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To escape the heat, we went on the 1st run of the trip. Headed towards 4W319 and 4W321 trailheads in search of a mysterious road that would take us to the bottom of 4W329. Spoiler alert, there in no such road, more on that later. We did find the Forest Service Road, remains, that had been pulled out by FS. Navigation got so sketchy that we, in what I am sure is Peak Putters’ 1st, were using the Pokémon go app on Jay’s phone. One hill climb I could not resist put us on the wrong side of this (open) gate.
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Day two had me up at the crack of something with French press coffee and orange juice in hand headed out for some questionable solo wheeling. Hit Pit Overlook Trail (4W321) first, hoping that there were no washouts. No washouts, nice mountain cruise in the morning air.
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I found a nice hill climb that dead ended in a not super place, but the views were great.
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I haven’t run the lower part of Crystal Ridge (4W319) in a bit, so I ran that downhill. I would not recommend that solo, but did it with no drama and minimal worry’s. I saw one mud hole with tracks in, but not out.
Hope I did not run over the top of some overlander, but if I did thanks for the traction boards on your roof. 10:00 AM, and I was back at camp enjoying hot cinnamon rolls with about 30 miles on the odometer since off trailer.
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After breakfast and locking up camp, the Jeeperchicks and I headed out to run Hole-in-the-Rock trail down. Don’t tell anybody, but they cut in a new section and it’s pretty tight. I’d go run it now before people whose vehicles don’t fit the trail make the trail fit the rig. I was so excited by the new section the I ran it twice this weekend. Found a mine or claim off of the trail that I had not seen before.
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Back at camp the (BLM)Ranger showed up to post Fire Ban.
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Kids saw a deer with 3 legs, but four feet. That is not a riddle...
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Around this time Chris made it into camp. I do not like to use this kind of language here, but she had to W-O-R-K.
Corey pulled into camp well into darkness.
The 4th equals decorations on Jeeps on the whole fleet of Peak Putters attendees (2 rigs)
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After the Parade, the decorations were stripped, and Corey and I hit some trails that the Jeeperchicks really would not like. We stayed fairly close to camp, hitting Billy Goat, Lions Gulch, and Hole in the Rock, again for me, this time uphill. I do not know why we don’t tend to hit these trails more often, Billy Goat and Lions Gulch offer plenty of challenges and they are almost as close to camp as Liberty itself.
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Only ‘carnage’ I had this weekend was here, a little rerouting of an ebrake cable and let some of the smoke out.
After wheelin’, some minor repairs, and dinner, JeeperChick Jay and I went to most every camp @ Williams Creek and invited them to our now legendary Mentos and diet Coke fireworks show. Through that we met some broke down Overlanders who were very enthralled with our Jeeps, especially my LJ. They did not take my invite to go wheeling with us Saturday.
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Saturday AM, Corey and I were mobile at nearly exactly 10:00 AM. The itinerary nearly exactly followed was Pit Overlook to Crystal Ridge. Departed Crystal ridge onto Tuff Ridge (4W329). Off of Tuff Ridge trail we followed a turns out, defunct FS road, burmed at the far end just to prove it. Reversed course back to Tuff Ridge, after the water crossing and the mandatory soaking of my sandals in the cold runoff, cutting over to 1st Creek (4W318). We took that back up to the road and rejoined 4W319 at Stairstep.
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Some trip notes... very early on Saturday, on the 1st downhill, if I recall, this little light of mine began to shine...
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When I got it off the trailer with 113.5 miles on the trip odo, I calculated I could have wheeled approximately another 1.25 miles. I think I sold myself short.
And whoever was spotting Corey on Stair Step... do better! He got a little more sideways at the top than I ever like to see and his driver's side front should only be that high in the air if the Jeeps on a lift.
I had fun doing light wheelin' with the Jeeprchicks. Corey and I made good time even while operating at a leisurely pace. And, our Jeeps handled everything we pointed them at. We hit a few new to us trails or new sections of trails. Trails were dusty, there was no mud to speak of, bugs weren't bad, and the weather was nice.
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