October 2003 Trail Report
by Sharon Perron
Finally, the Jeep Veep and his co-pilot were going to get a chance to go on a BSJ run. Being Paul’s second run and my first this year, we set out early to go to the meeting spot. We took route 2 out west and got into some pretty heavy fog. It was so think that we stayed behind the beacon lights of a hummer for about a third of the way.
Further west the clouds lifted and we decided to take a more scenic route, so we got off Route 2 and went via Route 202. Ending up behind a convoy of school buses headed to Amherst College and doing less than the speed limit (especially up those winding hills), I heard Paul mention a least half of his Jeeps name several times. Once we lost the convoy, we met up with Kevin, Jennifer, Andy, Matt & Lori, Steve & Gail, Roy and Dan at the gas station.
Waiting a while, we left for the trail head at 9:20 AM. Keeping together through town we meandered down some scenic route towards the trail head and Steve’s CJ just up and died for no apparent reason. Luckily, we were in an area where we could just pull off safely on the side of the road. With an engine check and no clue, Matt and Gail headed back to town to get some parts that might help Steve to get his Jeep going again. While they were gone, the rest of us aired down and continued to try and figure out what killed his engine. Moments (and I mean moments) before Mat and Gail returned, Steve spotted the problem. A wire had come undone from his coil. After a two minute fix and Matt airing down, we were back on our way. Kevin led the group, being sure that we had a winched vehicle between those who didn’t have one and PJK took the tailgunner’s position.
At the trail head, Mark Strohl was waiting for us. He had only been there for about 10 minutes, luckily. We got out of our Jeeps and took a look at the trail head. The ground and rocks were still wet from the rain the night before, so the option of going up on the right side was waived. We either went up to the middle or furthest left bypass.
Kevin made a great trip leader. Not only placing the winched vehicles in line, but he made sure he radioed back as to which side of the obstacles would be the best to travel and made sure we realized that there were areas which could be potential roll over areas. He explained that on a previous trip he had witnessed a Cherokee flipping over at the end of the trail and had heard of other areas that might cause the same affliction.
So here we were at the first obstacle. A wall of ledge about 4 or 5 feet high, stretched across our path. Kevin tried to climb it with his Cherokee, but to no avail. Slowly coming back off the wall he mangled his front license plate and took the bypass. Next in line was Roy. He started to make his first attempt towards the middle. That didn’t work so he moved a bit more to the right and that didn’t work. He was going to give it up when we started discussing the potential of using the tree roots to the far right. It looked like it might work, so he gave it another go. Paul was spotting at the top and a couple of others spotted from the side. It was looking pretty good there for awhile, until Roy’s font end started to slip off the rock on an angle and then……………….just like slow motion, his Rubi flipped over on to his roof!! Holy Cow!!! Immediately, I went right to his side, lying on the ground, to see how he was. Shaken up and hanging upside down, he was OK. Matt crawled in from the passenger side and we stabilized Roy so he could undo his seat belt and get out of there. Crawling out from the driver side window and being helped up by the crew, we checked him out again and there was no evidence of any injury. Phew!
OK then - we have an upside down Jeep, now what? The assessment began. The windshield was smushed, but the glass was intact. The hood, (from what we could see) was a bit dented up and the rest of the Jeep looked to be in good shape. No gas or oil leakage and with Roy’s superb bungee tie down job, the inside gear was still in place. Getting the winches in place for the vehicle recovery, (Matt to the left, PJK in the middle and Andy to the right), we put Paul’s winch to a tree and then back to the Jeep to stabilize it. Next we need to remove a big rock from under the roof, so that when we flipped it back over, it wouldn’t cause more damage. Paul slowly started to winch up the Jeep just far enough for Andy to drag out the rock with a combination of well placed chain and tow straps hitch to his winch line. Once that was removed, then we pivoted the Rubi a bit to line it up for the flip and gently set it back down on its roof. Now, Matt got his line on the far side of the under frame and we repositioned Paul’s winch so that when it flipped it wouldn’t get caught up in the action. Very slowly, Matt and Paul maintained the winching and as it flipped back up right, it landed ever so softly and it was back on its wheels.
Yes, the windshield certainly was shattered and we needed to do something about that, so first off we decided to make it so Roy could drop the windshield down on to his hood, but the frame was bent and the glass make it impossible to lay it flat. So the next idea was to remove the glass. Mark pealed away the rubber from the inside and out of the windshield and Paul carefully tried to push the glass out with his foot, but it wouldn’t budge. Then they tried to pry the glass out and two of the guys (at the same time) tried to push it out with their feet and it still wouldn’t budge. Then Kevin said: “hey, there are only six torx screws, why don’t we just remove it, frame and all”. Good idea Kev, and they did. Wrapping the windshield in big green plastic bags and securing it to the back of the Rubi by duct tape it was ready for the trip home. We cleaned out any bits of glass, gave the engine some more oil and made sure Roy was OK to drive home.
Dan had seen enough and decided to go back down with Roy and head home. We ate our lunch while we waited for them to get down to the bottom. We checked in with them via Dan’s CB and once we knew they were all set we started out again and all used the bypass this time.
The rest of the trail was pretty good. There were bypasses near all the tough spots and Kevin continued to let us know which way to go as we traveled. Then we reached the end where there is a loop to head back out the way we came. Matt stayed on top with his winch ready, because this area reminded us of “double locker hill”. Kevin went down the steep gravel hill and attempted to come up the hard way. After a couple of tries, he went for the winch. This was pretty much how it went for the rest of the group. A couple made an attempt, but knowing it wasn’t going to happen, just backed down and went back up the way they came. The Jeep Veep was last in line to make the try. Following in Marks line he made several attempts and called for the winch. Strapping him up to the line, Matt started to pull, but the Damn Yankee decided to slip to the side a bit more than we wanted. “Oh no…someone grab the Jeep before it flips!” Yup, Paul would have been our next victim. Quickly about three guys grabbed the Jeep. We got tow straps on the roll bar and one to the front bumper and around a tree. Then Kevin got Paul’s winch out and we went to another tree so Paul could winch himself to a more upright position and stabilized, so Matt could continue to pull him to safety. Making it to the top, Matt decided that he’d pass this time and we headed back to the road.
Of course the day was unbelievable, but as we headed back, it started to rain pretty good and Andy didn’t have a top on his scrambler. Stopping to watch him put on his “bikini” (for the Jeep I mean), we continued on. Airing up or heading back to the gas station, we just kept saying: “poor Roy”, but thank God no one was hurt and what a good job we all did as a group.
Yes, there were many thank you’s flying around that day, but the most important thank you is to those who have taken the time or expense to install a winch on their Jeep, otherwise Roy’s Jeep might still be laying there on its back. Winches are Good!
End of story: I called Roy when I got home and he really is OK, but a bit broken hearted. Good luck Roy with fixing your Rubicon!