Small group of 3 Jeeps and 1 buggy.
The trip down was horrendous with heavy rain, lightning, and heavy fog for the last 30 miles. Arrived shortly after our 10pm projected time, chatted for a few minutes, and hit the hay for the night. I\'m so grateful for a warm and enclosed sleeping place. Woke to a foggy morning. Not many in the park on Friday. Ate our breakfast, met up with Pete and his father who were camping at a real campground not far away, and struck out. k9keeper broke an axle shaft but had a replacement handy, so it was changed out with relative speed. Rain/sprinkled on and off for most of the day, except for lunch back at camp. It poured for about an hour. Thunder was heard. After we thought it was done, we struck out again. Pouring rain wasn\'t done yet but soon thereafter let up to the typical rain/sprinkles. In the middle of another fairly difficult and wet rocky creek trail, Pete\'s Jeep bent his steering tie rod into a nice smile shape. We were able to bend it back to reasonable straightness and make it back to camp. He sourced another at a \"local\" (20 miles away) parts store and had it changed out by morning. It was a chilly and very breezy evening as we huddled around the camp fire for warmth. Again, I was very grateful for an enclosed sleeping place, with heat! Saturday morning was chilly but beautiful! Many more arrived during the evening and morning. Ate a leisurely breakfast and prepped for the day while most others struck out. Not long after, we enjoyed quite a few trails and obstacles. The buggy and I tackled a very difficult \"crawl daddy\" rocky hill climb. He made it without much issue while I had to winch through a couple of really difficult spots. I was pretty impressed and excited about tackling that. After lunch, k9keeper broke the other sideaxle shaft. I had a new-in-box upgrade that we installed. Repair went a little slower this time due to the precarious position the Jeep came to rest in. It took time to secure it and make it \"safe\". Back in one piece, we hit a number of other trails without issues. Rolled back into camp as daylight faded. We were out of fire wood from the night before so we had to go back into the trail system a short ways to cut and gather something to keep us warm again. It took a while to start and that fire was not blazing, but very warm! Must have been a good selection of dead-fall. Sunday morning greeted us in glorious splendor on the mountain top. We packed up and strapped down and headed north to Scranton where we met Matt and another group for a local trail ride. Very pretty trails with a few obstacles. Creeks, resevoir with spillway, autumn colors, rock outcroppings, and mud. It was an easy day but very enjoyable for the natural beauty of the outdoors. I haven\'t been a one of those trail rides in years. About 3:30p, we strapped down again and finished our mostly uneventful drive home. Left all but the food in the truck and hopped in the very-welcomed hot shower! By the way, I love my bed!
