kicking your rear to the right, it can throw your front to the right. This leaves the truck with both left wheels up on the wall, and both right wheels down in the hole in front of the wall; a very unstable position. This is where straps and winches demonstrate their value.
Just a short way up the road from this obstacle is a large rocky clearing where we stopped for lunch. After lunch we went on down over the hill to the Mudhole. I’ve seen the water much deeper in the Mudhole; this day is was only hub deep . . . if you stayed to the left. Some boys never get over playing in the mud, and a large number of guys on the trail decided they were going to see how far across the Mudhole they could get by going in to the right side, which is just bottomless gumbo. And, of course, this is where our only carnage of the day occurred. Needless to say, no one was able to cross the right side of the Mudhole without being winched or tugged.
The rest of the trail out is a windy narrow trail interspersed with smaller mud holes and eroded rocky outcroppings. I did manage to hit one of the bigger of these mud holes with a bit more vigor than was appropriate and soaked my whole front end in mud, contributing to the slow death of my radiator through asphyxiation. We emerged out onto pavement, to the amazement of some bicyclists at the roadside, at about 4:30 PM. We aired up there on the shoulder and the Blairs and I headed back to the motel, everyone else headed back to the campground, to clean up and get ready for dinner.
There was a buffet dinner at the Mohawk Park Pub, fine eating. Tender rare roast beef, stuffed rolled chicken breast, veggies, ‘taters, great cookies for dessert. Bob Two-Jeeps showed up, and I was anxious to here about the new trail he was supposed to have run. However, Bob did not run the Mickles Trail up in Vermont. In trying to get some ice at the last minute, he got separated from the group going north, found himself headed for Rattlesnake Gutter, turned around, headed back and ended up at Ma Bell, which is to the south, not in the direction of any of the trails that were a part of the xxx Vacation. For missing the trailride, Bob earned the second of two Bonehead Awards for the weekend. The first was earned when he decided that the best way to get to Massachusetts was to cross the Tappan Zee Bridge and come up the Thruway to Albany, making a four hour trip into a seven hour trip. Ah, Bobby, we surely do love ya!
On Sunday there was a trailride up in New Hampshire that I did not make. Scoutmaster and Young Blair did make the rides and said the trail was challenging and twisty. I spent the day watching weather systems collide over the Berkshire Mountains and counting the cars as they zoomed by on the Mohawk Trail. It was s super weekend; western Massachusetts has to be a little bit of heaven right here on Earth. The weather was perfect, and I also have to say that lately I’ve had several opportunities to ‘wheel with people outside of LIOR and I’ve been really enjoying it. Riding with new people, seeing all the different variations of rigs, it really has been a lot of fun. This is your pres and reluctant leader saying so long for now, and please remember to be good to your Mom. Until next time, keep it rubber down and paint up.
Sunday's private property run
Donna (E4W) gets ready to winch
Martin (HV4W) digs in
The Scoutmaster backs down for another try
Thrasher climbing
Thrasher walks up
The Superwinch sees some action
