Ever had a day of wheeling that the trails simply rejected your very presense? Well that was our day at Walker. Did it help that it had rained the entire week before? No, but that’s how trails change and it makes for a more challenging day. Eric and Don in the 62, and James and his friend Ben in the 40 took on the task to play in the mud. What was thought to be a gloomy day turned out very nice. We decided it had been a while since we ran the trails starting with Lower Mainline, so we decided to start there.
After making our way past the ever changing Gate Keeper, we turned off onto Lower Mainline to find that we would spend the next 2+ hours getting through what would normally take us 30 minutes tops. Let’s paint the picture. Mud, deep ruts, corners that of course tilted you down hill and within inches of neighboring trees, mud, winch cables out the rear… literally, spectators watching as you struggle to gain mere inches of forward progress, and mud. Both vehicles had front and rear winches going just to keep moving and to keep upright. The 62’s front bumper turned mud plow for a bit trying to work its way around the slop. One of the spectators mentioned something about a “street wagon” not making this, he later withdrew his comment when we got to the top. In an attempt to make our usual lunch stop, which we didn’t, we decided to eat lunch off the trail since it was getting later in the afternoon, and of course we were tired and hungry.
After lunch we pressed on, continuing up Lower Mainline, to find a couple mud pits at what the Club would know as Wayne’s Junction. James decided to test the waters, just missing the bank on the other side. Of course the anticipated full throttle run followed as he pushed a third of the muddy water out the other side and some more into the 40. I myself knew the 62 was not going to make that. I do have some limits, contrary to popular belief. James needing a pull on the other side made me take on the lesser of two pits with no problems and pulling James back to more solid and somewhat dryer land. Oh and note to self, when cruiser go swimming turn camera mounted to said cruiser on. Fast forward a couple hundred feet and we decide to check out Tony’s mud puddle. Let’s just say that the 62 just wasn’t meant to get up there on it’s own, multiple times and sections. But that’s what your buddy is for to winch to, and he to winch to the tree in front of him to prevent the 6K lb land barge from pulling him backwards down the trail.
So after that, no problems for a bit. I think there is an old Chinese saying; he who not wrap winch cable securly around bumper, sure to lose front brakes. Yup, a mistake on the DRIVER, not the spotter, caused the front winch cable on the 62 to come loose and wrapping around the front left portion of the axle, severing the front left brake line. With all the minds put together and a great idea from James, we used the bleed screw from the affected caliper and plugged the front portion of the master cylinder enabling me to have rear brakes. So after a u-turn, we headed back off the trail to end our Walker adventure. Did I mention the rear door cave in by a big tree stump on the 62? Yeah, mental error on a part of the trail that I have done no problem before. It’s bound to happen when you take these wagons through places they really shouldn’t go. But that’s the amazing thing about them, you can. With the right drivers and awesome spotters like we have in the club, it’s just another day on the trail.
