Peak Putters - Rimrock (July 26-28, 2013)

Pics and reports of past Rimrock runs
OldGreen
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Peak Putters - Rimrock (July 26-28, 2013)

Postby OldGreen » Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:35 pm

Big group. Good times. I will post a play by play here tomorrow, but I wanted to start the thread so the picture takers can post up!

No mechanical carnage. Quite a bit of body damage. Great food. Great people. Wonderful time.

EDIT: The rest of the story.

First off, I took no pictures. If I had, they would have looked a lot like the ones that will be posted by Mona, Dave, Steve and others. . .

Also, I got lost twice. It had been several years since I had been there, the meds hadn't kicked in, I had bacon hangover. . .insert excuse here.

Now, with that out of the way.

The Players:

Moss' x6 (whole family, Jess' boyfriend Zack, and Parker the Jeep Dawg)
Lenzke x4
Wilcox x4 + Dawg
Tim/Friend/Dog
JKLance/Miss M
Curtis w/Bro Steve in Shotty
RoyBoy with his leaf blower
Commando Dave in the 'Manche
YJ Dave and his boy
Ed (who let in a Rat?? :))
and. . .Drum Roll: a white YJ with a sleepy brown kid.

The Friday Night crew filtered in and where all accounted for by 10PM or so. Pretty sure that things wound down fairly early around the propane fire. There were no restrictions in the area, but we were sorely firewood limited so Tim's "white man fire was employed".

Bright and early Saturday morning, Ed, David, Dave, and "where did YOU come from" Jose rolled into camp to round out our 11 rig caravan.

Launch was only delayed by about 15 minutes. After a quick air down on the gravel and a "get lost tour" we were on the trail by 10:30 or so.

Cryin' Frank Hill was first on the short list of trails. For those keeping score, it is trail 651A. I was the first one up and, while I made it up in one shot (with a slight reposition at the top), I smooshed my rear quarter and lift gate in the process. Welcome to Rimrock, Enjoy your day!!

While CFH was undoubtedly FUN to watch, everyone made it up with very little drama. Heck, I'm pretty sure that David and Lance didn't even make any dust! Pretty sure that the two of them along with Marc get the "no drama" award for the hill. I will say that the deadfalls and lack of travel on this short trail did make it interesting, but we were a well prepared group of nearly a dozen. . .so it was big fun, but light on drama.

Then we regrouped and ran to the 641 Trail Head for the real trail trip. More later. I am multi-tasking at the office and have to prep for a meeting. I'll edit this thread as I go.

EDIT #2

After Frank's tears dried, we headed on up to the 641 (Leaning Tree) trail head with the help of Ed's superior nav skills. Ed, David, and Tim headed over to 601 (top side of Pucker Ridge/Ottertail/Otter Slide) and the other 8 folks headed up 641 knowing that we would eventually get back together for Lunch.

The gatekeeper proved to be no contest for the team. I think that there was a little rocker banging, but no cables were pulled in the making of this run report.

On up to the steep climbs and switchbacks in the tight trees. The climbs were loose. I'm sure that those with the appropriate switches, switched them ON to make it up. Us low budget guys were already locked up so we just kept even throttle pressure, made some dust and kept on truckin'.

One more wrong turn by yours truly and we got to see a few hundred yards of really cool tight trail before running back in to the other group. We then turned around and made our way back to the big bowl below the RimRock for lunch.

The whistle pigs tried to scare us off with their shrill calls and the gnats were thick until we frightened them away, but lunch in this setting at 12:45 with a group of 11 rigs was a major accomplishment. We tried to spot the resident mountain goats, but they were hiding in the shade on this perfect summer day (high 70s/low 80s and not a cloud in the sky).

After some bench wheelin', some chow, and letting the dogs stretch their legs, we climbed back in the wheelers with Ed leading up the crew and worked our way back to the trail. We decided to bypass "that one climb" right after lunch and instead wound around the trees to the obstacle formerly known as "the root". It has gotten prettttttty gnarly over the years. Even back then it claimed its fair share of body damage. Not so much on this fine day. . .everyone cleaned its clock. There may have been a short reposition by one or two. . .but no one took more than one run at it. Take THAT Rimrock!!!

