The Pull of The Wild: Mr.Ed's Adventures on Mt. Bezek

Dateline: Sat. 15th of March It was clear and cold with the wind blowing about 30mph, so I knew by the time we got to the top of the mountain that it would be pretty cool up there. This was the first run of the 97 season for our club. We picked Mt. Bezek because it’s an easy run and with some new club members we didn’t want to scare them off with a hard run to start off the season. We had 15 people turn out for the first run with a couple people not actually being club members but just checking out the club. The run at Bezek was pretty much uneventful except for a stock TJ that sliced a tire on short rock ledge. The trail was a bit muddy from the winter thaw so we told everyone to go as slow as possible and try not to tear up the trail. It seemed to work and everyone had a good time.

There are only a few obstacles to negotiate on this trail and the best one is at the top of a hill climb with a rock outcropping to climb. You can try to put both tires on the rock and go over or put one tire on and go in between. Since most tires were a bit filled with mud from the hill climb, making the rock was a bit harder than usual. We had lunch at the top of the hill and then proceeded to another hill climb section and were finished for the day, or so we thought. About 6 of us decided to check out another trail that one of the members heard about and did last season once. He said he didn’t know if it was legal but thought it was because they saw numerous motorcycles and trucks there before. Nothing was posted so we decided to check it out.

We only did a short section of it and from what we did it looks like a really good trail, about a 7 rating out of 10. It has rock climbs and a fair amount of mud to neogiate in between so the climbs were tough that day because your tires were slick. I had to winch up one of the rock climbs after 2 attempts because if you don’t make it you go backwards and your rear bumper/tire carrier digs into the ground,that gives you the idea of the angle of the rock. It does have a alternate climb but even that is hard and I had to winch up 2 trucks through this section, both were open though. The toughest hill climb was about 100 foot long with the first section being about 30 degree angle and about midway up it it has a rock ledge section that you have to get over and it changes to probably 40-45 degrees. The guys that took us to the trail said that it was harder now then last year because alot more of the first section had been eroded away and the first section has alot of loose gravel that you start to dig up as you try to get up on the rock ledge. This climb looked as tough as any I have seen on the east coast including at Tellico. It looked as if you didn’t make it and tried to give give it more right foot that you would start hopping and could do either and end over or do a roll over to one side or the other. Only 2 people tried it and they didn’t even come close to making it. They got to the ledge and just starting hopping and bouncing to the left and right. I said I wasn’t even going to try it. Last year when these guys did this hill only one guy made it, Roger from our club in the black FJ-40,see Beacon,Mass trip report for a picture of his rig. We decided it was getting late and that we have to come back here for a club run. This place is pretty big and has some tough stuff to challenge you. I don’t know if I would even try that hill climb when it was dry,maybe with the winch cable attached to something at the top as a safety, it looked pretty scary and I’m not fond of rollovers. I’m glad I still know when to say when I had enough. The truck might be able to do it but as far as driver skill and experience I still think I have alot to learn. This is only my 3rd. year doing this so I’m still learning. More on the job training to follow this season......

For Mr.Ed this is Wilber saying goodbye for now.

This is one of the 'lost' trail stories, lost in the demise of 4x44u.com and rescued thanks to the Way Back Machine at http://web.archive.org