[78Buford]

Chapter #3: The Campsite, the Hippy Chick, and the Fire

We headed back to Pete’s Ranger & went in search of Middlefork Campground. We made our way to the back of the campground and parked our rigs in the final camping spot. A creek runs very close to the spot, and there is a paved access road on the other side of the creek. We set up our tents. Jamie and Pete wanted Pizza, and we needed wood to start a fire. Jamie cell phone worked in the remote location, and was able to call Brad. Brad was still in the Cincinnati area, a good two and a half hours away. Jamie and Pete took off for Pizza and wood. I wondered if they would start beating the snot out of each other while traveling together. I cracked a Natty Ice, called my wife on Jamie’s phone and told her about the trip down, looking at Widowmaker, Jamie and Pete comically saying vulgar things about each other, etc. I asked her if anyone had replied on the message board about my “Ford vs. Widowmaker” post that I had made only hours before taking off. I told her to check it later, and I’d call back. I quietly played some Hank Jr. on the CD player, had another beer, and organized the interior of the truck. I called my wife back a short while later, and she advised that Jim thought I’d have a chance……running it downhill, and Stroud thought that it may come to a fight if Jim was right, and/or I grenaded my junk all over the trail. I laughed at Stroud’s comments, and told her I was hoping to find out the answer tomorrow……didn’t think I could wait until day #2.

Jamie and Pete arrived back, and appeared to have not scratched each other’s eye out on the way. They had the odd combination of wood and Pizza, and a bizarre tale of a “hippy chick’s breasts and lack of personal hygiene.” Some things are better left unsaid.

This is where the fire debacle began. The three of us placed a few logs on the fire, and used an empty carton of beer and some of the pizza box to get it started. The fire would start, but soon die. So we dumped some gasoline out of one of my cans into the fire. This worked for a while, but it would go out. Gas into an empty water bottle, toss it on the fire, same result. Eventually, the fire was going……kinda…… and we would pour some gas into an empty beer-can, wallow out the top, and toss it onto the fire. The other problem arose when someone missed getting the beer-can-bomb into the fire……it landed close, but not in the fire…..too close to go & try to pick it up, and far enough away to not know if\when it would ignite, and what the results of said ignition would be. Keep this in mind.

Brad arrived later, on the wrong side of the creek. We waved at him & hollered to turn around. When he met up with us, we asked if he knew it was us. He said something to the effect that he thought maybe there was another group of three goofballs playing with fire in the middle of nowhere.

Brad had some nifty pieces of charcoal and lighter fluid which he said was a better idea to start the fire than pouring gas onto it with empty beer cans.

A short while later, the fire was going, and we were all BS-ing about the day’s events, and about the upcoming trail ride. A kind gentleman in his mid 30’s with a four-five year old child on his shoulders arrived at our site, and asked where the restrooms were. Brad advised him that they were at the other end of the campground. Both Brad and I were engaged in conversation with the man for approximately one minute or so.

“WHOOOOSHHHH!!!!” Remember the beer can full of gasoline? I turned in the direction of the fire to find Jamie laughing hysterically, Pete dropping the F-bomb, I was looking at both of them scurry about stomping out the small patches of fire in the gravel (not like the woods were on fire) then Brad calmly advised Jamie “You better put the picnic table out.” This made me start laughing, [smilie=t: and Jamie quickly stamped out the couple parts of the picnic table that were burning with gasoline. The kind gentleman (and his family whom had caught up with him) thanked Brad for the restroom advice, and quickly walked away from the four of us.

It was chilly outside, and the combination of the now decent fire, and a couple shots of Jamie’s fifth of Crown Royal kept us warm until we went to sleep a little after midnight.


