| Trail Report for January 29, 2000
Holly, Stephen and I went riding in the Jeep on the Cahaba River Wildlife Management area this morning before lunch. It was sprinkling when we left and had snowed the day before. All the snow had melted but the roads were really wet and muddy. We went down the main road behind our house. I was headed for a side road that I had turkey hunted down that I knew had a lot of water holes. Stephen and Holly like to see the water splash over the hood so I was going to show them some water. The main road itself was muddy. We started down the side road it was extremely muddy. It was also torn up from a lot of people apparently doing the same thing we were. We hadn't gone a quarter mile down the road when the game warden rounded the corner and flashed his blue light at us. So we pulled over. He wanted to see my driver's license and asked if I had any guns in the back. I told him we weren't out hunting but just doing a little Jeep riding. Once he decided I wasn't a bad guy we had a nice little five minute chat about turkey and deer hunting and Jeep riding. After that we went on our merry little way. As I had predicted there were a lot of water holes with tons of water in them. The windshield wipers stayed on not because of the rain but because of all the water splashing over the Jeep. Stephen would yell as we splashed through each water hole, "WATER!" He loved it. Holly was also enjoying it. And of course I was having a good ole time myself. I was able to go most of the way in two wheel drive. But there were a couple of hills that I had to shift into four low in order to get up them. We finally made it to the Cahaba River at a point where there are a lot of rapids and it was a very nice view. With all the rain lately the River was really putting on a show. Glad I wasn't going down it in a small canoe. Holly and Stephen enjoyed seeing the rapids. They didn't know they were going to get to see the River. It was getting close to Stephen's nap time so we put the Jeep in four wheel drive and brought it on back home splashing water holes the whole way. As we were back on the main road leaving the Management area we saw the game warden again. This time he had someone pulled over and had his ticket book in his hand. :-( It was two guys in a Chevy truck so I figured they deserved a ticket just for driving a Chevy. :-) The rest of the ride was pleasant as we made it back home. Back To The Top Trail Report for April 14, 2001 Well this weekend was a big weekend for the Jeep. Saturday, April 14, 2001 Mitchel used
the Jeep to haul dirt from the creek next to our house up to the house. We have some spots
that are washing away and the creek gives us an endless supply of fill dirt. Well, it
wasn’t without mishap. The trail was narrow leading down to the creek and
Mitchel accidentally, of course, hit a small dead tree. Well, Rock-a-bye-baby, the treetop
fell down. As I watched the treetop plummet
to the ground I noticed that, no, it wasn’t plummeting to the ground but to the Jeep. Yes, we have a soft top. And yes, my husband and three-year-old son were in
danger. Thankfully the treetop hit the hood
of the jeep putting a ding in it. All inside
were safe. So Mitchel hitched up his trailer
full of dirt and did the work he wanted to do, minus one dead treetop. Sunday was Easter. After a leisurely lunch of hamburgers and Kielbasa on the grill we decided to go Jeep riding. We hadn’t been in a while, probably because it’s been winter. So all four of us loaded up and headed to the Cahaba Wildlife Management Area. What a gorgeous day! The trees were leafing out and were a brilliant green. The sky was blue and there was a nice cool breeze. We traveled down a path we had never been before. It was truly the path less traveled by. But it was worth it. We happened upon a creek. We crossed it once in the Jeep and it was beautiful at that spot. It tripped over rocks and branches in its way. As we climbed we saw the creek again. This time we had to get out to reach it. It was off the path. We walked about 10 yards and we were at the top of a beautiful waterfall. It rivaled any we’d seen in North Carolina. Mostly because we could claim it for our own. How beautiful. Huge rocks lined both sides of the shallow creek. We were able to cross on these rocks and get our shoes only a little wet. After only one incident of falling in the water (by Stephen) we loaded up and traveled on. The Jeep has truly taken us where we want to go. It has provided many enjoyable moments that add up to memories, not only for Mitchel and me but also for our children. I believe our next Jeep trip will be to find the bottom of this waterfall. Perhaps we’ll even take a picnic. And this time we won’t try to stay dry. Back To The Top Trail Report for July 19, 2001 I purchased a Powertrax locker and had it installed in the rear end of my Jeep today so I had to go test it out this afternoon. I got in from work about 6:30 pm and had changed cloths, grabbed my gun and back out the door by 6:55 pm. I decided to go way back into the Cahaba Wildlife Management Area where I had climbed a really large hill once when it snowed with our neighbors. I wanted to see how well my Jeep would perform with the locker. I cruised down the rough dirt road at about 45 mph. No one was on the road with it being late in the day on a week day. I was soon to the turn off road. I made it back to the power line that the hill was on. However on the way I came by a field of weeds. As I went by I thought