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French Lick, Indiana, October 17-19, 2003
This was my second trip to French Lick for a Jeep Jamboree. I attended 2002
also but didn't take any pictures that time (too busy having fun and forgot). My
son Matt took these and he thought I was the main subject. Actually there were
17 Jeeps® in our group.
The group I was in consisted of the "modified" vehicles. The drivers in this
group are all quite experienced in trail rides and off-road driving in general.
Almost anyone of them could have been the leader. In addition to the mandatory
tow hooks front and rear, these Jeeps® all were lifted, almost all are locked
front and rear and most everyone had a winch. btw The green Grand Cherokee that
slid off the bridge was not in our group. More on that later. There were
about six (6) Rubicons and a Grand Cherokee that came all the way from Florida.
This is a great bunch of guys & gals to Jeep with. There is a spirit of
camaraderie that isn't usually found in the Jeep Jamboree groups. Even though
everyone has spent between $500 to $1,000 for the privilege of attending the
Jamboree, if someone has a major problem, no one complained about the time spent
getting that person/Jeep® either repaired on the trail or safely off the trail.
I have been on Jamborees where that wasn't the case. I suppose it is because
everyone there understands it just as easily could have been them with the
problem.
Friday it rained and the trails were "slicker than snot on a door knob".
French Lick Jamboree is advertised with trail ratings of 2 to 5. This means the
they are easy to moderate. However, when it rains the trail difficulty goes up
dramatically. More than one Jeep was winched up some of the obstacles. In the
afternoon, it had stopped raining but the trails were still very slick. We had
just come up the trail called "little Rubicon" and entered the power line
clearing when we heard on the CB radio that one of the groups had a vehicle in
trouble just over the hill. This was the green Grand Cherokee that slid off the
bridge in the pictures below.
Evidentially the driver has started down the hill and tried to slow down by
applying the brakes. When his brakes locked up he panicked and pressed harder.
This resulted in loosing steering control and when the Jeep® hit the bridge the
tires, not rotating and full of wet mud just slid off the side. Luckily no
injuries and the Jeep® was winched level and back off the bridge. The bridge was
repaired by placing the dislodged boards back on the bridge, at which point the
driver proceeded across the bridge and down the trail. The rest of his group was
taken a different route to get join up with him and the other members of
that group who had previously crossed.
What should the driver have done is to have the Jeep® in 4wd lo and applied
both the accelerator and brake to keep the wheels turning. This would have
enabled him to steer when he arrived at the bottom of the hill. In fairness to
the driver, this was an extremely difficult maneuver for a novice driving an
automatic transmission vehicle.
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Heading down the trail on Friday morning.
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Matt thought the picture would be better without the windshield in the way.
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Notice how close to being high centered and the rock ledge he is trying to climb.
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A Rubicon trying the rocks. No scarcity of rocks at French Lick
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35- 12.50's digging holes for the rest of us. Gee thanks, a challenge is great.
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Up and over he goes!
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Mighty Mo's turn!
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Humm, what is that cable doing?
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Aw shit!
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Not exactly the way it was planned.
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Accessing the situation. Hummm, what is the best plan. Hopefully we can do this with out additional vehicle damage.
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Close up of the underside, notice the mud filled tire. Well What do he have here? A convenient tow hook!
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So ...... let's hook a winch to the tow hook. The Jeep® was pulled back on it's feet and off the bridge. Then continued over the bridge.
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Mighty Mo crosses the bridge. That wasn't too bad. btw Matt decided to walk across and take this picture. Gee, I wonder why?
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This is the power line trail. Real slick and off camber in many places.
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Grand Cherokee negotiating slick rocks. Remember it had rained.
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Mighty Mo on the same slick rocks. I went to the left side. Not visible is a tire eating rock at the far left. I missed it.
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Saturday morning, wandering down the trail.
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It's just a great day for a ride in the woods.
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Well, well, well a little off camber is ahead. How 'bout that. Is that a hole on the right?
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A Rubicon with a cable in the front. Like I said the trails our group tackled weren't the easy ones.
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That little Willys with a L134 just bounces right up.
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This was a gambling cave during Al Capone's time. Now the inside is sealed up. but the doorway is still there.
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Up and over Mighty Mo goes.
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Almost buried his bumper in the trail exiting that dip.
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Difficult to see but Mighty Mo has some air on the right front. All 4 are working.
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Talk about air! Mighty Mo is at about a 45º angle. I drove out of that.
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Ok, I got it reasonably level, let's go!
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Quite a step to climb up.
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Further up the steps and a little more air time for the right front.
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A Rubicon climbing the steps.
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Yet another Rubicon just playing in the rocks!
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What's better than a Saturday on the "Little Rubicon" trail watching Jeeps® play?
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Maybe watching a Grand Cherokee on the "Little Rubicon". Check out the gator hood ornament.
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Now there is a serious lift!
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Visitors since January 01, 2004
Copyright Richard N. Meagley Sr.
Last revised:
May 25, 2007.
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