Post by xjchic on Dec 3, 2004 16:38:38 GMT -5
Ok, so we didn't camp out, but we helped with a trail on Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday, we were assigned to Gold Bar Rim. I brought my Cherokee, and David (Greenjeep) was able to bring the Commando, which he didn't get back from the shop until about 6:30 the night before.
The day started out cold and rainy, and it was rainy off and on through the day. We ended up getting quite a bit of snow on the mountains. David did NOT appreciate the rain in the open-top Jeepster.
We had a fairly small group. There were 4 registered, but only three showed up, then there was the trail leader, and Dave and I, who were helping. Our leader, Glenn, had a stock Suzuki, dubbed "The Jeeplet", which was locked in the rear. We had a Liberty with a 2" lift, a Cruiser with some fairly stiff springs, with maybe 4" of flex, and running 33" tires, and a full-size Bronco with locked front and rear, also with 33's. Then of course there was Dave with his big-bad Commando, and then me, who happened to be the only woman driver that day.
Overall, things went well, except shortly after our leader nose-dived off the waterfall, he noticed that his fan belt was extremely thin, on the verge of completely breaking. So he parked the Zuki off to the side of the trail and jumped in with the Bronco. The rest of the way up to the overlook was fine, and we even ran into wayne.j and his family.
We had lunch at the overlook. On the way back, shortly after lunch, we stopped at a ledge right were Golden Spike comes into Gold Bar, and my brother-in-law, who was riding with me, made it his mission to get one of my tires way off the ground for a dramatic picture. So they had me in this great spot for a 3-wheel picture, but no matter how hard everyone tried, they couldn't get any of my tires off the ground. "Too much flex", they said.
The rest of the trip back to the waterfall was uneventful. Glenn picked up the Jeeplet and drove it up the waterfall and parked it. The Bronco made it up just fine and then didn't look where he was going when he got to the top and fell into a little ledge and had to get yanked out by a passing buggy. I took the Cherokee up the steepest part and made it up great. The Cruiser went behind me and needed a little coaxing (he was a little under-confident but brave), but he made it up just fine, in two tries. He was so proud of himself, especially because he was so convinced that he would need a strap up. The Liberty needed to take the easier route and did great, and of course the Commando did fine.
We decided instead of going straight home, we would go up to the overlook of Bull Canyon. By this time it was raining pretty steadily, and getting cold. It was definitley worth the extra trip, but by the time we reached the highway at the end of the day, it was 6:30, and we were ready to go home.
Saturday morning waiting to leave
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Our fearless leader stuck on the waterfall; also the Liberty and me
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Right before lunch, where we met Wayne
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The overlook, where we stopped for lunch
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This is where I was trying really hard to get a tire off the ground
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and later, going up the waterfall, greenjeep and our brave Cruiser
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David freezing his fingers off on the way to Bull Canyon overlook
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Bull Canyon
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Sunday, we were assigned to Flat Iron Mesa. The day was much warmer with no clouds in the sky. Our leader was Rob, who drove a lifted/locked Wrangler. The group was a bit larger than the previous day. 11 vehicles, so I can't remember much about all the rigs. They were all Jeeps, mainly CJs, TJs, and YJs. We also had a Scrambler.
5 of the vehicles had driven all the way from Florida.
I was the only XJ, AND the only vehicle without lockers.
Many of the other drivers were surprised that I was going to take on the trail with open differentials, and they were wondering if I would make it through a more difficult trail without any problems. With quite a few more steep ledges, and several sharp turns, Flat Iron proved to be quite a bit more of a challenge, and my Cherokee proved to be up for it.
Starting off immediately with obstacles, we knew it would be a grueling day. After several ledges and steep climbs, including Rubble Hill and a steep slickrock ascent, we stopped for a bit and got to know each other a little. After about 15 minutes or so, we started off and climed our way to the first big obstacle, Tilt-a-Whirl. Once again, my brother-in-law decided he wanted to try to get one of my tires off the ground. He and Rob spotted me down where I was finally able to lift a tire about 2 feet before it settled back down to about 2" off the ground. He missed the picture. Overall everyone made it down just fine, and we drove up to the Hatch Wash Overlook, where we stopped for lunch.
