Tom's Trail
By Paul Dockrey

Saturday April 12 Patriot Jeepers went to Tom's Trails. This was the second time Patriot ran these trails. The trails are named after Tom Breault who showed us this area with a vast network for trails. 10 jeeps met at the pre-arrangded meeting spot. In the group were 2 Willys CJ-2A's, 2 CJ-7's a YJ, 2 XJ's, TJ and a brand new Rubicon. After checking in Tom and his wife Michelle led the way in his red CJ-7. Unfortunately the trail has some easy access at the beginning so it is a prime location for illegal dumping. Not a quarter of a mile in we came upon a burned out car blocking out favorite mud hole. We decided to move the car off the trail and perhaps come back for it as part of a clean up. The trail is mostly woodland forest but has some very challenging topography. I charted the trail with GPS. The GPS gives me some interesting data. We drove 9.6 miles of trails at an average speed of 1.9 mph. Our highest elevation achieved was 545 feet. If you recall the first mountain we climbed was very steep. We started from a valley and climbed 225 feet climb up to the top of the mountain. Our first challenge was to climb to the top of the mountain. The challenge looked incredibly difficult and steep. Because there was no foliage on the trees you could see the entire trail up the mountain right to the top. There was also a constant rain that made the dirt trail, mud, and rocks almost icy. The trail ended up near the top where there was some slick rock and loose shale rock that really made you feel uneasy. While we were on top of the mountain the rain stopped and you could see the nice weather coming in. It would be sunny in an hour. We could also see a few more junk cars, one of them an old jeep that looked like it went off the mountain. Perhaps we will find a trail over to them and add them to our clean-up. After we all conquered the mountain we followed Tom over to another mountain peak. The challenge was not on the next mountain but the swamp we had to cross to get there. Last year Russ Durning in his yellow V-8 CJ-7 was the only one to blast through the swamp. It was a spectacular sight as a huge wave of swamp crashed landed on the recently vacated passenger seat. This year Tom made me go first. After looking at the amount of water in the swamp I had a sinking feeling. Actually it was just my little Willys sinking deeper and I wasnít in the swamp yet. I figured this was all about speed so I cranked up all 60 horses and hit it hard. Near the center of the swamp I shifted into second and kept those 32 inch Swampers spinning. I was amazed that I was still going forward! Mud was flying everywhere but I was still going full ahead. Ten feet from the end there was a submerged fallen tree in the mud. I was able to get my front wheels over it before I finally came to a stop. A few tries and I was over the log and out of the swamp without help. I was happy, elated even. So was my navigator Brigitte who decided it was a "door on" day. Tom went next with the same results. He had trouble getting over the log but finally made it. His red jeep was now brown. Joe followed in his brand new Rubicon. Joe didn't get too far. It appeared as if he tried a different line and ended up stuck. The Rubicon factory lockers seemed to work well. Even here all four tires spun perfectly. What could one add to a Rubicon to make it better? Not much but perhaps four inches and Swampers. Gerrett saved the day by winching Joe back to the start. Unfortunately Gerrett suffered a bad cut on his hand from his winch cable. Good thing he was wearing gloves or we would be calling him Nine Fingers Durling. Joeís second attempt was most successful ending at the killer log. After we all cleared the swamp we arrived at the second mountain where there was a steep slick rock challenge. Rich made it up and several of us tried but failed. Wet tires, open differentials kept some of us from the top. But that was OK because it was lunch time and we were starving. After lunch we went on a less familiar trail. Although we weren't positive where we were going, we had a good idea. We came across some of the most challenging steep hills. These trails covered in leaves with very moist soil beneath turned out to be difficult. Having a locker helped out here. At the top there were railroad tracks to cross. After crossing the railroad tracks it was a short ride back to the area known as Lake Michigan. We had gone through this large puddle earlier. It was deep but not a problem. There we met Brian who had a bearing fail on the Mass Pike and stopped to fix it. We all drove back out to the main road and headed home. It was a good day and everyone had fun. Except for a minor exhaust problem there were no mechanical malfunctions on this run.

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