October 26th 1997 Outing - Sam Houston National Forest

October 26, 1997 Outing Sam Houston National Forest

Our outing for today was great, temperature was in the upper 50's to lower 60's. We only had a little mist as we where going to the forest, before we even got into the forest, the misting had stopped.

We had 3 Hummers, 2 Defenders, & 1 Land Cruiser. Our first trail was a trail to some oil well, simple, in and out of the trail. But our next trail was the one that took most of the day. Through the wood we went as we follow the green paint marks on the trees that pointed out the trail. Well most of the time we followed it, when we missed it, we soon found out. Dead ends or very old trails caused us to soon had our debate as to which way next?

Shortly after getting deep in the trail, we came across some fallen trees that had blocked the trails.
So, we had to break out the chain, and I was told we did not need it. Well they where lucky, I kept it in the truck just in case. We had about 4 or 5 fallen trees we had to clear out, so you can tell that the trails have not been traveled on much.

A few of us, including me got stuck in the mud as we got near the end of the trail, it was a low area and with all the rain, grounds where soft. I got stuck just sitting on the trail since the lead group was hicking out the trail around the water and mud. Using my winch, I go myself out of the mess. Then Bob K. was stuck a little ways behind me, and so we used his winch, got it all hooked up to the trees, and found out that the winch failed to retract, not too uncommon of a problem with the big electric winches. So I had to turn around and go though the mud again and hook up to get him out, love that MileMarker winch!

We where just a quarter mile from the main road, but getting to it was not that easy due to the water ahead of us, so we had to make our way out to another trail near by. After finally going out on to some well traveled trails, we ended up at the rear gate of some ranch, a locked gate at that. So turned around only to find a few more locked gates.

But finally we found an open gate, only problem was just before that gate was a good muddy/swampy area crossing our trail out to real roads. So, our yellow Defender gave it a shot across the swamp at full speed, they made it was a nice big splash, mud all over the place and up and dry grounds. Well, I was game for it, so I took off and made my crossing at full speed too, only problem was I missed the drier area just before the swamp, so I had more mud and water to go through. And you know, Eddie was right close to the mud and water, and it just so happens that once I go going, I was stuck in the ruts that lead me right pass Eddie. By the time I passed Eddie he was ALL WET and muddy from the the fun I had going across the mud and water. Once I got to the other end and saw Eddie covered in mud, I was laughing so hard, that I was in pain and my eyes where watering. Check out the photos below where Eddie was standing. I am sure he had a few words to say about me at that point while he cleaned off some of the mud from his face and the rest of himself. It sure was a good thing he had an extra shirt in the truck : )

It was a great outing and we all had fun.

This was a photo of Eddie after he changed his shirt.