The legendary "Indian Trail" certainly lived up to its name. I can do no better than to post the comments made by the members after the run:
David Landreth Smith: Greetings Fellow Members,
Just wanted to say a word of thanks to everyone who assisted me yesterday when I lost four wheel drive and steering on the Indian Walk Trail.
As for the trusted Suzuki – well I once had an electric fuel pump problems on the trail, which required some tinkering, and I once had water in the air filter which was easily sorted out, also once had a flat (even rolled once and the lockers, with 5 seconds of side body dragging, put me back on all fours); But if memory serves me right this is first breakdown/breakage that I’ve experienced. Not good not good. Back to the drawing board.
As for the running T-Bone tackle from Shane - well let us just be thankful that no one got caught in between the runaway jeep and my “Zuk”. All things considered that incident ended pretty harmlessly. Lucky for us we still have a safety record that is free of any serious-bodily-harm incident. Shane shouldn’t feel too bad, after all he can always prostrate himself on the trail for a flogging (smile). Anyway Gentlepeople, more seriously - Let us learn from it. We will not always be lucky.
Special thanks to Ram and Shivanand for endless winching and to Shane for organising the wrecker. Thanks to all others for the daisy chain / tandem pulling. Shiv the Curry Goat tasted so good it could almost surpass Duck..
Regards....David.
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....and from Paul Tiah....
INDIAN TRAIL STRIKES AGAIN!!
How is it Keith is able to know when NOT to go on a trail?
Sundays trail was interesting, but another learning experience for me. I have realized how unfit I am when I attempted to walk the “hill” the second time, but by the fourth trek up that hill I was on the verge of passing out. Sorry for tearing up your passenger door PQT, did not see it open while pulling in the dark.
What I have learnt from this trail is…
- Always be prepared for a full day out, include enough water & food for emergencies.
- Bring ALL GEAR available, and never under-estimate a trail. I left my spare ropes at home because I figured on a fairly easy day, and if PQT did not have all that rope we would have been in trouble.
- When parking, never rely on handbrakes alone, always leave 1st gear engaged and\or chuck the wheels. (also, never park within striking range of Blackwood :-!)
- Resume regular exercise, as we need to be physically fit for the amount of strenuous activity involved.
Must congratulate all members for their camaraderie and spirit on such a stressful event. Many thanks also to Shivanand, Roll and Keith for leaving the comfy settings of Shivanands home and assisting us in the recovery process.
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I'm afraid there aren't many photos as the mud made it difficult to operate the camera. But here are the ones taken before we all got stuck.
Paul directing traffic over a wooden bridge
Shane testing out his tyres
David and Fareed flying through the mud.
The mighty Barrie nicely stuck and two Zuks pulling him out.
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Now you have to imagine photos of 6 hours of winching and pulling to recover all the vehicles from a nice wet sappotie clay hill. And then when we all finally emerged at minutes to 8 here we have a group shot.....
...followed by one of Shane organising a wrecker for David and the mighty yellow Zuk, hero of the day, having a little "air up"......
...and then the club's Bison...aka Hercules. (Did I tell you there was real sun down in that hole? Check out the tan on the white man!)