On up to the end of leaning tree and on through the intersections we went. The group would gather at the crossroads to ensure unity, but other than that, we kept on Jeepin'. This section was TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT. While not everyone took damage, everyone rubbed on something. Those of us in the *ahem* bigger rigs may or may not have bent some sheetmetal and broke some plastic, but overall, we just kept on climbing up Humphrey Butte until we broke out on top with a FANTASTIC view of Mt. Ranier. Seriously people, that is what it is all about. When I crested the top (we were delayed a tiny bit by a JK squeeeeezing through a couple of stubborn posts, my bypass of this scene can be viewed in the video below), I was greeted with a view of Toby and Gavin posing for a photo in front of the mountain. It brought back memories. . .and then I realized that I was making memories at that moment with my own son by my side. Will, as always, is a GREAT spotter even when I'm not a great driver. Good times for sure, but the day was getting long in the tooth so we needed to carry on.

Down the trail we went to the intersection with Short and Dirty. This trail, while not as technically challenging as the previous sections, is a psychological THRILLER when you break out in the open on a few knife-edged hogs backs. Some great photos of this can also be seen below. The views were spectacular, but could only be enjoyed by the drivers when we stopped. One wrong move up here. . .well . . . let's just say that we all made good choices.

Onward we wheeled to the fork in the road where you can be a Chicken $h!t or keep your Short and Dirty on. . .we chose to stay the course on Short and Dirty. We really picked up the pace as the sun began to dip.

Before you know it, we were firmly on the gravel rally roads (in case those of you that were along were wondering why I hung in the back) which shortly gave way to pavement and a lakeside cruise back to camp.

Back at camp, the folks that stayed back to enjoy the camping experience greeted us with smiles. We smiled back through a layer of Rimrock Talc. . .and took to meal prep!!!

The Pork themed potluck was a raving success. There was more food that we could possibly eat and it was all good. We even had carnitas tacos for desert. Bench wheeling and lying lasted until all of 10:30PM. When I returned to my camp spot, I found Jose (who hadn't slept in 30++++ hours) playing big spoon to my tool box in the back of my Jeep.

Next morning we woke up to a much cooler day. A few of the group decided to keep on wheelin' and went up to Louie Way Gap while the rest of us whipped up a quick (3 hours) batch of man quiche. While Marc simmered that up, the ORV enforcement guy came and had a nice chat with us. Seems like there are still a few outlaws in our sport that need an education. We will continue to do our part, of course.

After the cast iron was licked clean, we remembered that we were DIRTY and that the best way to get clean is to go swimming in a mountain lake!!! So, the Moss/Lenzke/Wilcox kids, dogs, and moms headed for the swimmin' hole. GREAT TIMES THERE!! I suck at swimming so I stuck to being neck deep, but some of the group swam across to a little beach. The mom's kept tabs on us and snapped pics while the dogs did what dogs do. . .

Well, at this point, we reluctantly realized that it was time to pack up and head home. Back at camp, we were regaled with tales of conquering Louie Way, but I'll let those who actually witnessed the feat tell the tale.

All packed up, we bid farewell to another adventure and headed off for home. Along the way, we saw about a billion cops busting people heading home from the boat races. . .come on people, what do you expect?

Observations: Bobtail Jeeps continue to rule Rimrock. The big busses in the crew did well, but the narrower bodies simply are better up there when it comes to keeping sheetmetal in the right shape.

Also, my hat is off to the entire group. Not one cable was pulled to my knowledge and everyone really kept the pace (well, the whole group was a little off "Ed Pace" but we still covered a lot of ground and had a great time doing it.

Now, enjoy the observations of others and the pictures herein!!
Last edited by OldGreen on Mon Jul 29, 2013 12:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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commando14
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Postby commando14 » Mon Jul 29, 2013 4:40 am

Video of several from the group on Crying Frank hill:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iN9m00-3oQ[/youtube]

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commando14
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Postby commando14 » Mon Jul 29, 2013 5:20 am

Mandi surprising us all with her driving skills:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHjVW7Jv89U[/youtube]


Jim with some body carnage in the Cherokee:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQGaXhmp-Sk[/youtube]

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iaccocca
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Postby iaccocca » Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:57 am

Nice :!:
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Postby OldGreen » Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:23 am

First post edited with a little more detail. Even more to follow.

Duty calls on a Monday morning. . .so bear with me and work through everyone else's content.

POST AWAY!!

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Postby David448 » Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:53 am

YJ Dave here.

First off, thanks for the great trip guys. It really means a lot to me, and to allow my son the chance to experience these things... couldn't have done it without the group.

