Spring Creek 2003

It seemed with all the great trails that we had run this year; there was one that was overlooked. Being so close to town, with all the excitement of the big dog trails, Spring Creek is definitely one that we couldn’t overlook. Due to scheduling difficulties in June we were unable to run it then, and similar circumstances in August presented a perfect opportunity to take on the Creek! Starting at 8:00 am seemed to make sense at our last meeting, however in reality a 7:00 start time would have made more sense. The minute we pulled up to the trail head there were 15 or so vehicles blocking the start of the run. That made for a 45-minute wait before any of us could even put it into 4-wheel drive! Once we made it to the first obstacle, it became very apparent why it took so long for the previous group going up. With all the recent rain the near vertical rock was very slick and muddy after all the vehicles dug it out. After sliding into the hole left by so many unlocked vehicles with mud tires we clawed our way up the deeply rutted obstacle.

Progressing forward soon found the other group at a standstill parked around a wide spot in the road. We all cheered as we realized we could pass them and make our way to the real fun without wasting time waiting. Once to the meat and potatoes of the trail we realized the real toll the heavy rains had taken on the trail. Every obstacle seemed to have grown! The soil around all the rock had eroded and left us with some serious fun! Once around the hairpin rock turn we progressed to the main rock garden section. The Dave Meister navigated though with his trusty XJ making short work of the huge rock slabs under him. Once on top of the largest rock, he found both of his rear tires and one of his fronts without traction. His rear diff was stranded preventing him from going foreword or backward, requiring a little help from uncle Warn. Justin managed to find the same rock, and he elected to prevent any carnage and gave himself a tug also. Tracy took a straight up approach getting stuck near the top of the rocks. I gave her a tug through a snatch block from behind. Art slid his Grand over and was at the top before any of us could see him… I drove up the right obstacle, trying several different lines. One of which put my right front fender a little too close to a tree (a 3” dent too close). I finally made it all the way through. We had some lunch and wrapped it up around 3:00. This year seemed to be the most challenging that we had ever seen Spring Creek! Completely awesome! Cheers, Chris.