Wellsville, Ohio - February 3rd, 2002
Well, I don't have the photos posted yet. But none could do the story of this trip justice. Here is the story as told by member Mike Malnar:
WELLSVILLE, OH
SUPERBOWL SUNDAY 2002
by Mike Malnar
It all started out going very well that day. We were planning to do some fun off roading in Wellsville, and be home in time for the Superbowl game. Well, that was the original plan at least. It was going to be me and my girlfriend Michele in my 01' XJ, Dan riding with Chuck, in his 82' CJ. We were going to meet two other people at the trail head, people we found on the Quadratec bulletin board. Tom had a 85 XJ with a 340 V-8, and Matt in his 96' or so ZJ.
This day was filled with disaster. There were numerous hickups, and they kept getting worse as the day carried on, as you will all find out as you read this. So much that I nicknamed Wellsville, as HELLSVILLE. And now I know never to go out without a winch again.
Chuck and I got to the trail head at about 10:00 am Sunday morning. Tom already was there in the XJ. No sign of Matt. So we started to air down and disconnect. Matt never showed up. So we started out on the trail, the three of us. We were heading north along the tracks. We went up the hill to the left, to the top little play area (I call it that). Then back down the other side towrds the river. By the way I was picked to lead, since nobody else knows their way around there. But I did not know the trails that well either, but had a good idea. This was only my third time there.
At the river we went to the right but could not go much farther, so we looped back across some pretty big rocks. I am amazed I got over them in my XJ. Chuck was next, and while going over the rocks in his CJ, we heard his radiator fan hitting the shroud. He stopped and got out to check it out. It all looked ok, we figured it was just his body flexing real bad. After he got off them it was ok. Little did we know this was an indicator of things to come later.
After that we went through the river to the left and up the path on the right of it. It led up and right to an "S" curve to the right and left with a big rut in the middle. I made it through first no problem, thanks to my newly installed limited-slip rear-end. Chuck was next, then Tom in his XJ. Tom was going and all of sudden his tire popped of the rim. Right in the turn, in a rut. We had to position him to lift it up. All he had was the little bottle jack XJ's come with, luckilly I had a High-lift. We got the tire changed and went on. This was the first of our bad luck.
Next we got to the top of there and ventured to the left and down a bit and came to the one hill, that is by itself. You can drive up the side and go down the very steep decline, and that is about all you can do. We played there a bit and ate a snack, it was about 12:00 or so. We were looking for the "bowl" area to play in. When all of sudden this mud soaked kid, comes walking around the corner to us.
*** Chapter 2 ***
He had told us that he was Matt. And he was supposed to meet us here this morning. We said ok , well lets trail ride. He said well first I need a little help, you see I'm kinda stuck in a giant mud hole. So he rode with us, behind the big hill, to a flat wide giant pot hole covered road, that I think led back to the trail head. We found his ZJ, all that was visible from the rear was his rear axle and up to the bumper. Mud water had filled his passenger compartment on the right side of the trans. hump. I attempted to hook him and pull him out, very doubtful that I could do it alone. So I turned around, hooked up, and tried to get him out. In just about two snaps, he was out, couldn't believe it, I got him out alone. This Cherokee is great I thought. So after he parked sideways on a hill, to drain out the water we went on. This was our second bad luck experience.
Next I was looking for the "bowl area" again, with no luck. So we decided to back-track down the "s" curve rut , towrds the river again. I was leading again, I got through it ,and then I heard on the radio, that Matt was stuck in the rut. I walked back up there to find him flipped sideways, almost went over. He had the engine off, no oil was in the pan. We tied a saftey stap to his rock rail on the side to prevent tipping. While Tom in the XJ pulled him out backwards. This was our third bad luck experience.
We went back to the river and went up "Mike's Rollover hill 1", we got to the top . And there was a road to the left or right, pretty wide . It looked too easy, but up again was another steep curved hill to the left, possibly Mike's rollover hill #2? I went up that first. It led to a seroius climb up a v shaped shale covered bumpy hill. I made it up it after several attempts. Chuck needed puled up, by myself, and Matt also needed pulled up . Tom hammered it up and eventually made it. That 360 definitely helped.
