The day
started out beautifully. The morning was crystal clear while
maintaining that cool October atmosphere that the east coast
can be famous for. By the time we were ready to hit the trail,
the sun had burnt off most of the underlying fog, and the sound
of the woods calling our name was starting to be heard.
The trail
that I helped lead is called “Cliffhanger”. Cliffhanger is a
5 (out of 10) rated trail, with a lot of scenery and a few obstacles
to overtake. It is a challenging trail to the first time trail
rider, and is well worth the trip for anyone who likes to partake
in the beauty Mother Nature has to offer. With nineteen Jeeps
and two Trail Guides in line, we were off on our adventure.
Cliffhanger,
which is run mostly on private property, has some of the best
scenery on an OHV trail that I have seen to date, while adding
some moderately challenging terrain, especially for the stock
vehicle. One lesson that most Jamboree attendees learn
is tire placement. Shortly into our trail, that lesson was driven
home hard when a 97 TJ (stock, 30 wheels) slammed its
oil pan onto a jagged rock, poking a hole the size of a ink
pen into the oil pan, directly where the plug goes. Oil was
spewing down the trail, and was noticed by one of the participants
who pointed it out to me. It didnt take long to find the
vehicle, which was doing its best impression of the Exxon Valdez.
We carefully
used bottles to catch the oil in, and what we missed was collected
with a shovel and put into a trash bag and hauled out of the
woods. The lead Trail Guide (Tim Rettig) and myself were sure
to collect as much of the fluid as we could. We are both members
of Tread
Lightly!, a sponsor of Jeep Jamboree, and Tim is a representative
of Blue
Ribbon Coalition, so we were sure to show the event goers
the proper procedure in recovery of spilled fluids while on
the trail.
We ended
up towing the broken rig out of the woods to an awaiting tow
truck at a nearby gas station. The tow got the vehicle back
to the local Jeep dealership, who had the TJ back on the road
in a matter of only a few hours.
By the time
I had gotten back to our group, they had all made it over the
roughest obstacle and were on the home stretch. The only other
damaged noted was a grapefruit size dent into the rear quarter
panel of a brand new Grand Cherokee. Everyone had a great time,
and we stopped by the land owner's establishment after the trail
ended so that everyone could thank him for the usage of his
property.
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