We returned from our trip to SMORR yesterday evening, tired but excited for our next trip down.  We had a blast and did not get to do half of what we intended.  The weather kind of put the kibosh on doing some of the tougher trails as traction was hard to be found to get up some of the ledges and hills but we got some good wheeling in and have video to prove it.

We rolled out at 5am Saturday morning and arrived around 8:45.  There was a very light rain underway when we got into the Springfield area and it continued for about an hour or so, stopping about the time we got out onto the trails for the first time.   We started out in a  group of about 10 Jeeps and we quickly found out that some of the tougher trails weren't going to be doable in the wet conditions so we wound up running creeks for the first hour or so.  It was also clear that much of the group weren't going to attempt anything too tough that some of us were up for so 4 of us split off from the others to go find tougher trails that we could at least attempt. 

We did a trail called Honky Tonk and it was pretty much all off camber traversing throughout.  There was one area where we were leaning pretty far over close to a tree.  The guy behind me called that section a "butt pucker". 

I led us up the main road and spotted a trail called Rocky Road.  It looked pretty knarly at the entrance but we decided to give it a go.  Wild Bill took first crack at it and I think the girls said it took 35 minuted for him to complete the trail.  We had to stack some rocks to get his LJ through a section or two and their was a fair amount of diff dragging going on but he made it to the top.  The rest of us were 4 doors and we had some concern about one section in particular where it was a really tight squeeze getting around a large boulder.  My thought was to take what would be a more  difficult climb to the other side at that section but the others were unsure as well as unsure of the trail for them.  I said I'd be giving it a try and we walked back down the trail.  I'll let my friends video do the rest of the story telling.  I would go to Youtube and watch it by clicking the Youtube logo on the video. 

Note the video length.  I was being kidded for the amount of time it took me versus Bill.  I said I thought I saw Jodi and Paula waving a checkered flag at the end of the trail.  I don't know slow and easy and it works, obviously.  

Ray, who shot the above video wasn't so lucky.  He got stuck about 2/3 of the way up the trail and we did everything we could to get him over one of the tougher obstacles.  We stacked rocks for 30 minutes and attempt after attempt failed.  We finally decided to try to winch him but there was nothing for him to anchor too.  Our biggest problem was that he was at least 400 feet from the end of the trail and there was no way we could drive to him and then back out, the trail was just too difficult for that.  I decided to drive down the trail to the point of no return and brace my Jeep against a large boulder.  We ran my winch line out almost as far as it could go and then we attached it to a couple tow straps to reach Ray's winch line.  We tried to winch him up but he was pulling my Jeep off the boulder as it was sliding in the slippery conditions.  Bill went and got his rig and we strapped him to a tree and then he ran his winch line to my rear bumper.  Now we were set.  We started to winch Ray up the obstacle and there was a really loud noise followed by slack in the line.  Ray's winch mount had broken and his winch was basically torn in half.  His grille took some damage too.  It appears his winch mounting bolts had broken.  We had to reconfigure our winching setup but we wound up getting him over the obstacle and off the trail.  At this point, the other Bill in our group decided to pass on the trail.

We wound up doing another tough trail called Rocker Knocker.  I went in first and it was a bit of a battle getting over and around the first obstacle.  We kept sliding toward the boulder and I was attempting to keep from bashing in my door.  I wound up having to go left more than I would have liked and we got a bit tippy as we made it over.  Jodi doesn't like tippy.  :) 

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We ran one of the Jeep Badge of Honor trails later in the day and then we all had steak and other good food for dinner before going out for some night wheeling.  I got to lead because I have THE light bar and we had a fun time at night, which is definitely a different experience than the day time.

We got to the Hotel around 10:45pm after a long day.  We would head back out bright and early for Day 2 and I'll share more about that adventure tomorrow.