On the way to the trail we began by turning on the wrong road, so we had to make a U-turn and get back in the right direction and finally we made it to the trail. During our run in the morning everything went along just great with no breakdowns. We went up and down hills, through creeks and tight turns, winding in and out of trees. When we stopped in a field beside a creek for lunch there was a cool breeze blowing. Then out on the trails again for more hills to climb and trees to squeeze through. Then our trail leader, Tom Miller, gave us a choice of going through the mud pit or going around and three of us went through. Then down the trail we went until Tom gave us another choice. We could go right (the easy way) or through three feet of water. All of us went the easy way, except Tom. Down the bank he went with water shooting over his hood and windshield. Well, he got part way up the bank on the other side, but that was as far as he went. Keep in mind that he had his mother with him, and this was her first time ever 4-wheeling. (For those of you who don't know, she is also our Trail Master's mom, and she loved every minute of it). Out came a tow strap, with Tom hollering that he was taking on water inside of his Jeep. We got him towed out, with the water running out the back. When there was no more room to tow, we winched him the rest of the way out. They worked on his red Cherokee but finally gave up and towed it out with another Cherokee. Also, a Toyota left with them as he had been having trouble getting up some of the hills and tight spots. Now we were down to six vehicles.

We headed out again, coming to a place called Magic Mountain. Guess who was there? Tom and the other two vehicles! They watched as three of us went up Magic Mountain and there was discussion about whether we all should head back, but only two more left with the disabled. Now we were down to four Jeeps and we were going along just fine until we almost made a wrong turn. Thanks to Cary (our newly appointed trail leader) we got going the right way but then he decided to take a short cut through the creek so he could get in front of us. Down the bank he went until he could go no farther. He was sitting at a 60 or 70 degree angle with his nose in the water so we had to winch him out of the creek. Because it got late we headed back to town. Cary was very apologetic for messing things up causing us to run out of time for more trail riding but we all had a great time, especially with the trail leader's goofs. The only regret I had was forgetting to bring a camera to get it all on film! The leaders did a great job and we all had a fantastic time. We are looking forward to going 4-wheeling again real soon. ~