The first Saturday of September turned out to be absolutely beautiful.  Motor Man had planned on taking the club on a new route from the Clifton area, spilling out into Milford, near the County Rd.  We expected a lot, as we always do when we go out Jeeping, but we never know exactly what it will be.
We all met in East Eddington at the Dunkin Donuts around 9 AM.  Expecting a full day of Jeeping, many of us picked up those last-minute snacks and drinks at the store.  Much coffee was consumed, many yawns were exchanged.  9 AM is early for a Saturday!  After exchanging some playful banter and discussing recent modifications and trail damage, we set out for the trail.

After finding the trail in through the open fields, we arrived at a river. 

Everyone stopped to air down before we crossed: We were going to be offroad for the next several hours.  The lower pressure would give us better grip with our tires and would help absorb some of the bumps.  The only warning from MotorMan was “Stay away from the right, there’s a BIG hole there.”  Not wanting to disappear into the river, we all followed his path almost exactly when we crossed.

The crossings went smooth and nobody got stuck or broke anything!  It really wasn’t as bad as it looks, though crossing a river sounds pretty sketchy initially!

We drove the trails for a few hours, picking our way amongst the trees, over rocks and up and down hills.  Most of the trail was uneventful and was quite stock-friendly.  I had no trouble with my nearly-bald All-Terrain tires.  The woods were beautiful and we enjoyed playful banter over the radio.  I know in my Jeep we listened to some great music and I could hear from other’s Jeeps, tunes to their liking playing as well.

We arrived at the top of the mountain in an open field and believe it or not, there was a lonely picnic table sitting alongside the road!  We all pulled in and got ready for a great lunch.

MotorMan had generously donated both a sweatshirt AND a hunter-camo cap to be raffled off during lunch!  Very generous of him!  MikeZJ and 4PointOh were our two winners!  Congrats guys!

After lunch, we got back on the trail and kept driving.  Along the way we found a big abandoned pit full of dirt and rocks to play on!

Much fun for all, until Lucifer (Yeah, that’s me!) took a big rock into the drag-link and bent it back into the steering dampener.

Boy, I’m lucky I didn’t take off the bottom of my radiator!  Fortunately we had a few alignment specialists with us.  A tree-saver, a bigger rock (to park on for angle) and a winch… I think it even cured my death wobble!
 
Everyone had a lot of fun playing in the pit!  Many of our pictures are from this spot!

We got lost trying to find our way out and even came across a mysterious bow-hunter’s truck… but no bow hunter.  We notified the ranger service that we found his vehicle but after the ranger went out looking for him, he was nowhere to be found.  Odd!

We finally decided to 180 and go back the way we came.  Sounds good to me!  Back through all the water and puddles!  I forgot that when you lean to the driver’s side coming in, you’ll lean to the passenger side coming out.  I think Doc forgot that too…

Her engine sucked in a bunch of water and stalled out going through one of the puddles.  Thankfully there was no damage done and we were able to get her started back up without any blown gaskets or broken engine parts.  Just a whole lot of water pouring out of the exhaust and a wet air-filter!
Did I forget that her power steering had refilled itself with muddy water? LOL!

All in all we had a great day out on the trails and finally stopped back at the same Dunkin Donuts we started out at for a last set of handshakes, thanks and goodbyes.  Thanks everyone for such a fantastic trail ride!  I think it’s the best one PV4WD has had all year!  Time to start planning the next one!

Thanks everyone that attended for helping make this ride one of the best!
-Bill
AKA
Lucifer
Webmaster
PV4WD.COM

Don't forget to check out our Picassa gallery for ALL of the pictures taken on this awesome day! Look for Doc's compilation video soon too! (It will probably be on the front page! :)