Peak Putters - Rimrock, Sept 2008
Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:36 am
Curtis called a "Camp out of your rig" run to the Rimrock area during the Labor Day weekend. Inspite of the crummy weather forecast, it was sunny and pleasent. The temperature did drop below freezing at night.
Rob incurred the first break down with a trailer tire blow out just prior the snow park. Luckily, a local resident, gave Rob a good tire and rim for free. I suspect he didn't want Rob's rig parked in front of his driveway.
We left the snow park around 0930 hours. Shortly afterwards, David's rig let off some steam. He plugged the hole with a little JB weld and penny.
We ran up past the Blue Slide Look Out to the 613 trail and then drop down toward the Short and Dirty / 661 trail.
Somewhere along the trail, we bumped into these two characters. Little did we know that Ed and Paul would play a major role in the enjoyment of our weekend.
Roy on the 661 trail
Roy on the 661 trail (last year)
These trails are tight, rocky and steep. Shortly after Nomad Meadows, we took the 641 trail. This trail is very tight but very cool.
Group Shot at Nomad Meadows (661 trail?)
Late in day 1, we finished up with the 601 trail. Ed had hollered at Curtis on the CB to invite us to camp with them at Sleepy Meadows. The fire was going when we got there and we had fine visit with, Paul, Ed, Bill Collins, Doug O and their families.
Day 2
The following morning, we packed up the rigs and followed Ed up to the 538 and 661 trail. We did a little trail work along the way.
Later, we hooked up with the 636 trail... All was going well, then ka-pop! Rich's rig popped two studs on a steering arm. Rich and Ed quickly pulled off the knuckle. As luck would have it. Ed tore a small hole in the sidewall of a tire. Rob, broke out the plug set which seem to work fine. However, Ed's spare tire is sick, so to be safe, we swapped Rich's spare tire for Ed's chainsaw.
Paul and Ed took off to Naches with the knuckle to remove the sheared studs and find new bolts. Roy then noticed that his rig had two sheared bolts on the streering box mount. Ed and Paul planned to meet up with us in the morning with the repaired part. We found a camping spot at a nearby elk camp. Roy quickly went to work replacing one of two sheared bolts on his power steering box. He figured that he was good to go with three out of four bolts in place. We have a pretty good time at camp eating manly food and telling stories until I read aloud a spooky bigfoot encounter that occurred on Divide Ridge in the mid 1990's. The story seem to rattle the troop terribly. Feeling bad, I stayed up all night to stand watch. The troop tried to hide their fear by pretending to snore all night.
[img]
Day 3
As planned, Ed and Paul showed up with the repairs and Bill. Rich and Ed put everything back together and we were quickly on our way to run Blue Slide (down hill only) and Butcher Knife trails.
You could really feel the love in the air after getting Rich's rig repaired... until we read this showed up
Here is Blue Slide. Like always, the pictures don't do it justice.
The troop took a short break to shake out the butterflies and get ready for the next couple of chutes
Once down in the bottoms, more tight trail and serious mud hole. It is a good thing that Rob has more mirrors at home.
Rob started talking $h!t about the mud hole, so Roy and Paul pushed a few logs in the way.
Done with Blue Slide, we ran up the Tieton River to run Butcher's knife. We did not run the Butcher's "sweet butter" Knife. We ran up the Butcher's "serrated pig stricker" Knife. I don't think it is even on the map and that is good thing, because I don't want to find it again. It consists of three hard climbs, large and loose rocks, tight trees, and root wads in bad spots. We did a fair bit of winching on this trail due to the terrian and two break downs. Going down this would be crazy. Here are a few pictures.
Roy snapped a front u-joint/yoke. Ed winched him up the hill and then David threw a tugg'en strap on Roy to help him through the rough stuff. At one point, Ed had a strap on David while David had a strap on Roy. This combination did not work so well on a sharp corner. David quickly found his rig balanced on the two passenger tires "Dukes of Hazzard" style. Ed let off and David settled back to the ground before I could snap a picture. David's eyes were as big a golf balls during the event.
Shortly after this shot, Rob snapped a rear u-joint that could not be fixed on the trail. Rich threw a strap on Rob and, for the most part, drug Rob up the trail.
We parted ways with Ed, Paul, and Bill around 1730 hours above Blue Lake on Divide Ride. Like tired cowboys, they drove off into the sunset, and we happily headed eastward back to the snowpark to pack up.
At this point, Curtis was the only one not to incur a breakdown. But Murphy was not done with us. Curtis' jeep ran out of fuel up by Snow Cabin. Luckily, on the morning of Day 2, I had bought 5 gallons of fuel from Ed... Rich's rig is a thirsty monster and, like a good boyscout, I wanted to be prepared. After a couple of gallons and a bit of cranking, we were bombing down to the snow park.