Secondly, it had been 2 years for me since I drove my Jeep anywhere other than mall, and it showed! Sorry for holding the group up a couple times.... Next time I'll try not to stall my automatic Jeep and hit the only tree within 50 yards before I even get to the obstacle :oops: and thanks to a couple REAAALLLY cool dudes, there was no big sceene when I casually drove off the wide open trail into a tippy spot like I had been drinking all day.

I beat the ever living crap out of the top of my Jeep, and loved every second of it. I almost want to do it again so I can just get it over with and rip that top clean off :D

I only got like 10 pictures, I'll post what I have. Thanks again guys.


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Roman
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Postby Roman » Mon Jul 29, 2013 9:58 am

Wow Dave, didn't remember the damage being THAT bad...

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Postby David448 » Mon Jul 29, 2013 10:14 am

Yep.. got the drivers side before lunch, and the passenger side after lunch :D

I'm not worried about it. Cherry is broke. Now I don't have to worry about damaging it! :D

The softop frame tubes just need to be bent back. After I do that it won't look nearly as bad.

The windshield frame is fine, its just the little channel edge that's bent back.

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Postby OldGreen » Mon Jul 29, 2013 12:48 pm

The rest of the story, from my seat, has been posted in the first post.

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Postby tobyw » Mon Jul 29, 2013 12:56 pm

I have nothing to add to the narrative, but I did snap a few pics that I'll upload tonight (forgot the camera in the center console :oops: )...
Yep, I've wheeled one of those, too...
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Postby David448 » Mon Jul 29, 2013 1:14 pm

I already got my phone issue fixed today. The grand total to replace my cell phone that was claimed by RimRock was $0. :D

OldGreen wrote:On up to the steep climbs and switchbacks in the tight trees. The climbs were loose. I'm sure that those with the appropriate switches, switched them ON to make it up.


:oops:

If it wasn't my switches, it was my levers getting knocked out. One or the other, just about every time it got interesting. The YJ needs some quality time with a new tranny mount and somebody who knows how to drive :D

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Postby Livin4Today » Mon Jul 29, 2013 2:38 pm

Having been the primary driver of the largest bus on the this trip, we had a blast, and although we were fairly warned, we chose to keep our fenders on, however, we did 86 the mirrors shortly after launching...

This was an EPIC adventure for both Mandi & I, not having any knowledge of what laid ahead for challenges or terrain, we took our place on day 1 close to the middle with a few weathered crew behind us just in case.

One correction to the official version (OG's) above, 1 cable was pulled...

I really don't know what trail we were on but at the bottom of our decent was a pinch point that had David stacking rocks to clear his B pillar, once we got him clear I nosed up and decided that there just wasn't room enough for a JK Unlimited (Danny's new 2 dr would slide through no problem) and started looking for alternatives.

Unfortunately for me the only way to get thru was to high side the pinching trees, but it was littered with some large deadfall and the slope was not working with me. So while a few of us went back and forth with possibilities, Roy snuck his cable out wraps one of the deadfalls and drags it out of my way, then it was a matter of driving on/over the larger logs and one small tree and we had sucess, all in all it was a 15-20 min snag.

After that we continued on up I believe to Humphries Butte with awesome views, then Mandi & I decided to take cuts and followed Ed & Tim to the bottom while some of the others were still telling their stories to anyone who would listen.

We got a few photos (below) and hours of video from 3 different cameras that we hope to compile in the next few days into a nice little clip representing our ride. In the mean-time we'll share a couple of raw videos that we sent to Youtube...

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Day two only five of us headed out to Lost Lake, IMHO it was even more technical than the challenges presented the first day. So I let Ms. Mandi drive for 2.5 hours or so. It's amazing how frustrating it can be to try and drive your own rig from either the ground or a passenger seat...

It was definitely a test of our communication skills, but in the end I had no knives stuck (permanently) into me and she still smiled when I talked to her, and most importantly she kicked a$$! Two major climbs and some very technical and tight squeezes were conquered by her much improved driving skills! All she kept saying was I can't see...

Since we tend to communicate in half sentences I obviously finished the sentence "what the big deal is, or what took everybody else so long." I thought what the heck, let the blind girl drive what's the worst that could happen... She told me later she couldn't see over the hood on some of the obstacles... Okay, I was really close to that...

