Jeepfest 2003 Trail Report
by Joe Ostrenga
The off road trip to Paragon Adventure Park in Hazleton,Pa on July 18th and 19th was fantastic. I met Rich Belliveau & his friend Matt, and Jon Berkowitz & Kevin Wyrsch at 6am at the McDonald’s in Sturbridge. We waited until 6:30 for Jim Higgins thinking he might join us for the ride down. It turned out that Jim and Mark rode down the next day.
We left the parking lot and hit Rt84. I proceeded up to about 72MPH and the trailer swayed side to side pretty badly. The culprit: not enough tongue weight. We then drove a comfortable 60-65 MPH, which was manageable. We stopped in NY to gas up and Rich could hear air leaking from one of my trailer tires. A quick plug, and we were on our way.
After the six hour drive, we unloaded at Paragon. Man, it wasn’t easy to find! It’s in the middle of an industrial park. Very sneaky. Upon check in, we met two guys from the Chicago area looking to ride with someone (SUV’s need at least 3 in their group). So, they joined us. They had a newer TJ with a 3” lift, 33” BFG All Terrains and the factory limited slip in the back. “Uh oh” came to mind…
Rich led us over to the “M” trail. It’s used for the hardcore NEUROC competitions. Granted, we didn’t take some of the lines the rock buggies used, but it was still insane. Rich went in first followed by Jon. The Chicago guys in their TJ drove in about 15 feet and became stuck. I was tail gunner. After a couple of spot’n sessions, Kevin told the guy that he probably wouldn’t make the rest of the trail as it only became worse from there (in a nice way, of course). So, I winched him back and proceeded up the trail. They hung around to watch us, as did a couple of ATV guys.
The rocks were like formed concrete with little pebbles in it. Like moon rock. It was 100% traction. It was creepy crawly all the way. Perfect for my SM420 transmission. We crawled up and over everything only scraping here and there on skid plates, shackles, and leaf springs. Note: TJ’s will definitely use their steering box skid plate here. Don’t leave home without it!
Rich came up to a pretty nasty rock step area. Careful spotting and good driving got ‘em through. The same with Jon. Up next, I went to the left a little more than the other guys (yeah, more extreme!!!). I started to climb this rock and my right front tire went air born. It felt like I was going over. The whole YJ jumped to the side and Rich let out this funky yelp as he was spotting me. My driver’s front tire wedged between two rocks, which stopped me from going over. You could see the whole underside of my YJ. Thanks to Kevin for getting the whole thing on tape!!!. I corrected my YJ’s position and kept going. Phew…
We continued on, climbing and scraping over the huge boulders. The next main obstacle was an uphill boulder strewn climb with a huge step at the end. Rich went first. He climbed up with little difficulty and then dropped off sliding on his rocker panel guards (a mandatory item here). The same went for Jon. The only difference with Jon was he disturbed a HUGE, and I mean HUGE, red ant nest. They were everywhere. It figures too…I was up next. So I drove up and through the ants and down the step. “Crunch” went my pass side rocker panel. Ooops. Climbing back down, the sky grew dark. I was backing up onto an angled rock ledge when “pop”, my driver’s front outer u-joint blew destroying the ears on the stub shaft and mangling the axle shaft. I pulled forward and parked onto a flat spot. I jacked her up, removed the axle shaft, and stuck a rag w/ duct tape in the hole. Then I put the stub shaft back into the unit bearing. All in all it took about 20min. As I tightened the last of the lug nuts, it started to pour. Lightening flashed and sheets of rain fell. Phew! Fixed just in time. We headed out, loaded back onto the trailers, and drove back to the hotel.
That night we ate at a local rib/steak restaurant. The food was excellent, especially after our long day. The guys were also intrigued with several of the waitresses. I attempted to show my young friends how to properly flirt with a waitress and was shot down. Oh well, after almost nine years of marriage, I’m bound to be a little rusty. Besides, Angie’s the only girl for me…
Arriving back after eating, we caught Jim Higgins and Mark Strohl in the parking lot of our hotel. They had just arrived and it was good to see them. We talked for a little bit and then headed to our rooms to get some rest for the next day. Easier said then done. Whenever I’m away, either on business or this type of trip, I don’t sleep well without my beloved. So, I headed to the bar to unwind. I met some guys from Maryland who had been riding at Paragon with ATV’s. Being an ATV’er, we talked for a long time. So long in fact, that I finally headed up to my room around midnight. The good thing about it though, Sam Adams Light was only $2 a bottle…nice.
The next morning I woke and went for a quick walk. We all met at breakfast and prepared to depart for Paragon. We stopped at the quick mart to grab a bag lunch on the way. I still can’t believe that ATV’s can drive to the quick mart and gas up. They parked in the spaces just like cars! It was awesome.
