...yeah right. It's time for this penguin to take matters into his own hands...er...flippers. Better late than never, eh?
Well, the first day, we hit up a trail called Kane Creek and it starts out really smooth with some cool looking structures in the hillsides.
As we passed the cliffsides, we could not help but stop and take the pictures of these amazing rock formations. It's like nothing we are used to in the northwest!
After a bit, we come up to a small group of people staring at a washed out bit of road.
It looked deep and nobody was willing to test the depth until we came along. After sending our biggest rig through and finding it was only a foot or so deep, we all splashed through and provided a little bit of ferrying for those on foot on each side.
A little ways later, we came across a couple of people walking along the trail. They flagged us down and asked for help as they were stuck in the mud. Recovery is what we do so off we went and imagine our surprise when we saw their rig...
A Saturn sedan?!
After a bit of puzzlement, we set to work. First step: Find a sturdy place to attach a recovery strap to and dig out the mud a bit...
As usual, I supervised and provided some much needed counselling to the poor traumatized couple. After a few minutes, they were happy as can be (despite still being stuck). You can see their smiles right here, even!
After a bit more digging and tugging, we got them free (with only minor damage) to the bumper. They were quite thankful and, right on cue, some construction machinery came by to pack and smooth the road for them to get back safely.
With them safe and sound, we moved right on along and were excited to see the sign that marked the beginning of the actual trail!
Kane creek!!
I had to take this shot because...well...XJs rule and the backdrop was amazing! This is truly God's country!
We paused and my driver couldn't help but play a bit...the mud here is very different than we are used to. Everything here seems to give us more traction!
After a short break, we continued on...splashing through the puddles (many of which were there because of the flash flood the night before).
As the trip continued, some portions of the trail got tighter and we had to pick our way through carefully...I thought this was supposed to be the easy trail!
This shot is just a gratuitous flex shot...I don't have a story to go with it.
A little farther on and the road split...which way do we go?
After some deliberation, we decide the trail must lead down...just a little before this, another jeeping couple show up in a black TJ and ask to join us. Apparently, they ran into the Saturn while coming up to see what the trail was about and heard about us.
Offroading is all about community and having fun together, so we welcomed them right in and stuck them in the middle of the group to ensure they were well taken care of with plenty of guidance and fun!
As we dipped down, we found that the trail followed a creek (thus the name) and, in fact, much of the official trail was the creek!
Another beautiful shot of the scenery and one of the rigs...this one an old bronco on 40s!
As big as those 40" tires are though, you can still bury it, as he shortly showed us.
A tug and some throttle later, we were out and on our way again. Before long, though, we were reminded with a sobering sight of why flash floods are dangerous...
The wreck above was washed here. We didn't find any bodies so we had to assume everyone was ok and had escaped in time and made it out safely. Nobody had heard of anybody missing (and we didn't hear any reports when we got back or the rest of the week either).
As we moved farther on, we got to see even more amazing cliffsides and uniquely carved surfaces from the wind. The sights were amazing!
As we continued, the trail started to rise from the creek. Before long, we had some cliffside next to us!
We got to a bit of an obstacle and it surprised us all. As alluded to earlier, this was supposed to be an easy trail to whet the appetite and we just ran into a more technical trail.
Thankfully, it was no problem for our trail leaders and they guided everyone through safely and without any serious breakage.
With the cliffside going up on one side and a severe drop on the other, we picked our way through very carefully.
This classic bronco even made it through, though it used every inch of travel in the suspension to do it (and more than a little winching).
In the end, we saw beautiful sights, had a great time, and made lots of memories (both for us and those we encountered on the trail who weren't a part of our group). What a perfect way to start the trip and we couldn't wait for more!
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