Caura River Valley – Oct 25th, 2009
Trail Report – by Sheldon Mohammed
On this hot sunny Sunday morning our President Gaufh stood alone under a shady tree at UWI South entrance. Little did he know that a band of jeeps was being kept back by El Toro cruising up the highway at 60-70 km/h, yes we are law abiding. Frankie, Narvin, Sheldon, Brain, Wes, Tony, Rudy, Events Manager Trevor, Jerrol & his guest Sean joined Gaufh, with a total of 5 off-road jeeps and 3 pick-ups. Our departure was delayed since Frankie who after spending many days and nights preparing his jeep, suffered a failure on a 1-week old fuel pump! Jerrol made a call and after 15 minutes a new pump was tested and installed!
President Gaufh took the trail lead since he was among a group of members who previously did this run. As the 8 vehicles snaked up the scenic hillside, Gaufh stopped on a corner and disappeared down a hill! We were led to a downhill track and eventually stopped at a broken bridge which Gaufh wanted to assess for a future crossing. Assessment completed we headed uphill and back to tarmac where Roland & his family joined us to head up to the river.
We passed the 1st & 2nd ‘pools’ and headed to the back of the Caura valley, at the last bathing spot. Roland dropped anchor and Tony parked his pick-up and rode along with us. At this point the new Frontier and Hilux pick-ups were put to the test as we took on mud flats, rivers and river-banks, new members Rudy and Jerrol did quite well. After 5-6 small river crossing we encountered a bank which was too high for the pick-ups and Rudy and Jerrol opted to park and ride along with the jeeps.
Unknown to us, this was the start of the grade 4 section and Gaufh soon disappeared up a very steep slope which featured a 60 ft drop-off at the right side. With 30psi in El Toro tyres, I followed in search of Gaufh, the hill made a 110 deg switch-back turn to the left and some tree roots pushed the jeep closer to the right side…oye 60 ft drop! With a lot of caution I made the turn at which point rain started pouring heavy, the 2nd uphill section proved even more challenging being quite steep and slippery with mud and leaves. With a lot of high revs and wheel spin I made it to the top, donned my raincoat to join the others, knowing that a real challenge was on us. At the switch-back corner, Small Toy (aka Rhino) was red-lining on 1st gear trying to make a few inches. Frankie took the wheels, slipped to 2nd and was able to get Small Toy to the top. At the top the 3 jeeps faced very narrow and slippery tracks with a 100ft drop to the left. At the bottom Trevor and Brain awaited. With Brain’s tyres not in the best order and the continuing downpour, we decided on turning around. We found a spot that offered us just about 12ft to do a 6-point turn, the trek downhill was also somewhat nerve wracking as we secretly prayed not to slip. With our pray answered we safely made it down, got the 2 pick-ups and headed out to civilization.
Back at the river we shared an assortment of sandwiches including tuna, chinese chicken, vegi burger, vegi mix, chow-mein etc. Hey we in Caura folks, bread will not do so we decided on making a raid on Roland’s duck pot! We made our way to the river-bank where Roland had set up pot, strategically placed between two mobile DJ’s; lots of noise, but also lots of curry and folks having fun. With duck done, we decided on heading to one of TTORC adopted bathing/washing spots where we cleaned up vans and folks before heading home. We would make one more stop in El Soccoro for a cold drink before heading home. A day well spent safe and sound with good friends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvJBaAv_blE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gSBKAQBpHw
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