Peak Putters - FYBR 2007
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 2:19 pm
Where to start. . .well, I guess with a roll call. If I miss anybody, post up:
Me, Roman, Danny, Steve/Curtis, Lurch, Lurch's buddy, Rev, Scotty, Dan/Tommy, David K, Fozzy, Don Gato, the Black CJ5 (sorry about the name), ToymanCim, AND Toby. Wait, there are more:
Paul, Oltmann, JoshMOP, Trevor, BenW, Carl Jantz, binder, JK CAT, CJ5 guy, Invincible, Buc/Bro, AND about 5 other rigs that I didn't ever get to meet.
PLUS: We ran into 2 XJs that were looking for us on Sunday on the way out of camp. In other words, we had OVER 30 rigs for the run.
Friday: Jose and I were unavoidably detained by a pesky flat tire on the side of the Freeway. . .but everyone arrived safely in camp. Upon inspection of the rigs present, we noticed that there was something for everyone. From Cat's brand spankin' new JK Rubicon to Jantz's SuperJP flatty on 47" LTBs, Tube buggies, to stock CJs. . .it was Jeep Soup with a Toyota, a Ranger, and a couple of Broncos thrown in for spice. The fire was Ragin and Sveta was in FULL effect keeping it that way.
Saturday: While we waited for the day trippers to show up, we sent a couple of groups up Raven's Roost. Some took the road while the BIG dogs took the trail (not the lower Power Line section. . that's off limits). After winching all the tow rigs IN to camp, the rest of the group slowly got rolling towards the summit. The snow was not nearly as deep as last year and we reached the top in about 45 minutes. . .on the way, Lurch's friend had blown a tire and caused a slight delay. But, we all managed to enjoy some "Snow Duning" on the summit before heading back down to find more challenging terrain.
One group went directly to Kaner Flats, another went to Funny/Moon rocks and our group of 10 or 12 headed down to try out some of the optional hill climbs on the Raven's Roost trail. This proved to be FUN for everyone. I even managed to get a little air under my tires at one point. After the climbs, we found a nice spot for lunch and broke out the BBQs and Stoves for dogs, 'dillas, and sammiches.
After a GREAT lunch we tied a sled on behind my Jeep and towed Jafo's girls and Jessy down the hill for some BIG fun. Once they were TIRED of sledding, we loaded up and headed for Kaner Flats trail 676 ourselves. . .THIS is where it gets interesting.
The plan was to run the lower twisties up to Elephant Dung Hill, check out the conditions and head back to camp since it was getting late. The trail was SLICK because of the snow and the fact that another group had been on the trail earlier that day. I had blown the airline for my front ARB air locker earlier in the day so I had to use a little extra "stupid pedal" on some of the steeper sections. Well. . .the final approach to the BOTTOM of the hill proved to be VERY, VERY slick and challenging. Nonetheless, I decided to see how far up the hill I could get in 2nd gear/part throttle just to check it out while everyone else negotiated the approach. Needless to say, I wasn't able to get past the rooted up section and had to back down. No sooner had I parked and started to chit chat with Toby than Danny came up in his little 4 banger YJ. He drove right past us and began to ASSAULT that hill. . .After a couple of really valiant efforts over the roots, he took the line to the left and made it to the base of the REALLY icy and STEEP section.
OG to Toby: You know, if he gets up on top, I'm going to have to drive up there.
Toby to OG: Most Def. You must.
Well, guess what. . .2 full winch pulls later and Danny is standing on the summit with his two sons, Todd and Jason. At that point, I jump in, strap down Jessy's 4 point harness and go for it. . .third gear, straight up the gut through the roots in 3 wheel drive. Needless to say, I was BRUTALLY denied and because the decent was so. . .uh. . .interesting, I had Jessy get out and walk it back down while I did a repeller imitation to drive back to the bottom.
Meanwhile, Steve Richards lines up and makes a GREAT go of it. He got close enough to the top that he only needed one winch pull to make it. Same deal for David. While they were getting to the top, I was working at fixing my busted air line. I think that Toby was doing a little vicarious living and really wanted to see someone BEAT that hill. . .so he provided help and encouragement.
With everything put back together and the locker engaged, we strapped in one last time to see what we could do with this hill.
This time, the line to the left. Third Gear, Low Range, 4500 RPM, Sidestep clutch. . .We rose smoothly past the "easy" section and had to lift just a tad to negotiated a big root between two nasty trees. By that time, we had lost momentum for the line-up to the top, but I decided to go for it anyway. We bounced off of the roots and the rev limiter past where the winch line was pulled out only to be denied by a lack of momentum and getting outside of the line. We back down as far as we could without getting back into the rooted section and lined up for the outside (right) line. Once again, third gear, pinned. . .This time, wheels in the air, we cleared the top unassisted. WHAT A RUSH. . .Jessy and I were both shaking a little but whooping and yelling from the excitement.
No one else decided to make an attempt on the hill so we went ahead and picked up the logging road and cruised back to camp. The strange thing is, that we got back before the rest of our group that we left at the bottom of the hill. . .We finally found out that Toby had some tire issues while turning around on the trail and that led to the down time.
Back at Camp: a lot of the guys from Western WA were already gone, but Sveta had already stoked the fire to epic proportions. The group that wheeled the rocks came back a short time later. Dutch ovens were in full effect and stories of the day's adventures swirled around the fire like. . .well. . .smoke from a fire
. I got a little sun burn from the inferno, but, it was cold enough outside to be welcome.
Sunday: Man Quiche and tow rig/motorhome extraction. Man Quiche keeps getting better. Not one bit was left from a FULL 16" Dutch oven. Nuff said.
we were the last ones out of camp and we were home by 4PM.
