Wellsville, Ohio -
January 20, 2002
Mike climbing Wellsville's first hill. The day began with
a slight snow covering which made for some nice photos. I lost
traction at that 1st bend on the right, by the rock. I was
wondering if my new TSLs were worth the money!
Made it up the second attempt, only to see a steep drop
off. This was a nice relaxing trek down.
The snow hid this surprise. Jim, his wife, and grandson
needed a little help.
This would be the last trip for Mike w/o sway bar disconnects.
Jim and Mike make this obstacle with ease.
I, on the other hand, had some difficulty. After Mike
gives me a pull out, we changed my tire pressure from 20 to 15 psi, and
the results were remarkable! It was like a different
vehicle. I didn't come close to getting stuck the rest of the
day (and we tried).
We finally made it to the play areas. Mike M. is just
beginning his descent, while I wait in line. Jim had already
made it down, and back up. His close encounter with a tree in
this area, gave his wife a good scare. It was in this area that
I let my passenger, Mike A., get his first feel for this off-roading
stuff. As Mike A. gets used to my Jeep, Jim makes a prophetic
comment "confidence with someone else's Jeep is a dangerous
thing" (see last photo).
We played around in this open area for quite a while, said
goodbye to Jim and family, then went back for some more trail
action. Luckily we didn't get stuck, or lost, since neither of
us had a winch or GPS. The next trip to Wellsville, we weren't
so lucky.
Remember when I mentioned Jim's prophetic quote. Well,
Mike A. (foreground) is trying to push my radiator back down, after
trying to make it through 3' of water. We might have made it if
it weren't for the 3 inches of solid ice on top. Once we broke
through, and hit the ice head on, my grill was pushed back into the
radiator. Next purchase, a Bull Bar! I look pretty
disgusted (background), but was happy when we got it capable of
driving home. All in all, it was a great trip. So much
fun, that we went back two weeks later (when our luck ran out).