The KnuckleHeads had taken care to select an appropriately difficult, but scenic series of trails in the Rimrock area, including two trips to the area to insure we had a safe way down from the ridge. So we felt pretty confident starting out with a dozen strange rigs and possibly stranger drivers, leaving the staging area at Jim Sprick Park at 6:30.
The 40-mile drive to Rimrock was pleasant, not freezing-cold like most years, and we arrived at the Butcher Knife trailhead, aired down, and hit the trail by 8 a.m. Ralph the Gnad-man led the way as Butcher Knife is one of his favorite trails.
We'd been on the trail barely 20 minutes, winding our way through the lower meadows, when the CB announced we had our first breakdown. First report was a broken axle. The second report was that it was a broken knuckle (crap!). By the time Mr. Clean arrived on the scene, he diagnosed it as just a broken axle (whew!) and summoned Ralph for a spare and his air tools. We were probably side-lined for a half hour, maybe less, and we were on our way again.
It was a scant 10 minutes before the next "broke" call. This time it was a stick through the sidewall of a tire ... by the same TJ as the broken axle. Down time was less than 10 minutes and we were on our way again.
Next, at about the 10-minute mark, the CB reported "broken track bar" ... this time on a Toyota, and caught me trying to climb one of the steeper hills in the middle section. I stopped and tried backing down ... not a good idea, so I found a flat spot and parked sideways in the trail. It was the third, fairly major breakdown, is less than an hour of actual trail time and less than a quarter of our route. While other KnuckleHeads repaired the Toy, I said a quick prayer. "Please God, I promise to be good from now on ... just let us get these folks outta here."
Never underestimate the power of prayer ... the rest of the day went without incident.
We continued on up Butcher Knife, pointing out the views of Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, and generally had a great time. We got to the top of Butcher Knife and hit the Ridge Trail heading towards Blue Lake, arriving at the lake just in time for a nice lunch break.
After lunch, we ran down the upper portion of Blue Slide and took the Seattle Bypass over to Short and Dirty, showing the visitors the middle portions of that beautiful trail. Before we got to the steep portions, we took the Spencer Creek trail down to Forest Service Rd 1010 where we aired-up and headed back to camp.
It was a great day all-in-all, and Ralph did a super job leading the trail. The comment that made me feel we'd done a great job was relayed by Skipper. One of the guests told him that he'd been on trails in Moab, the Rubicon and elsewhere, and this was the BEST trail he'd ever been on!
Amen.
-- Wimpy
