This run got off to a rough start….JK Lance and Bryan worked tirelessly to get my XJ ready, but it just wasn't to be….and at 8 PM Friday, the time we thought we would be pulling into camp; we made the decision to go with only the JK…..
As we pulled on to the freeway, we caught TJ Dave and his friends Gerald and Kelly also making their way out of town. Moments later Scott pulled right in with our caravan….we would not be the only ones arriving at midnight!
So Roll Call on Saturday morning:
David, Andrew (and his adorable Daughter Madison), Roy, Doug and family, Scott, Mike (Irish), Klinger and his friend Mike from the Dessert Rats, TJ Dave, Barb, Gerald and Kelly, Allen and Stacey, Lance, Mandi and Jeep Dog Syler
We embarked on our first adventure, finding the trail “Pickle Prairie.â€
Peak Putters -The “MandiWagonâ€
-
commando14
- Peak Putters Member
- Posts: 1211
- Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:37 pm
- Location: Kennewick, WA
On Saturday we ran 609 and 609A, maybe parts of 608 and 610.. we got lost several times. Had a hard time finding our way, I swear the maps are just not correct for some of the lower trails.
Friday night we talked to some drunk guys and gals who had a truck with broken lug bolts on "pickle".. I wasn't entirely sure what they were trying to say. Well we came across it on this hill climb on Pickle Prarrie... the wheel studs were all sheared off.. they must have caught some air trying to make it up the hill.
Scumby was just a little wide trying to make it through these trees.
On Sunday I lead the way on some of the upper trails. We first ran 651A aka Crying Frank hill. I was first to tackle the hill and made it up ok on my first attempt. Mike was up next and got hung on the roots at the top, but was able to work it free and make it up. Andrew also got hung up on the root and his rear end slid over nearly into that tree on the drivers side... I warned him to not go too crazy at the top because I've seen that tree claim three Cherokee tail lights
. We winched him on up over the roots to avoid any body damage. Lance and TJDave's buddy Gerald also had to work a bit at the roots but made it up.
On past the hill climb we started to run into deadfall in the trail.. we busted out the chain saws a few times to clear the trail.
Once through 651A we ran up the gravel roads and jumped on 661 Humphrey Butte, and from there we took 677 Spencer Creek over to 637 Short and Dirty. We went left and ran Short and Dirty uphill all the way up to Divide Ridge, this upper part of Short and Dirty is pretty fun running it backwards. Then it was over to the lookout cabin for some nice views. Dropped down into Blue lake, took 622 to 636 Donnicker Pass back to Short and Dirty and then ran Shorty and Dirty all the way down... fun times.
Heading up Short and Dirty:
Sidehill near the top of Short and Dirty:
Rock field on Donnicker Pass:
Andrew punctured a sidewall on one of the hill climbs on Donicker Pass.. luckily he had a brand new spare so we swapped it out.
Heading back down Short and Dirty:
We covered a lot of ground considering we didn't hit the trail until 10am. Actually was making pretty good time until the last mile or so of Short and Dirty. Near the end of the trail there is a bridge on a washed out switch back.. I made it past and down to the gravel but then heard Mike on the radio.. his rear tire fell off the bridge, and his front tire was on the edge. We used Andrew's winch and snatch block in an attempt to pull Mike back onto the bridge.. but Andrew's Cherokee kept wanting to slide down the hill. So we then anchored up his Cherokee with a strap. Mike's rear shock mount was hung up on the bridge and didn't want to budge, so with some tension on the winch Mike slowly went in reverse and the rear tire jumped back up on the bridge and with some maneuvering he made it through.
I walk back down to the gravel and watch Mike come down... then here comes Andrew.. but not 50 feet from the road Andrew blows a bead on the side hill. We didn't have much choice but to jack it up to get the tire back on bead. It was a little sketchy with the highlift but once we hooked up the winch to a tree on the uphill side it was fine.. we got the tire back on and he was on his way.
In the meantime Lance and Gerald were behind us.. and they had some issues too. Lance slid off the trail between some trees and had to use both winches to get out.. and Gerald also blew a bead just before the bridge. Everyone was down to the gravel around 6:30 I believe. It was a long day but we had some great wheeling.
