Who says you can’t have fun on the Green trails? I lead the Green group and thought I’d share a brief synopsis of the day. We set out with everything from a stock 1st Gen X to a TS’ed 2nd Gen to a TJ with a mild lift. I figured we’d take it easy at first, see where everyone's comfort level was at and go from there. We were the first group to head out and that meant that I got to be an icebreaker for the first half of the day as we kept coming up on puddles (or small ponds?) that hadn’t been touched yet.
On trail 21 we found a few light blue sections by accident (are these trails getting rougher?) and then on trail 1 we found a downed tree, and got to saw an alternate route around it (trimming the branches back). Then, just before lunch we had our first incident, a slipped rear axle due to a sheared center pin. After trying to repair it we decided to ratchet strap it in place and limp it back to Pole Line with the driver hopping in with someone else. Not 1 minute later we had a minor injury when the steering wheel caught a drivers thumb when it yanked around after the tires hit a submerged rock in one of the big puddles on Pole Line. Lucky for us we had a nurse in the group and enthusiasm that wouldn’t be tempered by this incident. The driver wanted to continue after his hand was wrapped up.
After lunch we enjoyed trail 14 with all its twists, turns, and more ice breaking. On 11 we found a fairly deep mud hole (we had a recovery) and then some flexing and off camber lines through the various optional lines up 11. Everyone was doing great so we turned it up just a notch at the end of the day and went up 11B. When it’s dry this may be a Green, going down, but it was probably a Blue when going up it due to the ice and mud. We all made it up though, some with more help and rock stacking than others.
Finally we started to work our way back out of the park up Power Line. This has gotten worse and worse over the last few months, now with a few sections that really flex a vehicle. Our Jeep got into an issue where the 4Low wouldn’t engage. Just as the Xterra in front of it arrived with a tow strap our other Jeep owner (who was riding this day) showed our new Jeep driver a trick and got it engaged and on its way. Our last hurdle was our stock 1st Gen struggling with a big flexy spot, but with some momentum and spotting they eventually made it through. We picked up our abandoned-for-the-day Xterra on our way out and all made it back to the parking lot by 4:30. Thanks again NeXterra for hosting a great event!
Our pics and video are located here:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing