This was a short notice ride to “earn” the badge for new Jeep Badge of Honor trail at WDRSP – Trail #2103. The club has done this trail many times and it is one of my favorites. The trail is rated a blue by WDRSP and Jeep has it rated as a 3 in their app. Jeep also rates Peters Mill Run as a 3 – go figure – there is no comparison at all. Peters Mill is a forest road with one sketchy area whereas trail 2301 is a genuine OHV trail with rock gardens, tight turns, large rocks, etc. It has some rock gardens that can be troublesome for unlifted vehicles. The trail parallels the Potomac and has great views of the river; even more so since the trees haven’t budded yet.
Ken Kyler, Kristopher Madore with his mother, Kirk, and Daryl Anthony [Ken’s guest] along with Daryl’s wife and their dogs met in the Potomac section parking lot. Trail 2103 was first up and closest to the parking lot. We stopped often to take pictures for Brenda Ruggiero of The Garrett County Republican newspaper who was doing an article about the trail. Also the DNR wanted pictures for their press release. The scenery was great; there was still ice on the trails and icicles on the ledges.
From there we took trails 2104, 2101, then 2105 to the slag pile. We all made successful runs up the steep track which had a deep, butt puckering rut on the right at the top. After a brief discussion, we decided to head over to North Hills and do the outer loop of blue trails. So we drove back to Coal Haul road and moseyed over to North Hills. There we took the main trail, 1102, to the only black trail in that section – trail 1103. That’s where it happened …
Three quarters of the way up the hill is a small ledge and the whole section has a lot of loose rock. Kirk got hung up at the ledge, after engaging his lockers, the FJ slipped right and BOOM!
There is an overlook at the top of the trail on the left. Whilst Kirk changed his tire, we ate lunch and offered words of encouragement. After that we did the outer loop of North Hills and called it a day.
Trail Report written by Ken Kyler. Pictures contributed by Ken Kyler.