Melody and I left Friday afternoon with 3 very excited grandkids. Jeep in tow with the kids Jeep, quad, and bicycle piled on top. It was pouring down rain from Kent to White Pass. We determined that if this is what we woke up to we'd back home by noon on Saturday. Cresting the summit of White pass and with Rimrock Lake in site we were ready for a double dose of Valium, Prozac, or at least some adult beverages. Did I mention the kids were excited. When we left home they were just getting started.

We finally got to Bake Oven Flats. It was packed with  early arrivals holding spots for July 4th. I'd invited Miles from work and he was coming over with his friend Mark as a rider, both Samurai drivers. they didn't know where Bake Oven Flats was but Mark saw an old buddies camper so they came down. Turns out his friend, Ken, was holding down a nice spot with no one arriving until Tuesday. We now had a spot to park. A little while later Dave M and Kathy (haven't a clue what she sees in him) show up. Ralph and Lindsey were a little behind them. Everybody got setup and we settled around a nice camp fire Ken had going. Swapped a few lies and decided we were going to do the same trail we did last year. About 11:30 or so we decided it was time to go to bed. Did I mention the kids were really wired by now and on their second wind, not that this matters, but it made for an interesting night for us. 

Morning found the sky clear with no trace of bad weather. Bill showed up alone. Janet got to stay home with a sick Josie. I think he left home about the time I got to sleep.

After some discussion it was decided we'd change our plans. Ken joined in with his 4.3 powered CJ3.We ran Butcher Knife to Blue Lake. Somewhere along the way Miles learned that pusher fuel pumps don't suck real well. Or maybe they just SUCK when installed wrong. Stuck on a rather steep hill, unable to back down we blocked tires etc. and left Miles inside on the brakes while Dave, Mark, and I swapped the fuel pump for the fuel filter. It sits right in front of the tank. Dave got to spend the better part of an hour lying under Miles rig fitting and hooking it up Mark and I ran wire put in the filter. I think I made 5 or 6 trips up and down the hill for tools, parts, and pieces. Total time about 1. 5 hours and we were back on our way across Divide Ridge and to Blue Lake for lunch. Shortly before Blue Lake we came to a hill climb. Ken made it in 2 tries. Ralph tried about 4 or 5 times. Got some cool 4 foot air. To bad we weren't videoing it. He finally decided to go the way Bill, Miles, and I did. Not to be out done Dave had to give it 3-4 tries until he stuffed a rock through his left rear side wall. ken must have done a pretty good job of tearing it up. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We left Blue Lake heading for the upper part of Blue Slide to take the Seattle bypass to the upper half of Short and Dirty. When we got to Blue Slide we were supposed to hang a right and head down the hill to FS road 1010. Oops, we missed it. We ended up going down Short and Dirty all the way. Somewhere along the way Bill managed to get thrown of the trail by some funky rocks and was side hill at a rather precarious angle. He threw Christian out as he felt it was a little dangerous. Christian had already been hurt fighting off five pirates and some snakes. He was able to cut off all their heads with his sword and protect us. He did a pretty good job because none of us ever saw any pirates or snakes. 

Back to Bill sitting side hill. I was directly behind him on a very steep part. Ken behind me was able to reposition and hook a winch line to the roll bar. As Ken was getting positioned I heard some screaming and a load bang. It seems Miles had heard that his bling, bling stainless steel brake lines were not the best things for off road rigs. Since had bought them he decided to test that theory. Sure enough the left front blew. At about 20 mph Miles discovered that trees really are your friend. Bent the ARB front bumper pretty good. He hit the tree hard enough that it caused the back bumper to hit the rear quarter panel.

We got bill back on the trail, crimped off Miles brake line and made it the rest of the way down without any major events. Mark walked the rest of the way out. No brakes, I wonder why?

We got back to camp about 6. Most of no worse for the wear. Potluck was really good. Ralph out did himself with stir-fry. Bill headed home about 11PM

Morning came and not much interest in going out again. Ralph pretty sore shoulder from last years bike crash. Dave and us with a bunch of stuff to do at home. We decided to head back this coming weekend to find where we missed the turn off. Short and Dirty is just a little to much for Trail Jam. You don't know what the level of the participants will be.

See you Saturday morning at Jim Sprick park. Hunters and Frans' will be leaving from there to find the right spot to turn off.

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