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Return from Harrisonburg, VA

NoBoundaries

ECX Member
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City, State
Ellicott City, Maryland
Year, Model & Trim Level
1996 XLT
I figured I would set this thread up for everyone to post pics and what not.

Just want to say that it was a great time had and the snow topped it off. For those who weren't there, we ended up with around 6 inches or so. It made things more interesting on the trail and definately added to the experience.

It was great to finally put a face to everyone's name and see some of the great scenery.

I hope everyone had a safe trip home!

I can't wait for the next run, but until then, let's see the pics!:bounce:

I should hopefully have some once I get my film developed.
 



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WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I wanted to go sooooooo bad!. I'm in for the next one, as long as my family stays healthy. :rolleyes: My daughter still has a slight fever, so I'm glad I stayed behind to be with her. Poor kid, she says she feels fine, but the behavior says otherwise.

I WANNA SEE PIX!!!

BTW, when is the next run???? Anyone got any ideas. I wanna go again before we get to the spring Paragon run.
 






Jeff, you really missed out. The snow made everything really interesting and made the scenery much nicer also. It was great!

I'd like to thank the following people: Michael, Gerald, Rick, and Jason. Thanks for getting me unstuck all those times! (told you guys I'd get stuck the most;))

I hope to have some pics up in the next couple of days.
 






Great time !!

Had a blast !! Just got back in a few minutes ago - - relaxing with a cold brew (thanks, Tim). Hope everyone made it back all right.

Kudos to Steve for setting this event up - - it was fun to run the trails and meet more people from the site. Thanks also Gerald for coming up early to do some pre-running - - the view from Flagpole Knob was worth the trip.

Looking forward to the next get together here on the East Coast.

Paul
 






My pics

Hey everyone, I just want to say thanks for a really great ride. I think there was a little of everything for everyone. It was really great to get out with some Explorers in the woods and the SNOW. I wish I could have stayed around on Sunday. I had a really good time- thanks.


A link to my album enjoy:

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Great Time!

Nice pics, Steve!

I had a great time on Saturday. The snow really put the icing on the cake and made the trails a bit more interesting. A shame I needed to leave so early, I wish I would have more time talking to everybody. Hopefully next time ;)

And thanks for not hurting the feelings of my baby and holding back with all the smart-a$$ comments about Jeeps :D
 






Great pics Steve and thanks for getting this trip together, it was a lot of fun. I'll get my pics posted as soon as I can.
 






Well, so far everyone has made it home safe. Came home here to about 9" of snow, and it is nasty and muddy now because it's been in the 40's. Well, i just got my pictures put up on webshots.
Here is my link:

Happy trails!!
 












Thanks to all for a great day of wheelin' - both my daughter and I had a great time! It was good meeting everyone and a good day on the trails. This was my third time to that area and the snow certainly added to the enjoyment this time around.

The trip home was considerably less eventful than on the way down - just glad I made it in time Sat morning to latch onto the back of the group.

Hope to see you all on the trails again soon...
 






TarHeel--Well, kind of a funny thing for me, but about a month ago i posted a thread about my explorer making a really bad banging noise when i made right turns, well we changed my tires out in the parking lot friday evening, my buddy and i noticed a shinny spot on my gas tank skid plate and we got to looking and my ad-a-leaf that i put in about a year and half ago had twisted in the pack just enought that when my rear end flexed it grabbed hold of the skid plate and made the worst noise in the world! So we knocked it back into place and it started doing it again on the trail saturday so i knocked it back in place again, and it did it once again so i was finally able to jack it up good and tighten my u bolts and it works fine now!! So there ya go, if now if someone posts a question like i did, mention that to them!!

Happy trails!!
 






Great Time!

Good lookin’ pics, guys! Thanks for posting them.

:bounce: I had a blast. Thanks to SteveVB for getting this together. Unless I forgot someone, I believe we had 12 (?) members show up for the run, some with passengers:

Paul J. Sabin
NoBoundaries
donkey boy
SteveVB and son
Bionc Marsh. and wife
Paul N. and daughter
Jason_25
Jot017 and friend Jamie
yob_yeknom and Desiree
NC-X
sc4wda XLT
and me

Have I forgotten anyone? This was a lot of fun and it was great to put names on faces once again; Paul Sabin was the only one on the run that I had met before so this was a chance to make a lot of new friends.

Paul and I arrived a day early to prerun a trail or two for Sunday. Paul copied off the linked article from the original thread, I bought a map, and away we went, leaving McDorman's a little after 10am. We quickly realized that the trails were fairly easy Forest Service roads so we took our time and enjoyed the scenery. A couple of miles into the trail was a rocky-walled hill to go play on. I played on it awhile while Paul was figuring out that his 4wd wasn't working :rolleyes: With only 2wd, he decided to hit the wall with some momentum to try to climb it. I was lucky enough to time the photo when he hit the wall.

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That’s a nice enough photo to make into his Elite avatar! We made it maybe another mile up but hit ice on a switchback and Paul, in 2wd, couldn’t go any further. I think it was a smart move to turn around anyway. We returned to the head of the trail and wasted another couple of hours trying to find other potential Sunday trails to no avail. Almost all entrances in the southern GWNF were bermed off. At least we knew where not to go on Sunday. Returning to Harrisonburg we met up with some of the Friday arrivers and ate some pretty decent Mexican food at a local joint.

