The Great
Exploration Run of December 16th
Bill Barnes
It was the best of times. It was the worst of timesÉoh, wait, wrong story!
Here we goÉExploration runs are a blast. You take a small group of guys, stick 'em in Jeeps and say "go that way." So, you go! We went out to a remote section of South- western Mass. with our maps, GPS's and our lack of common sense, looking for something, anything that would make a decent club run.
I had this place in mind for 7 years. I told Carl Merrick about it one day. He checked it out a little bit, said it was good, but I wanted to see for myself so I organized this little "get- together." So with our 5 Jeeps, and 8 people, we went to the trailhead.
I hate airing down but it's a necessity if you expect to make it up the trail without breaking your teeth with a hard tire, not to mention the traction aspect. This trail starts out immediately going uphill over some steps and big boulders and continues that way for at least a 1/2 mile. Norm Wnuk brought his very capable Scrambler, but left his "good tires" at home and was running 32" street tires on it. He did remarkably well with it, but did have to winch or get tugged once or twice. As usual, with my style of driving, I made everything look harder than it was. With about 10 people on this section, it would keep us busy for at least an hour or two.
Moving on up the hill, we found a right- turn that brought us to a clear cut. It afforded a nice view looking east, but not much else. To go forward would mean about a day's work clearing slash. We went back to the main trail.
Just a few hundred yards down the trail we came to another right. Since I was in "explore mode," and having Rick Boiros as a passenger to talk me into anything, we went, wellÉexploring! Turns out, this is the way the loggers came to the main trail on their way off the clear cut. Going uphill across some mild slash, we came to a series of water- bars cut in at an angle on the trail. I think I scared Rick a bit here (even worse, later). I was approaching the deep trenches of the water- bars at such an angle that the Jeep was tilted severely to the passenger side. I'm sure if the doors were off the Jeep, Rick's shoulder would have been in the dirt. It was fun. We parked and walked ahead as the slash was getting worse. This trail can be cleaned up of the slash and a loop can be made (if we feel like it), connecting to the other trail to the clear cut. Maybe someday we'll do it. In the meantime, there's more to see.
Since the other guys were crazy enough to start following us, we got them turned around, got on the main trail and found a couple in a Suburban who came in from the "good" side, asking us if the road was OK further ahead. There were some devious thoughts going around about sending the 'Burban down the way we came up, but it's the season of goodwill, so we told him the trail was too nasty for a stock truck. Still, it would have been cool to watch.
We moved on, discovering the main trail is fairly easy at this point. We found a side road and followed it, hoping to find another "toughie." We did see a quad trail that may have been what we were looking for on the map, but we passed by as time was running short and we wanted to check out one more trail in this section. So, we went there and found it to be a driveway. On to Area 2.
We had to make a deep stream crossing in rushing water here, but it was relatively easy. I don't really think I would take a club across it, though. It's right off a main road, so an alternative entrance would be best. Saying that, just up from the water crossing is a big, steep hill with loose boulders all over it. It's sandy, too! It looked like there were 3 ways to go. The right way, the wrong way, and my way (stupid way). I was trying to be too cute here, changing directions on mid- hill, getting just slightly sideways, front passenger tire up in the air a bit. Rick wants to jump out. I'm yelling "no way." I need his weight on that side to keep me down! With very careful maneuvering, we managed to keep the wheels on the ground.
We come to a swamp, I'm first, and I say to Joe Dunn, "remember what happened the last time I tried to go through a swamp like this?" It took 3 winches to get me out! This time I followed the quad track and it was no picnic. The trees were so tight, Joe walked ahead and found us a route through that may or may not take off a side mirror. Needless to say, after winching Joe off the big rock that high centered him, we all made it, even Norm's Scrambler. Carl had it the easiest, since he was driving a narrower CJ- 5, though we did have to push him off a tree, after he slightly dinged the windshied. Turns out, there was a slightly easier way through further beyond this point, but Steve Ballou and me got to practice our finesse driving through the trail a little longer.
One more hill. This time I took it easy and Rick was smart enough to ride with Norm. We had just enough daylight left to get back to our trailers and hit the road. I want to thank the following folks who showed up. A couple of the names I didn't get, sorry.
Steve Ballou (TJ), Norm Wnuk (Scrambler), Joe Dunn (CJ-7 and passenger), Carl Merrick (CJ- 5 and his dad), Bill Barnes (Wrangler, with Rick Boiros in the suicide seat).
Bottom line..I think we can make a decent run in this area with a little work.
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