I lead the easier group so I hope someone will post up on the what the harder group did!
Well, for the easier group it started out kind of bad but got better!! But I think everyone had a good time. We had several FSB's with us and one was totally stock on 31's - and most of them did not have much experience wheeling! But they actually did really well - only needed 2 straps out of a deep frozen mud hole.
Here's lining up and group pic in the comp area.
We already split off from the harder group for the pic in the comp area.
We were trying to find the "easy" stuff, but with snow and ice (and yes there was still a lot of snow and ice) everything - even the greens - can be really hard. We first went over to the West property and Trail H, what is normally an easy green, turned into a downhill ice monster. It started to get bad so we stopped and tried to get everyone turned around to go back. But nobody could even back up! Then one of the early Broncos (who shall go unnamed! edit: I guess he named himself above! LOL) slid into the back of an FSB and took out the rear window and bent up the tail gate. Also messed up the hood and grill of the EB. We had 2 jeeps with us and they also slammed into each other! The ice was tough. We then decided the only way to go was down! So we slowly made our way down one at a time with no more incidents.
We then wheeled the West property - mainly trails 11 and 14. 14 was a blast with several pretty deep mud/ice holes to get through. 14 is also a green but the snow and ice made it a lot tougher. Every body made it fine with only a couple of straps mentioned above. A couple "adjusted" their rear bumpers on the drop-offs into the mud holes, but nothing too bad. After Trail 14 we stopped for lunch. Along Trail 11 -
We then made out way around the West property to try and get back up the hill! Luckilly there are 2 parallel trails to get out, Trail H which was really icy and when we got there, full of jeeps stuck on the ice! So we tried Power Line trail. Fortunately it was not nearly as icy as H and nobody had any problems getting up the hill. Just needed to keep up momemtum and there were enough clear and rocky patches to keep some decent traction. We then made out way back to the East property and hit Trail 1 and 1B, another green. It wound around through woods but was almost boring after the morning's fun on the ice! Trail 1 intersects Trail 2 which is a blue trail (next level harder), so we tried it. It has a fun hill climb and then drop off. This looks flat in the pic but it's actually really steep.
Unfortuanately that's all the pics I have - my camera was acting up in the cold kept shutting off. We then hit trails B and A and then tried another short blue trail. It had a washed out hole that I went into and lifted a rear tire and we decided not to take any of the FSBs through it. It was narrow, off camber and probably would have taken out a door or 2! We then backed out all the FSBs and they came down the end of Jotter's Way and back to the main road and back to the parking lot.
Myself, Yellow69 and Bronco Dave in an FSB went back out for about an hour and hit Trail 4, a blue with a fun short black section. We all made it fine - Yellow69 even did it with no brakes! A branch took out a rear brake line just before the black section. On the way back we joined up with the harder group who were coming back from the West property.
Overall it was a great day with very little carnage. I didn't get to see the damage to the jeeps, but it did not sound good!
It will be a game time call!