I had seen a deer face staring at me over those weeds. I put on brakes and backed up through the dust cloud. Sure enough, there was a doe staring at me. About that time she had enough of the nonsense and bounded out of sight into the woods. Once I arrived at the power line I also arrived at the small trail that I had wanted to walk down and check out when I was there with the neighbor. So this time I walked what turned out to be 50 yards to the end of the trail. There was a small opening with turkey scratchings in it and lots of deer tracks. There were several deer trails leading in and out of it. I will probably by back there during the winter to do some more scouting and will certainly be there come next spring turkey season. The next thing was to roll on down the power line until I came to that big hill. So that is what I proceeded to do. The line was really grown up with weeds and I wasn't really sure when I was going to plunge into a large hole. Then there was the hill. The hill side view I had as I rolled down the previous hill to get to it gave me chills. During the snow we had the option to go up the left side or the right side. We had started up the left side and spun out. So we attempted to go up the right side but felt like we were going to turn over as we attempted to get to the right side. We finally just blasted up the left side in second gear. Well the left side looked really washed up with some HUGE rocks sticking up all over the place. As I was looking at all this I rolled into the stream at the base of the hill. There was two HUGE boulders that I had to squeeze through. As I rolled fully into the stream I happened to look out the window at the rocks and there was a water moccasin right next to the Jeep. If I had opened the door and stepped out, I would have stepped on him. so I reached over into the passenger seat and got my .22 rifle. As I stuck it out the window and pointed it down at the snake, he decided it was time to go. So I fired a shot at him. As the .22 bullet bounced off the rocks and whizzed off into space and a splash of mud pelted me in the face, I realized that I had apparently left my brain in the glove box. The snake swam under the Jeep behind the left front wheel. I decided not to shoot any more since I really didn't want to change a flat tire right there in the stream with a ticked off water moccasin. So I put the gun back in the passenger seat and got on across the stream and only hit my gas tank with two rocks. That put a slight bad feeling in my gut. I started watching the gas gauge. Now it was time to attempt the left side of the hill. I picked my route and started up in first gear. Halfway up I sat there spinning both back tires and one of the front tires. I was stuck and bouncing on the rocks as the tires tried to grab on to something. I decided to roll back down the hill and take my brain out of the glove box. After looking at my route again and realizing that I couldn't make it going slow, I decided to try the right side of the hill. I was able to make it over there without turning the Jeep over. The rocks weren't as big on this side. I was able to ease my way on up the hill in first gear. The locker did in fact make all the difference in the world. It was a really good feeling to get to the top of the hill. Once there I got out and checked my gas tank. The gauge still showed full and there wasn't a hole. Also there was a large gobbler track in the sand. There was a new clearcut to the left of the power line so I decided to check it out. I went on down the power line and soon came out on a road that I knew. It took me around the edge of the clear cut. After I had gone around it I came back about halfway and took a road through the middle of it. About halfway in I jumped a very nice buck from the left side of the hill. He ran across the road and down the side of the hill on the left at an angle. I was able to watch him for a full 45 seconds before he went out of view over the hill. I believe he was a very nice 10 point. Probably about a 16 inch spread. What I saw though was the length of the tines. He had three very nice tines on the left side that I could see. I am definitely going to go back there during the fall and see if I can figure out what he is doing. Hopefully I can watch the clearcut with my binoculars and figure out where he is coming and going. Maybe even get a picture if I can borrow someone's digital camera with a zoom. That was about 8:00 pm and it was getting dark so it was time to head home. I made it back out to the main dirt road and put it in the wind. Going down a long straight stretch of the road I saw a large snake stretched across about a third of the road. I locked up the tires and skidded across him. I turned around in a cloud of dust and went back to check him out. The front portion was gone and only a stub of meat was sticking up. Those big Willd Country Mud Terrain tires had basically ground up his head and the front part of his body. As one fellow said on the radio, "in Alabama the only good snake is a dead snake". And that was my test ride of my new locker. All in all I was very pleased with
the performance. I went a lot of places in two wheel drive without any slipping or
spinning at all. Four wheel drive gave me a very comfortable feeling of being able
to go almost anywhere. That is where there aren't any large boulders waiting to tear
a hole in my gas tank. I think a skid plate for my gas tank may be the next
purchase. I can't wait until the next time. |