Some trails live in infamy. You've seen the photos and heard the stories, but you just can't believe it could be that bad. It's all tempting and looks like fun, but you wouldn't want to actually run it. For North Easterners, Ontario's Trail 17 is just that type of trail. The trail is just 8 long miles filled with tire-swallowing, log-ridden bogs that are nearly impassable in the wet season. The Swamp Stompers 4x4 Club in Michigan knows this area well, and we went along to see if the rumors were true.
The water levels were lower this year, which made the trail a bit easier than prior runs. On the other hand, it was snowing and raining most of the day, which made things much more interesting. Between the weather and the spring runoff, it made this trip a tough one. For more information on the Swamp Stompers 4x4 Club and their trail rides visit www.swampstompers.com.
Dave Golubosky led this swampy trail for the day. He named his Jeep the Mud Shark, and rightly so. It seemed to find the nastiest pits of the day being the first through. Dave has put a lot of thought into this Jeep, and not the kind you bolt on. Everywhere you look there is something nifty, custom, or creative. The Jeep runs a 258 with Howell fuel injection that feeds the trussed AMC 20 with custom disc brakes and a Detroit. A Dana 30 with a Lock-Right pulls duty up front, and 4.10 gears and 33-inch SSRs keep it chuggin' right along.
This Jeep took the brunt of most of the mechanical failures during the day. John Murphy, president of the Swamp Stompers, also has a nice CJ-5 that the club has nicknamed Murphy's Law. The TJ powered through a lot of the trail but had to be towed after some severe grinding was heard in the brand-new front differential. After popping out a coil spring, breaking a shock mount, debeading two tires, bending a wheel, and splitting the front axletube in two, it was definitely time to start looking at changing his last name.
It's rare to see a 4x4 this old and well preserved in the rust belt. Mike Cann and his dad Mark brought out the only fullsize in the group for their first run on this trail. The '74 Bronco was right at home in the mud, and the brush didn't seem to phase the Rhino Lining paint job a bit. The 9-inch and 44 have 4.88 gears and have been spooled to keep all those 38-inch Boggers gripping.