FYI, Paul and I had a discussion Friday night concerning the fact that most of the Explorers coming would be new models, and we had gotten in some tight places a time or two that day offering trail pinstriping. Would anyone complain? I have to say that I was a little surprised that during the entire weekend absolutely no one at all made a single comment about trail pinstriping. These guys are willing to use their vehicles!

The next morning Paul worked on getting his 4wd working while I crawled under it in the snow and started to remove his shift motor to attempt manually engaging his 4wd. Luckily his theory proved correct and his electric 4x4 plug behind the dash had been left unplugged by the morons that installed his radio the week before, so he fixed it right and I got to rebolt his shift motor to his transfer case.

Saturday morning the whole crew (minus late-arriving Tim [NoBoundaries] who missed the morning run) met at McDormans for introductions and a look-see at everyone’s vehicles. The snow had started falling that morning and by run time was getting fairly deep. Jason_25 nearly screwed up bigtime proving that yes indeed there really is a reason all those items in the “Trail Equipment” article’s "Required" list are required. I’ll let him fess up on his own if he wants to. He did get a run nickname of “Keyless” though :D

SteveVB did an excellent job leading the trails. We stopped short of finishing the morning trail since Steve had experience on it and knew it would be trouble further on under the slick snowy conditions. We stopped for lunch, tried out a few of Paul’s MREs, and posed for a group shot before turning back down.

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I thoroughly enjoyed the weather for the entire trip. The snow added a great dimension to what otherwise would have been ordinary Forest Service trails. All the vehicles did great and a few of us also played in streambed rockgardens during the run. Here’s Paul behind donkey boy in his J**p.

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And another good one of Paul in the rockgarden (since I was in the back and following Paul, most of my photos ended up being of him).

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Back to the highway for the second run, NoBoundaries lucked into seeing us and joined up with the rest of the group for the afternoon run. After a full day’s adventure we finished with a nightrun and returned to Harrisonburg and ate pizza at a local college-atmosphere hole in the wall joint before calling it a day.

Sunday, all but SteveVB and donkey boy were still around for another day of wheeling. The sky had cleared but the ground was still full of snow. NoBoundaries was once again late :rolleyes: but managed to slide in to McDorman’s parking lot in the nick of time this time around. We retraced the trail Paul and I had prerun Friday

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and once again played on the rocky hill. This time, covered in snow, it proved much more challenging. Neither myself, Paul, or Rick (Bionc Marsh) were able to climb the steep section that I had done Friday. Several of us took an easier line and played there for awhile and I managed to get fairly offcamber sideways on the hill. Here’s Jason (sc4wda XLT) attempting the difficult second obstacle at the top.

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Further up the trail, the previous icy section had been covered in snow and was now passable. We made it all the way to Flagpole Knob to witness a gorgeous overlook of the area and continue on to exit another way and complete the entire trail without having to double back; 21 miles in the GWNF and a great day of wheeling.

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I managed to catch few good shots at another stream crossing of John (yob_yeknom), Josh (Jot017), one of me, and a couple of Rick (Bionc Marsh), though his white Explorer almost seemed camo in the snow.

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Ending on Hwy 33, we all said our goodbyes and promised to plan for a future meet.

The end of the Trail:
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Closing thoughts include a suspicion that Jason will be fully equipped next time around (including a spare key :D ), John might try airing down next time for better traction, and a mental note to always tell Tim that a run starts one hour before it really does, so he’ll have a chance at showing up on time:p

C'ya on the trails next time! Thanks again to all!
 






Darn it!!

I was hoping no one would say anything!:D

:hammer: Point of clarification for those not in attendance. Weather hampered my drive up and my buddy whom I was going to stay with in Winchester couldn't come so I drove all the way home to wake up 6 hours later to drive back down only to be 7 minutes late after a 3 and a half hour drive. Give a guy a little bit of credit.

Just be happy I brought the beer back!:p :D

I fully expect, understand, and deserve any razzing I receive and will make sure to beat everyone there at the next run (either that or bring some more beer, just kidding)!

Also, if CD's are made with photos, I would definately be interested in one!

BTW, that last shot turned out well Gerald. Really sums up some of the great sites we saw out there.Dead Link Removed
 






I can make anyone a Cd of photos if anyone would like one. let me know what you want and email me and ill get your address. seclead1@hotmail.com
 






Geez... no Eclayton and Jeeper15.. What happened;)
 






LOL! Rick, this was 400 miles away. Their mommies probably wouldn't let them go that far :D

Tim, yes you did bring the beer. I almost take back what I said. :)
 






I will also make CD's of all of my photos if anyone wants them. Just email me your mailing address. It'll take me a while to do it though, as I have 6 rolls worth of pictures to scan.

If anyone without a scanner or CD burner wants their pictures on CD's, just let me know and I can do them also.

If possible, I would like to get copies of everyone's photos. I might could even fit everyone's pictures all onto one CD and make copies for everyone.
 












Great Write-Up

Gerald -

Great write-up of the trip ! Thanks again for crawling around underneath my truck in the snow on Saturday morning. . . . Would been miserable to leave the Explorer in the parking lot only to come home after the event and realize it was "unplugged electronics" that kept me out of 4WD and Low Range. . .

Once again, great meeting you guys and look forward to Tellico !!

Paul
 



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Paul -

Wild pic of you "wall flyin'"!!! In extreme sport lingo I guess we can now refer to that move as a SabinAir. You sure you're not in the Air Force?

Great shot Gerald!!!!!!!!
 






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