Some videos
Saturday:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptPdkPzeoZE[/youtube]
Mike on Crying Frank:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ7mqPBM23M[/youtube]
Andrew:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9D0-RFQ6SM[/youtube]
Gerald:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMeOe8IGfOk[/youtube]
Lance:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUsAVoBxwhs[/youtube]
Andrew puncturing the sidewall on a hill climb:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKv1pQAAkKw[/youtube]
More stuff from Sunday:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyQWNbcSPnE[/youtube]
Friday night we talked to some drunk guys and gals who had a truck with broken lug bolts on "pickle".. I wasn't entirely sure what they were trying to say. Well we came across it on this hill climb on Pickle Prarrie... the wheel studs were all sheared off.. they must have caught some air trying to make it up the hill.
Scumby was just a little wide trying to make it through these trees.
On Sunday I lead the way on some of the upper trails. We first ran 651A aka Crying Frank hill. I was first to tackle the hill and made it up ok on my first attempt. Mike was up next and got hung on the roots at the top, but was able to work it free and make it up. Andrew also got hung up on the root and his rear end slid over nearly into that tree on the drivers side... I warned him to not go too crazy at the top because I've seen that tree claim three Cherokee tail lights
. We winched him on up over the roots to avoid any body damage. Lance and TJDave's buddy Gerald also had to work a bit at the roots but made it up.
On past the hill climb we started to run into deadfall in the trail.. we busted out the chain saws a few times to clear the trail.
Once through 651A we ran up the gravel roads and jumped on 661 Humphrey Butte, and from there we took 677 Spencer Creek over to 637 Short and Dirty. We went left and ran Short and Dirty uphill all the way up to Divide Ridge, this upper part of Short and Dirty is pretty fun running it backwards. Then it was over to the lookout cabin for some nice views. Dropped down into Blue lake, took 622 to 636 Donnicker Pass back to Short and Dirty and then ran Shorty and Dirty all the way down... fun times.
Heading up Short and Dirty:
Sidehill near the top of Short and Dirty:
Rock field on Donnicker Pass:
Andrew punctured a sidewall on one of the hill climbs on Donicker Pass.. luckily he had a brand new spare so we swapped it out.
Heading back down Short and Dirty:
We covered a lot of ground considering we didn't hit the trail until 10am. Actually was making pretty good time until the last mile or so of Short and Dirty. Near the end of the trail there is a bridge on a washed out switch back.. I made it past and down to the gravel but then heard Mike on the radio.. his rear tire fell off the bridge, and his front tire was on the edge. We used Andrew's winch and snatch block in an attempt to pull Mike back onto the bridge.. but Andrew's Cherokee kept wanting to slide down the hill. So we then anchored up his Cherokee with a strap. Mike's rear shock mount was hung up on the bridge and didn't want to budge, so with some tension on the winch Mike slowly went in reverse and the rear tire jumped back up on the bridge and with some maneuvering he made it through.
I walk back down to the gravel and watch Mike come down... then here comes Andrew.. but not 50 feet from the road Andrew blows a bead on the side hill. We didn't have much choice but to jack it up to get the tire back on bead. It was a little sketchy with the highlift but once we hooked up the winch to a tree on the uphill side it was fine.. we got the tire back on and he was on his way.
In the meantime Lance and Gerald were behind us.. and they had some issues too. Lance slid off the trail between some trees and had to use both winches to get out.. and Gerald also blew a bead just before the bridge. Everyone was down to the gravel around 6:30 I believe. It was a long day but we had some great wheeling.
Some videos
Saturday:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptPdkPzeoZE[/youtube]
Mike on Crying Frank:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ7mqPBM23M[/youtube]
Andrew:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9D0-RFQ6SM[/youtube]
Gerald:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMeOe8IGfOk[/youtube]
Lance:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUsAVoBxwhs[/youtube]
Andrew puncturing the sidewall on a hill climb:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKv1pQAAkKw[/youtube]
More stuff from Sunday:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyQWNbcSPnE[/youtube]
Well I had an absolute blast.. I have no pictures and no video of the trip, but I'm pretty sure I was there. All I have is some witty commentary.. First off David is a great trail leader.. He did a fantastic job. I very much enjoyed getting to better know everyone on the trail and in camp. So here is my recap...
Day One: I headed out early and actually went up by myself on Thursday afternoon. Perfect day, I setup camp, and noticed the Jeep seemed to be leaking fluid from the front end, near the front right tire. At first I thought it may be the brake line. There was fluid dripped all over the inside of the tire. After further inspection I found that it was my steering stabilizer shock that was bent and punctured. It had apparently lost a fight against a downed tree, two weeks before, when I was up in the same area with my family. So beings I have no mechanical skills at all, I’m not sure if this is bad or not. So with what little Internet in the air that I can grab, I jump on the forum and ask if this is bad or not. David responds very quickly that it’s not a big deal, and I can actually take it off if I wanted. In hindsight this is something I should have just done, because the creaking and cracking noise that damn thing made all weekend bugged the crap out of me. So with peace of mind, I finished setting up camp, did a little exploring of the surrounding area, made some dinner, and relaxed.
