The trip to Old Long Run takes about 20 minutes from McDorman's. We decided to head up the trail this time. Sometimes, especially with newbies, you'll go down the trail in order to build a little experience and confidence before reaching the side trail hill, but not today.

Before going on, let me say a few words about the private property behind the church. Between the National Forest and the pavement, there is a plot of land owned by four different individuals. Over the years, these four landowners have been very generous in allowing the public to use the trails here. In appreciation, when the Off Camber Crawlers does their maintenance and cleanup runs on the Old Long Run trail (which they have adopted) extra time and effort is put into making sure that these privately owned tracts are included. As it happens, this day we met Wayne Carr, one of the landowners, and had quite a conversation with him about the use of the land and the maintenance. He mentioned that he had two issues of late, besides those who seem to find it easier to dump their trash at his place instead of the Rockingham County landfill. One was someone who had been trying to create a new path up one of the hills but was successful only in digging ruts. The other was someone who had been identifying themself as the new landowner and trying to run his friends off of Mr. Carr's land. Mr. Carr was making the rounds in his big 4x4 Chevy pickup with his Airedale riding shotgun.

The sidehill is an interesting little diversion, doable in a stock 4x4. It combines some off camber with some rocks with some slick mud (when wet) with tight quarters on a steep hill.

It was quite fun today even dry. Kris managed to make some cosmetic chages to the steering wheel in his pickup. The grip pattern of his white knuckles on the way down have truly personalized his ride. Coming back up was a little easier for all.

The remaining miles of Old Long Run consist of a number of crossings of the streambed. The area's drought had reduced much of the stream to pools of water although we did see some movement in several places.

At the second or third crossing, we did manage to attract some four-legged interest. There was a black hunting hound, complete with the transmitter collar who took a real interest in our group. When we drove off, she would howl mournfully and then trudge along behind us. We decided to offer her some water as it was rather warm. She drank some and then lay down. When we would move on, she would howl and then follow slowly. This pattern continued for a while and was broken when an unguarded sandwich provided a midday snack for her to go with all the water! (Thanks, Alan!)

All the vehicles (I think) had cell phones, but of course, no one could get a signal to try calling the number on the dog's collar to see if she was lost. As we finally topped the trail at the powerlines, we were able to get a signal and called. Needless to say, the dog was no longer to be seen!

After conferring with the owners, it turned out the dog had been missing for days after her transmitter collar had quit working. Steve circled back and found her. After letting her into his air-conditioned BlaZeR2, she promptly curled up and went to sleep. "What is it with these people? I've been telling them for hours I needed a ride."

We made arrangements to meet the owner on our way down the gravel road to meet up with Chad in his TJ and go to switch trails with the other group.