Lost, Stuck and We Still Had Fun!

This past weekend, my family went on our trip to Brimstone Recreation.  It is a place up in Huntsville, TN that has over 300 miles of ATV trails and roads to enjoy.  For the past two years, my parents have rented a cabin on the property and two Teryx or Rhino vehicles so we can enjoy the trails for the weekend.  We have so much fun, that I think everyone looks forward to the next trip when it ends each year, even the little ones!

This year, was a little different - we still had a lot of fun, but we had a few more mishaps than we have had in the past.  We weren't able to ride on Friday because it was raining too hard so we were all itching to get out the next morning.  The men took the vehicles (or Scrambler as Goose and So-So call them!) to get some maintenance work and then hit a short trail on the way home.  Mom, Dad, Nate and I were the first group out Saturday.  We were just going on a quick trip so we could come back and let Bub and Birdie go.  Well... 5 hours later, we got back from our "adventure".

 

Leaving for our "adventure"

Mom and Dad heading out for the adventure

 

Nate and Me before we realized we were "lost"

Each trail is numbered and you are provided with a map before you head out.  Usually, it is very easy to navigate your way through the trails.  That is unless there is a sign down that you don't know about! :)  We planned to take a quick trip down trail 31 which would connect us to trail 1 (a main trail through the property).  Well that quick trip turned into at least a 3 hour trip of not knowing where we were.  Basically, we were off the map and off the main trail property.  We kept heading further and further up the mountain and it was getting colder and colder with the fog getting thicker and thicker!  I was not very happy and all of us were freezing.  Finally, we came to a house and decided it was best to go ask for directions.  Well, we were pretty far from home and it turns out that we had to turn around and back track every move we had made - so we had to go back up the mountain and into the cold, still not knowing where we were for sure.  We ended up making a wrong turn again on our way home, but Nate was able to get this picture.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the whole time that we were "lost" (my dad would never admit that we were lost!) we had no cell phone service.  It's one of those times that even though you know you will probably get home, you still have the feeling that you are going to be stuck in the woods all night in the cold with no way to get home.  It's not a good feeling.  But it all turned out ok and we got back in time to take a short ride with Bub and Birdie.

The next day we were all itching to get out on some harder, bumpier trails since the day before we spent most of the day on flat, gravel road enjoying the scenery.  Bub, Birdie, Nate and I tried to get going, but one of the Teryx wouldn't start.  Well, my dad knows the people that run the property, so he called them for some help.  They said that we could come down and get another one to ride for the day.  The problem was, they were booked for the weekend, so the only one they had to give us was a personal vehicle.  The last thing they said to us before we left was, "that vehicle is not ours so be very careful with it."  From that statement right there, I didn't have a good feeling about the day!

Well, the rain had made some of the trails very precarious, and we were not able to go on some trails because the river was up too high and we couldn't cross.  They have three levels of trails: green, blue and red.  Green being easy, and red being pretty difficult.  Blues are usually a lot of fun and not too hard.  Well, the only blue that we had not done that was close was number 5.  We were a little nervous doing this one because last year Bub and Birdie got stuck in a huge mud hole - and when I say stuck, I mean mud up to the seat of the vehicle.  It had to be pulled out.  But we figured there would be a way around any holes we came across.  What we didn't account for was the huge, rocky hill that made Birdie cry last year.  (They forgot to remind us of that before we got on the trail!)  Well, Bub made it up the first time, easy.  There was a group of more experienced riders behind us, so we let four vehicles go up before Nate tried (in the personal vehicle).  Then it was Nate's turn (Birdie and I get out of the vehicles for hills like this and let the boys conquer them alone).  He started up the hill and got stuck on a rock and heard a pop, but just thought it was the rock hitting the skid plate.  So he kept trying, but the ground was getting soft and he couldn't getting any traction (or so we thought).  He backed down the hill and tried again, but as he kept trying he had to keep backing up and ended up getting stuck against a tree.

Well, we had to call the guy that owns the property and he had to come out and help us get the vehicle off the hill.  It turns out that the reason we couldn't get any traction on the hill was because the pop that Nate heard was the first axle breaking.  Then as we continued to try to get up the hill, a second axle broke.  That's right - we broke two axle's on the vehicle we were supposed to be extra careful with!  They said that it happens, especially when you aren't used to the sounds the vehicles make, but we felt awful.  We had to be driven down the mountain, and we were pretty much done for the day.

I forgot to mention, that we had to wait on the trail for about 1 to 2 hours to be pulled out.  So while we waited, we tried to have some fun!

Birdie carved hers and Bub's initials into a tree since this trail has caused them grief for two years

 

The boys used sticks as javelins to see how far they could throw

 

It ended in a tie

 

Birdie gave it a good try, but came up a little short!

 

Bub made himself some spears

 

They played a little baseball, threw rocks at things and had a debate as to whether the spear or crow bar would be a better weapon.

Mom and Dad got to go on one last ride on the way out of the property, but there wasn't a lot of riding that took place this weekend!  I know we all look forward to next year, in the hopes that we all have a little more experience under our belts and can avoid these "spontaneous adventures" and have some "planned adventures"!

Here are some other pictures from our trip!

This picture was taking by our budding photographer Goose - she did a pretty good job

Just waking up with So-So's crazy hair!

 

Pop making us sweet potato pancakes

Ju Ju and So-So

 

It was just a little bit cold!

 

We combed out Nate's hair and then....

 

We flat ironed it to see how long it was!  He looks so young in this picture!!

Goose was scared of Scrambler last year, but she was a real trooper this year had such a fun time going on rides with everyone.  So-So on the other hand, did not really like Scrambler - maybe next year!

 

Another picture taken by Goose while we were waiting on Scrambler to get fixed