Unfortunately I did not make the trail ride because I was too much of a wus and was afraid of the snow and cold, but I was in constant contact with the club via cell phone and Ipod so I feel that I have enough info to write a relatively informative report. I was told that most of the club took the 6 am ferry to Bridgeport. Mark, with Mike Smith as side kick, Evan with Wes as side kick, Joe Levanti with his left hand as side kick, John Carter with Zev and Moose as his side kicks and a new member DJ with his girl friend Jenny as his side kick. Do you guys know what a DJ is. It is a postal Jeep. It stands for Delivery Jeep. I wish my parents named me JK instead of Dimitri. Good thing Joe had his left hand or he would have felt left out being the only one with out a passenger. Unfortunately Andrew had to work. The group met Glenn on the way up and met up with Blaine and Gene the mad Russian at the meeting spot.
Supposedly everyone air down, filled out the insurance forms and headed for the trail head right on time. LIOR is on a roll with our tardyness. It did take a few minutes to find the correct trail head, but with the help of Bob Blair's directions and Glenn's fuzzy memory they found the correct trail. I was told that there was not much snow and getting onto the trail was a breeze. Glenn was in front with Gene as tail gunner.
The beginning of the trail was said to be straightforward except new member DJ lost a fender flair on a tree. Then they got to the infamous stream crossing. This crossing has damaged and hung up many a truck. Glenn made if with a little effort but he told me that when he got to the stream it was covered with ice and snow so he had to clear the way so that the rest of the group could actually see the rocks. Joe made the crossing and the hill climb that follows with ease claiming his BFG's were giving him great traction. Evan followed Joe and made it, but with not as much finesse and slammed his slider hard on a rock. Mark made the crossing with ease as well as Blaine who claimed that his lockers were not even on, but as all us JK owners know, JK open is not open, open. They have 4 wheel traction control that works very well in low range. Following Blaine who had the biggest tires of the group came our new member DJ with the smallest tires on his JK Rubicon Unlimited. Yeah JK. I love JK's. Those things are the best Jeeps ever built. If it wasn't so cold and snowy my JK would have been there too. Did I mention I love JK's. Anyway DJ supposedly had some pretty worn 32 inch BFG's with no lift and the Unlimited's long wheelbase so the stream crossing and hill climb gave him a hard time. But with some help from his fellow JKer Blaine and Blaine's SuperWinch they got him across. DJ did donate his evap canister to the rock gods. $300 dollar part. Sorry to hear about that. I was told that the whole time the club was fighting to get DJ across the stream, John Carted just watched from the other side of the stream with the look of terror on his face. Well John made the crossing and hill climb easier than anyone. He claimed the new bumper Evan made for him gave him extreme rear wheel traction. The Mad Russian was next and made the obstacles but not with as much ease as you would expect from a Russian in a JK. I love JK's. Beside the hard time the vehicles had on the hill, the drivers were not doing much better on their feet, with a lot of slips and falls. Blaine is one of the most surefooted in his rig but is the least surefooted on his feet from what I was told. He must have fallen about 100,000 times. Not to good for someone from Colorado. He looked like a damn flatlander.
After the stream crossing is the long climb up the icy mountain with large rocks, trees, a steep drop to the right and even a castiron bathtub. The whole club except maybe Blaine had to fight some of the tall boulders sticking up in the middle of the trail with some winching of DJ and I believe Gene. At the top of the mountain was the lunch spot where the group stopped to eat. I heard that the group actually missed Warren, or at least his barbeque. I heard they ate cold sandwiches and Glenn had a can of cat food on a roll with mayo. Desert was supplied by Mrs Carter. I heard it was some kind of healthy cookie thing with fruit and nuts in it. I also heard that it tasted damn good. I better not tell Stephanie that she has some competition.
After lunch the group did some exploring and then headed back down the mountain. They were off the trail and airing up by 4:10. Pretty good timing. They left the meeting spot at 4:30 to try and catch the 6:00 ferry. They where 37 miles from Bridgeport at 5:30. It looked like they were going to miss the ferry. Evan told me that Joe had given up and that Evan had to drop the hammer and pass Joe to get the group moving. He said he was not going to miss that damn ferry. Mike smith tried calling the ferry to see if they would wait for us but he could not get through. The group of six trucks was waiting at the light by the ferry entrance a 6:01. When they drove to the guard booth the guy inside frantically waved the guys on with his radio in hand. The ferry was already moving but the deck hands were frantically waiving the six rigs onto the boat. With a little jump all six trucks made it on the ferry, even Joe. The guys said the race to the ferry was just about the most fun of the day.
I was told they had a great time and that I should have been there. Next month I am going to Raush, I don't care how cold it is, Your new trail reporter Dimitri Spanoudakus.