Chapter # 4: The Group

Yours truly in the ’78 Ford F-250: 460, auto, 42’s, dual lockers, crappy gears, see sig.
Brad in the ’90 Blazer: 6.2 Diesel, auto, 38’s, dual lockers, decent gears.
Jamie in the ’95 YJ: 2.5, 5 speed, 34’s, dual lockers, decent gears.
Jim in the ’74 Bronco: 351, NP 435-4 speed, 36’s beadlocks, dual lockers, great gears.
Cliff in the CJ-7: 4.2 EFI, 3 speed, 33’s, beadlocks, dual lockers, crappy gears.
Howard in the Samurai: small carbed 4 cylinder, 5 speed, 31’s dual lockers, great gears.
Mike H. in the Superman TJ: 4.0, 5 speed, 36’s, dual lockers, long-arm suspension, great gears.

Chapter # 5: The Nature Trail, the Natural Bridge, the Narrows & Picture Rock

The ride started around 10:00 am Saturday morning. At this time, Jim and Howard were not with us. I led in the Ford, with Pete riding shotgun, giving direction. We started out on the Nature trail which has a lot of tight switchback turns, some mud, and some decent sized rocks as the trail winds its way back & forth up a small mountain. Due to the well built group, no one had any major problems, but Pete noted that this trail is one of the staples of the Jeep Jamboree, and it can take a group of stockers half a day to run the Nature trail. After short distance, I spied a steep muddy climb that was optional off to the right. Pete said that very few people are able to make it up the hill. I tried crawling up it, and lost traction near the top. I backed up and “kicked in the 2bbl.” The truck did pretty much the same thing as before…..climbed near the top, and spun the tires (not very fast either). I backed down, and realized that the truck is definitely a different animal with the 42’s. No longer can it rely on wheel speed to conquer hills such as this……..with the pathetic crawl ratio less than 20 to 1, 7,140 + Pete’s 200+ pounds was quite a task to drag up the steep hill with any authority. Jamie tried the hill next, and with his foot the floor, he neared to top of the hill & lost traction. He backed up a slight distance, romped it again, and conquered the hill. Good job Jamie. I complimented him on taking his 4cylinder where my 460 would not go. Jamie eventually decided to name the obstacle “Deuce & A Half Hill” based upon his 2.5 liters of engine……not having Rockwell axles. The hill didn’t go anywhere, so Jamie carefully drove back down and he plodded onward.

We came to the Natural Bridge, which is a freakish sight of nature. We were on a shelf trail way up. There is a rock off to the right that literally sits on the edge of a drop that has to be approaching 1000 feet, straight down. Pete strongly warned everyone to stay off the rock, it wasn’t something to fawk with. Brad, of course drove the driver side slightly up onto the rock, and this perturbed Pete. Brad sneered at Pete , and drove on. Several members of the group walked down a narrow path to see the Natural Bridge. I am not overly fond of heights, and advised to adventuresome group “I’ve seen it in pictures……I’ll stay right here.” Superman had a slight slip when walking with his girlfriend down the trail. I wondered aloud, “I hope Pete and Jamie don’t get in a fight down there.” Pete and Jamie arrived back at the top throwing vulgar insults at each other. While it may have been childish, I could not help but laugh at them.

The Narrows consist of large permanently buried rocks, and the trails width is “approximately 3 vehicles wide” for lack of a better term. On either side, there is the fall to your death aspect that I mentioned earlier. It should be noted that unless someone acts completely stupid or irresponsible there is no reason to be afraid of this…….but is still is in the back of one’s mind. While the rock-faces looked impressive, traction was excellent, and our group proceeded to picture rock.

Picture Rock is a large table-top looking rock that is probably 3'-4’ high and about large enough to hold 2 fullsize trucks with a little room to spare. When driving down picture rock, one must pay attention to come off it at the wrong angle or the “roll & fall to your death factor” rears its ugly head again. Cliff, Superman, and Jamie drove down the rock, with Jamie being nervously high centered on his skidplate…..all four wheels off the ground. A few of us pushed him gently with our hands from the rear, and he escaped the situation without any further trouble. Cliff and Superman descended the rock as well, with a couple scary moments, but without major problems. I had no interest in driving down it, I wanted to drive up on it from the steep end.