Hooper
11-10-2003, 10:28 AM
My Brother in Law did not make it out Saturday. Evidently, he had a sore throat. So, it was Rick and I, with Brian riding shotgun, and one of my Boy Scouts along for the ride.
Thought I would start with a couple carnage pics, to whet everyone's appetite. I know it is only sheet metal carnage, but Rick's rig is too beefy to break drivetrain parts, and my tires are too small to break mine...
http://ftp.vandermeerfp.com.xohost.com/Wheeling/Trails/Nov2003/ReiderNov03/IM00017111.JPG
http://ftp.vandermeerfp.com.xohost.com/Wheeling/Trails/Nov2003/ReiderNov03/IM00016111.JPG
http://ftp.vandermeerfp.com.xohost.com/Wheeling/Trails/Nov2003/ReiderNov03/IM00014911.JPG
No carnage in this one, just Rick making it look easy...
http://ftp.vandermeerfp.com.xohost.com/Wheeling/Trails/Nov2003/ReiderNov03/IM00015211.JPG
We had a great time anyway, and it is probably just as well that my BIL did not make it, as I managed to put severe damage into every pc of sheet metal on my rig, except the driver fender. Somehow I missed that one. I'll have to try again next time.
For those of you who remember Kurt Hartsig's Red Bronco, mine is starting to resemble that...
Fortunately, I can take my doors off, so my door handles survived...
Pics are at
http://ftp.vandermeerfp.com.xohost.com/Wheeling/Trails/Nov2003/ReiderNov03/
We went down tree trail. It was soupy in places, but much the same as it always is. A Jeep XJ, YJ, ZJ, who knows what J, pulled in behind us, and tried to follow us through a mud hole. Truth be know, I was not sure I was going to get in and out of that hole intact, but I made it. The Jeep didn't. I had to pull him out. He was deep in the mud. He followed us through the tree trail.
We went over to the stair steps next. Having the front and rear locked up (even though they are just LR's), instead of the LS I was using in the front before, made it fun, but not terribly exciting. The Jeep couldn't get up the first step, next to the power pole. We spotted for him, but he had open diffs, and not enough articulation to keep his tires on the ground. He finally decided to go find some other place to play. We then went down poop chute, and chugged on up the power line trail. I was following Rick and he found a nice little trail to run. Turns out it was a trail called Sack. It was a fun, technical trail. Quite a few really off camber spots. One particular spot goes downhill, then to the left, so you are sidehilling, with right side tires in squishy mud. I never had fewer than 3 tires on the ground, but I made my Boy Scout get out and walk. I was not sure I wasn't going to flop, and Rick and I were already looking for trees to winch off of so he could get me back upright if I flopped. For most of the turn, there were trees and stumps to keep you from going down the hill. But, for one portion of it, the trees were just small saplings, and a flop would quickly turn into a quick roll down a steep hill.
Further along the trail, there is a large log lying perpendicular to the trail. I got the front end up on it, but when I tried to power the rear over, the front skidded sideways. Fortunately, my passenger fender was there to bounce off of. At Rick's suggestion, I put it in 2wd, and popped the gas to skid the rear sideways, lining me up better with the log, but my 33's were too small, and I hung on my frame. Rick had to tug me up and over.
A bit farther along, there was another nice mud bank that proved too tall for me, so he had to tug me out there as well. Then, one final tug, some deep ruts carved by folks with tall tires (you know who you are), I straddled the rut most of the way, but at the very end, the front slid over and into the ruts. Stuck again. Fortunately, each time, just a quick tug from Rick popped me loose, so we didn't really spend much time getting me unstuck.
After we got off that trail, we went on up the power line trail to play in the V-Notch. As has been mentioned, many tires over the dry summer had dropped a lot of dirt into it, so it was a lot shallower than it had been. But, it wasn't too hard to pick a line that still kicked the rig over quite a bit, so we got in some fun off camber driving.
It's always great to wheel with Rick. His rig is built well enough, and he has that massive winch on the front, so I know he can get me out of almost any spot he leads me into. We were suprised by how few rigs there were on the trails.
Almost forgot, we watched an XTerra and a nice Cruiser try to roll. They were coming down one of the spur roads from power line trail back onto Reider, it is the trail that we *usually* take into the power line area. Has a big stump on the right a dozen or so feet in, climbs steeply, has a bit of a ravine on the right.. The X and Cruiser were coming down that, and couldn't make the turn. When we got there, the X was nose down into the bank on the opposite side of the ravine, bull bar plowed into the ground. With a little creative rock stacking, they managed to escape. The Cruiser didn't have the turning radius to make the corner. When he realized he wasn't going to make it, he put it into reverse to get a better line. But, his rear tires spun, and he rear end slid downhill until he was sideways in the trail. He ended up going nose first into the raving also. But, he couldn't get out, so I had to give him a gentle tug on his front bumper. He finally made it out unscathed. After getting out, the Cruiser then sat at the entrance of the trail and wanted to chat with his buddies. We had to ask him to move his rig so we could head on up the trail. He looked a bit surprised that we were going up a trail that he had trouble going down, but he moved his rig. Then with Rick leading, we headed up. I think the other group did not think we were serious, as they all walked up behind us to watch...
Lots of dents. A couple pretty significant. But, the lockers did great. 33's are still kind of small. Might have to look into something a little larger before next spring though.
