After airing down at trailhead, we went into the woods. Right around when I was telling the gf how I was really looking forward to going places you can t take a car, John announces the first hill. (Dirk, I still have your CB antenna) Looking at it from the bottom, I m thinking hmmm better be in four low, I guess . Its steeper than any street, but not the steepest we climbed that day. Somewhat loose, but no bad washouts or anything. I was pretty amazed at how easy the climb was, the gf was a little nervous about where you go if you stop going up.

At the top, the group rejoined, ate lunch. I was explaining swaybars to the gf, pointed out how Mark s were disconnected but mine were not. Mark mentioned how easy they are to remove, so we decided to do mine. Well, the Big ... Hammer did its job, we unbolted the passenger side connector at the bottom, but couldn t get the top bolt out. With a little prying, John, Mark & myself were able to pry the bottom off the bolt to free it. OK, drivers side; we didn't get the chance to unbolt the top, since the connector snapped off at the top. Looks like I'll be disconnected for a while.

Going down the other side was fairly uneventful. The mud hole at the bottom was not. The three CJs went through without problems. Even the 4Runner made it on the first try. I however, did not. Driving lessons numbers one through four were courtesy of Mark being brave enough to haul me out backwards by my hitch ball. The first three tries saw me sliding into the same two holes, the left front would drop off a rock into one hole, the left rear would slide into a rut. An excellent opportunity to demonstrate my new-found articulation, but I wasn t going anywhere fast, or at all. Next time, a little more momentum should do it. After all the cautions to go easy on the throttle, I probably didn t use it enough in a few spots (more on this later). Anyway, I finally made it through with the help of a log in one rut, to keep me from sliding into it. Cheers all around! I was pretty psyched, 'cause I thought I was going to need a tow through it. Mark did the hole last, with no problems. In fact he backed up through it to do it twice! Hmmm lockers & 31s huh?

Not too far down the trail, we got to Mud Hole #2. This one was about 50 feet long & of unknown depth. Some nimrod blocked the go-around with a monster of a tree. Again the three CJs went through like it was a city street. The hole was deep enough that just a little water/mud was getting through the low-side door on the lifted CJs. I m getting nervous. Todd gets the 4Runner through like its his job. Follows a nice little bow wave all the way through, and 20 feet up the far side. Then its my turn. The gf won t even ride with me. I try to ease into the pool slow enough to avoid a huge splash but fast enough to maintain momentum. I m half successful (no splash) and get fouled up about half way through. S?@! Reversing out doesn t work either. I look out my window, and the water level is about 4 inches above the bottom of the door. At my feet, nothings coming through the door seam, and the floor plugs are in; where's that puddle from? Geez, its seeping in around the t-case / transmission holes. I'm in deep. I crawl out the passenger side (the door there is above the mud-line), to the front bumper. The mud/water is just about up to my left headlight, and the fan is throwing mud around under the hood so its flowing out between the hood & fenders Dirk is kind enough to sacrifice his brand new strap to get me out. Its not quite so yellow anymore... After I m out, Mark cruises through about as easily as the CJs did.

Joe leads us away from the mud to a powerline cut. We get to one particularly steep hill, with lots of tracks halfway up. Joe, Dirk & Mark play on it for awhile, but nobody gets more than about half way to the top. When John takes the go-around, I skip the playing and follow him. This hill is a little steeper than the first one, with some slightly more severe washouts, and bigger rocks. From the bottom, you can t see the steep part, so I was just cruising up in second, when we round a bend and see what s coming. Whoops, not gonna make it in gear 2. Now the fun part, getting down for the next try. The gf is a little nervous here, and I m trying to keep on the trail, but out of the washouts. I was pretty amazed though, how controllable it was, the speed wasn t bad at all. For the second try, the gf gets out for photo ops from the top (I think she was nervous about riding with me). There was still some iffy going with my limited slip diffs, but by keeping the rpms in the middle of the band, I was able to make it. Cool! Can t do THAT in a normal car!

When the others were done playing, they followed us. Joe cruised up without trouble. Dirk followed, but didn t quite make it... I m not quite sure if he had a couple tries or just one, but he ended up dead, half way up the hill. He couldn t start it, and was having trouble with the winch switch, so Joe backed down to get him. Well, with Joe on the steep part, and thanks to a couple rocks, he wasn t going to be getting Dirk up the hill, so John drove down to help. John braced against a tree to put his winch to work. He was able to pull Joe & Dirk up a bit, but not enough for Joe to pull Dirk out; still too steep with rocks in the wrong places. So John moved, and Joe got out of the middle. One more good winch should get Dirk up to a point where he could get towed out. John takes the slack out of the winch, and Dirk starts moving. Progress slows when his tire gets to another rock, and you can hear the winch strain a little harder. Then a loud crack, and the tree Johns braced against gives way. Lucky for them it was next to a healthy one, so he only slips about a foot. If I d have been in that CJ, I d have had to change my pants. Anyway, without too much more effort, John was able to get Dirk to the top.

A bit further down the trail (following a long pond crossing), John found a brief detour, ending in a short, but very steep drop. He & Mark & Dirk all chose the option. Then Dirk decides to take it the other way. Some cool photos came from their adventures going up & down that slope. Mark gave it a try, but didn t make the first attempt. So Joe starts giving him a hard time Oh that s right, you re driving a wrangler or something like that. Of course, on the next attempt Mark had no trouble. So Joe starts making attempts in REVERSE. He d get within a foot of the top, then his boggers would start digging holes in the dirt & sand.

We had one more stuck, but I m glad to say it wasn t me. Dirk bogged down in some soft stuff. He d been having trouble staying in 4wd, I think that caused this one too. There was one last hill climb too. I didn t try this one, but Mark showed us how capable his YJ really is; he had no trouble, even in the loose stuff up top. Dirk took the hill by horsepower, then came down an atv trail, only to get hung up on a tree with his roll cage (consult past digests for Mark s bent windshield frame). A little push on the tree, and they were able to sneak by. Todd made a couple attempts in the 4Runner, but with open diffs & street tires, couldn t quite make the top. Which is probably OK, cause he probably wouldn t have been able to turn around. The last attempts were by John. Finesse is the word that describes his driving. He drove up the hill like it was his driveway. Then on the way down, says he wants to do it slowly . No problem for him, the rest of us were amazed.

While we were airing back up, I was checking out my Jeep for any damage; there were quite a few crunches and scrapes in the mud pits - kinda hard to see those rocks... Turns out I crunched my tailpipe & somehow bent my passenger side front fender. Must've hit some kinda tough brush along one of the trails. Oh well.

We left the woods to go back to Backus, where the bar is. We were a big enough group to take over the TV, and entertained the other patrons with Mark s and Todd s video footage. Excellent.