My 2.5 hour trip from CT was pretty uneventful. As I came into Mass,
my
phone rang. Since I was going to drive right by his house, Kristian
wanted me to meet him there and follow each other up. So, the two of
us
proceeded to the meeting spot on Rte 13 after a little tour of Kristian's
mini
Landcruiser bone yard behind his house. Allan, Chu, and a few others
were patiently waiting for us. Everyone aired down and undid whatever
needed
undoing to prepare for the trail. Domingo, and a few others showed
up
as we were about to hit the trail, so we waited a bit more for them
to get
ready.
15 minutes later, we were on the trail. Karl brought up the rear and
Kristian started us off. The trail was mudy and started off with about
2 inches of snow on it. Kristian pulled off and wanted me to test the
waters on the first hill climb. I had no problem, but could tell that
for
someone without a locker, it'd be interesting. After a few tries, Kristian
managed to get up it. A few other decided to take the bypass, but everyone
that
tried the hill, finally got up it, even Chu. Up and over a smaller
hill, we found some fresh bogger tracks.... there were others in the
area.
Ahead of us was a deep mud hole that had 2 inches of ice on top of it.
Allan
was determined to go through it. I opted to go around since I really
didnt
feel like winching myself through it. I told Allan that if he got close
to
the other side, I'd pull him through. But the ice proved too thick
for the
60, so Allan had to be pulled backwards by Ben in his heavily modified
V-8
40.
While Allan was being pulled out, a few others went ahead and played
on
some small rocks. Kristian and I parked our trucks for some pics. Down
the trail at the intersection called 5 fingers, we met up with the
makers
of the bogger tracks. It was one of Chu's friends in his Jeep.
We got
some direction from them and headed on down the trail to what we thought
was
a bypass for some REALLY ugly mud and water. This was where the
group
kinda fell apart. Some of us kept going down the trail and a few others
ended
up taking a left twards the rock quarry, AKA the Steps. After making
a
little trip through the woods, all of us ended up at the Steps. There
were
some other trucks from the Mass Mudders already on the Steps. It turned
out
to be a bit cramped with two clubs on the same obstacle. Karl, Allan
(Domingo) and I
were the only trucks from YT that tried the Steps. I think others would
have, but with the other club there, it was REALLY cramped. Since
this
was the first time with my Marlin dual transfer cases, I was hoping
to play
a bit on the rocks. I was having a little trouble with my new nerf
bars
hitting my front tires under compression, and with my front Tru Trac
not locking up, so I didnt really get to do what I wanted to. The crawler
performed flawlessly though. At one point in the steps, I did have
to
shift
into just 4:1's so I could bump the front end up, but I think that
was
due to the Tru Trac not locking up. So we headed out, and for some
reason,
the Mass Mudders decided to follow us. This is where the confusion
started
again. Some left, and some split into different groups,. The group
I
was in, which almost EVERYONE with a CB, went down the trail and waited
for
the rest of the group. After almost an hour of waiting, and no sign
of
anymore Toys, 4 of us went back to see if we could find the rest of
the group.
Not finding anyone, and it getting late, Karl, Mark, Chu, and myself
headed
out and went our seperate ways. On the way home I called Kristian
to make
sure that he had made it home. He had and apparently my beeper had
fallen
off in his driveway. With a quick stop and a thanks, I left Kristian's
house
homebound. One more call was to Allan to see that he had made it home,
which he had. The trip home was also uneventful. Thanks to all for
a
great day of wheeling and finally putting faces to names!!!! There
are alot
more trails to explore and I hope that we can go there again soon.
Thanks
again to Kristian for finding my pager, the100 mile leash that work
has on
me.