Had a nice day and covered a lot of ground, drove 12 miles. 3 Jeeps; Ted and family in their CJ8, Mike and Jan in their JK Unlimited and myself, Peter and daughter Rebecca in our TJ.
We started off on B to get to E, then headed to the Fire Pit. There Ted regaled us with the story of how the Fire Pit got it's name. Mike got to watch Ted and I play in the Fire Pit, plus he got to ride with us through the pit. From there we headed to Lake Christy where we decided that since we could not gauge the depth of the water we were not going to even shirt around the lake's edge. So a little back tracking was undertaken before heading for the quarry taking the long way around via S to the southern most tip of the park. More play time for Ted and Peter, Mike got another ride. We then headed north-east looping round S1 and S3 before getting back on E. 101 took us to the hills and then to Power Line, where we stopped in the shade for lunch. Our after lunch tutorial was Ted explaining the benefits of a high-lift jack.
We followed Power Line all the way to the end before taking 11 north. At this point I failed to heed the directions of my navigator Rebecca and got us into uncharted territory somewhere between 19B and 16. If you look at the RC map there is no trail there, but there is a large patch of axle deep mud that can stop a CJ8! The good news was that we got to see a high lift jack in action, thus adding tremendously to the learning of the lunch time tutorial. After turning around we got on to 19C and headed up to 11. From there we headed east to 14. Many of the low points on trail 14 contained water but not much mud. We had almost finished 14 when the call came over the CB that the CJ8 needed some help. Another tutorial ensued. We learnt that trying to keep one's spouse on the high side of the gully can mean the driver gets a close up view of the low side of the gully. A gentle pull to the rear corner of the CJ8 brought it back on an even keel. Everyone was safe and there was no damage so we decided to head back to the staging area. This was when we saw several mini convoys of other vehicles enjoying the park.
Thanks to Ted and family and Mike and Jan for an enjoyable day, everyone left smiling.
