Livingston - January 2002

Written By: Brian Siebenburgen

Club members in attendance:

• Jon Dinsmore
• Jon Williams
• Brian Siebenburgen

Our day started when we met at 7:30 to caravan our way down Interstate 75. About two hours and one McDonald's later, we arrived at the gas station to top off the gas tanks, disconnect, lock hubs, and air down. We started the riding in the northern area of the trails, which were narrow, muddy, and contained some fun hill climbs. About 15 minutes into the ride, our group experienced its first breakage of the day - my driver's side rear hub. A few minutes and one spare hub later, we were ready to go once again.

Next up were a few of the hill climbs mentioned earlier.

Now that we were all warmed up, we decided to head to the western section of the area. Jon Dinsmore, who did an excellent job of leading the group all day long, took the lead. This area contained more rocks and hills, many with a layer of slimy mud on top of them. One hill proved to be quite challenging; it liked to turn Jeeps sideways while they attempted to climb up its ledges.

After we had descended all the way down this large hill to reach a creek, we decided to turn around and head back up in order to break for lunch. The trip back up the hill provided plenty of challenges with its slick, rocky ledges to climb.

After eating, we all wanted to hit Plumber's Crack, so we worked our way south towards it. There were many fun ledges along the way.

Jon Dinsmore keeps warm while climbing the Crack: (photos 11 & 12)

Jon Williams claws his way up: (photos 13 & 14)

Next, it was my turn: (photos 15 - 17)

We continued to work our way up and down many rock ledges until we arrived at the end of the long series of rocks. After playing on some hills for a few minutes, we began to work our way back out as the day was growing later. The return trip supplied more shelves and ridges to climb again.

Our last major obstacle of the day was a great rock ledge to flex out the suspensions. Everyone seemed pleased with their flex as they sized up stuffing a larger tire under the flares. (photos 23 - 27)

Before leaving, we all wanted to play on a few last hills by the entrance.

All in all, I think a good time was had by everyone. Aside from the usual scrapes and scratches, the only damage to report was Jon Dinsmore's mangled fender flare, his bent license plate, my rear hub, and my front driver's side tire that wouldn't hold air. We returned to the gas station to air up, get gas, reconnect, and prepare for the ride home. The ride home was fairly uneventful except for a stop at Wendy's.
Finally, credit for many of the pictures must be given to Michael B. Heister.

*All photos are property of TKO Trailrider.

PHOTOS
By: Michael B. Heister

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