By Travis Shrock
Travis Shrock passed on a few months after this article was written.

There are not many things that are more enjoyable than to watch people experience the fun
and exciting rush of accomplishment that comes with going wheeling for the first time. Lisa and I had another successful Don-A-Vee run on Saturday, May 20th. We could not have done it without help from Larry and Margie and Larry (Flash) Lesher.  Our first official run as “Trail Boss” was an interesting one as usual. The morning was easy on Pilot Rock road, none of the nine guests or Dirt Devils had any difficulty.  I was the only one who had a problem. I was goofing around in two wheel drive, jabbering on the CB while going up this really short bypass.  I was going too slow and started spinning in the loose dirt, even after shifting into four wheel drive, I still had to back up and get my wheels out of the holes I just dug.  Kinda’ embarrassing for a trail leader! After a quick stop at Pinnacles, we attacked Willow Creek Jeep Trail. This trail is rated ‘moderate’ and is easy if you take the right tracks, but who takes the easy line?  We always tell the guests in the morning to find the ruts and dips and drive into them but on Willow the strategy changes. The ruts on this trail are more than big enough to intimidate the people who haven’t done this before.  We lead the group over one long rut that is on an arc.  This means you have to turn as you straddle the
rut, not too mention that it is wider in the middle, making it a double tuff obstacle.  You have to pay attention in keeping your tires on the high sides or watch out! We have had a couple of vehicles get stuck here before and Saturday was no exception. One young lady, on her first trip did what we all have done, after getting through the worst of it, she let down her guard and relaxed a little bit.  I believe she thought she may have been all the way through.  She veered a little bit to the right and slid the back end down in the rut and high centered on the rear diff.  When the wheels started spinning, the front end slid to the right and kerplunk!  Out comes the strap!  She was smiling the whole time! Lunch was at our usual spot, by the creek on 3n34.  After lunch, the real challenges waited for us.  2n27Y, 2n28Y and 2n29Y were the most exciting and invigorating part of the day. We had a great group of guests and everyone got up the rutted hills very well.  I only had to help a couple of people.  The TJ’s had the most trouble on the hills, while the Quadra Drive system on the new Grand Cherokees worked beautifully. By about 2:30 everyone really seemed to be enjoying the gorgeous day and were really impressed at what their Jeeps were doing.  Then we continued on to the last leg, 2n29Y, the only black diamond part of the trail.  It is an easy trail compared to a lot of other black diamond trails, but for a bone stock, three week old Grand Cherokee or TJ, it is pretty tough and intimidating. The very first part of the trail has a potential roll over spot or at the very least a huge rocker panel smasher.  If you take the outside line the driver side front has to fall in this huge hole as you are turning downhill.  This creates a spectacular tripod and tippy situation. After careful examination of the terrain, we decided to take a more direct approach, drive over the rocker panel eating rock instead of
around it, kind of like a v-notch.  It worked beautifully, everyone was great, they drove carefully and listened to my instructions and did a great job (no dents!).  After that it was smooth sailing until a red TJ misjudged the angle and traction of a rutted side hill and slid off the peaks right into the teeth of a big rut.  Out comes the strap!  He was in the same predicament as the other TJ earlier.  He was high centered on both front and rear differentials.  We had to pull him back about five feet and he still had to back up about 10 feet to get out of the rut.  Once again, he was smiling the whole time. I believe that everyone had a great time and learned a lot about their vehicles and themselves.  Conquering trails like these for the first time, especially in a new stock vehicle, is something to be proud of! We look forward to June 17th, when we get to do it again.  Hopefully you will be there too!

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