Trailfest or in other words carnage fest is brought to you by the lovely people at NOVA. I know that many people had arrived early Thursday and were able to wheel Friday. Well thats fine and dandy but some of us had to work on Friday and weren't able to get there until late friday night(late as in 1:30am because of the stupid traffic on 78 but thats just me ranting, lets get back to the story).
So lets begin the trail of carnage on Friday morning. As I arrived at Rausch I heard the enticing sound of tires deflating in preparation for a lovely day out in the woods. After paying Rausch because apparently everyone wants a piece of the action, Bad Hand and daughter Madison, Maqsood and family, Bob, Amasa and myself all headed out for the Blue Trails. (Editor's Note: The trails are marked black & blue/black.) Prior to leaving for the trail, it was clear the trail guide was nervous of my gear ratio and opened front and rear but I was ready for the challenge. After driving on the green trails for miles, we finally arrived at the playground....snakebite (hmmmm I wonder how it got that name). The morning went accident free until right before lunch when I heard static on the CB. Thinking the other YJ in the group had a problem, I proceeded to the back of the line to find out it was not who I had originally believed to have broken down. It was Bad Hand. Taking the set back well we ate lunch and took the axle shafts out so we could get him off the trail. With the massive 37" tires and detroit lockers those puney universal joints in the front axle were destined to fail. Bob and Maqsood decided to follow Eddie out of the trail after lunch. Maqsood left due to the good old ball and chain and Bob because of no propane. Amasa and I continued with the rest of the group and had an absolute blast with great hill climbs and lots of rocks to crawl over.
Upon arrival back at the cabin, naturally beers were popped to ease the pain and also to kick back and relax. After several brewski's with bad hand we realized dinner had already starting and made our way down to the lodge. I heard the burgers the night before were great for the Rangers to practice with but not to eat so I wasn't expecting much. But to my surprise the food wasn't half bad. After dinner was the raffle, which thanks to LIOR and work by many others there were some awesome prizes to be won, which Eddie Barbara took home. Amasa, Maqsood and Bob all decided that they were done for the weekend and weren't wheeling Sunday. However Eddie "Bad Hand" and I decided to take my rig out and push it to its limits and pushed it we did.
Sunday was a short day we had all decided that by 2pm at the latest we would be out of the trails and on our way home. Well within the first hour in the trail Evan trying to climb over the biggest rock I have ever seen, landed on his front driveshaft and split it into two. So we lost a good half hour doing that but learned that having extra parts is crucial in this game. A lesson that I myself will learn in several minutes. The morning consisted of rivers of rocks that were never ending and seemed to become larger as the morning progressed. It was about halfway through the morning when Gene found a black cylinder in the trial......guess who lost a body mount!! No problem right? I tossed it in the back of my truck and kept wheeling. Well we go around the corner and next thing I know the brake pedal goes down to the floor and the dash light comes on.....no brakes. Well a long story short Evan with some fancy work was able to get the line curled up out of the way and I rode out on the rear brakes.
Overall my first trailfest was an absolute blast. I had heard there were other problems with other rigs thoughout he weekend and I hope everyone gets back up and running before the next trip.
