Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

It looks like a flat fender Jeep but it's mostly Toyota under that body

This auto tranny CJ made a very elegant climb up the rock

After that bit of entertainment, we proceeded up the Mossy Hill trail. The first major obstacle was Cleavage Rock and it too had been made more difficult by recent rain. The entrance to the rock was muddy. Immediately after the mud, you had to climb your vehicle into a large V-shaped crack. The correct line was critical and very difficult to maintain because of your now wet tires. Neil went through first and promptly slide one side into the bottom of the V. His driver's side was resting on the rock. After some back and forth maneouvering, he realized he was hosed and had to winch himself out. Seeing the trail leader take damage like that made a strong impression on the group. This was a serious obstacle.

With two wheels in the air and the other two spinning in the dirt, Neil didn't have much choice but to winch out

Hmm...cut waxing ain't gonna help much after that

The next vehicle, a nice blue Land Cruiser driven by Tom, slipped onto it's passenger side and left blue paint on the rock. Tom backed out of the V and opted to take the bypass. I respected Tom for this decision because there was a lot of peer pressure. As well, his example would make it easier for the rest of the group to take the bypass if they felt uncomfortable trying to get through Cleavage.

Tom's 'Cruiser paints the rocks

Amazingly, I sustained no damage from my disastrous run through Cleavage Rock

After some more mild damage, one of the other vehicles made it through. It seems that they had found the correct line. Larry (from BLAST) made it through unscathed and he spotted Greg in his early Bronco through as well. I wasn't very lucky and ended up slipping into the crack. Thankfully, my recently installed Scout axles were an inch wider on each side because that's exactly how much space I had between the rock and my door. My Jeep was resting on the side of its wheels. With my Jeep so precariously balanced, I swallowed my pride and winched myself out. First I had to take the weak line up the Harbourview rock face and now I had to winch out of Cleavage Rock. My day wasn't going very well. Some of the other guys did really well going through Cleavage while others didn't. I don't recall their names or what vehicles they were driving so I can't provide details.

One thing I do recall is that Rob was having a lot of problems getting his red CJ7 through the bypass. The engine kept stalling. A few minutes past Cleavage, there was a hold up. Rob's Jeep stalled again and he couldn't start it. The Samurai in front of him turned around to provide a jump start but it wasn't able crank the CJ's motor fast enough. The Suzuki was also unable to pull the CJ (uphill) fast enough for it to start via bump start. At this point, the whole group halted and people came back to see what was wrong with Rob's CJ. Derek, an apprentice mechanic from Washington, started working on the Jeep's Weber carb but was unable to make it start. The decision was made for me to pull Rob back down the trail to the camp. It was the fastest and easiest option. Derek rode with me while Rob and his wife, Kelly, rode in the disabled CJ.

With no power steering and three un-powered brakes (Rob blew a rear brake cylinder so he crimped that brake line with a pair of Vise Grips), the trip down Mossy Hill was interesting, to say the least. The most memorable point came when we were traveling along a downhill side slope which edged off to the driver's side, ending in a 3-ft ditch. Rob had gotten his CJ too close to the edge and his driver's side rear wheel had slipped off the edge into the ditch. Kelly screamed in surprise. Rob told me to keep pulling him, thinking that we'd be able to get his Jeep out of the ditch. The problem was, there was no room for me to change the angle at which I was pulling him. I could only continue down the trail. Derek climbed onto the passenger-side of the Jeep to provide ballast. Slowly, I moved forward and each time his rear tire was just about to climb out of the ditch, it slid sideways and back over the edge.

Here's Derek goofing on the CJ minutes before it started to tip over

After the third time the wheel slid into the ditch I decided to stop and come up with another solution. As I walked back to the CJ, Kelly let out another scream. I saw Rob's Jeep slowly tip further over, raising its passenger-side front wheel off the ground and teetering at a sickening angle. I jumped sideways and pushed on the now taut tow strap and the CJ stopped again although I could feel it tilt back and forth. If I let go, it would surely flip over into the ditch so I had to remain exactly where I was. Likewise, Derek couldn't move for fear of putting the Jeep off its precarious balance. By now, Kelly was extremely scared and sobbing quietly. Rob wanted us to jump clear and let him rollover. He said he had a full cage and didn't care what happened. Derek and I both insisted that we were going to save the Jeep. Derek calmly asked Kelly to carefully slide out of her seat to hang her weight out the side. Still very scared, Kelly followed his instructions and after some tense moments, she was standing on the side of the Jeep. All the while, I was thinking that this was going to look very bad...an IRC trail guide having someone flip a vehicle while he was supposed to be bringing that person back to camp. I was still pushing hard on the strap and getting ready to drop down and under the strap so I didn't get caught in it if the CJ flipped. I was also wondering if my own Jeep would end up getting pulled sideways as well.

Then Derek slipped and fell off the Jeep.

My heart stopped...the CJ didn't move. It was still balanced with the passenger-side front wheel high in the air but Kelly's position on the side of the Jeep prevented it from going over. Derek quickly ran forward and pulled the front wheel down by jumping on it. With the Jeep now stabilized, I hurriedly unhooked the strap, turned my Jeep around, and ran my winch cable through a block & tackle and onto the CJ's roll bar. Once the cable was reeled tight, the CJ was safe and we had time to catch our breath and Kelly was able to walk off her sore legs which had started to cramp from balancing on the edge of the CJ for so long. We were elated. No matter what Neil's group was doing on the rest of the trail, we knew we had one hell of a more exciting time.

...lars

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