We followed some trails and ended up at the top of the powerlines. This area I where I assumed we were before. But it looked different, because there was no snow up there just mud. I figured we would need to find the tight trail down , that had a lot of "pinstriping"on it, to get out. We searched for the trail, for a good hour or so, never found it. We ran south I believe to where the top of the hill narrowed to a point. It went down pretty steep towrds the river. There were some guys there on dirtbikes. We asked them they said if we went down there , we could follow the river to the entrance of the place. So I ventured down the super steep, rocky, and loose gravel hill. We all made it down. Little did we know, we would never make it back up.
*** Chapter 3 ***
I followed the trail where they said to go. It was no good. It was leading further away, and no luck in sight. So we went back the other way at the bottom. Dan walked it to see where it went. It went in the valley of two hills, back towrds the powerlines on the top of the hill. So we were going to try to go back up the hill. By this time it was about 4:00 or so the sun was beginning to set. Tom tried to go up first, he was hammering it good, bouncing a lot, and eventually got up. He called down and told us he thought he broke a motor mount, and even after the hill climb it still was no easy task. Chuck attempted next , as I sat accross another little hill and watched. He was going good till one little bump he had to go up. He hit it and Boom he almost TIPPED Backwards! I watched in fear. But he came down ok, and backed off the hill. He said there was no way he was going back up there. And me and Matt were not reallly looking to try that either.
So Tom sat at the top and worked his way back to the powerlines waiting to see what we were going to do. He did not feel comfortable backing up to help tow strap us up, he said it was too difficult, especially with the broken motor mount. So we followed the path along the river, into the revine. It was getting muddier as we went along. It led us to the bottom area, which opened up to a large open area. There was a trail we saw to the left, up through the woods. I was first, driving through tall grass like weeds, not knowing underneath was MUD. Black mud like peat moss. We were right next to the river. I got stuck and was sliding more towrds the river, but we were up about three feet from it . Matt came next and fell into my tracks and got sucked into the mud also. This was not looking good. I told Chuck it's up to him. He made it by us was turning around . And the flat area was stepped upper and lower. We were in the low mud , he was turing low to high, and hit a large boulder. It got caught centered in front of his rear axle. He went foreward it hit his axle, he reversed, it his his trans crossmember. He was now stuck. NOT GOOD. So I came up with the plan, we moved some large boulders in front of his rear tires they lifted him as he drove foreward over the stopping boulder. But even with his 31' superswamper tsl's, the mud was getting the best of him. He needed to pull us out, but he could barely move himself.
I looked back at my stuck jeep and said to myself I can't let myself be stuck there. I got in started driving, and whamo I got out. WHEEHEW. In the meantime Chuck had fallen into the lower area again, and he was stuck too. I drove around to the upper. I got lined up and pulled both of them up to the "safer" mud area. So there we were it was almost dusk, stuck at the bottom of the hill. So I attempted to climb the trail out. It was pure black mud. With the small running start I coould get , I only got up about 10 feet! Not good the hill was about 80 feet up till it leveled out. So that was it . We were done. The ill feelings started to set in. I was scared, not knowing how we were going to get out, or how to find the trail to get out. It was almost dark and at night it would be impossible. Many things went through my mind in that time period. Leaving the jeeps and walking out, but we still didn't know which way to go.
*** Chapter 4 ***
We tried to use the high lift as a winch, but we only had tow straps to take up the distance, all they did was stretch and tighten, with no movement from the jeep. I was running out of ideas quickly. Matt had a Gps on a labtop which gave our position, and Chuck had his running the whole time , mapping our tracks. Chuck had thought about going to buy a winch the next day, mounting it and pulling ourselves out. By this time it was very dark, and Tom was still up by the powerlines. He was not familiar with the trails, so he was lost up there too. And the Superbowl game was just starting.
Matt said his brother had a winch on his XJ. So he called home to his Dad. He planned for them to come and get us out. They were in Pittsburgh so it was about an hour away. By the way we were very hungry(only ate breakfast, and some snacks) with nothing to eat but some beef jerkey Matt had. So the plan was for Chuck and Matt to ride with Tom and his friend out to meet his Dad and brother. Luckilly Chuck had the GPS. Because thats the only way they found there way out. They backtracked to the bottom of Mike's rollover hill no.2. And took the wide road to the entrance.
