The Marcanjay Trail: As observed by Jim (Wilbur) Guld from the saddle of Mr. Ed

On this past trail ride I spotted the long thought extinct Marcanjay. This rare creature can be best described as slow moving…the two I saw look to be injured in some fashion. We approached, then poked and prodded, and finally got them to move on their own volition. If you come on a run and see one of these beasts I hope you have your camera handy.

This new trail is interesting in that it has some nice rocky sections and some fairly tight stuff to wander through. We had a good turnout, 21 rigs including 4 potential new members. The weather was beautiful and with the leaves changing colors you couldn’t ask for better wheeling scenery. The trail has spots that even the most set-up vehicle couldn’t overcome. The first hillclimb I’m naming Foundation Hill due to the old building foundation smack dab in the middle. About halfway up this loose rock climb is a large boulder sitting in the middle of the trail that you have to skirt around. To the left is the remains of the building foundation with an approximately 3 ft. high wall to climb over. To the right is an area of loose soil which is the edge of the trail. Both sections are nasty and if you loose your momentum you’re done. No one made it up this section; they either winched or backed down. Even if you get past this part of the obstacle the next challenge is a hard right up the hill due to a good sized log jutting across the trail. I was the last to try and was scraping my rocker panel protectors…this will give you a good idea of how big the rockledge was.

After doubling back onto the main trail road we had our trusty guides Sue and John Simms lead us to the next section of trail challenges. We headed towards a short uphill section with a turnoff to the right. This leads to a slightly wet rocky section followed by a short hill climb. It was on this section I saw the first of the two Marcanjays. After what seemed like hours trying to get the injured creature off the trail we headed to the top of the mountain to the lunch spot. It's a cool place to have lunch with fantastic views of the valley and mountains in the distance. Also hovering above were gliders from the local airport just below us in the valley. As our second group made it to the top of the mountain we spotted the other Marcanjay. Luckily this one wasn’t blocking the trail, it was off to the side of the main trail on a section of big rocks. What it was doing there I’ll never know.

After having lunch and finding a bear den we heard sounds of hooting and hollering in the distance and soon realized there was more trail to be driven. We made our way around a short bend and turned right off the main trail to an obstacle kind of like a mini Ma Bell monster rock. I’ll call this Son of Godzilla. Beyond this obstacle is a flat section with a second small hill climb at the far end which leads to a very narrow section of trail more suited for two wheelers. After playing around on these hillclimbs we turned around to head out. Except for a few rigs that tried to get ahead of the trail leader we made it back to pavement without too much difficulty.

This area has other possibilities to be explored along with another trail about 30 minutes north. More details will follow. This is a good club run in that highly modified as well as stock rigs are challenged. It’s also close by.

Until next month this is Wilbur saying happy trails to you.

And now... the same events... but reported on by Bark R. Woof:

Big Guy dragged me off the warm bed just too darned early, and, after a quick squat and a round of marking my home turf, prodded me up into my nest in the back of his blue Cherokee. We gathered at the flat place until there were 21 vehicles. That's higher than most of us can count ! Me? I just know one and more than one; but then again, I stay in the back seat. Looking around at all the trucks, I knew this would be a looong day before I got back to my big warm bed.

At first the trail was nice, mild, not too many jolts to toss me around the back of the Cherokee. Then the fun began, as we dropped down off the old railroad grade into the woods. We bounced down the twisty road until we were stopped by a tree across the road. I peed on it, then they got out the noise-maker; man when that thing cut on, it was feets don't fail me now. I waited in the safety of the Jeep until they cut the tree and dragged it off the trail. We rolled on down to a couple of interesting little whoop-de-doos of slag from the old mining operation that operated on this mountain in the past, then I got rolled to the back of the Jeep as Big Guy blasted up a short steep hill. I took a little nap here, as all the other big guys stood around watching our trail guide throw rocks down the hill at us with his tires. When he got tired of that, he pulled a big leash out of the front of his Jeep and pulled himself up to the top of the hill. In fact, everyone who played on that hill needed a leash to get up to the top. I know my butt was getting cold, sitting there, watching all those guys throwing rocks down the hill. All the smart ones just went back up the road (like us) and around the hill.

Next thing I know, we're starting uphill again, twisting up to another pretty level, even stretch, a little bumpy, but not too tough. After a little while I hear the words "streambed", and, well, me and water don't mix too well. All that happened was the ride got real rough: turns out there was no water in this streambed, just a long stretch of really jumbled rocks and boulders. After we finished this stretch we climbed up to fairly open area and turned off the Jeep. I must say, by this time I was getting pretty hungry, and so were all the two-legged guys by the way they were grumbling. We started to eat our lunches, and I'd like to thank everyone for sharing their sandwiches and sweet-treats with me. I know I'm hard to resist, and we dogs do have begging down to an art.

We're sitting there eating and word comes in through the squawk boxes that Tan Whale has gone lame. My first thought was "Can we eat it now?" but Big Guy reminded me it would not be a good thing to eat. After a while a few of the drivers got bored and headed up the hill to find some trouble. Which is just what they found. Willie scared himself playing on the rock pile, and Jay . . . well, lets just say Jay gets the Bonehead Award (did I hear bone?) for researching the new Toyota rear-end quick-disconnects. Reconnecting takes a little longer than the disconnect, right, Jay? Big Guy skipped the rock pile and headed up for a last pretty challenging slick-rock obstacle. This was one where y'just hadda put a little git-along behind you before you hit the rock, and up and over you'd go. When we got up to the top, we got out to watch the other drivers and I found the perfect place to stand to watch, dead center between two big rocks. Next thing I know, some not-Jeep is aiming to make me a new hood-ornament, and I just barely escaped by leaping over behind Big Guy. Gotta be alert out here, or you could become trail-pizza pretty fast.

After a while we rolled back down the hill, twisting around a variety of trails to we all eventually ended up back on the railroad grade. As we rolled back onto the pavement, heading for the meeting area to air up and reconnect stuff, all I could think about was a steak, or maybe a big steaming bowl of fresh turkey, and the big bed back home. Sleep sounded good, and I drifted off to the hum of the highway. See you all on the trail next time, and remember, keep all four paws on the ground and your furry-side up.