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Hosted by: Jon Lang
Run Summary:
The Busy Wild, welcome to the mother of all runs. Forget the wimpy tow straps, not going to happen. Nobody escaped the pull of the straining winch cable, yes even Cecil. This was a war fought in the trenches with thick deep mud holes that end in steep dug out ledges. The trail is very tight with endless challenging obstacles and there were few if any bypass options. There was a fairly stock TJ, (don’t know the guys name) that made it into the trail but made the smart decision of turning it around at the first big obstacle. That was the right choice as it only got worse after that. I don’t think any of us made it through without some bumps, bruises and some sort of damage. The Kid discovered that he could make his XJ 8 inches narrower by carefully removing his side mirrors making the tight turns a little easier. With good technical driving skills and a light throttle foot the Kid was able to weave the long wheel base XJ through the tight stuff. Kutos to John Vanhorn for getting that new Rubicon back home looking just as good as when it got there. Also kudos to Kelly for wheeling her Rubicon through one of the toughest trails around. Is this the new doe run? Good job Kelly! Bruce made short work of most of the trail in his TJ and I think made it home with only a scratch. Cecil led the way but I think he still found it a little more challenging than expected as he spent the whole day looking for a rock to play on. I myself jumped into a mud puddle at the head of the trail flooding the interior of the jeep, swamping the distributor and submerging the alternator. This will prove itself to have been a poor decision. I should not have listened to Marcella and just gone around the puddle. Shortly into the trail the alternator puked and I spent the day running on a dying battery. Thanks for all the jumps and short charges! Then somehow while trying to drop down a ledge I managed to flop the jeep over onto its side. Thanks to John and Bruce for getting me back on all fours. After several deep mud holes, tire eating stumps, side scraping trees and several hours later we popped out the end of the trail. I think I was just as excited to see the end of the trail as I was the beginning. We headed back to Eatonville to put the pieces back together as the sun sat and me with no lights. This is truly a run that needs to be respected. Bring a spare everything and make sure your rig is in good working order. Along with my alternator we also saw blown beads, a thrown serpentine belt and some winches not working properly. This is definitely a run that needs to be held annually and should be ran in early spring. This was one of my favorite runs and am looking forward to next year.
Jon Lang
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