David had noticed earlier that the differential fluid was leaking out onto his rear passenger-side rim, coming from where the axle shaft bolted on. Come to find out, 3 of the six bolts holding the axle shaft to the axle were completely broken, but it didn't happen on the trail. For some reason the shop reinstalled the already-broken bolts, intstead of replacing them with new ones. Luckily someone had a cordless drill and an easy-out set, and was able to remove one of the broken bolts, and replace it, and then they siliconed it throughly. Luckily it held for the rest of the trip, with only minimal leaking.
After lunch, and a few more ledges, we made it to Easter Egg Hill, the second big obstacle of the trail. Not as challenging as Tilt-a-Whirl, the hardest part was maneuvering down through a narrow shelf, and avoiding body damage. Everyone did fine.
Silly me, thinking the hardest parts of the trail were behind us. Immediately after Easter Egg is a nice little narrow ledge you get to drive on where your passenger-side tires are only a few inches from the edge (because there's a nice boulder directly on your left, giving you no room to scooch over) of a sheer cliff overlooking Coyote Canyon. Not only do you get to cross this, you get to tip toward the edge and see what a nice drop it would be if you rolled off.
Me and deep canyon edges don't get along. Also, it's definitely harder coming around this rock with a longer wheel-base vehicle. The only reason I had to smile immediately after that was the fact that the other woman driver had to get out of her very well-built Rubicon and let her husband drive that part for her. I was the only chick to drive across that. At least I can say I did it.
We made it back to the paved road by 3. Other than hitting my hitch several times, and even my t-case skid plate pretty hard once (right after Tilt-a-Whirl), I did just fine and I can say I shocked several people. I learned it's all about having confidence in your vehicle and in your own driving ability.
So that was our weekend, and we had a blast. Now we're looking forward to Safari, where we can help on more trails.
Happy wheeling!
Flat Iron Mesa-Sunday
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Tilt-a-Whirl
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Easter Egg Hill
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Dave's poor Commando
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That @#!* ledge!
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Saturday, we were assigned to Gold Bar Rim. I brought my Cherokee, and David (Greenjeep) was able to bring the Commando, which he didn't get back from the shop until about 6:30 the night before.
The day started out cold and rainy, and it was rainy off and on through the day. We ended up getting quite a bit of snow on the mountains. David did NOT appreciate the rain in the open-top Jeepster.
We had a fairly small group. There were 4 registered, but only three showed up, then there was the trail leader, and Dave and I, who were helping. Our leader, Glenn, had a stock Suzuki, dubbed "The Jeeplet", which was locked in the rear. We had a Liberty with a 2" lift, a Cruiser with some fairly stiff springs, with maybe 4" of flex, and running 33" tires, and a full-size Bronco with locked front and rear, also with 33's. Then of course there was Dave with his big-bad Commando, and then me, who happened to be the only woman driver that day.
Overall, things went well, except shortly after our leader nose-dived off the waterfall, he noticed that his fan belt was extremely thin, on the verge of completely breaking. So he parked the Zuki off to the side of the trail and jumped in with the Bronco. The rest of the way up to the overlook was fine, and we even ran into wayne.j and his family.
We had lunch at the overlook. On the way back, shortly after lunch, we stopped at a ledge right were Golden Spike comes into Gold Bar, and my brother-in-law, who was riding with me, made it his mission to get one of my tires way off the ground for a dramatic picture. So they had me in this great spot for a 3-wheel picture, but no matter how hard everyone tried, they couldn't get any of my tires off the ground. "Too much flex", they said.
The rest of the trip back to the waterfall was uneventful. Glenn picked up the Jeeplet and drove it up the waterfall and parked it. The Bronco made it up just fine and then didn't look where he was going when he got to the top and fell into a little ledge and had to get yanked out by a passing buggy. I took the Cherokee up the steepest part and made it up great. The Cruiser went behind me and needed a little coaxing (he was a little under-confident but brave), but he made it up just fine, in two tries. He was so proud of himself, especially because he was so convinced that he would need a strap up. The Liberty needed to take the easier route and did great, and of course the Commando did fine.
