[78Buford]

Pete was back in front, helping spot my junk through the rocks. A couple times when I had front & rear tires against rocks at the same time, the 460 was giving everything it had just to move the overweight/undergeared Ford. When we approached the spot where Pete was unsure if it was possible for me to fit through, I climbed the driver side high up onto a rock to allow the passenger side as much room as possible. When the front descended the rock, I felt the lower driver side door bang down on some rocks. “Wonder if the strips of steel did any good?” I thought to myself. The larger problem quickly became apparent. When I tried to go forward, the truck wouldn’t move. All four tires were hitting rocks. I couldn’t back up either. Reverse/drive/apply throttle…..all it did was grunt. “Come on old buddy, we’re almost out of this fawker” I thought to myself. The Ford must have heard this profane prayer. The next time I tried to go forward, at full throttle, the truck jumped up over all four rocks at the same time, and I was out of the wedge. After this point, I let the trans cool for a few minutes and watched Brad and Superman further back the trail. Both appeared to be progressing nicely with Cliff spotting them through the mess. Pete jumped back in the truck, and the rest of the trail was definitely rough, but a spotter wasn’t necessary. When I drove out of the creek bed, having successfully completed the trail, Pete and I checked out the truck. One little “new” dent in the rear of the bedside, and both doors were unscathed. My tailgate had popped loose on one side……off the “ball” that holds one side in place. Pete again noted that this was:
a) The only longbed fullsize truck Pete had observed on Widowmaker, and
b) Definitely the heaviest vehicle he had ever observed on Widowmaker.

Pete assisted and we corrected the tailgate issue, I shook his hand for being a kick arse spotter, and breathed a sigh of relief. I had driver over 300 miles for one trail, and I had completed it. No winching. No pulls, no major damage. It was approximately 4:00 pm on Friday. Plenty left to do, but I felt really good about the conquest.

A few minutes later, Brad and Mike came out of the creek bed. Brad said the he had been careless at the end and managed to get the front D60 stuck on a rock, and he couldn’t get off of it. Mike tugged him backwards, and they were off the trail soon after. All three of us were happy that our rigs had completed the trail. We took off to head to Rattlesnake.

Chapter # 7: Rattlesnake

Rattlesnake is a long hill climb that is entirely in a rutted V-notch. At the top, one has the choice of the super difficult “basically no one makes it” huge muddy rut, and the “less and less people are able to make it” right side which is a churn & burn type affair in the mud. Pete and I were leading, and he was telling me what a biotch the left side was at the top. When we got to the top, I stayed on the throttle and headed left. The muddy rut is huge, and with the width of the Ford, I was riding it high. Pete started hollering, “Holy sheet dude, you’re making it, you’re gonna make it!!!” All of the sudden, the truck was pretty much on the driver side in the ravine. “We didn’t make it,” I advised Pete. Pete was laughing his arse off, and quickly got out, well up through the passenger side window. I started to winch, but the engine stalled. It could have been the carb, but it could have been all of the fuel going to one side of the tank, uncovering the sender. Either way, I was stuck. I was in the truck the entire time, and I heard some things going on, but I could not see them. Jamie was next, and couldn’t get up the right side. I believe that he winched, and began hearing a noise that was a bad driveshaft U-joint. Pete was hollering at Jamie to hook up his winch to pull me out. Jamie was hollering at Pete that he needed to look at his Jeep first. I hollered that if they were going to winch they needed to double it up. Brad hollered that they couldn’t double it up. A lot of hollering was going on. Eventually Jim or someone else suggested that Brad pull me from behind, and this observed to be a good idea. Brad tugged about three times, and it simply felt like the truck “stretched out a little” but it did not really move. I hollered out the window, “Come on Brad, hit it!!” Eventually he did, and the big Chevy pulled the Ford backwards out of the mess.