I am already planning for next year.
Me, Roman, Danny, Steve/Curtis, Lurch, Lurch's buddy, Rev, Scotty, Dan/Tommy, David K, Fozzy, Don Gato, the Black CJ5 (sorry about the name), ToymanCim, AND Toby. Wait, there are more:
Paul, Oltmann, JoshMOP, Trevor, BenW, Carl Jantz, binder, JK CAT, CJ5 guy, Invincible, Buc/Bro, AND about 5 other rigs that I didn't ever get to meet.
PLUS: We ran into 2 XJs that were looking for us on Sunday on the way out of camp. In other words, we had OVER 30 rigs for the run.
Friday: Jose and I were unavoidably detained by a pesky flat tire on the side of the Freeway. . .but everyone arrived safely in camp. Upon inspection of the rigs present, we noticed that there was something for everyone. From Cat's brand spankin' new JK Rubicon to Jantz's SuperJP flatty on 47" LTBs, Tube buggies, to stock CJs. . .it was Jeep Soup with a Toyota, a Ranger, and a couple of Broncos thrown in for spice. The fire was Ragin and Sveta was in FULL effect keeping it that way.
Saturday: While we waited for the day trippers to show up, we sent a couple of groups up Raven's Roost. Some took the road while the BIG dogs took the trail (not the lower Power Line section. . that's off limits). After winching all the tow rigs IN to camp, the rest of the group slowly got rolling towards the summit. The snow was not nearly as deep as last year and we reached the top in about 45 minutes. . .on the way, Lurch's friend had blown a tire and caused a slight delay. But, we all managed to enjoy some "Snow Duning" on the summit before heading back down to find more challenging terrain.
One group went directly to Kaner Flats, another went to Funny/Moon rocks and our group of 10 or 12 headed down to try out some of the optional hill climbs on the Raven's Roost trail. This proved to be FUN for everyone. I even managed to get a little air under my tires at one point. After the climbs, we found a nice spot for lunch and broke out the BBQs and Stoves for dogs, 'dillas, and sammiches.
After a GREAT lunch we tied a sled on behind my Jeep and towed Jafo's girls and Jessy down the hill for some BIG fun. Once they were TIRED of sledding, we loaded up and headed for Kaner Flats trail 676 ourselves. . .THIS is where it gets interesting.
The plan was to run the lower twisties up to Elephant Dung Hill, check out the conditions and head back to camp since it was getting late. The trail was SLICK because of the snow and the fact that another group had been on the trail earlier that day. I had blown the airline for my front ARB air locker earlier in the day so I had to use a little extra "stupid pedal" on some of the steeper sections. Well. . .the final approach to the BOTTOM of the hill proved to be VERY, VERY slick and challenging. Nonetheless, I decided to see how far up the hill I could get in 2nd gear/part throttle just to check it out while everyone else negotiated the approach. Needless to say, I wasn't able to get past the rooted up section and had to back down. No sooner had I parked and started to chit chat with Toby than Danny came up in his little 4 banger YJ. He drove right past us and began to ASSAULT that hill. . .After a couple of really valiant efforts over the roots, he took the line to the left and made it to the base of the REALLY icy and STEEP section.
OG to Toby: You know, if he gets up on top, I'm going to have to drive up there.
Toby to OG: Most Def. You must.
Well, guess what. . .2 full winch pulls later and Danny is standing on the summit with his two sons, Todd and Jason. At that point, I jump in, strap down Jessy's 4 point harness and go for it. . .third gear, straight up the gut through the roots in 3 wheel drive. Needless to say, I was BRUTALLY denied and because the decent was so. . .uh. . .interesting, I had Jessy get out and walk it back down while I did a repeller imitation to drive back to the bottom.
Meanwhile, Steve Richards lines up and makes a GREAT go of it. He got close enough to the top that he only needed one winch pull to make it. Same deal for David. While they were getting to the top, I was working at fixing my busted air line. I think that Toby was doing a little vicarious living and really wanted to see someone BEAT that hill. . .so he provided help and encouragement.
With everything put back together and the locker engaged, we strapped in one last time to see what we could do with this hill.
This time, the line to the left. Third Gear, Low Range, 4500 RPM, Sidestep clutch. . .We rose smoothly past the "easy" section and had to lift just a tad to negotiated a big root between two nasty trees. By that time, we had lost momentum for the line-up to the top, but I decided to go for it anyway. We bounced off of the roots and the rev limiter past where the winch line was pulled out only to be denied by a lack of momentum and getting outside of the line. We back down as far as we could without getting back into the rooted section and lined up for the outside (right) line. Once again, third gear, pinned. . .This time, wheels in the air, we cleared the top unassisted. WHAT A RUSH. . .Jessy and I were both shaking a little but whooping and yelling from the excitement.
No one else decided to make an attempt on the hill so we went ahead and picked up the logging road and cruised back to camp. The strange thing is, that we got back before the rest of our group that we left at the bottom of the hill. . .We finally found out that Toby had some tire issues while turning around on the trail and that led to the down time.
Back at Camp: a lot of the guys from Western WA were already gone, but Sveta had already stoked the fire to epic proportions. The group that wheeled the rocks came back a short time later. Dutch ovens were in full effect and stories of the day's adventures swirled around the fire like. . .well. . .smoke from a fire
. I got a little sun burn from the inferno, but, it was cold enough outside to be welcome.
Sunday: Man Quiche and tow rig/motorhome extraction. Man Quiche keeps getting better. Not one bit was left from a FULL 16" Dutch oven. Nuff said.
we were the last ones out of camp and we were home by 4PM.
I am already planning for next year.