We arrived at Paragon and hooked up with Roy Arruda in his Rubicon. We were a little late and Roy was getting worried. Sorry, man! Roy had planned to go with some guys from the Blue Mountain Jeep Alliance just in case we didn’t show, so they ended up joining us. One guy had a ’59 Willys CJ5 (like mine, only his works) and the other guy had a CJ2A. The first trail we did was pretty good. I can’t remember the name but it had a really nasty dirt/rock climb at the end. While everyone started up the trail, I stayed back on the road and installed Jon’s spare axle shaft assembly. Thanks a million again, Jon. The Blue Mountain guys designated themselves spotters for this trail. I could tell some of my guys were a little aggravated (me too) with the spotting technique. The first rule of spotting: Ask if he/she WANTS a spot. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Oh well. We finished the trail and the Blue Mountain guys said goodbye and went their separate way. No hard feelings.
We drove through the woods on this somewhat rocky trail (can’t remember the name). We stopped and could see “Pebbles & BamBam” paralleling to our right. It was very extreme (i.e. WAY NUTS). We continued on and caught up to some Toyota pick ups. We waited a bit and stopped for lunch. During lunch, Jon and I attempted a quick trail (little BamBam?). It was extreme and I praise Jim Higgins for his perfect spotting.
Jim said I put my YJ exactly where it needed to be. Good thing.
We continued on up “Impossible Hill”. It was pretty steep, had very loose rock, and a couple of boulders at the end. Jon was first to make it up. Rich, who had taken out his front ARB line on the first trail, rev-limited his way up the hill. Damn, that was cool.
Roy stopped about half way and couldn’t get going. He backed down too close to the edge of the hill and had to winch up. Up next, was Jim using his 4.3L Chevy Vortec to power up. Next, Mark used a more controlled approach and made it on the 2nd attempt. Finally, I put her in 2nd gear and drove right up the hill.
Up next was a small rock area to play in. We climbed up them and decided to head down to a scenic overlook. On the way down the play rocks, Rich blew a bead and punctured his sidewall. We highlifted the body and bottle jacked the axle to seat the bead. The tire filled up and we discovered the punctured sidewall. Mark plugged it up and we were on our way. During the whole process, Rich’s Mom called him on the Nextel and I gladly talked to her about how her son was holding us up. It was too funny.
We emerged from the woods onto a long strip, kinda like a powerline without the line towers. It went on forever. We stopped for a second to get our bearings (the place is 15K acres!) and Roy blasted Ozzy on the Rubicon stereo. We continued on and met up with New England 4 Wheelers. Hi guys! After saying goodbye, we hit the Rattler’s Tail trail. Jon, Roy, and I were the only ones to attempt it. The other guys spotted us through.
It was rough going (a good thing). I slid off a rock and dented my rear quarter on a tree. The rocks, like before, had perfect traction, although some of the drop offs and angles put you in very uneasy positions. For most of the trail, Kevin had my video cam. Let’s just say he’s a very funny guy. I’ll have to show you all, maybe at the next meeting.
The trail was continuous rocks with drop offs and huge boulders. Down, up, over. It was crazy. The final obstacle was a ledge that jutted out from a Jeep size rock. I thought to myself “there is no way in hell I’m making this”. Rich spotted me up and told me to put my tire against the ledge and drive up. After the instructions, he turned and ran. I thought he was going to watch me dump on my side. I listened to him and placed my 33” against the ledge. The tire wrapped around the rock and my YJ scaled the ledge!
It was incredible!! I kept on it slowly and drove up the rest of the rock. That was it. I made it over.
It was getting late and we decided to head out. If you’re late getting out, its $35 for every ½ hr you’re late, per vehicle. Rich and I loaded up the trailers and we departed for the hotel. We ate dinner at a local joint with a good buffet and headed back to the hotel. It was an awesome day. I said goodbye to everyone because I was leaving early the next morning. I woke at 4am and headed out. I was able to find the trailers sweet spot with my YJ on it and was able to go 70-75 MPH on the way home.
It was a completely awesome trip that I would love to do again next spring or summer. It really is worth the long trip. The conditions are unlike anything around here.
The only thing I recommend are steering box skid plates for TJ’s and rocker protection for all. Look at my rockers at the next run and you’ll see why.
I want to thank all the guys that joined me on this trip. You guys rock!!! Rich, Matt, Jon, Kev, Jim, Mark, & Roy. Whether it was spotting, driving, or swapping axles, it was an awesome team effort. I can’t wait for the next trip.
Thanks again,
Joe