At our club meeting last Tuesday, Evan had told us about this trail he got his sprung over 55 buried in last weekend. Between that, and hearing about John, Dave and Art's adventure with tufftorq and Phil, our appetites were definitely whetted.
13 hardy souls showed up at the McDonalds parking lot in Castaic at 9am this morning to see if there was any snow left in Angeles. The answer: DEFINITELY!

We initially split into two groups, as about half the guys wanted to take on a mud hill on the way to the snow run, while the rest wanted to get into the high country as quick as possible. With this storm being called a pinapple express, we could just envision our precious white gold melting away every minute we delayed. WRONG.

We regrouped at Templin Highway and proceeded up the old ridge route a couple of miles on wet single-lane blacktop until we came to a rock and mudslide that completely covered the road. Thats when everyone started grinning! :D One guy with a newish j--p something [I can't keep em straight] initially pulled off to the side, but I guess eventually was persuaded to give it a go and got further up the trail with the rest of us. We got split up again, and I eventually heard that Ross Kuzma had managed to hydrolock his motor going thru a big ass pond in the middle of the road that we had all gone around! :eek: Well they pulled his spark plugs out [he said water came out pretty heavy from two of the cylinders] and got him back on the road.

In the meantime we found some deep-ass snow, deep enough that we all pretty much reached concensus on turning around simultaneously. At that point, we were breaking thru 14-16" of powder and cutting another 6-10" of ruts in the fast-moving runnoff. Pretty much everyones axles looked like this:

I'd have to check with someone else that knows the area better on the exact elevation, but I'd guess we were in over our heads at 4000', with ambient air temp of 40 and wind gusts at 40mph. Still, the trip was anything but dull.

We stopped to let a small group of j--ps pass us coming down, and our fearless leader Phil Alland pointed out to one of the cherokee guys that his left front tire had run off the bead. The hapless guy hadn't even noticed!
Evan juiced him up with a little CO2, only to discover that a 1" gash in the sidewall had precipitated the flat. So then Evan, bon homme that he is, helped the guy change his tire.

A toy mini and bronco came up on us, with a stink! Seems the bronco was spilling gas faster than he could use it! They stopped to tinker with it, and caught up again as we were deciding to turn around. The mini made about 30 feet of progress over a 5 minute period. Then we got bored of watching and left.

Another group of 4 hardy souls from the Ventura area passed us as we were coming down to our play area. A great snowball fight ensued after the group photo, and once everyone was soaked pretty much clean thru, we headed back down. Three of the newer jeeps had all turned back before our final assent, and the mud/rockslide was pretty much smoothed out by the time we went back thru.

One more for the road:

Did you make it up to the camp site? We are heading that way tomorrow.
Should be fun.
Danny

I'd have to check with someone else that knows the area better on the exact elevation, but I'd guess we were in over our heads at 4000', with ambient air temp of 40 and wind gusts at 40mph. Still, the trip was anything but dull.

We stopped to let a small group of j--ps pass us coming down, and our fearless leader Phil Alland pointed out to one of the cherokee guys that his left front tire had run off the bead. The hapless guy hadn't even noticed!
Evan juiced him up with a little CO2, only to discover that a 1" gash in the sidewall had precipitated the flat. So then Evan, bon homme that he is, helped the guy change his tire.

A toy mini and bronco came up on us, with a stink! Seems the bronco was spilling gas faster than he could use it! They stopped to tinker with it, and caught up again as we were deciding to turn around. The mini made about 30 feet of progress over a 5 minute period. Then we got bored of watching and left.

Another group of 4 hardy souls from the Ventura area passed us as we were coming down to our play area. A great snowball fight ensued after the group photo, and once everyone was soaked pretty much clean thru, we headed back down. Three of the newer jeeps had all turned back before our final assent, and the mud/rockslide was pretty much smoothed out by the time we went back thru.

One more for the road:

Did you make it up to the camp site? We are heading that way tomorrow.
Should be fun.
Danny

No. From what they tell me, the sawmill campsite was still 10 miles further up the road.

Good luck.

No. From what they tell me, the sawmill campsite was still 10 miles further up the road.

Good luck.
A rig in our group is a Willys truck on a one ton Ford frame running 44's. Thinking he'll be the front man :D
Danny

Good to see you all on the trail and glad to see you all made it home. Looks like you may have made it a little further than we did. How did you all like the wind and horizontal flying ice crystals? Appreciate your help on the Cherokees flat tire. Good to see there are still some good ol folks on the trail helpin others. :smokin:

We went back to Flyin J only to see the road closed except to residents so homeward bound we were.


Joe
Cherokee without the flat. :)

Joe
Cherokee without the flat. :)

That would be the one with the audi spare tire on the roof rack? :confused:

That would be the one with the audi spare tire on the roof rack? :confused:


Yep, Yep, only one that will fit in the garage until I finish the full size mount. Beter than Nutin' but I am sure folks will have fun with it. I usually share a spare with a trial buddy and have not had the PC let me down yet. :cool2:
Either way just dropped in to say thanks.

Sounds like you guys had a challenging time with the cold winds comparred to Big Bear's trip. Looks like Mother Nature should bring ALOT more white stuff for next weekend. Simon say's my tank and cage modification will be ready by Monday or Tuesday...Is there another snow trip planned? :)

Just got back from the hill. Lot of stuck people and tires popping off beads. Never even got to the top :laughing:
Man, there is some muck up there now! Half the hillsides are in the road.
Still had fun.
Danny

Mark, I think I’m to Big Bear this weekend. Call Art maybe we can hook up. I promise nothing like New Years Day. We’ll keep the winching to a minimum. Post some of the pic’s that Phil took and get your heater fixed. John

Snow level up there dropped much lower last night. So the icy decents are back. It will drop below 20 degrees tonight, so have fun in the ice.