About dusk we packed up and headed home....What a trip.
Rob incurred the first break down with a trailer tire blow out just prior the snow park. Luckily, a local resident, gave Rob a good tire and rim for free. I suspect he didn't want Rob's rig parked in front of his driveway.
We left the snow park around 0930 hours. Shortly afterwards, David's rig let off some steam. He plugged the hole with a little JB weld and penny.
We ran up past the Blue Slide Look Out to the 613 trail and then drop down toward the Short and Dirty / 661 trail.
Somewhere along the trail, we bumped into these two characters. Little did we know that Ed and Paul would play a major role in the enjoyment of our weekend.
Roy on the 661 trail
Roy on the 661 trail (last year)
These trails are tight, rocky and steep. Shortly after Nomad Meadows, we took the 641 trail. This trail is very tight but very cool.
Group Shot at Nomad Meadows (661 trail?)
Late in day 1, we finished up with the 601 trail. Ed had hollered at Curtis on the CB to invite us to camp with them at Sleepy Meadows. The fire was going when we got there and we had fine visit with, Paul, Ed, Bill Collins, Doug O and their families.
Day 2
The following morning, we packed up the rigs and followed Ed up to the 538 and 661 trail. We did a little trail work along the way.
Later, we hooked up with the 636 trail... All was going well, then ka-pop! Rich's rig popped two studs on a steering arm. Rich and Ed quickly pulled off the knuckle. As luck would have it. Ed tore a small hole in the sidewall of a tire. Rob, broke out the plug set which seem to work fine. However, Ed's spare tire is sick, so to be safe, we swapped Rich's spare tire for Ed's chainsaw.
Paul and Ed took off to Naches with the knuckle to remove the sheared studs and find new bolts. Roy then noticed that his rig had two sheared bolts on the streering box mount. Ed and Paul planned to meet up with us in the morning with the repaired part. We found a camping spot at a nearby elk camp. Roy quickly went to work replacing one of two sheared bolts on his power steering box. He figured that he was good to go with three out of four bolts in place. We have a pretty good time at camp eating manly food and telling stories until I read aloud a spooky bigfoot encounter that occurred on Divide Ridge in the mid 1990's. The story seem to rattle the troop terribly. Feeling bad, I stayed up all night to stand watch. The troop tried to hide their fear by pretending to snore all night.
[img]
Day 3
As planned, Ed and Paul showed up with the repairs and Bill. Rich and Ed put everything back together and we were quickly on our way to run Blue Slide (down hill only) and Butcher Knife trails.
You could really feel the love in the air after getting Rich's rig repaired... until we read this showed up
Here is Blue Slide. Like always, the pictures don't do it justice.
The troop took a short break to shake out the butterflies and get ready for the next couple of chutes
Once down in the bottoms, more tight trail and serious mud hole. It is a good thing that Rob has more mirrors at home.
Rob started talking $h!t about the mud hole, so Roy and Paul pushed a few logs in the way.
Done with Blue Slide, we ran up the Tieton River to run Butcher's knife. We did not run the Butcher's "sweet butter" Knife. We ran up the Butcher's "serrated pig stricker" Knife. I don't think it is even on the map and that is good thing, because I don't want to find it again. It consists of three hard climbs, large and loose rocks, tight trees, and root wads in bad spots. We did a fair bit of winching on this trail due to the terrian and two break downs. Going down this would be crazy. Here are a few pictures.
Roy snapped a front u-joint/yoke. Ed winched him up the hill and then David threw a tugg'en strap on Roy to help him through the rough stuff. At one point, Ed had a strap on David while David had a strap on Roy. This combination did not work so well on a sharp corner. David quickly found his rig balanced on the two passenger tires "Dukes of Hazzard" style. Ed let off and David settled back to the ground before I could snap a picture. David's eyes were as big a golf balls during the event.
Shortly after this shot, Rob snapped a rear u-joint that could not be fixed on the trail. Rich threw a strap on Rob and, for the most part, drug Rob up the trail.
We parted ways with Ed, Paul, and Bill around 1730 hours above Blue Lake on Divide Ride. Like tired cowboys, they drove off into the sunset, and we happily headed eastward back to the snowpark to pack up.
At this point, Curtis was the only one not to incur a breakdown. But Murphy was not done with us. Curtis' jeep ran out of fuel up by Snow Cabin. Luckily, on the morning of Day 2, I had bought 5 gallons of fuel from Ed... Rich's rig is a thirsty monster and, like a good boyscout, I wanted to be prepared. After a couple of gallons and a bit of cranking, we were bombing down to the snow park.
About dusk we packed up and headed home....What a trip.