There they meet Matt's dad in his 01' ZJ (with the fliud lockers, Vari-lok, they bucome a locker when a tire slips, it pumps up clutches like an auto trans, pretty cool), and his bother's XJ (locked front and rear, winch) ready to do buisness. In the mean time Dan and I and my girlfriend we freezing in the back of my jeep waiting for the rescue party, listening to the game. By the time they made it to us the game had ended, it was about 10:30 or 11:00 . Very dark and very cold.
Matt's brother was positioning himself to winch us up. He was maunevering around atop the hill, chewing it up pretty good. I was first in line to get winched up the hill. He told me to try and drive up as far as I could. I laughed to myself, knowing that before I couldn't go anywhere. So I tried to climb, and it BIT, it was so cold outside the ground actually froze and I walked up like nothing. Till the spot where he chewed it up. He winched me about 20 feet or so. Next was Chuck, He made it to the same spot, I was guiding him with a flashlight also, as he climbed, Because it was pretty hard to see. And as I looked on I saw what looked like an oil trail under his jeep. I yelled to him and asked him if he had oil pressure, he said yes. As he was getting winched up, I glanced underneath to see a steady stream of oil pouring out underneath. I asked again, he said now he had zero pressure, and shut off the engine. This was our next bad luck. He opened the hood and found his right side motor mount had broke. And the engine had fallen on the oil filter, slicing a hole in it!
Now I was thinking , we are lost (at the moment), Chuck's CJ is dead and were still a haul away from the entrance. By this time is was starting to snow and was about 12:30 or 1:00. I didn't think we would be able to get him out. So we started the journey out. Matt's dad was pulling Chuck out. We made it to a point where the choice was either to take the steep road or go around a lesser way. Well we tried the steep one and we we letting Chuck go first by gravity, but that did not work not enough gravity to move the CJ. So we went the other way. This was leading us to our next tradgedy.Matt's dad and I went down first. It was a U shaped area that also decended. As you turned right you went down at the bottom (10 feet or so) you had to make a sharp right again or fall down the hill. As Chuck's rig was not running his brakes were minimal. So we figured we would tie off behind him again as a safety.
*** Chapter 5 ***
He started the decend, and Matt's brother was his brake with a tow strap. At this time we had been lost for 8 to 10 hours, beaten, fatigued, mentally and physically, and we pretty tired, just wanting to get home. As all of us stood off to the inside of the turn, Chuck had started his decent. The strap got tight and Matt's brother started to edge up to give him some more slack. As Matt's brother rolled up, Dan saw the strap about to get rolled under his front tire. He stepped up and attempted to move it out of the tires way. At the same moment Chuck started to roll down the hill some more. And as the strap pulled tight, it pulled against Dan's right leg, between his knee and ankle. As it pulled his foot got caught on a stump or something, preventing it to move anymore. The strap continued to pull harder, until the unthinkable happened, Crack! His leg broke! It sounded to me like a tree branch breaking, thats what I thought it was. Until the screaming started, then I knew.
We immedietly blanketed him to keep him warm. And made a splint out of a steering wheel "Club", and some duct tape. We also gave him some asprin. The trail ride ahead of us was still pretty bumpy I had thought. But when we asked him later he said it wasn't that bad. The hardest thing was carring him up four feet to the XJ and loading him in, lots of pain. Luckilly it was not a compound fracture. So we continued to tow the disabled jeep and human out of the trail, following the gps the whole way. As we got to the road into it, it was turing into a blizzard. We stopped for a minute to air up. And we then took Dan to the hospital, which was about 5:30, 6:00am Monday morning. Well Dan now is ok, but has a full leg cast on for about 6-9 months. I towed Chuck to a gas station, where we later bought a motor mount and fixed it in the parking lot in a snowstorm (Autozone actually had one mount in stock)
So that was our trip to Wellsville. We definitely learned some very very very important items. Don't go anywhere without a winch! Among many others. Hopefully this trip will serve as an example of how carefull you really need to be during all off road driving. But we were not discouraged from trail riding, at least I'm not, when is anybody going back to Wellsville, let me know, I can't wait!
