Twelve Hour Trial Ride
by Joe Levanti
Twenty trucks with crews of participants, weary from this prolonged economic down turn, met at a truck stop and actually left early for our scheduled March trail ride. The trail is called the Gutter and was billed as a stock to a slightly modified ride. We left in two groups and arrived at the trail head without anybody getting lost. All aired down, met for a quick drivers meeting and headed out with Bob B. as the trail leader. The plan was to run the trail, optional loops, and continue further than usual by trying a steep climb that proved unattainable in past years due to ice.
The front of the pack quickly ended up toward the back of the pack after a wrong turn and a forced back track. I copiloted with Andrew in Blue J with its new set of 35’s and tube fenders to fit them. I had planned on photos but the camera batteries were not up to the task. All made the first obstacle, which changes a little every year. Some with just a little tug. At the top of that obstacle Amanda found her XJ was not in low range. Jake crawled under, manually engaged the case, and the line moved again.
Meandering up this trail is fun, with the option of an easier or harder line in many sections and lots of cross overs back and forth. After stopping to let another group go by we found the first loop. Some took that loop; some opted to stay on the main trail. That loop, which was not a very difficult trail, took its toll on some of its takers. A deep mud pit took the passenger front fender of John’s clean Cherokee, forced Mariano into an almost roll taking a tire in the process, and busting an axle and ball joint on Jaycee’s cut up Cherokee. While repairs were being done on the Cherokee the first half of the loop group was busy with a reseat then a complete tire change on Ted’s TJ. Due to these problems lunch was grilled in each group separately. The Bocca burgers were real good, and Stephanie made brownies.
The groups converged and continued on the main trail until loop two. We had more takers for this loop. Jim was the first in and chose the hard inner loop. The trail is narrow in spots with some difficult rock climbs thrown in. We spotted the guys from the other club cleaning up the remains of a trail roll. A black Cherokee XJ rolled completely over while attempting a rather steep rock climb. The driver, luckily, was fine. The Cherokee was not. This sight sent some of our loop takers home while the rest pushed on.
The afternoon passed on as we played on the rocks and hill climbs. As the sun was just about to set and on our way out of this still unfinished loop Jim’s Jeep shut off. Evan ran some quick tests. The diagnosis was no gas, even with the gage showing ¼ full. Bob donated the gas while the others made a funnel out of a water bottle and tin foil. The group was once again moving, now in the dark. Once back on the main trail, the group had to backtrack out in order to retrieve Jaycee’s semi-crippled truck. Bob leading the way down gutter in the dark hit a boulder blowing a front tire. Another tire change, a quick snack of brownies, and the group was off again, this time calling wives and making reservations to stay the night.
Cold, hungry, and just plain tired all aired up and proceeded back to the truck stop. Then to make a long day longer Blue J decided to bog down and run only at idle. Maybe clogged fuel lines, maybe due to the new exhaust bend. Dimitri offered a pull and we were off again, slow but moving. Then just to keep it going and just minutes from the trailers our line was pulled over by the local police. He pointed to the tow strap and said “this is not going to fly”. After hearing the story and learning we were not towing all the way back to New York he checked our licenses and escorted us back to the trailer.
An 11:00 dinner was had at the truck stop and our long day was over. This supposedly easy trail just beat us up all day with little, but time consuming repairs and problems.
We parted tired with large smiles on our faces and waiting for our next fix of wheeling.