.....continued; <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

the old logging roads make for interesting navigating,especially when a child with a crayon drew the map <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />

after lunch on friday we continued onto the black trail and followed it to the grey trail.

The trail is a fairly step downhill......or uphill <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> that crosses thru a few boulder feilds and is made up of pea size type rocks.It's not bad if you don't hit your brakes hard(if you have brakes,right Rubo <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />) and if it's not raining.
After making the downhill,offcamber switchback turn we proceded down to one of the old sawmill sites.While cameras got pulled out Lisa decided to play in the creek crossing//dirt piles.She didn't get stuck"technically <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />" but with some spotting,and use of the skinney pedal she was able to chew over it.
Several people played there.

Smiley,headed back to camp with john and laura to start on some vittles.

They rest of the afternoon was ours so we decided to run the grey trail again,this time backwards.

It took each vehicle a few attempts to make the first turn,thanks to a deep rut,which thru you even more off camber.

We ran back to camp,fired up the other grill and vittles where on <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> there were huge steaks smoking,chops grilling,corn on the cob boiling,linguine getting it on,stir fried green beans,and ice cold refreshing cheerwine......calling from the coolers.

After dinner we decided an easy hour or two run up to the top of the mnt. to the tower and back down.........the trail
is yellow and the map says steep <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> and it is but,........














































we also didn't factor in the 3" of rain we got at the begining of the week <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />,
I felt like the professor or the howells.........it turned into a long night.

The ride up the mnt was nice,it was cool and just a nice well a nice drive.
We reached the summit and walked up to the radio tower......
ugh....... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />...it was gone!They took it down and neatly stacked it next to the trail,Oh'well.....we'll just look at the stars...........the six of them where beautiful
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" /> the clouds moved in while we clawed our way to the top.
Onward we pressed,gotta' get back to camp.I worned everyone about the decent back to camp------if this trail is wet you do not want to attempt it,it is very steep.
With rubo's brakes acting up I decided to scratch the decent and make the second right and follow skyline drive back to camp.
I radio'd team turtle and they were on the lookout for the turn.
The silence broke when the cb came to life!!!!Lisa said "Bansil needs to come up here,this doesn't look good"
I figured a rock or a tree in the way.I asked her she said something along the line of "This scares me" <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> Smiley and me looked at each other and both said --------- In 3 years of wheelin,I have never heard those words come out of her mouth!!!!!!!!!!!!Now I was worried.
I walked up to the turtle which was pointing downhill at about a 30* angle and I couldn't see the road!
We chocked the tires and I told them to hold on.

I got in front of her and-----!! Not sure what the angle was we could walk/skid down it,and crawl back up it.Maybe 60* it was way steeper than 45 because it went down maybe 80ft. in the course of maybe 30ft........and it had a spring river flowing down it...........we hadn't even gotten to the old steep part yet.

We spent an hour getting the rest of the vehicles turned around and out of the way.This left 3 trucks turtle,rubo and brandon.
Lisa tried to back up it wasn't happening,reverse just slipped,no movement.
We hook up to brandon trucks and pulled the turtle backwards about 20' to get it leveled out a little more.
We couldn't get her back the 100' or so to where we where turning everyone around so the decision was made turn her around her.
Out came the the strap,and winch cable,this was way too off camber to play around.
With brandon secured to the rear corner,I started to turn her,feeding the cable in and out too keep tension on the cable.
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />We where half way there,90 more degrees and it will be good.I reattached the cable to her running boards,took out the slack and we started on our 60 point turn again.
As the turtle back;d up the passenger side rear tire(side down hill) dropped into the ravin!!!!!!!!it was on!! the cable snapped tight,the cherokee scooted forward against the rocks chocking the tires........and the turtle was on two wheels!!!!!!!6" of nighttime under the driverside tires <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />

As I was cleaning my shorts,I made some thankyou's,as the turtle settled back onto all tires again with just a push of the whinch controller........thank the heavens,Brandon,3/8" cable and the young ladies for keeping there cool.
The rest of the drive back to camp was uneventful.....and it's now saturday morning..........to be continued.....

Bansil