Mike, Chris and Joseph headed west on Rt. 33 from McDorman's for Kephart Run.

With a slight miscalculation, the group headed up the trail called Old 33 first. (The two turnoffs are less than 50 yards apart with the Kephart Run turnoff coming up first.) A quick diversion, soon rectified. Kephart Run is a stream which feeds off the mountain and into the Dry River. The trail crosses over a couple of times on it's way through the woods.

The group of S-10s (along with the 2 S-15s and the Ranger) made their way to the first big clearing. There are quite a few spots that have been used for primitive campsites. The entire GWNF is available for trailside camping and many of the local college crowd and others utilize it extensively for that.

James had discovered that his front hubs weren't attached as securely as he might have liked. In fact, he had lost one on the way to the campground on Friday. It also turns out that the replacement was prone to working itself out.

After a little rest in the first clearing, the group moved on. Splashing in the mud puddles along the trail.

Staying on the main trail, the group encounters another play spot in the form of a couple of fallen trees beside the trail. Long used for picture posing and a little articulation fun, several walk a tire along it. Sam, in his S-15 club cab impresses all with the articulation of the SFA, ala Stagewest. As he starts to get down, a slight miscue caused the wheel to slip off the tree the wrong way so that the truck straddles the tree. The force all landed on the centerlink which was, needless to say, not designed to absorb that kind of force in that direction and snaps. OOOPS! (In case you didn't know, the centerlink is one of several crucial pieces which cause both front wheels to go the same direction.) The resourcefulness and preparedness of bringing the right tools allowed Sam to get moving again slowly towards pavement. An initial effort used a tow strap which had too much give, the revised effort used a hand winch (come-along) to hold things together with a hi-lift jack holding them apart to keep crude steering in tact to reach pavement. More about that getting back to pavement in a bit.

Seeing as how Sam was on his way to being mobile and that the trail required coming back out the same way they had gone in, the group continued on to the end of the trail. This trail crosses over the rock-strewn streambed and has a couple of interesting turns through there. Part of the interest comes in the form of rocks that move out from under your tires and part from rocks that bite! The sharp points of those embedded have meant the demise of more than one sidewall. The "big" obstacle of the trail is right at the end. In times of more water, there is a large rock waterfall to climb and then come back down. An alternate path takes you around the waterfall but the placement of some rocks there keeps this route from qualifying as a bypass.

Mike, Chris and Joseph opted to take the alternate route. I wasn't there to see it, although it shows in the pictures. I know that Mike had never been this way before. Mark (Bad Bowtie) provided spotter duty on this trick.

After spotting one more up the waterfall, Mark decided to enjoy the show a bit and handed spotter duty over to Mark (from Ohio). A previous unknown to many of us, Mark (from Ohio) showed himself to be an accomplished spotter as all the group made it safely up the obstacle. Lunch break was definitely in order now, as were a couple of group pictures. Now, time to come back down. Confidence was up and with good reason as the crew made its way safely down. A couple of opportunities to play on the bank on the way back out as well as grabbing a few more pictures.

Chris had not been feeling well this morning so Mike and crew headed back to camp.