Overall, the day was pretty good. Nobody broke anything major, although there were a few injuries...
Well, as usual, I forgot something and went back home to get the trail badges. Met up with Bubbafied, Copesetic, daddanalena, Slick, Solomi and Zeke at Mikes Bikes and got moving... a little while later we rolled up to the park office and met Diablo and y2kyellowtj.
After chatting for a bit, we headed out for the trails, did a quick loop around the ruins at Hampton Furnace, played in a sand pit and headed for the 1/4 mile area. Remembering where the deep spots were, I went around the killer ruts and let Zeke try them and then watched Copesetic winch him out. And then we watched Solomi attempt the spot and get winched backwards by Bubbafied (or daddanelena, forget which).
We moved on to a couple more open areas to play a bit in the mud pits and then went to try a spot I got stuck in last year (which I made!). Zeke got stuck nearby, and my XJ took on a few gallons of water after I got high centered on something. Copesetic got me free and I went off to bail out my XJ. Somebody freed Zeke and the group caught up with me as I was bailing out and I used Copesetics drill to "install" a drain hole.
After my XJ relieved itself, we moved on and I got stuck again, took on a few more gallons of water and was pulled out again my Copesetic. I hi-lifted my rear bumper while a few others tried the hole, the only person to make it without help was Solomi, who wisely hugged the side of the trail.
We did a loop around the area and went back to the entrance to shoot some video footage before heading to a new section of the forest. On the way, we ran through a couple more puddles, a few deep ones and stalled Zeke's XJ in a nice one. After putting in a dry air filter, it started up and we made our way to the Caranza Memorial and walked around giving y2kyellowtj's TJ a little time to cool off its overheating engine.
We then made our way to a large wet area Zeke and I have played at before, I found a 2' drop on the access trail and got stuck. Once again, Copesetic gave me a tug and Zeke walked the trail with his waders to check for other suprises. After we made it to the wet area, everybody played around after I gave depth warnings. After playing for a little while, we all parked in a sand pit for a group photo.
After posing for the photo, we made our way to Apple Pie Hill. After going over a few hundred "woop-dee-doos", we arrived at the hill and some of us climbed the fire tower and chatted with the guy on duty who explained what he does and pointed out some smoke for us. Now, it was time to return to civilization...
After we found a paved road, Zeke discovered that his transmission wasn't cooperating and eventually lost all but 1st gear. The decision was made to flat tow him back to the parking area, so we formed a convoy to get him safely back. After returning to the parking lot, y2kyellowtj graciously allowed the use of his trailer to get Zeke's XJ home. Zeke and his passenger jumped into y2kyellowtj's TJ while y2kyellowtj pulled the trailer.
From there, we split up, the locals went on their way and the rest of us headed back to DE by way of gas stations and Wawa (where we stopped to use my hood as a dinner table). After crossing the DE Memorial Bridge and paying our get-out-of-NJ tax, we went on our ways.
thanks to Copesetic for his frequent pulls and winch use, bubbafied and daddanelena for their winching and y2kyellowtj for his tech help and for towing Zeke home. Also, thanks to Zeke for wading through the puddles to find the deep spots, and Slick (and brother) for walking the tow straps through the puddles.