Good morning... or rather, Good Afternoon SIDE B!!
Phew, now wake up dey, went to sleep at 8:45am this morning after a BESSSSS night run!
This was a fantastic run, everyone had a blast running the lopinot/blanchisseuse/las cuevas route overnight and in the dark!
Also, I'm very proud to say that the guys who came on this run showed proper safety protocols and trail etiquette - all vehicles & drivers were WELL prepared for this type of run, followed instructions, kept good communications, worked as a team and looked out for each other while out there conducting our nighttime run operations.
Great job and a BIG congratulations to you guys and this is how a good, proper run should operate!!!
So... this is how it went....
Trail Preps & Safety Briefs- Met up with everyone at Trincity Tru Value carpark. Most of the guys came on time, a couple latecomers including myself (I got there at 9:20pm) so we passed the time while waiting by helping FoxBrown install some new foglights onto his battle-rig BT-50.
- Left at around 10:15pm after everyone came and were briefed.
We made sure to set-up the convoy properly: two experienced & trail-familiar guys in front (I took point followed by 3stagevtec), the less experienced guys in the middle and two experienced guys in the back. Almost every truck had hand-held radios so we were in good communications. There were 3 winch-equipped vehicles, so we put one in front, one in the middle and one at the tail of the convoy. All resources were considered and spread out properly throughout the convoy to maximize safety. Also almost every vehicle came equipped with foglights & auxillary lighting and everyone had on their tall-boots & had plenty of flashlights/head-lamps as well as lanterns. We also had a bunch of cutlass and a bow-saw in case we ran into obstacles such as trees. However no one packed any salt & garlic in case the Lopinot Soucoyants came out to check us on the trail.
Trail Operations- The drive from trincity to lopinot was light-hearted, with lots of radio chatter and joking around. THe guys were joking about looking out for Lagahoo's and soucouyants in the trees, while one guy reported feeling a cold hand on his neck and another man said to look out for a lady in a white dress as we were passing. The guy at the tail of the convoy said that behind him was completely pitch black and when asked what he would do if he saw a ghost, he replied that he would speed up and hug the bumper on the guy in front of him, bounce or no bounce.
... either way they were lamenting over the radio about the lack of salt & garlic on this run.
Lopinot trail was relatively easy, mostly grade 2. Traversing the trail and going up the mountain went relatively smoothly. A couple points in time I got a bit hung up on some ruts where my stock suspension didn't have enough reach to get the tyres down into a rut, but all it needed was a slight change in the angle of approach and I was able to climb through the rut easily. The other guys made it through as well, and a couple other similar deep ruts along the mountain trail came up with little difficulty.
At the top of the lopinot trail by the lookout point, we stopped for a rest period and also to repair
stingray316 steering rod which had slipped out of place. Everyone was in good spirits and had a lot of fun going up the lopinot trail. Pictures were taken and more jokes about little red eyes in the forest watching us (i didnt' see any eyes, but I did see a red light in the sky!!). Eventually we go through with the help of the master mechanics with us and we were off again.
There was a collapsed section of the Arima Old Road just after the junction to head into Brasso Seco, which fell due to landslides last Christmas. It had been mildly repaired and had just enough space for one vehicle to pass through at a time. Being point-man, I volunteered my Navara to see how much space we had to pass through. Using a couple spotters in front & back, I was able to make it with a foot of space on the drop-off side, so we knew the other vans had enough space to pass; which they did easily enough. (see pics below).
After that obstacle, we proceeded all the way down to blanchisseuse to the old spring bridge. It had been blocked off earlier this year but there was another bailey bridge that had been built which we were able to cross. Headed into the trail and made it all the way to the last house on the hill.
At this point, myself and
3stagevtec ordered all vehicles on the convoy to hold position and we would go ahead and scout the downhill section (where I had first gotten stuck, many moons ago). The guys complied and waited, while we crawled down in 4-LO and 1st gear to gauge the steep ruts. It was dry and passable, so we moved ahead and sent the message to move the trucks on down through the trail. This was an important safety demonstration especially on a night-time run, when familiar territory can become unfamiliar and weather/natural changes can happen on a trail over time. The guys appreciated it and had fun coming down the trail and heading towards the beach.
Just before we got to the end of the trail, there was a large tree that had fallen across the path and was blocking the road.
3stagevtec considered winching the tree out of the way, but we soon discovered that the path around the tree was driveable. Most of the other guys came up to the front and brought their cutlasses, flashlights and lanterns to help clear out the side-bush and some of the tree. After about half an hour of work, we were able to drive around the tree and proceeded to the end of the trail. Everyone made it and parked up and got ready to head to the beach. I volunteered to stay behind with my sleeping navigator to watch over the trucks. Everyone took their flashlights and hiked the short 5 min downhill trail to the beach to enjoy themselves for half an hour. In the meanwhile, it was pitch black on the trail by the trucks, so I took out a couple of my mini lanterns and set up a light-perimeter at the front/middle rear with the lanterns, so I could see & keep an eye out on the trucks. armed with a knife and short-hatchet, in case anything came up. A couple of the guys had stayed behind to repair a broken number plate, so I had some company. This was at around 3:45am in the morning, with nothing but star-light and no moon in the sky.
After everyone came back up to the trucks, we had some coffee and then headed back out of the trail. 30 mins later we were out by the spring bridge and decided to head down to Las Cuevas to play in the mud before morning light came.
Made it into the las Cuevas trail.... and then all the guys' tiredness vanished. First to try and stick was
aliman but he made it out with a little assistance.
3stagevtec then got himself stuck exactly where I told him he would and shouldn't go, but it was like adrenaline kept pumping through him. He eventually had to be winched out by
foxbrown.. who himself went to wild-up in the deep mud-bog. His battle-ready BT50 made an epic show of blasting through the muddy water and up the bank of the deep mud-hole by the 2nd tree. Next,
brianr20v threw his black-mamba into 4WD and thundered through the mud, splashing muddy water everywhere.
After all the last bit of excitement, our final reward came when we parked up on Las Cuevas beach to see the wee hours pass and sunrise come over us. Everyone relaxed, some bathed, some had coffee, I made a fire and some tea, some chilled and ole-talked. We were all talking about how much fun the run was and remembering the night's events. Watching the sun rise over Las Cuevas Beach was one of the best parts of the run and a fantastic end to a wonderful night's experience. And better still, we still had the trail to go through again and more mud to splash through. We bid our final goodbyes and congrats at the exit of the Las Cuevas trail, then headed home. Some went to a carwash in Curepe, others went home or stopped to buy breakfast (doubles).
All-in-all... this was an awesome run and I'm proud of the Side-B guys for conducting themselves in a professional manner, keeping up the high-standard Side B has set. This wasn't a hardcore offroad run like some of the other clubs do, but it was a fantastic experience that won't be soon forgotten.
So.... when we goin again?????
Enjoy the pics here... I'm just sorry I couldnt' take enough shots for the entire run(was too busy in front directing the crew).
SIDE-B... KEEP ON TRUCKIN'!!!
got to tru value parking lot at 8:45 am and waited until 9:30 then remembered its a night run
hard luck dey! Well at least you're already packed.. lol
