Peak Putters - Rimrock Camp out and Winch fest - 2009

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Danny
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Peak Putters - Rimrock Camp out and Winch fest - 2009

Postby Danny » Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:03 pm

Okay Lee, guess I'll start this fandango....unless someone posts up first! Since I don't know all the roads/area's that we covered my perspective will be mainly on each day's run. I'll leave it to Curtis and Dave to fill in the trail details and more pics of course. Dave took quite a few photo's as well but Curtis' camera was a little shy this trip.

I don't think anyone took any before pictures at the snow park but to start out this report out right just let me say that it was raining! ;(

We headed out of the SP about 10 dressed in rain gear. Curtis was thinking positively because he didn't have his top or his windsheild on. It proved to be a big mistake on his part as you'll all see as the reports come in. Although we had some periods of time it didn't rain you couldn't tell it from what came off the trees.

DAY ONE

We headed for Blue Lake and on up to the Snow Cabin. It was foggy up on top. We stopped in to check it out and found that some kindly folks had cleaned it up and CARPETED IT!!!! :thu: It looked right uptown.

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As we head into the trees Curtis is beginning to wonder about the effects of not having a windshield or top. At this point it's just drizzling.

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The sun made a brief appearance on Saturday and we were hopefull that it would last. :gni Here Curtis is standing by on a slick spot thinking he'd have to pull some cable but Dave made it over the hump.

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Here's an steep down and up but because of the rock it wasn't hard to do. I think we are on 608 at this poing headed for Rimrock. The guys will straighten me out if it not.

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Lunch time was at the elk camp. We also found out that Curtis' jeep needed lunch as well. As you can see things are getting wetter.

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Game was abundant on the outing. We probably saw 12-15 Deer and several Elk.

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As we get close to Rimrock Lake the rain is really starting to pick up. At this point I'm lost and hoping that Curtis knows where he's going...and he does. Did I mention that it was a rainy wet trip.

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Here's the first night's camp. We got here about 4:30. There wasn't a place with cover left. The campground was full so since it wasn't raining we decided to think positively and set up camp. The rigs were pretty clean after the first day of running.

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DAY TWO

Day two started with what looked like no rain but we knew better. We decided to go back down the road just about to the lake and take a low trail...Curtis know's the number... and take it up and back to camp. Others that had run it the day before said to be ready for plenty mud but there were bypasses for the really tough spots....they lied!!! :diable We ended up in the worst mud fest, winch pullin even Curtis and Dave can remember. I didn't get too many pictures of this day. I know Dave got a few. Hopefully he got some good ones. Here goes.

Dave started out okay on this mud hole but ended up having to pull cable.

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Somewhere along here in one of these mud holes I heard something snap up front and from that time on I was running with three wheels. It didn't make much difference though because when we got to a place that was too slick, it was too slick for all of us....for the most part anyway.

After a few hills that were two slick to make and much cable pulling I finally got to a spot where I could take a few pictures of Curtis and Dave getting winched up a hill. Even though it doesn't look too hard the rain of the past few days had made it impossible to climb. This hill was the second within a few feet of each other that were so steep or had a sharp turn in then that we had to do a double winch set up with straps on two different trees. We'd get the rigs to a point where they could old on the hill and then swap the cable to another strap for the final pull. This trail wasn't that long but it ended up taking us something like 6 or 7 hours to complete.

Note the sticky mud on the tires. Every step we took we grew a couple of inches.

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Here's the aftermath of my rig after getting back to camp.

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Things were pretty wet back in camp. Most of the campers had cut it short. The yota's that were in camp had broken everything they had on their rigs at least once and were leaving. We had covered some of the same trail we had and were still running....too much skinny peddle...not enough grey matter. :fuite

So we took the opportunity to move our camp....to a spot under some trees that were kinda dry. We built a big fire and settled in to dry. It paid off since it rain hard during the night.

I took the opportunity under a dry tree to pull my actuator off and check it and then the dif cover. Everything seemed to be working just fine so buttened it up and will have a look see at it at home.

DAY THREE

Day three dawns with some signs of clearing and it turns out to be a good day to wheel. The decision was made to back down and start at the low road we were on yesterday but turn off before we got to the mud part and head up over the top. After some slick spots and tight trails we came out over a lookout with Rimrock Lake below us. It was hard to belive we had come that far in just a couple of hours.

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As the day got better so did the traveling. We did run into some off camber stuff that my three wheels had trouble with and I found myself having to winch several times. I did learn a good lesson in all this....never tie your strap to a dead tree, no matter how solid it looks. :oops:

We finally dropped down into the dead forrest and fog but soon drove out of it. We saw two spike bull elk in here.

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We were back down to Blue Lake by 2:38 and of course had to make a snack stop and take the obligatory picture.

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The trip ended on a great sunny note; a wonderful ending to a wonderful trip. We back at the SP by 4. I'm already planning and packing for next years trip.
Forget your age and live your life!

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iaccocca
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Postby iaccocca » Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:33 pm

Nice report and thanks for posting up. I had my own adventures this weekend (I didn’t see snow in your pics), but I still like to live vicariously through you crazy wheelers.
Okay, we're a little crazy to have a Duramax for a daily driver. But if we go off our meds, we might wind up in a Prius.
If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.
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Danny
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Postby Danny » Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:18 am

Ahhh Lee, but there was snow. I took this picture Monday on our way back to the snow park. If you look carefully at the mountains in the background, in the center of the picture you WILL see snow, just below the clouds there was fresh snow.

