Peak Putters - Rimrock Camp out and Winch fest - 2009
Posted: 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!!!! It looked right uptown.
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.
The sun made a brief appearance on Saturday and we were hopefull that it would last. Here Curtis is standing by on a slick spot thinking he'd have to pull some cable but Dave made it over the hump.
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.
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.
Game was abundant on the outing. We probably saw 12-15 Deer and several Elk.
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.
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.
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!!! 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.
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.
Here's the aftermath of my rig after getting back to camp.
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.
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.
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.
We finally dropped down into the dead forrest and fog but soon drove out of it. We saw two spike bull elk in here.
We were back down to Blue Lake by 2:38 and of course had to make a snack stop and take the obligatory picture.
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.
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!!!! It looked right uptown.
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.
The sun made a brief appearance on Saturday and we were hopefull that it would last. Here Curtis is standing by on a slick spot thinking he'd have to pull some cable but Dave made it over the hump.
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.
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.
Game was abundant on the outing. We probably saw 12-15 Deer and several Elk.
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.
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.
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!!! 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.
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.
Here's the aftermath of my rig after getting back to camp.
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.
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.
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.
We finally dropped down into the dead forrest and fog but soon drove out of it. We saw two spike bull elk in here.
We were back down to Blue Lake by 2:38 and of course had to make a snack stop and take the obligatory picture.
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.