I am not sure where to put this topic but figured it is worth posting. If the mods want to move it to a better suited area please feel free to do so. As a newbie here I am still feeling my way around a bit. So this is not really a plan for a new adventure (sadly! ) but a heads up for some folks. And its already a little late in the season for this but for folks planning a trip to the NMW I figure its worth posting (learn from my mistakes....as will become clear).
So when the ice clears in the NMW the logging companies start to grade the roads to fix the winter damage. This turns up lots of sharp rocks that for a month or so will jump out and attack your tires with a vengeance.....especially at any speeds over 45 mph or so. One year on a trip to my favorite spot we found this out the hard way. Work schedules being what they were (and winter being what it was) 4 of us headed up in late May. We hit the Telos road.....2 vehicles and 3 spares between us. Unfortunately the roads we were on had just recently been graded and we were also pushing to try to get to the campsite before dark. Well three flats later we had no spares but we made it. What we didn't know was one of the remaining "good tires" was on its way out but was holding air when we arrived at the campsite. We had a great time....fished....had some great food....maybe a beverage or three. So now its time to come out.....for some reason I always seem to be packing up in the rain and so it was this trip....anywho....started out....and that last tire found another rock to tear it out completely. Now we had one vehicle with 4 good tires....another vehicle with only three....and four flats. So the one vehicle with good tires took our "best" spare to Millinocket to try to find a repair shop to fix it. That left my buddy and me on the side of the road in the rain....and not just a sprinkle so we could fish...this was a gullywasher that kept us in the truck.
Three hours later our buddies show back up. Not only are tire repair shops not all over Millinocket they especially aren't open on Sundays. And while they did finally find a guy who was able to put two plugs in it didn't completely hold air. It was enough to get us out to the auto parts store where two cans of fix-a-flat later the tire held enough air to attempt the ride home. And it did hold fortunately. But that changed things for us at the time. No more high speed runs over anything remotely resembling a recently graded road....two spares for every vehicle (mandatory)...full repair station grade repair kits (plugs and tools for Load Range E tires not the consumer grade BS) and air.
So I post this as a "you can learn from my misfortune" kind of thing. If you go early make sure you're prepared and make sure you keep speed to 35 mph or so. It will save a lot of waiting and PITA stuff later. Lord knows I have lots of things that started as a "Hey look at this...." that turned into "Well you can learn from this...." kind of moments.
So when the ice clears in the NMW the logging companies start to grade the roads to fix the winter damage. This turns up lots of sharp rocks that for a month or so will jump out and attack your tires with a vengeance.....especially at any speeds over 45 mph or so. One year on a trip to my favorite spot we found this out the hard way. Work schedules being what they were (and winter being what it was) 4 of us headed up in late May. We hit the Telos road.....2 vehicles and 3 spares between us. Unfortunately the roads we were on had just recently been graded and we were also pushing to try to get to the campsite before dark. Well three flats later we had no spares but we made it. What we didn't know was one of the remaining "good tires" was on its way out but was holding air when we arrived at the campsite. We had a great time....fished....had some great food....maybe a beverage or three. So now its time to come out.....for some reason I always seem to be packing up in the rain and so it was this trip....anywho....started out....and that last tire found another rock to tear it out completely. Now we had one vehicle with 4 good tires....another vehicle with only three....and four flats. So the one vehicle with good tires took our "best" spare to Millinocket to try to find a repair shop to fix it. That left my buddy and me on the side of the road in the rain....and not just a sprinkle so we could fish...this was a gullywasher that kept us in the truck.
Three hours later our buddies show back up. Not only are tire repair shops not all over Millinocket they especially aren't open on Sundays. And while they did finally find a guy who was able to put two plugs in it didn't completely hold air. It was enough to get us out to the auto parts store where two cans of fix-a-flat later the tire held enough air to attempt the ride home. And it did hold fortunately. But that changed things for us at the time. No more high speed runs over anything remotely resembling a recently graded road....two spares for every vehicle (mandatory)...full repair station grade repair kits (plugs and tools for Load Range E tires not the consumer grade BS) and air.
So I post this as a "you can learn from my misfortune" kind of thing. If you go early make sure you're prepared and make sure you keep speed to 35 mph or so. It will save a lot of waiting and PITA stuff later. Lord knows I have lots of things that started as a "Hey look at this...." that turned into "Well you can learn from this...." kind of moments.