Too bad my BIL didn't make it though. It would have been baptism by fire, or, rather, mud!! ;)
Thought I would start with a couple carnage pics, to whet everyone's appetite. I know it is only sheet metal carnage, but Rick's rig is too beefy to break drivetrain parts, and my tires are too small to break mine...
http://ftp.vandermeerfp.com.xohost.com/Wheeling/Trails/Nov2003/ReiderNov03/IM00017111.JPG
http://ftp.vandermeerfp.com.xohost.com/Wheeling/Trails/Nov2003/ReiderNov03/IM00016111.JPG
http://ftp.vandermeerfp.com.xohost.com/Wheeling/Trails/Nov2003/ReiderNov03/IM00014911.JPG
No carnage in this one, just Rick making it look easy...
http://ftp.vandermeerfp.com.xohost.com/Wheeling/Trails/Nov2003/ReiderNov03/IM00015211.JPG
We had a great time anyway, and it is probably just as well that my BIL did not make it, as I managed to put severe damage into every pc of sheet metal on my rig, except the driver fender. Somehow I missed that one. I'll have to try again next time.
For those of you who remember Kurt Hartsig's Red Bronco, mine is starting to resemble that...
Fortunately, I can take my doors off, so my door handles survived...
Pics are at
http://ftp.vandermeerfp.com.xohost.com/Wheeling/Trails/Nov2003/ReiderNov03/
We went down tree trail. It was soupy in places, but much the same as it always is. A Jeep XJ, YJ, ZJ, who knows what J, pulled in behind us, and tried to follow us through a mud hole. Truth be know, I was not sure I was going to get in and out of that hole intact, but I made it. The Jeep didn't. I had to pull him out. He was deep in the mud. He followed us through the tree trail.
We went over to the stair steps next. Having the front and rear locked up (even though they are just LR's), instead of the LS I was using in the front before, made it fun, but not terribly exciting. The Jeep couldn't get up the first step, next to the power pole. We spotted for him, but he had open diffs, and not enough articulation to keep his tires on the ground. He finally decided to go find some other place to play. We then went down poop chute, and chugged on up the power line trail. I was following Rick and he found a nice little trail to run. Turns out it was a trail called Sack. It was a fun, technical trail. Quite a few really off camber spots. One particular spot goes downhill, then to the left, so you are sidehilling, with right side tires in squishy mud. I never had fewer than 3 tires on the ground, but I made my Boy Scout get out and walk. I was not sure I wasn't going to flop, and Rick and I were already looking for trees to winch off of so he could get me back upright if I flopped. For most of the turn, there were trees and stumps to keep you from going down the hill. But, for one portion of it, the trees were just small saplings, and a flop would quickly turn into a quick roll down a steep hill.
Further along the trail, there is a large log lying perpendicular to the trail. I got the front end up on it, but when I tried to power the rear over, the front skidded sideways. Fortunately, my passenger fender was there to bounce off of. At Rick's suggestion, I put it in 2wd, and popped the gas to skid the rear sideways, lining me up better with the log, but my 33's were too small, and I hung on my frame. Rick had to tug me up and over.
A bit farther along, there was another nice mud bank that proved too tall for me, so he had to tug me out there as well. Then, one final tug, some deep ruts carved by folks with tall tires (you know who you are), I straddled the rut most of the way, but at the very end, the front slid over and into the ruts. Stuck again. Fortunately, each time, just a quick tug from Rick popped me loose, so we didn't really spend much time getting me unstuck.
After we got off that trail, we went on up the power line trail to play in the V-Notch. As has been mentioned, many tires over the dry summer had dropped a lot of dirt into it, so it was a lot shallower than it had been. But, it wasn't too hard to pick a line that still kicked the rig over quite a bit, so we got in some fun off camber driving.
It's always great to wheel with Rick. His rig is built well enough, and he has that massive winch on the front, so I know he can get me out of almost any spot he leads me into. We were suprised by how few rigs there were on the trails.
Almost forgot, we watched an XTerra and a nice Cruiser try to roll. They were coming down one of the spur roads from power line trail back onto Reider, it is the trail that we *usually* take into the power line area. Has a big stump on the right a dozen or so feet in, climbs steeply, has a bit of a ravine on the right.. The X and Cruiser were coming down that, and couldn't make the turn. When we got there, the X was nose down into the bank on the opposite side of the ravine, bull bar plowed into the ground. With a little creative rock stacking, they managed to escape. The Cruiser didn't have the turning radius to make the corner. When he realized he wasn't going to make it, he put it into reverse to get a better line. But, his rear tires spun, and he rear end slid downhill until he was sideways in the trail. He ended up going nose first into the raving also. But, he couldn't get out, so I had to give him a gentle tug on his front bumper. He finally made it out unscathed. After getting out, the Cruiser then sat at the entrance of the trail and wanted to chat with his buddies. We had to ask him to move his rig so we could head on up the trail. He looked a bit surprised that we were going up a trail that he had trouble going down, but he moved his rig. Then with Rick leading, we headed up. I think the other group did not think we were serious, as they all walked up behind us to watch...
Lots of dents. A couple pretty significant. But, the lockers did great. 33's are still kind of small. Might have to look into something a little larger before next spring though.
Too bad my BIL didn't make it though. It would have been baptism by fire, or, rather, mud!! ;)