Was a fine weekend wheeling with the Tamers. This being my first trip to Buck Meadows, I didn’t know what to expect. Ruth and I met up with Ann T. on hwy 90 and we all got to riders camp about 10PM, set up camp and met our weekend neighbors. Turned out that Billy knew some dirtbike guys that decided to camp with us, so there were many cool campfire stories from 2 different sides of the wheeling world.
Woke up bright and early (10AM) on Saturday made breakfast and waited for the rest of the Tamers to arrive. Tom Baker, and Billy and Chris were going to go “play with the big boys” and headed off to tripod flats to attempt to make it to funny rocks. The rest of the group tried to keep up with Dirtball in search of the correct way to Moon Rocks without hitting the cornucopia of wheelers that were cramming the other trails. We made our way to the 695(?) trail and headed in, just as we got to the real snow, a group was coming out telling us “nobody is gonna make it to moonrocks today, the snow is to deep.” This sounded like our kind of challenge so we headed in. We got to a point where you had to get out and walk around to find the trail. I’m not sure if it was because of the snow, or because we had no idea where we were headed. Take your pick but shortly after, GaryTJ and Mark did some exploring and found the trail “over the river and through the woods” with a fancy little climb over a stream. This proved to be the entertainment spot of the day as we one by one attacked the snowy hillside. Some with great success, others with massive failure. A group showed up behind us and joined in the festivities. After a few hours, we all made it up the hill and to moonrocks where I promptly showed everyone my precision driving skills and buried my jeep to the frame in the snow. A quick tow fee and a tug from Ann and I was free again. We all sat up on the top listening to the CB and the reports from everyone at funnyrocks trying to make thier way to us. We heard reports of people with multiple flat tires, trees on hoods, and all sorts of carnage. Someone needed a tie rod end, and Dan-O came to the rescue. We left the new part on the ridge wrapped up with some caution tape like a birthday gift and headed back out to the trailhead. On our way out, we discovered that the group behind us was having a real difficult time going back up the hills we had just come down. They were digging some real monster holes and not making much progress. John and Rock drove up to help them with thier predicament and shortly after, we were headed on our way back to camp.
We got back to camp, made dinner and awaited the arrival of “the big boys.” I guess a few of the ladies that were with the dirtbike crew went wheeling with the Billy and Tom. They all got back about 11:30 and both the ladies were quite happy to be back on solid ground. After a few stories of “crazy Jeep people” from the girls, we headed off to bed to rest up for another “easy day.”
Sunday morning we arose again to find that it was a beautiful sunny day with birds a chirping and trails to be run. The main group assembled at Riders camp and we headed off to run the shoestring trail. We all got into the trail system and heard that GaryTJ was flying ahead with everyone trying to keep up. Somewhere in the fray, Billy broke a u-joint and the group stopped to help him fix it. We decided to leave a support group of hecklers to assist Billy, and I headed out to catch up to Gary with Ed, Mike and Teri in tow. I heard on the CB that Teri was having trouble with some of the snowy sidehills so she opted to turn around. Mike decided that seemed like a good idea too, so he grabbed a strap and tried to assist Teri with the about face maneuver. I didn’t personally see it, but I guess it turned out to be a sight as there was an XJ moored to a YJ in the woods with neither one making progress. Dirtball showed up to save the day so Ed and I continued on and I managed to lay the TJ on it’s side in a bit of a slushy/muddy/soupy mess. I wasn’t giving up without a fight. (Ruth wished I had). I got the TJ back on to all fours under its own power before paying another dollar to winch myself out of the mess I was in. I caught up to Gary then went back to assist ED with the same obstacle, and he proved to me that I was doing something wrong as he just drove through with no problems at all. (Note to self, next time do what Ed does). We caught up to Gary and sat around waiting for the rest of the group to catch up to us before heading on. About an hour later, Dan-O and Rock buzzed by and continued up the trail and we waited for John and Mark to catch up. We heard over the CB that Mark had broken his trackbar and John had managed to unseat a tire bead so Ed and I headed back to view the carnage and Gary headed out to catch Rock and Dan-O before they got to far away. Everyone caught up to Dirtball and Crew and we waited for Gary to return with his welder. After getting Mark fixed, we headed out of the trail. On the way, John managed to wedge a tree in between his bumper and his Jeep. Out came the chainsaw and a few dead trees were removed so John could make his way to freedom. I made it around the corner and looked back, I could hear Dan-O’s motor revving, I saw trees falling, and Gary running full speed down the trail with a look of shear terror on his face. Apparently, the tree John had to remove was the anchor in the natural engineering of several dead trees that were looming overhead. Dan decided to be the catalyst in making them all fall down. Everyone checked their bits and pieces, no injuries, so we cut up the trees that were blocking the trail and headed back to camp.
Back at camp, we relaxed, played some horseshoes and enjoyed the antics of the dirtbike crew. One of them had a pee-wee 50cc bike that the braver riders were taking turns at jumping. To the amusement of all, a ramp was set up and a contest of sorts was arranged to see who could jump the little bike the farthest. After the fun calmed down, we sat around the fire and traded stories of wheeling (both 2 and four), had some dinner and enjoyed the outdoors before heading to bed knowing that we would have to sit in traffic the next day.
Monday, we packed up camp, got loaded up and headed for home. On the way, my Jeep decided that it’s hub dediced to die a painful death and started singing to me. We got it to CleElum, and decided that it was better to trailer it back home, than having the wheel fall off somewhere on the pass. Ann volunteered her trailer and I got to drive her YJ back to Sultan where repair parts were waiting. I just want to note that this was the first time ever that my daily driver / weekend wheeler had to get towed home, and hopefully the last. We made it back to Tom’s shop, fixed the Jeep and said our Goodbyes.
A good time had by all, and experience gained. I can’t wait to wheel again. The fun never stops with this group.
Till next time, KarlVP
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