We decided instead of going straight home, we would go up to the overlook of Bull Canyon. By this time it was raining pretty steadily, and getting cold. It was definitley worth the extra trip, but by the time we reached the highway at the end of the day, it was 6:30, and we were ready to go home.
Saturday morning waiting to leave
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Our fearless leader stuck on the waterfall; also the Liberty and me
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Right before lunch, where we met Wayne
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The overlook, where we stopped for lunch
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This is where I was trying really hard to get a tire off the ground
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and later, going up the waterfall, greenjeep and our brave Cruiser
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David freezing his fingers off on the way to Bull Canyon overlook
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Bull Canyon
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Sunday, we were assigned to Flat Iron Mesa. The day was much warmer with no clouds in the sky. Our leader was Rob, who drove a lifted/locked Wrangler. The group was a bit larger than the previous day. 11 vehicles, so I can't remember much about all the rigs. They were all Jeeps, mainly CJs, TJs, and YJs. We also had a Scrambler.
5 of the vehicles had driven all the way from Florida.
I was the only XJ, AND the only vehicle without lockers.
Many of the other drivers were surprised that I was going to take on the trail with open differentials, and they were wondering if I would make it through a more difficult trail without any problems. With quite a few more steep ledges, and several sharp turns, Flat Iron proved to be quite a bit more of a challenge, and my Cherokee proved to be up for it.
Starting off immediately with obstacles, we knew it would be a grueling day. After several ledges and steep climbs, including Rubble Hill and a steep slickrock ascent, we stopped for a bit and got to know each other a little. After about 15 minutes or so, we started off and climed our way to the first big obstacle, Tilt-a-Whirl. Once again, my brother-in-law decided he wanted to try to get one of my tires off the ground. He and Rob spotted me down where I was finally able to lift a tire about 2 feet before it settled back down to about 2" off the ground. He missed the picture. Overall everyone made it down just fine, and we drove up to the Hatch Wash Overlook, where we stopped for lunch.
David had noticed earlier that the differential fluid was leaking out onto his rear passenger-side rim, coming from where the axle shaft bolted on. Come to find out, 3 of the six bolts holding the axle shaft to the axle were completely broken, but it didn't happen on the trail. For some reason the shop reinstalled the already-broken bolts, intstead of replacing them with new ones. Luckily someone had a cordless drill and an easy-out set, and was able to remove one of the broken bolts, and replace it, and then they siliconed it throughly. Luckily it held for the rest of the trip, with only minimal leaking.
After lunch, and a few more ledges, we made it to Easter Egg Hill, the second big obstacle of the trail. Not as challenging as Tilt-a-Whirl, the hardest part was maneuvering down through a narrow shelf, and avoiding body damage. Everyone did fine.
Silly me, thinking the hardest parts of the trail were behind us. Immediately after Easter Egg is a nice little narrow ledge you get to drive on where your passenger-side tires are only a few inches from the edge (because there's a nice boulder directly on your left, giving you no room to scooch over) of a sheer cliff overlooking Coyote Canyon. Not only do you get to cross this, you get to tip toward the edge and see what a nice drop it would be if you rolled off.
Me and deep canyon edges don't get along. Also, it's definitely harder coming around this rock with a longer wheel-base vehicle. The only reason I had to smile immediately after that was the fact that the other woman driver had to get out of her very well-built Rubicon and let her husband drive that part for her. I was the only chick to drive across that. At least I can say I did it.
We made it back to the paved road by 3. Other than hitting my hitch several times, and even my t-case skid plate pretty hard once (right after Tilt-a-Whirl), I did just fine and I can say I shocked several people. I learned it's all about having confidence in your vehicle and in your own driving ability.
So that was our weekend, and we had a blast. Now we're looking forward to Safari, where we can help on more trails.
Happy wheeling!
Flat Iron Mesa-Sunday
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Tilt-a-Whirl
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Easter Egg Hill
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Dave's poor Commando
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That @#!* ledge!
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