It's October, and FINALLY our trails start to get a little interesting.

Loaded up and towed my junk 100 miles south and a little east to the area of Ennis, MT to go play. Only problem on the tow down was a plugged fuel filter at about the 60-70 mile mark which hurt speed the rest of the way... My Scout donated it's fuel filter for the return trip.

McKelvey lake is one of the more difficult trails in that area and we headed down hoping to play on some rocks n' such. We were also blessed with some ICE which makes a difficult spot a lot more fun.. though still short of extreme.

This was a joint run with the Bozeman Mountaineers club so we got to see some friends we hadn't seen for a while.

Aside from a few rocky sections and some narrow bridges, the end of the trail was the most fun (and highest, so most ice).

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I broke the pass front turn signal lens the night before, when I was quickly sawzalling the bottom of the lower valance off. Stupid thing was vibrating like mad and shook the other turn signal housing out of the body, and I lost part of the grille from all of the vibration, too.

On the trail I determined I still need to remove more of the rockers.. still rubs.

I was denied the larger rock.. I thought it was that shackle-forward spring hitting, but from the picture, I wonder if it wasn't the front axle or SUA spring plates taking the hit.

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This 4Runner is going around the section I was trying to go over..

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This Toylet is a Mountaineer rig.. it rolled over anything it wanted to...

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And, finally, the view from the top...

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Yes, we DO live in God's Country.


More Pictures from McKelvey (http://www.m4x4a.org/modules.php?set_albumName=album64&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php&page=1)

sweet pic's.. we went playing in the mtns to, but its not that cold around here yet.. no snow where we were.. it was almost 60 degrees sun afternoon..

Looks like a lot of fun Tom, Gee I miss Montana!

You guys have snow and ice and we have fire restrictions. That looks beautiful up there.

Wish I was there.... :(

I love the picture from the top Tom! If you'd gotten your Scout in there instead of the Bronco and the 4-runner, that would make a great desktop background!

Tom,

Are there any great trails up your way? Maybe something crossing the divide? I'm thinking a Scout "rock crawling" rendezvous in Montana would be spectacular.

Originally posted by Mike Elrod
You guys have snow and ice and we have fire restrictions. That looks beautiful up there.

No shit... And I spent last weekend at the beach, teaching my 9 year old how to body surf!

Originally posted by Sully
I love the picture from the top Tom! If you'd gotten your Scout in there instead of the Bronco and the 4-runner, that would make a great desktop background!

Yeah, I guess I wasn't paying attention when Michelle took that picture.

I was right behind the Bronco, too. D'oh.

I guess I'll have to take tomorrow off and go back up and get a better picture. :-)

Too bad I already unloaded the Scout and put the trailer away.. even put air back in the tires. :D

Originally posted by Hammerlock
Tom,

Are there any great trails up your way? Maybe something crossing the divide? I'm thinking a Scout "rock crawling" rendezvous in Montana would be spectacular.

Well, I think this was one of the more difficult trails we have - summer time, anyhow. There's another good one over by Deer Lodge that was a lot of fun (back when I was on 33s..)

But I haven't encountered too many "big rock" trails. Most of our fun is in the winter.

The SoCal guys take their rigs apart in the winter.. ours go on blocks in the summer. Winter is prime wheelin' time!

Summer trail riding is ho-hum.. so we go racing instead.

McKelvey lake was, IIRC, the "most difficult" trail used during the Montana 4x4 Divide Ride this past summer.

We had a little meeting with the Mountaineers during the trail ride to talk about whether or not Helena will host a Divide Ride trail "jamboree" this summer or not.. and we just decided to pass, and we'll plan on one for '04.

So if you want to come up and run my local trails for 3 days.. plan on probably late July 2004.. a week or two weeks after RMIHR.

It won't be a Scout-thing, but we could make it into one. :D

We just don't have good rocky trails in this part of the so-called Rocky Mountains. :D

At least, none that the Greens have left open. :(

BRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by Curtis
BRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

:D It was actually better than I expected.

We knew it was going to turn cold on Saturday, so we were dressed for it.. still didn't like seeing snow on the 2wd tow rig that morning though. Did I mention the heater blower doesn't work? Just forced-air from the cowl... since it's a 2wd truck and I don't drive it in the winter, it hasn't really been a priority... :D

You can see snow on the tailgate of the orange Bronco when we're meeting in the County Market Parking lot that morning.

But by the time we hit the trail it was actually pretty darn nice. If it hadn't been for the wind, it would've been a perfect day to go wheelin'.

Did get a little chilly up near the top, where we started seeing more ice on the trail.

Maybe now everyone can begin to understand why I haven't bothered to bob my rig.. a top is important. This was a NICE day wheelin' in Montana.

I have pics from another run a few years back.. I'm wearing long-johns, jeans, my Carhartt Acrtic Bibs, AND my heavy coat, baseball cap, and wool hat over that, along with ear-muffs.

We don't usually go out when it's below -20F.. but we have gone out when the temps are between 0 and -20. :D

Damn cold. And then the wind blows.

beautiful!!!!

Did get a little chilly up near the top, where we started seeing more ice on the trail. Maybe now everyone can begin to understand why I haven't bothered to bob my rig.. a top is important. This was a NICE day wheelin' in Montana.



Get a half cab! Half the space to heat and keep heated. It is already hitting the 20's around her at night so winter isn't far off. I just got a rear snap in vinyl window for my hack job and it works sweet!!!!

For the Kali-for-knee-anns:
Yes you read correctly 20's does not make it winter all by it self. That's just fall! Now 20 below - that's winter!

Originally posted by Hammerlock
Wish I was there.... :(

Ditto that, with an elk tag in my pocket :)


TEX

Originally posted by TEX


Ditto that, with an elk tag in my pocket :)


TEX

Deer n' Elk season opens in 1.5 weeks on the 27th - at least, if you hunt with a gun. Bow season's been going on for a while, along with rifle Moose, Bear, and other things.

That's why we had to get this run in NOW and not in 2 weeks.

Most of us will be taking a hiatus from organized wheelin' and use our rigs to drag game home. :D

Note that we DID bring the big Orange Bronco along to make sure we didn't get shot at.. ;)

Say, Tex, got any pictures of a Teal SSII running the mud a week ago to share?...

Originally posted by tsm1mt
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Nice.

I knew there was a reason why I chose Montana as my second choice for the Free State Project.

It's only missing one thing.

NQS