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Forget your age and live your life!

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iaccocca
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Postby iaccocca » Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:27 am

...and if you look real close you will see my Jeep. No, wait, I was in different mountains.
Okay, we're a little crazy to have a Duramax for a daily driver. But if we go off our meds, we might wind up in a Prius.
If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.
N7EEL WROD249
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Phantom 309
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Postby Phantom 309 » Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:30 pm

That kinda weather may make for uncomfortable wheeling, but it makes for great pics!

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Postby OldGreen » Thu Sep 10, 2009 2:11 pm

I loves it!!! I need to work on my Jeep!!!!

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commando14
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Postby commando14 » Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:26 pm

Great pics Danny. It was a great weekend! I was hoping for a little rain to keep the dust down but I never thought it would rain as much as it did. I was glad I decided to leave the passenger door on!

Day 1

Here's the inside of the cabin, it was carpeted and fixed up a bit since the last time we were there. Someone must have fixed it up for hunting season.

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Shortly after dropping down into the Rimrock side we reach this little side hill.. it's a little spooky feeling when it's dry so I was wondering how it would be in the mud. Curtis takes off across it and quickly starts to slide down. :shock: Danny and I go straight down and back up avoiding the side hill.

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We stopped for lunch at the old elk camp.


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Our custom fire pit, complete with soggy gloves :wink:

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Day 2

In the morning our plan was to hit some of the lower trails for a bit, then come back to camp and eat lunch before packing camp and heading for the upper trails. Well we got on the trail and the rain really started coming down, it didn't take long to break out the winches.

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Danny got some momentum up and slide across the high side of the mud hole.

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Oooops! I didn't get high enough and my rear end slid down into the mud hole.. was close to going over. Tried backing up but it was getting a little tippy so out came the winch line.

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Hard to tell by the pics but this was a slick downhill spot, you can see Curtis and Danny getting a little sideways as they slid down.

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If you look closely at the log next to Curtis jeep you can see some marks on it. Turns out the day before one of the guys camped next to us in a Ranger tried going down this hill with no winch and slid into that log bending his frame and smashing up his rig.

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We've been winching pretty solid for at least a few hours now and we start to hear some rigs behind us. We could hear them giving it hell and wrapping up the RPM's... then we hear them on the radio, someone broke. They must have turned around because we didn't hear them anymore.


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When we finally got back to camp most of the Toyota guys were packing up their stuff and getting ready to head out since all of their rigs were broke. We moved our tents under the big trees and setup another custom fire pit.


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Day 3

Danny started having issues with his front end the day before, only getting power to the drivers side. In the morning he pulled the cover off the diff to check things out... it wasn't a broken axle so he stuck the cover and would have to run in three wheel drive.

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We stopped at Blue Lake on our way back out for a snack. Finally no rain and the sun is out!

This was by far the muddiest, slickest, and most winching I can remember on a run, but it was a blast! Already looking forward to next year.

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iaccocca
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Postby iaccocca » Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:37 pm

Thanks for posting up David. You and Danny really bring the pics. I find myself reaching for my raingear when I read your guys' write-ups. :shock:
Okay, we're a little crazy to have a Duramax for a daily driver. But if we go off our meds, we might wind up in a Prius.
If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.
N7EEL WROD249
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Postby OldGreen » Fri Sep 11, 2009 9:59 am

OK, the more I look at this thread, the more jealous I get. Those are the EXACT conditions that I built my Jeep for. Yes, that includes the winch!!! Man that looks fun!!!!

Me and my tail between my legs are going out to work on my Jeep now.

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Phantom 309
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Postby Phantom 309 » Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:34 pm

Sweeet pics! That elk camp is the one outside of Blue Lake toward Centerstock, isn't it? If so, which way did you go after that on your way down to Sleepy Park?

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oddball
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Postby oddball » Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:45 am

Here's a run down of the trails we took.

SATURDAY: We left from the Ahtanum snow park going to Blue Lake, Blue lake on Divide Ride West (615) to Short and Dirty (637), Donnicker Pass (636) to Blue Slide (621) ending up back at Blue Lake. Blue Lake to Rocky Slide (638) To Memorial meadow(640). We followed Memorial Meadow down to the final desent where the water runoff bars start. After walking part of the hill we turned around and ran back up Memorial Meadow, made our way over to Butcher Knife (642). Down Butcher Knife to gravel and paved roads over to Sleepy Meadow.

SUNDAY: The very bottom end of Louie Way (608) to Pickle Prairie (609)coming out at Sleepy Meadow.

MONDAY: Pickle Praire (609) to Louie Way (608), Divide Ride East (613) to Divide Ride West (615), back to Blue Lake. Blue Lake to the Ahtanum snow park.

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White trash
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Postby White trash » Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:25 am

Looks like a real good time. Not so sure I woulda fit all that well on a couple of those trails. :lol:

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Beep Beep
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Postby Beep Beep » Sat Sep 12, 2009 7:41 am

Looks like a fun time. Great pictures.

Can I get someone to post pictures on the PNW4WDA forum under "Wheeling reports and pics pics, pics, pics" please?

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Jim Putman
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Postby Jim Putman » Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:14 pm

Great report and pics :D Hey Clay these reports are almost as good as yours :wink:

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Postby Beep Beep » Tue Sep 15, 2009 10:26 am

Jim Putman wrote:Great report and pics :D Hey Clay these reports are almost as good as yours :wink:
They are better. The Peak Putters have more adventure on their runs.


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