Good morning folks!
Sorry to take so long to do the writeup for this MEGA-FUN run, but I was working this weekend (had to pick up extra shift to make up the "duck-work" part of the run, hehehe).
Anyway, what an awesome trail! And what a LONG drive to reach there, LOL!
Many thanks to the Dass family for inviting us to their private land and allowing us to run on their trail.... we really appreciated the warmth, friendliness and camaraderie shown to us from the Dass Boys and we look forward to running with you guys again!!
So, this was to be a VERY early start for us, considering we were travelling all the way to Grand Riviere to run on some private land. The south crew were very prompt and early, arriving only 10 mins after I arrived myself at Piarco Gas station around 7:45AM. We left mostly on time and the convoy headed up to Sangre Grande to meet up with the Dass boys and family, and also meet up Daddy Dass, who welcomed our little convoy and gave us a briefing on the land. After meeting the crew, he wished us luck and gave us blessings.
There were a couple stops on the way to Grand Riviere, stopping for supplies at a bar in Cumana and then a bathroom break for the ladies and kids. After that we blasted all the way to the north coast and met up outside of teh trail. I can't remember the actual name of the area in Grand Riviere, but it was close to the beachfront hotels where turtle watching is done.
The trail itself started easily enough, some light gravel road going uphill that was easily tackled by the veterans of Side B and friends. However, at the proper start of the trail, we all stopped and proceeded to air-down our tires to help increase tire footprint and traction for what was to be a hard trail. Tire gauges were whipped out, and all you heard in the forest was birds and the *hiiiissssssssss* of tires being aired down.
After the air-down session, droppa and myself lined up the vehicles strategically to ensure the convoy was evenly matched - a strong lead vehicle to take point (hardcoreyouth in the SR20 Jimny with tractors)... followed by droppa in the Patrol with winch/MT, followed by a stock BT-50 (a TCZ series from Telfer!!! This man mad like me, bringing a stock NEW van on a trail!!!)... followed by the jimny crew, then the convoy closed up with the other trucks with Mud Terrains, Adil in the purple frontier with BFG MT and winch, then myself with All-terrain hybrids, and then Rossi taking tail with his super-lifted Hilux SR5. We arranged the convoy this way so that lesser-equipped vehicles would be pulled/towed/recovered by higher-level equipped vehicles... maximising each vehicles potential and reducing stop-times on the trail for recoveries.
The trail was a good mixture of mud, clay and stones, and though it was slippery, there was a lot of traction to be found under with a good gravel base once your tires could dig down and find it. A couple of the shorter height vehicles had some trouble navigating the deep ruts and slippery mud, but with some pulling and winching, we were able to get everyone down to the end of the trail. We even had a surprise visitor, Mr. Z, who showed up near the end of the trail towards mid-afternoon (the man came ALLL the way up and found us, I was surprised and amused to see him!!)... accompanied by his son and Ras.
Z's arrival on the trail proved very timely, as we were now able to spread out all the recovery efforts throughout the convoy, with Z helping in the rear with me, and droppa and the other veterans pulling in the front.
We were finally rewarded towards late afternoon with a fantastic little quite spot, where the Dass property had a great little house and a very inviting pond to swim in. We sat and freshened up, had some ole talk and picong, took some pictures and admired the scenery of the house and land.
Towards evening time now, it was time to head out. The same approach to vehicle-arrangement was taken, strong/weak/strong (relatively speaking). We encountered a couple problems getting out since the trail was now much more messy than when we first entered, with the lower-height vehicles again encountering some problems with deep ruts. One jimny suffered some bumper damage due to incorrect tow-point hitching However, with Z present this time, recovery was much faster and we were all eventually able to make it out at around after 8-9pm.
Z said his goodbyes and thanks, and headed out for his long drive back home. We stopped in Grand Riviere to reminisce about this fantastic trail that Dass Family had brought us on. It was also one of our boy's birthday - Wabeen - so we stopped for cake and to sing him happy birthday. From the look on his face, this was probably one of the best birthdays he ever had.
Last stop for us was to refresh and eat dinner at a beachhouse on the way back from Cumana, where we limed and took a refreshing dip in a pool. Tired, beat-out and happy, we all made the long drive back home with memories of a great run that we surely will be making again in the near future.
Thanks again to the Dass Family - we all enjoyed it to the Max, and we look forward to next time!!!
Enjoy the pics, these were taken from my phone. I have a few more on my camera but not much time today to sort through them.
