After a day of multiple breakdowns and long lines, teams were finally given a much needed reprieve on Day 3.
We had set up the night before in a clandestine location southern Vermont. Space was pretty tight but we managed to pack in, and then stay up way later than we should have.
The view from base camp morning of Day 3
Team VAEV on the first trail of the day
After the morning drivers meeting, a few enterprising teams decided to hit the trail with the rest deciding to take some time to recover from the day before.
Getting ready for “Death Gulch”
Riding shotgun in the 40… awesome
Team Royalton Farms, VAEV, and the Safford Brothers didn’t waste any time on Day 3. After a quick stop in town for provisions, they found their way to the now infamous “Death Gulch”.
Team 8 winching off the wall
Putting 10 pounds of sugar into a 5 pound bag
All of the trucks that attempted the trail were able to make it through, but many of them suffered cosmetic damage in the form of dented rear quarter panels, crushed tail lights, and broken rear quarter glass.
Both Discovery’s of Team 10 lost their rear quarter glass
VAEV “hugging” the wall
The rest of the day was a scenic drive through the Vermont countryside to our new campsite at Molly Stark State Park. Overall today was a pretty short driving day consisting of only one challenge trail. Most of the teams are taking the opportunity to rest themselves and get in some much needed R&R before pushing for the finish line on Day 4 (Friday).
Day 2 Breakdown Report:
Team 20 – Father Daughter Team– Broken fan clutch on the 1987 110 MOD
Team 6 – all of Overland Survival Coalition’s vehicles took damage on the gulch! The drivers side rear taillight seemed particularly vulnerable.
Sounds like a lot of carnage…more than my liking anyways..
It wasn’t too bad, plenty of teams got by without damage it came down to the luck of the draw.