Memorial Weekend 2003
Friday May 23rd was the beginning of what would become one of the best Memorial trips in Edge history! Members filtered in throughout the day setting up what would become the best tent city in the state (at least over Memorial weekend!) As night fell something very exciting dawned on us… WE COULD START A CAMPFIRE!!! We were so stoked… Imagine a cold frothy in front of a warm campfire (just think of all the tall tales)!!! This was definitely the trip we had all been waiting for!
The fun really began Saturday morning when it was time to do what we all came for… some keeler wheelin’! Our plan for the day was to run Twin Cones. Route finding was very easy due to our pre-run a few weeks earlier. This time it was much drier, with plenty of decent mud splashes along the way. The climb was relatively easy (especially compared to busting through 2 foot drifts of heavy snow). After a little more than a mile up we encountered our first real obstacle of the trip. There is a pretty tight grouping of rocks on a vertical uphill grade. Low gears, lockers and decent tires are a definite plus though this area. Everyone made it thorough with only the occasional “back up and try a different line” setback. The next noteworthy obstacle is a grouping of 4 or 5 large rocks. Most people took the right line (definitely tougher than the left). Others opted for the bypass. Brent (papa scout master) found the right side irresistible. Knowing he was unlocked he thought this would be a great time to “show his stuff”. After bouncing most of the way up he managed to indent his rear drive shaft about ½” smaller diameter than stock near the axle. He got it over the obstacle unaided…definitely a wild ride! With all the excitement we were beginning to work up a powerful appetite! We had lunch with the view of a nearly vertical hill staring at us. After lunch we took the climb head on. Scott took the lead position (making it look easy with his 38” swampers)… We all followed one by one working around the obstacles and trying to keep as much momentum as possible on the steep hillside. Once we got to the top of that group of obstacles we found a huge drift of snow blocking our progress. After each one of us rammed it and had to be pulled out, we realized it was time to make our way back to the bottom. What an incredible run… It was now time for our annual Steak dinner and time to loosen up after an amazing day…
We thought we would make a little run up to Georgia pass on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day with lots of sunshine. We got about a mile from the summit and found the road snowed in. In fact there was a Toyota Taco stuck in the snow a few feet from where the snow ended. Scott and I decided to surprise him and pull it out. One quick tug of the winch cable and it was out. No sooner than we pull it out, a Jeep comes rolling around the corner honking its horn. It was the owner with a friend to get the truck. They couldn’t believe that it was unstuck. Especially after the 2-hour hike the night before to get help. We just extended him a “your welcome from The Edge” and rolled on to some more trails! We took the back way over Kenosha pass and found some fun back roads and a nice big sippie hole car wash. After getting back to camp with rain, thunder and lightning around it was time to call it a trip! What a bad-to-the-bone run! Bring on next year! Christopher…
