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At the top of the hill was a large boulder perfect for posing, so a couple of the Jeepers climbed on it to flex out their trucks while we took a break for lunch. Speaking of breaks, this also turned out to be the time for tools come out. One Jeep had some pretty significant control arm carnage that hadn't been detected earlier. After a temporary repair to make the vehicle drivable enough to get it back to civilization, a couple of the trucks turned for home.

When lunch was over, the remaining trucks proceeded to the next section - a flooded swampy section of trail that ranged from thick mud to deep water. Several played around and circled in the mud for a while, and then Bill spotted for Mark as he ventured partway into the deeper water before backing out. With the snorkel and winches on the front and rear, my truck was best suited to test the deeper waters, so Crispy and I both hopped in and forded our way through the mud and water. The Boggers on the rear of my truck churned up mud as we probed around with the front end, finding hidden obstacles and working around them until we reached the other side. It was deep enough that nobody chose to follow us through, so we rejoined the rest of the group farther up the trail, as we approached the ice pit.

Yes, ICE PIT. Bill drove into the frozen water first. Low cracking and popping noises drifted back towards the rest of us on the shore as he broke a path through the 4-inch thick sheet of ice with his H1. Unfortunately, it turned out the ice had done some breaking of its own. After he had finished the crossing, we discovered that Bill's brush guard was not steel, but thin gauge aluminum - and the ice tore one section of it open like a soda can. The ice also ate his winch solenoid pack and a few of his auxiliary lights. The crossing was much easier on the rest of our rigs, as we each drove across while gently pushing the chunks of freshly broken ice off to the sides.

We could almost feel the daylight slipping away as we approached the next collection of rocks that would turn out to be our final playground for the day. Crispy agreed to drive up onto a rock face while I spotted him, so we could show everyone else just how little the Hummer will flex before the day ended. In the process, we got the rear passenger side corner of the truck jacked up 4 feet in the air and folded up the driver side rear tire to the point that only the internal bead-lock was keeping it from rolling off the rim. Although I still think we could have driven out of it without tipping over, we decided to play it safe and call the rear-mounted winch into duty. I winched the rear end down as Crispy reversed off of the rock to level ground. Crispy assured me afterwards that he got more than his fill of "pucker factor" for the day out of our demonstration.

After a full day of wheeling, we parted ways with the other trucks when they pulled into a gas station to air their tires back up. We beeped, waved, and flicked on the CTIS pump as we headed for home with smiles on our faces - on the road in the dark again. Big thanks to everyone from Freedom TrailRiders for letting us tag along for their event. It was the most fun we have had on a winter run in quite a while.