Mark S. and myself left Long Island Friday morning for a easy ride up, meeting Bob B. for lunch somewhere in Ct. after he had already ate. Arriving at Gretchen's area we are greeted by John C., who was already set up, and Jim and Bob S., who had already polished off a couple, and of course rain. After a short shower and some talk we set up our camp sites and cooked meat. Bobby did a great job keeping a wet fire going by poking it with a stick while I tried to dry my socks over it. Brian and Matt rattled in later in Brian's big diesel pulling Evan's trailer. While they set up we cooked more meat. We turned in as the skies started lighting up and the rain started falling heavy.
Saturday morning brought cloudy skies but no rain. We got off to a late start because we didn't want to wheel with Mike G and Joe's friend Kevin without them. The guys from Bay State Jeep gave us some maps and we were off to run blue and black trails; so we thought. Brian, who had Matt to read the map was chosen as our fearless leader. The first trail, randomly picked, kicked our butts from the first turn on. The first obstacle was a wet, slippery climb loaded with holes, rocks, and stumps just big enough to grab axles and stop progression. John A. spotted most with just a few needing a pull. Twenty feet on was a rock ledge that needed a certain line for most of us to make it. Those two obstacle took a better part of the morning claiming Kevin's drive shaft and side lining the V8 powered Toyota. The rest of our morning was spent sliding and winching past a couple of tricky spots. I wedged the Yj pretty good and had to winch out to move on having John spot the rest of the way through. Mike Sussman had a fluid on the header leak which made lots of smoke and a stop to find it was just the steep angle overflowing the reservoir.
After a quick sandwich on the trail (sorry no BBQ) we moved on to the black and red sections of trail. Blaine tried a red section trying to squeeze a portly JK into a bikini. It didn't fit leaving a door handle damaged. After walking the black trail we decided it would take to long leaving to much damage so we turned around and worked our way back. By 4 pm we had finished one rather short trail and half the crowd called it quits. Bobby S. lead the rest of the group on two really nice but difficult blue trails getting us out to the field tired and hungry. Out to dinner just as it started raining.
Day two brought us sun, warm weather, and an earlier start. Brian and Matt lead the smaller group to a blue which went to a blue-black then on to some green trails. The green trails at Gretchen's are not easy or stock trails, they are just easier than the others. I think we all got stuck and most had to winch at least once on these green trails. Brian leading the way didn't see a rather large drop off and when the rear bumper slammed down the corner weld broke and a tail light broke. Bobby broke a bead over the same ledge. The day took longer than expected and we were on the trailer and out by 3pm.
The ride home bought us some trouble with Brian's tranny over heating and a flat on Blain's trailer. Blaine changed the flat before getting on the highway and Brian's truck made it home cooling half way at Cracker Barrel.
I think we all had a great time wheeling in New Hampshire and look forward to returning shortly.
Police Blotter Report
June 24-26, 2011
by Detective John 'Bulldog' Acconi
Members of the Long Island Off Road club where responding to the June
wheeling run located in NH. The details are as follows: Angela and I
departed from Port Jefferson Station on Thursday at approximately 1200
with my mother-in-law, Alyssa and Kaiser. We got to exit #4 in CT on
interstate 95 at 1400 hours and were in traffic. Alyssa who is four
years old only asked "are we there yet" twice. My mother-in-law who is
in her 60's asked if we were there yet and how much further every five
minutes. We arrived at Seven Maples Campground at 2030. On Friday night I
met up with the other memebers of Long Island Off Road that were camping
at Gretchens. The following members where there: Joe with his 2011 Dodge
Ram, Mark with his 2010 Chevy Tahoe, John Carter and his Toyota, Jim and
Bob, and of course Bob and the Howler. The campground is located at 278
Bonds Corner Road. There is no sign and you have to know where you are
going to find it. I only stayed for approximately 1 hour and then I went
back to Seven Maples campground. The next morning on Saturday I arrived
back at the campground at 0830 to meet up with everyone who stayed. We
left for the trails at 0930. We were waiting for Mike G. and his
friends. We left for the trails and meet with some of the guys from
Baystate offroad and they gave us a map and we departed for the trails.
The first trail was marked a green trail and that trail led us to a blue
trail. The blue trail's first obstacle was a rocky up hill climb covered
in mud and as the first couple of rigs went through the trail got dug
out and that much harder. That was when Kevin driving a Toyota pick-up
bent his rear drive shaft and pulled over on the side of the trail to
let everyone go by. The next obstacle was another rock ledge in which
you had to come in on an angle to get over it. The third obstacle was
off camber to the passenger side across a wet covered rock. Then you had
to turn hard left and climb up hill between two trees with rocks in the
middle. Once you got past the trees you then had to turn hard passenger
and come around the tree without crushing your door and fender. After
that was a rocky climb up. The members of Long Island Off Road then got
to a spot that one black trail and a red trail crossed, we all agreed to
turn around and try a different trail. We then had to come down the same
obstacles to get back to the green trail. We headed down the green trail
and reached a blue trail with some tight squeezes past rocks and
trees. Once you got past that it was a steep drop off the passenger
side. As you came down you had to turn hard passenger side before going
over a drop off on the driver's side. We all got back to the field and
some members loader their trailers and got ready to go to dinner. I went
back to Seven Maples Campground. The next day I did not go wheeling as I
had to go to another campground to meet up with other members of my
family.
2. On my way to the next campground my navigator and GPS advised me to
take route 20 through local towns and streets. I finally pulled over in
the town of Hartland CT. to get out my GPS from my Jeep and that is
when a female named Tina walked up to me and said "ARE YOU PLANNING ON
SELLING YOUR JEEP?" I informed her that I was going to be buried in it.
She advised me that there are a lot of trails to ride in the area and
she gave me her number and informed me that the club should come up and
that she would be willing to show us some of the trails in the area. She
then gave us directions to the campground and we were off. I arrived at
the campground without incident.
3. The tow rig with the trailer and the camper had no problems climbing
the hills coming home on route 8 in CT. I was able to drive in overdrive
and cruise at 65 to 70 miles an hour.
The above information is being submitted as preliminary information and
is subject to change as additional information is discovered during this
on-going investigation.
