Shoe Creek/CrabTree Falls
February 26rd, 2005
This was a good trip. With very few exceptions, we had
all changed our rigs in someway over the winter. Vic added some RE front
springs, Dale put in a BB, Allen added some new rear springs, Kristy got an XJ
and we put a BB on that, plus I lifted mine up to around 3.5" and added a
winch...so this was a major shakedown run.
We all met up at McDonalds on RT 29 in Lovingston around 9:30am. We had a good
turnout...10 Jeeps. After eating we all headed over to the Food Lion parking lot
for a quick meeting about Paragon and the traditional "Jeep Lineup" photo op:
From there we headed out to the trail head where we got all staged up. Dale and
I decided to run this one as a two headed trail boss...besdes we were
practically dressed the same anyway.
I'm not sure what was up with this...but while we were staging up, this dog
started hanging out wth us at the trail head. He ended up following us most of
the way up the trail...everytime we turned around he was right there. It was a
friendly pooch and the kids as well as adults enjoyed his company.
Anywayz, it had snowed a few days before and then gotten warmer (in the 40's and
50's) so all the snow melting made it muddy and slick. WOOOHOOO! We hit the
first obstacle right away...a little hill climb that's usually moderatley fun,
but when muddy it turned out to be a challenge for some of the stockers. Here's
Jays yellow stock monster...he made it:
Jen made it with no problems too:
We then made our way up to the clearing. There's a couple of ways into it
ranging from easy to difficult. Most people took the easy part of the
intermediate path.
David
Nathan
Steven
Once we all got in Dale and I proceeded to break in the wire rope on the winch.
Since we were gonna be a minute, we put Jen and Vic in charge of the pack and
sent them on up the trail. We got lots of pics and they'll be a writeup on basic
winching techniques shortly.
The single rigging:
The double rigging:
Now, Jen and Vic were worried that they would be waiting for us at the top of
the trail. But after we finished up, Dale and I got in our Jeeps, WHALED up the
trail (even the dog had a problem keeping up) and ended up catching up to
everyone...they wheel like turtles.
So we made our way up to and just past the AT to the Crabtree Falls parking lot.
Since we had 10 Jeeps with us, we didn't want to block up the trail by stopping
at the AT like we normally do. Plus there's bathrooms there, so the ladies and
kids were happy.
Steven and Nathan decided to go out the North side since that put them closer to
home, while the rest of us decided to go out the way we came in. It was going
back down that we had some of the most fun. First we hit this little offshoot
that runs for a few hunderd yards about 50 feet off the main trail...well within
GWNF. We got some pretty good flex shots of everyone:
Kristy:
Jay (Monster flex baby)
David (we'll get him to disconnect next time)
Jen
Allen
At the same spot, Vic decided to play on the rocks that I did in the TJ last
year (where I tore the top on a tree). He found the right line through it and it
made for some pretty good shots of 'zilla in action.
So now was when the real fun started. There's this climb that none of us
attempted in the past...but since I'm out of my skull and so is Vic we both
decided to try it. I tested the ground first:
Turns out that all the mud made it so slick that it was not doable without a
locker. So I ended up winching myself out.
Being nuts is contagious, so despite the fact he doesn't have a locker either,
Vic gave it a whirl too:
It was the same result though...I ended up winching him out.
Like I said at the top...it was a good day. I don't think that anyone even broke
anything. We'll finish off with some XJ flex poser pics.
Not bad.
Some flex on the not so stock XJ (formerly the stocker).
WHOA! MONSTER FLEX ON THE STOCKER!!!
I think that's about it....oh, I can't forget the "Dale is an idiot" picture.
Um...Dale, you've been hanging out with that dog a little too much.
...and since I know turnabout is fair play...here's what Dale would prolly use
as revenge.
Next stop...Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky for the
Jeep Horizons South East Run.
Rock On!
Steve
