FM2CD VA at Rapidan 07/10/04
Had a lot of fun on this ride...despite
a number of disappointments, at least for Dale and I....but first the fun!!!
These pics are from Dales digicam. There will be more pics as I gather them from
everyone. GPS trackpoints will also be coming soon as well. First here's all of
us airing down at the turnaround that leads into the forest/logging road at
around 9:45am.
After getting ready we headed up the logging road and turned off into the trail
head. We gave the word to drop into 4lo and the word came back over the radio
that Vic's t-case lever broke when he tried to get it in...
Here's the offender (that's Vic).
Basically the retainer "let go" and the entire lever came out in his hand.
Sooooo...we had to tear out his
center console to get it back in. It took us about 15 or 20 minutes. Here's me
and Vic workin' on it.
...and the finished product...it ain't pretty but it functioned.
So then it was onto some trail riding! Here's Dale and James going though some
tight, narrow turns.
Then me going up and over a couple of rocks in the trail.
Fun stuff...but here's one of the dissapointments...the pic says it all.
It HELLA SUCKED! It seems the legal trail got washed out recently (within the
last year). We were on a narrow stretch of uphill trail and the no tresspass
signs we're at the point where a side trail turned off and dropped down steeply
AND we had 6 Jeeps that we now had to get turned around...with no room to do it.
We turned the three lead vehicles around up top. I backed into the side trail as
far as I could go (with out sliding down) and let Dale and James get past me.
Then I turned out and they turned around the same way. Then we backed the other
3 (Allen, Jen and Vic) down about a 1/8 mile or so to a spot where there was
more room.
So we basically came out the way we went in and since it was just after 1pm, we
decided to go up to Buzzard Rocks and have a little lunch.
Dale
James and Megan
Jen and MJ
Allen
So you might ask, "Steve, why are you and Dale standing on those big rocks, we
thought you were eatin' lunch?!?"
This would be why...them buzzards sure have a nice view...
I had to include this pic. That's Vic's kids, Christopher and Sarah. I have
decided to give up trail boss duties and turn them over to Christopher...that's
how cool a kid he is!
So, we made our way down from Buzzard Rocks and decided to try to head further
up the logging road in an attempt tp find our way to the other side of the
trail. But the road we thought lead there dead ended (the next disappointment).
So we decided to call it a day. Dale and I had planned to hit a
Geocache
north of the trail system as he had located one of the little yellow Jeeps...he
was gonna stash it in a cache in the middle of nowhere. Since we couldn't get
through the way we had planned we decided to go around and up Rt664. James and
Megan headed out to Megan Grandparents house and Allen and Sandy split the scene
as well (I think they went to Outback). Everyone else headed back to
Charlottesville where we would meet them.
Well we got about halfway there and...guess what...we dead ended into a hiking
trail. Every map Dale had looked at showed it as a road all the way through. So
we pulled out the laptop and even though all my TOPO's showed it a thru route,
the highways map showed it as a deadend (the
ONE map Dale never checked). So that was another disapointment.
Oh well, we drove down to Charlottesville and met everyone for dinner. Despite
the disappointments, we did have a lot fun...and that's all that really matters.
Like I said, there will be more pics in a few days as I gather them from
everyone...including MONSTER flex shots of the stocker! Here's a poorly exposed
teaser...
So, once again, FM2CD VA has left the trail!
