Day three was the Naches Trail and Skipper's turn to be skipper. Josie and I had business at Whistlin Jacks that morning so we left ahead of the flight planning to meet back up with them at the entrance to the Rabbit Holes.

Enroute, we saw a rag-horn bull and a cow elk in Lost Meadow, and then had to stop for a herd of about eight cows and calfs in the road. Unfortunately, they were gone before the participants got there.

When we aired-down at the entrance, I discovered we had a Land Rover LR2 along. Skipper asked Mr. Clean and I to put the big rig between us and "keep an eye on them."

The Rover was piloted by a charming young women named Victoria. She'd had the Rover on the Manashtash Trail the day before and was anxious to test her rig on a more rigorous trail and signed up for our Naches flight.

She started off incredibly slow. It was obvious the closeness of the trees was a bit unsettling for her, the Rover only had a couple inches of clearance in a lot of places. After a bit she seemed to adjust and picked up the pace a little.

At the first side-hill, she put a hand out to try and hold the Rover off a tree, but it was obvious she realized immediately the futility, and the danger, in that move.

She continued on through a few mudholes and squeezed between more trees. She had to take multiple shots at a couple of obstacles and finally managed to scuff one of the rear, plastic fender flares. When we gave her the option of bailing-out at the 1911 Road, she took it.

She'd done a good job to that point, but she was done. She thanked us profusely, saying she was glad she'd attempted it but it was just too stressfull. Mr. Clean said he could see her visibly shaking, so we let her go.

With the pressure of watching a new driver try to get a new Land Rover through the trail lifted, I relaxed and let Josie drive the rest of the trail. She did a good job picking lines and, after a few misjudgements, figured out Wimpy's width and had few problems. She followed along behind Mr. Clean including several log-surfing stints ... one which scared me as I just KNEW we were going over ... but it never happened. I only had to lock in an Air-Locker once to coax Wimpy over a large log in the trail.

We hit Government Meadows right on time and had lunch at the cabin. Then we headed on down the Greenwater side.

One of the participant rigs was the same family that had a problem on the steep hill with the stump last year ... their young son losing a finger. Also along were the same ER nurses that helped last year. I think there was a bit of anxiety for all of them as we approached the hill, but they all got down it without incident.

Then it was Josie's turn. She was doing fine but got too far left, close to the stump, trying to keep the passenger side (her blind side) away from the rock opposite it. Wimpy hit the root of the stump, coming to an abrupt stop and killing the engine. I made Josie restart the engine, back up the hill until she could clear the root, and then continue on ... no problems (and no lockers).

The rest of the west side went smoothly except for some folks ahead of us, and some behind, trying to get lost a time or two. Eventually we corraled everyone and made it on down to the exit point. Some of the first arrivals there went on down the renegade trail to the next road crossing. Frankly, if the Forest Service isn't going to block it and post it with a sign, it should be open.

We came back over Pyramid Pass and aired back up when we hit the pavement on the Little Naches River Road.

The good news was, three days of great wheeling with good companions and always back in time for dinner.

Until next year ...

  -- Wimpy