78calico
20 Sep 09, 07:55 pm
After the meeting everyone met at my place and we headed out to find some mud. I started out riding with Marty. Just after the trailhead we stopped briefly to crush an abandonded burnt out car and then continued on toward the "good spot".
The trail was muddy and covered with a foot or so of water as it sometimes is. It also is getting more interesting to run with all the big erosion holes opening up from all the water. As we were coming up on the first of these holes I had a good view of it from the passenger seat and mentioned to Marty that it was a tire sized hole. A second later it was confirmed that it was indeed tire sized as it swallowed the front of the jeep and put the rear drivers tire in the air. After some pictures were taken, Marty easily backed out and with some spotting, straddled (just barely)the hole making short work of it.
Next came 88XJ and after a little concern over whether he had enough track width with stock tires, he traversed it like an expert. After that, Zmonster pulled his big Dodge into the hole intentionally to see if he could conquer it. We realized how big the hole was when it swallowed his 39" tire and his front bumper was sitting on the ground. He too had to back out and straddle it.
When we finally made it to the good spot Chris and Mel went ahead to test the waters with the Dodge followed by 88XJ and then Marty and me in the YJ. Chris stopped when he made it to the crossroad and waited but we didn't get very far before 88XJ hit the wall with his stock rig. The mud was just to deep for an XJ with no lift and stock tires. At this point we hooked up the tow strap and Marty pulled him backwards out of the goo.
We decided to turn around and hit some other trails wit a little less mud so we headed off toward the river.
It took a little careful manuevering to get the stock rig over the barrier without damage, but it went none the less. He is going to be stoked when he gets his lift installed.
At some point I got confused in the dark and we went down a different trail.(the one from last winter) When we got to the slough that stopped Mini-Me last winter and I realized where we were, we almost turned around. The trail was deeply rutted and the slough looked impassable. Marty gave it a shot, and after not making it straight on, he took an extremely muddy bypass and was just able to avoid getting high centered by sqeezing tight up against a tree while 3/4 of his left tire hung over a 3 foot deep hole. After a little excitement Chris made it across as well. At this point I jumped in the big truck with Chris and Mel While 88XJ and his wife parked their Jeep and rode with Marty. The rest of the trail was great. Lots of mud and deep ruts with sections where you had to drive way off camber.
Eventually we crossed the pipline and came to the spot where Shane stamped the bank with the side of his Sami in March. If we continued on we would end up back at the "good spot" where we turned around earlier but since it was after midnight we decided to double back down the pipeline and pick up the jeep so we could head home.
I didn't have my camera so I'll leave it up to the others to post up the visuals.
The trail was muddy and covered with a foot or so of water as it sometimes is. It also is getting more interesting to run with all the big erosion holes opening up from all the water. As we were coming up on the first of these holes I had a good view of it from the passenger seat and mentioned to Marty that it was a tire sized hole. A second later it was confirmed that it was indeed tire sized as it swallowed the front of the jeep and put the rear drivers tire in the air. After some pictures were taken, Marty easily backed out and with some spotting, straddled (just barely)the hole making short work of it.
Next came 88XJ and after a little concern over whether he had enough track width with stock tires, he traversed it like an expert. After that, Zmonster pulled his big Dodge into the hole intentionally to see if he could conquer it. We realized how big the hole was when it swallowed his 39" tire and his front bumper was sitting on the ground. He too had to back out and straddle it.
When we finally made it to the good spot Chris and Mel went ahead to test the waters with the Dodge followed by 88XJ and then Marty and me in the YJ. Chris stopped when he made it to the crossroad and waited but we didn't get very far before 88XJ hit the wall with his stock rig. The mud was just to deep for an XJ with no lift and stock tires. At this point we hooked up the tow strap and Marty pulled him backwards out of the goo.
We decided to turn around and hit some other trails wit a little less mud so we headed off toward the river.
It took a little careful manuevering to get the stock rig over the barrier without damage, but it went none the less. He is going to be stoked when he gets his lift installed.
At some point I got confused in the dark and we went down a different trail.(the one from last winter) When we got to the slough that stopped Mini-Me last winter and I realized where we were, we almost turned around. The trail was deeply rutted and the slough looked impassable. Marty gave it a shot, and after not making it straight on, he took an extremely muddy bypass and was just able to avoid getting high centered by sqeezing tight up against a tree while 3/4 of his left tire hung over a 3 foot deep hole. After a little excitement Chris made it across as well. At this point I jumped in the big truck with Chris and Mel While 88XJ and his wife parked their Jeep and rode with Marty. The rest of the trail was great. Lots of mud and deep ruts with sections where you had to drive way off camber.
Eventually we crossed the pipline and came to the spot where Shane stamped the bank with the side of his Sami in March. If we continued on we would end up back at the "good spot" where we turned around earlier but since it was after midnight we decided to double back down the pipeline and pick up the jeep so we could head home.
I didn't have my camera so I'll leave it up to the others to post up the visuals.