Whatever, we had and AWESOME trip, the wheeling was EPIC, and if you weren't there you'll have to feel sorry for yourself, because you really missed out on what will most likely be the best trip of the year at least from my seat (since I missed the Rubicon)...

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Now the question of trail damage/carnage was on everybody's mind, and our rig being the biggest out there we did well and came through with some limited damage....

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Last edited by Livin4Today on Mon Jul 29, 2013 3:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Lance

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2007 JKU, 7" RK lift, 40s, ARBs, 5.38s, Headers, Fox Coilovers, etc. http://www.Livin4Today.com

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Postby Livin4Today » Mon Jul 29, 2013 2:42 pm

Just kidding, we actually suffere only a few "dings" on our front fender, passenger B pillar and passenger rollbar covering... As seen below...


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And the videos we've uploaded raw...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MyOXkhkYYM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUjt362SJXU[/youtube]
Lance

Building a capable off roader is easy, building a street legal one that you can wheel and then drive daily is the challenge...

2007 JKU, 7" RK lift, 40s, ARBs, 5.38s, Headers, Fox Coilovers, etc. http://www.Livin4Today.com

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Postby OldGreen » Mon Jul 29, 2013 3:03 pm

CLASSIC Commentary.

You know Lance and Mandi. . .you don't have to worry about tight trails anymore. Leaning Tree and Humphrey Butte are as tight as they come within a 12,000 mile radius.

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Postby Livin4Today » Mon Jul 29, 2013 3:52 pm

OldGreen wrote:CLASSIC Commentary.

You know Lance and Mandi. . .you don't have to worry about tight trails anymore. Leaning Tree and Humphrey Butte are as tight as they come within a 12,000 mile radius.


I recall Ed introducing me to some tight spots at Liberty last year. Just the same I think upper rub rails would definitely set minds to ease, then it's just driving...

Looking forward to seeing Steve's pictures! How bout it SPR?
Lance

Building a capable off roader is easy, building a street legal one that you can wheel and then drive daily is the challenge...

2007 JKU, 7" RK lift, 40s, ARBs, 5.38s, Headers, Fox Coilovers, etc. http://www.Livin4Today.com

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Postby commando14 » Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:08 pm

Cool videos Lance, I need to get one of those GoPros.

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Postby Livin4Today » Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:24 pm

commando14 wrote:Cool videos Lance, I need to get one of those GoPros.


Actually if you check out our YouTube channel I'm uploading our raw clips... The majority are taken with my Olympus camera. But a couple are from Mandi's iPhone and rest (after running out of cards are on our new LIC (egg) camera...

We just have a cool mount although the egg seemed to pick up a rattle that the other camera didn't...
Lance

Building a capable off roader is easy, building a street legal one that you can wheel and then drive daily is the challenge...

2007 JKU, 7" RK lift, 40s, ARBs, 5.38s, Headers, Fox Coilovers, etc. http://www.Livin4Today.com

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commando14
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Postby commando14 » Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:39 pm

Here's my pics. Didn't want to get the nice camera out much because of the dust so had to use my phone.


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SPR
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Postby SPR » Tue Jul 30, 2013 5:35 am

Here are a few more... lot of duplicates of other folks.
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Postby OldGreen » Tue Jul 30, 2013 7:36 am

Awesome pictures!!!

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Postby Lurch » Tue Jul 30, 2013 1:23 pm

We got a few pics.

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Re: Rimrock July 26-28 2013

Postby Boyscout » Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:18 am

OldGreen wrote:Back at camp, the folks that stayed back to enjoy the camping experience greeted us with smiles. We smiled back through a layer of Rimrock Talc. . .

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Marc

1997 Jeep Wrangler SE Convertible SUV 2.5L 4-cyl. 4x4 5-speed Manual

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Danny
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Postby Danny » Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:11 pm

Very nice Marc....very flattering. That pic should go in her yearbook. :lol:
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Postby OldGreen » Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:20 am

Danny wrote:Very nice Marc....very flattering. That pic should go in her yearbook. :lol:


Danny. . .your name came up around the pork/fire. . .you were sorely missed. Therefore, it is decreed that wheelin' will commence again shortly with your presence being required. . .maybe we should break the Hulk/Kermit in on Kaner. . .not Leaning Tree. . .

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Postby iaccocca » Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:36 am

I'm in for Kaner. That is the trail I would like to volunteer to clean at PUAM. (Unless it is snotty, I will have the Jeeper Chicks with me, after-all.)
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.
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