by Al Kiecker for
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"Finally, we're on our way", I thought to myself as we cruised down I-94 toward Hudson, WI to join up with John Nutter. Then it would be on to Lakewood, WI, a five hour trip from the Twin Cities. "Ring..... ring....." The blaring ringing of my wife's cellular phone jarred us both back to the present.
"Who could that be?" grudgingly muttered my wife as she picked up her phone (she had been enjoying a nap, lulled to sleep by the soothing drone of the 4.0 of my Cherokee).
"I dunno. I did give John your number in case he was late and needed to get in touch with us". I wondered what the problem could be. If I was to use the past 24 hours as any indication, it had to be a problem.
"Our sleeping bags! You mean we forgot them?"
Yup, a problem. A BIG problem. My wife managed to conjole our son (bribery with a tank of gas for his car goes a long ways) into bringing our sleeping bags to us in Hudson. We continued on our way, met John and told him our predicament. Since we were to be delayed waiting for our sleeping bags to arrive, we wished him on his way.
After transferring the missing gear to my truck and topping off the tank, we were finally on our way. Only an hour late. And I felt confident that all was now under control, since as we all know trouble comes in threes, and we have had our three. The day before, Rick (friend of Rick Colombo) canceled because he had sprained his right ankle while hobbling around with a broken left ankle. And just a few hours ago Brad Allen canceled with a painful broken hand. Yup, we've had our three.
We finally pulled into McCaslin Mt. Campground around midnight, and quickly renewed old friendships and established new ones.
Saturday morning arrived after a very cold night (last time I crawl into my sleeping bag without my socks!) Just as we were leaving for the trails, in arrives Jim Van der Ven and his dad Andy with Jim's '68 FJ40 in tow. Seems that they left the Twin Cities around 3:00am, after Jim got home from celebrating his high school's homecoming. You have to admire Andy for driving all night while Jim slept! They quickly unloaded the Land Cruiser and joined the rest of us for a day in the forest.
Our crew had now all arrived, coming from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Many of us never having met before, but all keeping in touch via email and the Offroad Mailing List. Our crew consisted of:
After a few minutes of playing in a gravel pit behind the campground (sort of like doing warm-up exercises before beginning a ten mile run), we headed out on the trails of the Nicolet NF. Now these trails are an absolute maze, twisting and curving through the dense forest. It didn't take long before I was lost and glad that Brian and his FJ40 knew their way around. No way could I have found my way back out. A couple hills challenged our ability to pick our way through the rocks. And don't believe Brian's license "IH8MUD". He found some of the deepest mudholes ever. Fortunately for those of us with less prepared trucks, they were optional. The only damage was incurred by Rick. His rear bumper picked a fight with a stump. The bumper lost.
It was a great day! Followed by a great meal of scalloped potatoes in the Dutch oven and burritos. And stories and relaxing around the campfire afterwards.
The next morning we joined up with Brian's club for their "Fall Colors Run". With about 16 trucks we headed for the powerline road. No sooner had we started the trail than we had a challenging rocky hill to climb. You could set your level of difficulty by the route you chose. I think none of us were disappointed. Several times the road crossed a stream (bridges built by Wisc4WDA, Trout Unlimited, and others) teaming with 10"-12" brook trout. Next time I'm bringing my fly rod!
Despite the beginning, the weekend turned out perfect in all respects. The weatherman gave us an absolutely perfect October weekend, the fall colors were at their peak, the 4-wheeling challenging for all levels of vehicle preparation and driver skill (i.e., the really hard spots were optional) and the camaraderie was great. We are all looking forward to doing it again next year.
If you have any comments or questions, please send them to Al Kiecker
The Offroad Mailing List is devoted to the discussion of all makes of 4x4s, their maintenance, repair and modification; trail reports and land use issues. For more information email to Offroad Mailing List Requests.
"Hey, Al! You need a couple more inches height" seemed to be the
call of the weekend as I banged my undersides across the rocks.
Rick makes a few trail mods. Seems his bumper met a stump. The stump won.
No, Brian isn't laying on his side. It just looks that way.
Tom eases his classic Bronco between the trees. But who's that behind the
tree? Whatcha' doin' back there Andy?
Swamprat living up to his name!
John eases his way through another of the "Jeep size" ruts.
And Jerry gains a little air as he climbs out of that "Jeep size"
(or was it Suzuki size?) rut.
Jim and Andy are enjoying a gorgeous October day in the north woods. (I'm
still trying to figure out how Jim kept the mud off his Cruiser).
Steve climbs out of the "cement mixer". Now
imagine a hole, in depth about as high as a truck, and several trucks long. At
the bottom is about two feet deep of the gooiest mud you have ever seen. Picture
what comes out as a cement mixer empties its contents and you have a pretty good
idea of what the "cement mixer" was like. Fortunately it was optional,
or my XJ would still be there.
Quick Time
Movie of Steve climbing out of "Cement
Mixer" (445K)
Courtesy of Scott Rozman
Bruce brings his 4Runner through the "notch". And this was the easy
part!
Scott and his totally stock Cherokee pick their way through the rocks.
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