A River Runs Through It
By Paul Dockrey

The second official run of the Patriot Jeepers 2003 season started off beautifully. 10 jeeps met, and the only glitch in the day happened as we left the parking lot. Rich noticed that we were being followed. Now you know how protective we have to be of the trails we use. It's not that we don't want other people to get involved in the sport. But when you are being shadowed by none other that Tootie Gunther driving his built Toyota pick-up with five grand invested in the motor but no rear bumper to attach a strap to and whose off road driving skill is premised on the philosophy "its not all about speed"-so-watch-me-as-I-go-through-this-swamp... then you know who I am talking about and why we had to ditch him. (Yes It was Larry, Darryl and his other brother Darryl, hear the banjos?) So after some clever on road driving we "shook our tail" so to speak, and were off to Mica Mt. There was a lot of anxiety in our group about what trail conditions we would find. Only two weeks ago we found three feet of snow that made progress so slow. Today we found that there was an incredible mix of snow, ice, mud and rivers of water. There was also the occasional downed tree that needed to be removed. The ride to Mica Mt. was fun and uneventful. A few nice obstacles, no trail damages. Once we arrived at the top we broke out the coolers and ate lunch. When we were done we got to sight seeing. Mica Mt.'s Peak offers fantastic views of the surrounding countryside. There is also a lot more to see, as there are no leaves on the trees. A beautiful river paralleled by R.R. tracks and some stonewalls that seem to go on forever. We also found a late model Chevrolet pick-up that some Rhodes Scholar ran off the top of the mountain and down the sheer south face of the Mt.. A lot of debate went on as to how many jeeps it would take to drag the truck back up the mount. After lunch the usual suspects tried to go up the rock on top of Mica Mt. I was not successful. However I did find another way up that was challenging. On the way down we got lost in the Devil's Triangle. For some unknown reason every time we get into this area, GPS receivers act up, compasses spin wildly and we get lost. What real man worth his salt is going to check a map? Of course we never really get lost (yea right); we just like to add some drama to the day. So after we got found we headed out to the Juju Mt. area. We decided to run the Hill going down. We knew that this was the north side of the hill and would still have some snow on it. Also the trail is challenging enough with out snow. Two winters ago I did Juju Mt. going down and spent the day winching down hill. As we started down the trail we were riding on snow. Then it changed to ice. Under the ice there was a river, it was flowing between the trail and the ice cover. The more jeeps that passed over it the more it broke up. Before long there was muddy water rushing down the trail with huge chunks of ice in it. Reminded me of the Artic spring when there is a rapid thaw. We had a few close calls with getting stuck. My Willys got twisted up so I lost traction in the first deep rutted area and Tom gave me a tug with his CJ-7. Then Tom got stuck and bounced so hard into the ravine that his battery broke loose and fell off the tray. When it fell the hot terminal grounded and discharged the battery. So I pulled up next to Tom and gave him a jump from my Optima. This was not the end of Tom's woes however. He was so stuck in the ravine he could only winch down hill until the ravine opened up and he was free. When we reached the bottom we turned to go up Camel Back Rock. This section of very steep rock was partially covered with snow. The most difficult part was just getting off the trail. The trail was under about a foot of rushing water. There was also an ice shelf about a foot thick on the side of the trail that made it very difficult to turn and get up on the rock. For those of us who tried it several attempts were needed to just get off the trail. Climbing the Camel Back Rock is an exciting experience. As you are going up, lying back in your seat, looking at the sky you can't help wondering what it would be like to flip over on this rock. Once we got to the Old Road we had to split into two groups. Now this road is nothing more then a gravel road. But because of the thaw it was tough. At one point I was riding on the ice and fell through to the roadbed and immediately sunk up to my hubs. A quick tug and we were off again. At the big swamp the water level was so high that the road was impassible. We had a lot of fun on the bypass. It was narrow, muddy and snowy. We all made it however. Soon we were out to pavement and off to the parking lot. Even though we had run this trail before every one said it was the best run they had been on. I personally have done this run perhaps a dozen times and it was the best I could remember. The combination of snow, ice, mud and rivers of water made the day exciting. Don't forget to check out the pictures of the Jeep run on our Website

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