Back on level ground, I started it up and pointed towards the right side. It should be noted that the transition of the trail is a Y. It was difficult to get the truck back to the right side. The nose was high in the air, my foot was on the floor, and the 42’s were clawing for grip. The truck sat still, spinning all four at a moderate pace (moderate is all it could manage) and after 5-10 seconds, the truck began to inch forward, and pulled itself up the nasty right side. I parked and walked back when I heard Brad’s Diesel screaming. Brad tried many times to make the transition to the right side, and was finally able to do so with the Diesel at full speed. A couple onlookers noted that Brad was able to produce quite a bit more wheel speed than my Ford. Seems funny, it used to be the other way around. Brad’s Blazer clawed it’s way to the top. Cliff couldn’t make it, although he tried hard. Jim couldn’t make it, although he put on a good show with the 351 making powerful sounds through the dual exhaust, Superman didn’t even try. Jim, Mike (Superman), Cliff, and possibly Howard (not sure what Howard did) backed all the way down the hill and took a bypass that may have caused some damage to Superman’s Jeep. One or more of the group had to winch up the bypass, but I’m not sure exactly who it was.

Chapter # 8: Carburetor Hill

I parked at the bottom of Carb, and looked at it with mild interest. Carburetor Hill is a fairly long hill that has massive drop-offs on both sides. It is approximately 25’ wide, and there are trees along the sides. If one became really stupid with the throttle, it would be possible to fall off the sides, but if one is a prudent driver, there isn’t rally anything to worry about. I added two quarts of oil to the dribbling 460, got in started it up, and proceeded to start up carb hill. I made it about half way, and slid left, and reversed. I thought that I put the truck back in low (transmission, not the T-case). I started up carb again, hugging the tree on the bottom right, and pointing at the next set of trees on the left, about halfway up. The truck felt sluggish, and continued slowly up the hill. Halfway up, it felt really slow……felt like it was towing Brad’s Blazer…..but I made it to the top……wondering where my power had went. I grabbed and column shifter, and found that I had the transmission in 2nd gear. Ford C-6’s will start in 2nd gear if it is manually selected. I cringed for the poor old C-6 as I had just driven it up carb hill in second gear……..that poor thing. Anyway, my junk was sitting at the top of the hill, and the sun was going down.

Brad tried many times in the Blazer, seeing air under the front end on several occasions. At one point, Brad’s Blazer nose popped up, and slid quickly to the left. Brad came close to making it a couple times, but backed off the throttle. I believe it was safe to say that Carb Hill had the pucker factor going for Brad. To be honest, I was much more intimidated by the “Natural Bridge walking trail” and getting within a few feet of the edge on foot. Carb didn’t really scare me. To each his own, I guess. Brad gave up on the hill. Jim Locker went next, and was really working the Bronco to get it to the top. It took a few tries, but once he got on it, he had one helluva look of determination on his face as he quickly modulated throttle and the steering of the yellow Bronco. Jim stated that he had never observed there to be so much we sand on the hill, as there was on this date. Jim made it to the top and parked behind my Ford. Howard tried a few times and decided to quit. Cliff and Superman did not try the Hill. Jamie wanted to try, but by the time he had is driveshaft U-Joint replaced, it was dark. It was a pretty cool deal….the only two Ford’s on the trip sitting at the top of Carburetor Hill. Kinda ironic that they had carburetors under the hood…..both Motorcraft 2bbl’s……not fancy smancy EFI. Jim and I drove down the nasty hill with out headlights on, and the group was ready to head off the trail. I led with Lugie giving directions in the dark. As soon as we turned off to the right, I hit a rough spot in the trail, and had my steering at full lock up against a bank. Fearing breaking a steering component, I asked Jamie to winch me from behind, and he did. I remember Brad’s tale of breaking steering at Slade, being out half the night, etc. I definitely didn’t want to take any chances, and appreciated the winch pull from Jamie. After winding around the trails for quite a while, Lugie had us back to civilization.