Weekend in Harlan KY (Nov 2010)
A small group of CROC members decided to head out once again to KY for Harlan County. One member had two sons that returned from Afghanistan and were a few days late for URE! so we planned an outing for KY. Both were itching to try out their new trucks and this seemed like a good place for a maiden voyage.
Instead of the usual camping, we decided to rent a house in Everts. The house is only 3 minutes from the trail head and had enough room to sleep all 9 of us. Also, the town of Everts allows unregistered vehicles to drive on the town roads so even if you have an ATV or rock buggy, you can still drive to the trails from the house. We arrived Thursday afternoon, unpacked, and started to get settled in. We were too late for a trail pass (our annual passes had expired in Sept) so we did not go out Thurs night (later on we find out that we could have driven the trails and gotten the pass the next day - had we got stopped, we would have just had to explain it).
On Friday, we got up, ate and headed out. The first spot we hit was the lower rock garden (Little Jagger). We let Wil give it a try since this would be the first time he had driven this truck off road. He did exceptionally well. A few others gave it a go and then we moved on. We were determined to try out as many of the trails that we could. The weather was great and the trails still were wet from all the rain previously in the week. We got it in a full day of driving. We started by heading out to the farthest point in the trail system. We had not been out there before and wanted to see what it was like. We found Lions Den and the trail was not so bad until you got to the really rocky section (which you can bypass). Unbelievable! This was definitely a rock buggy only section. We got out and walked around. Hard to imagine how those trucks get thru there. Definitely would like to watch that.
We made our way back taking as many trails as we could. We wanted to make sure that we got back to the Intimidator trail since the last time we were here, it kicked our butts (rains came and it was too slick). Two of us made it to the top (well, one of us had to get a bit of winch help). Then Travis started with his P38. He needed to get winched as well. He was about 3/4 the way up and someone noticed a small drip of oil on fire. We stopped, looked and found that oil was burning. Problem was that Travis and another vehicle at the top of the hill did not have a fire extinguisher. The other truck did which was quickly fetched. It did not help. In less than two minutes, the car was engulfed and all we could do was watch it burn. What a helpless feeling. We called 911 and the fireman arrived after the vehicle was burnt to a shell. They put out what was left and cooled the metal down. They were also nice enough to pull the truck off the trail for us with a bulldozer. After our farewells to the truck, we drove a bit more and then headed back for dinner. After dinner, we hit some more trails to give them a try. Our goal was to run as many trails as we could and we were doing quite well on that goal.
The next morning, we were at it again. Looking at the map, we found trails that we wanted to try. Some of them were just a bit too much and we did not attempt them (we could tell these were buggy only). We went all over the place giving different trails a go. We were having a blast. On one trail, there was a good v-crack. Everyone did quite well except for a Series (who will remain nameless) that turned a bit to sharp at the end and brought the vehicle vertical (those behind thought it was going to flip). Not so...a quick yank and we were on our way. The last trail we tried was quite a monster. It turned into a lot of winching but was actually a lot of fun and challenging. By the time we all made it up the hill, it was dark so we headed back to town for dinner.
After dinner, we wanted to head out to the point. The trails going out there are not that difficult (unless you want to take a few shortcuts which we did). We made it to the point where you can see almost 360 degrees at the top of the mountain. We make this trek every time at night to see all the lights. After that, we headed back to call it a night.
The next morning, we got all packed up and headed back. The real problem we had was getting air. Every air machine in town is SLOW! It took us over an hour to air up a few trucks. By the time we left, it was time to eat again. We slowly made our way back to NC but had one mishap. Come to find out it was not a big problem, fixed it and we were on our way once again.
Overall the trip was a great time. We all felt sorry for the P38 but Travis is back in a Disco and happy. Always remember to ensure that your truck is trail ready before heading out on these type of excursions and ALWAYS carry a fire extinguisher.