Well, a group (8) of us headed up extra early today to get a jump on the trails before the crowds rolled in. In attendance were myself (Wolverine) with my daughter Taylor, Steven Lively (Slopar), Jason (J-Man) with wife and daughter, Matt (Claymont Hillbilly) with his cousin Sarah, Tom (Zeke) with his Dad, Steve (Copesetic) with his Dad, there friend Conner (not sure if he's on the board) with his girlfriend and Max (driving a Toyota 4 runner).
We headed out about 8:15 am and headed over to the west side. We started out down trail 12 and then hit the lower half of trail 20. We did that one with a couple of straps and some bumping and scraping, but over all a pretty fun trail. Then we circled back on Trail 12 again and hit the upper half of trail 20. Then over to trail 13. As we were passing by Rock Creek; J-Man, Zeke and Copesetic decided to give a small section a go. About 30 ft in J-Man waffled his tie rod. (again 
) While he was fixing that some of us ate lunch. Then the other two worked there way through with some good spotting from Max. We then continued down trail 13 until Max's 4 runner starting pouring smoke out from under the hood. Upon opening it he noticed a small fire on his distributer cap. Apparently the coil wire came loose and arced enough that it caught the boot on fire which in turn melted the distributer cap. After trying for about a half hour to rig it back together we decided to strap him out to a green trail and back to the trailer. Zeke backed down and hooked up a strap and went about 5 ft before blowing his driveshaft U-joint. While he was working with that J-Man and Max went back to work on the distributer. Somehow the two of them (Macgyvered) it back together again with duct tape, a hose clamp and lots of electrical tape. Once Zeke got back together Max headed out on his own power back to the trailer. The rest of us went up trail 13 to trail 14 and then up to 11. Took 11 back over to the top of 13 and headed back down to try and catch 16. When we got there trail 16 was getting used so we decided to continue down 13 and cross over rock creek to trail 10. (Not my favorite spot since I hate mud) Once over there I found myself looking at a deep mud hole or turning 3 Cherokee's around so I figured I'd go in slow. Well that didn't work so Zeke strapped me back out backwards. I refused to let it rip and fill my cab with mud and stinky water so I just turned around and went the way I should have to start with. Once I got turned around Zeke gave it a few good tries before he finally made it. Then Copesetic worked his way across (with a strap) as did Conner (with a strap). We continued down 10 to Milkshake where Zeke finally gave up and turned around. As we headed up to trail 12 Conner noticed he was overheating. Not wanting to risk it, Zeke and Conner headed back to the trailer. As I continued up 12 my transmission decided to overheat (notice I HATE Mud 
) and blew tranny coolant all over the place. Of course it decided to do it as I was headed up a large rock formation. I ended up filling it back up and backing down and going around everyone else. Then I high tailed it back to my trailer in first gear. When it finally slipped into 2nd I banged a left off of trail 11 and hit the black top and made my way right back onto the trailer. Everyone else came back and decided to call it a day. While loading the trailers up J-Man noticed tranny fluid on his deck. After some investigation he found he cracked his transfer case somewhere along the way.
And just when you think the day doesn't get any better. We stopped at Wendy's to grab a bite to eat. 35 minutes later we finally got our food. While everyone else was finishing up I went out to adjust my jeep on the trailer. (It was too far forward and causing too much tongue weight) I loosened all the straps and tried to start it too pull it forward and found I couldn't turn the key at all. I messed around with it for a couple of minutes and then Claymont Hillbilly (Matt) started to mess with the linkage to see if it was in park. I finally told him to jump in and give it a try and after a few minutes of playing with it he asked me for my jeep key's. I was so brain dead I was trying to start it with my Ram keys. (funny the key's fit in okay though) So I adjusted the trailer and while doing so noticed my spare tire was a little loose. I quickly grabbed my LARGE socket set (emphasize large socket set) and quickly tightened it down. Not wanting to hold anyone up I quickly threw it in the back of the truck and low and behold the case popped open and every single last one of those d 
n sockets fell out. Thankfully my little girl Taylor like's puzzles. She volunteered to sort them all back into there correct slots.
Well I hope everyone had fun and I can't wait to do it all again 
Now I'm off to bed. It's been a long day 
a little scratched up, but no dents. My favorite trip so far! Thanks for leading, Chris.
