HAMMERING OUT THE DETAILS!
It is said that the third time is a charm. This last weekend we took three Jeeps and made our third attempt at running “Sledghammer” in
This is a trail unlike anything we have ever attempted as a club. Thompson Hill on the “Dusy” is challenge, no doubt about it, but it is no “Sledghammer.” These trails in
Being prepared is an important factor in any challenge, the right rig, the right mindset, and maybe a map. Oh, I guess we forgot the map. No worries Ken had his GPS and I knew where the trail was. We’d figured it out, right! It took 10.5 hours of hard work and a punctured tire with three plugs in it, “tire whiskers” to get to the mail box. We were pretty proud of ourselves and pretty tired. We figured we were done, not exactly! The sign post points in many directions including back to the trail. We started the second half of the trail not knowing we weren’t done. We thought it would be an easy ride back 
to camp, we were wrong! It even points to cold beer, which was not very funny because we weren’t even close. The direction we had been traveling was right, but it was dark, we were tired and the trail was very difficult. Not knowing where we were we turned around thinking it would be faster if we took the other trail. Once again we were wrong. The only other trail was the north end of “Jack” and I was starting to feel like I had a hangover. One thing we were unable to escape was the difficulty of these trails. We didn’t finish “Sledge” but we did most of it and part of “Jack”, if it were shots we would have been down for the count. We ended up on an unmarked trail where Ken disbeaded another tire. Fatigue set in but we managed to keep the snatchyness to ourselves and get his tire back on the rim. If this had been a cooking contest we would have voted “done,” but we rock on. It took another five hours of good times to get back to camp. There is something about this experience, the overwhelming fatigue and stress is out done by elation when you get back to camp and you can’t just go to sleep. You have to reflect on your day and so we did. I can’t explain it.
When great accomplishments are achieved with good friends they become great experiences. This was a great experience even if Ken brought less than average firewood! This was fifteen and a half hour of butt whipping off road adventure and the rednecks would be proud. Three fools, Three Jeeps and a third attempt, it had to be a charm? This was an adventure I will talk about for years. Without a doubt the most physically demanding and challenging trail I have ever done but we did it. They say the third time is a charm, we were happy to accomplish our goal even if we didn’t have a charm amongst us. One thing is sure, with this kind of determination and character you can’t stop the 4X4 Corps. It’s the special thing about us. We will hammer out the details even if we don’t bring a map or our better judgment! Ken’s license plate needs a little hammering out a sign of a good time or maybe a charm.