Day Two: Had a good night’s sleep, made a very nice breakfast sandwich, and mulled around camp for a bit. Got the jeep all ready to go. I think around Noon I headed up to the lake to explore around a bit, around 1:00pm I was heading back, and just as I was turning onto Tieton road, Alan (Scumby), and Stacy were pulling in. They setup camp real quick then we got to know each other a bit, not to long after that David, Andrew, and his daughter Madison showed up. After everyone was setup we decided to go explore a bit around the lake. Surprisingly, no one had really seen or camped around the lake before, even though it’s only like 2 miles up the road from this camp. So with Alan and Stacy in tow, we headed up to the west end of Rimrock lake and explored some of the campgrounds and such. I didn’t realize that David, and Andrew were coming also, so I accidently left without them. They ended up heading to the south side of the lake, near the boat launch and landing strip. That is pretty much party central. That’s where David met up with the drunk guy who busted up his 4Runner. After exploring some nice campgrounds we headed back, and met up with Klinger and Mike. We all ate dinner, and sat around a campfire minus the fire, and BS’d for a while, then everyone meandered off to bed. Until around Midnight, when the party bus showed up, with many in tow.. Lance and Mandy, TJDave and Barb, Gerald and Kelly, and Scott. They spent a while doing laps in the campground with the RV’s. I think it was a little dirt track racing, couldn’t tell who won, I was actually trying to sleep. Then a couple of them, Lance for sure, stayed up till like 3 o’clock doing their best to support the brewery’s.
Day Three: GAME ON.. Mandi was nice enough to get us all up with a 7am Generator Start. We get up, eat, and meet with everyone. Everyone is curious to know where the MandiWagon is, and why the hell they showed up at midnight, when they left at 6:00pm or so. That time zone thing is a bitch.. During this time, Doug and his boys show up. HOLY CRAP, they drove up from Tri-Cities, in the wee hours of the morning with no doors, or top.. Man that had to have been cold. Roy also showed up.. After some back and forth the decisions were made on where we were going, and everyone loaded up. We head out minus TJDave, and Gerald, and start exploring. This was supposed to be a mild, nice run, not to tight, at least that is what I had heard. The run was fun the only real trouble we had in the morning section was a shale hill, that took a bit to get up. Scott needed a little help on that one, and then we continued one. The trail wasn’t too tight, but the limbs and branches were very low and hung over the trail. If there was ever a need for “Limb Risersâ€
Day One: I headed out early and actually went up by myself on Thursday afternoon. Perfect day, I setup camp, and noticed the Jeep seemed to be leaking fluid from the front end, near the front right tire. At first I thought it may be the brake line. There was fluid dripped all over the inside of the tire. After further inspection I found that it was my steering stabilizer shock that was bent and punctured. It had apparently lost a fight against a downed tree, two weeks before, when I was up in the same area with my family. So beings I have no mechanical skills at all, I’m not sure if this is bad or not. So with what little Internet in the air that I can grab, I jump on the forum and ask if this is bad or not. David responds very quickly that it’s not a big deal, and I can actually take it off if I wanted. In hindsight this is something I should have just done, because the creaking and cracking noise that damn thing made all weekend bugged the crap out of me. So with peace of mind, I finished setting up camp, did a little exploring of the surrounding area, made some dinner, and relaxed.
Day Two: Had a good night’s sleep, made a very nice breakfast sandwich, and mulled around camp for a bit. Got the jeep all ready to go. I think around Noon I headed up to the lake to explore around a bit, around 1:00pm I was heading back, and just as I was turning onto Tieton road, Alan (Scumby), and Stacy were pulling in. They setup camp real quick then we got to know each other a bit, not to long after that David, Andrew, and his daughter Madison showed up. After everyone was setup we decided to go explore a bit around the lake. Surprisingly, no one had really seen or camped around the lake before, even though it’s only like 2 miles up the road from this camp. So with Alan and Stacy in tow, we headed up to the west end of Rimrock lake and explored some of the campgrounds and such. I didn’t realize that David, and Andrew were coming also, so I accidently left without them. They ended up heading to the south side of the lake, near the boat launch and landing strip. That is pretty much party central. That’s where David met up with the drunk guy who busted up his 4Runner. After exploring some nice campgrounds we headed back, and met up with Klinger and Mike. We all ate dinner, and sat around a campfire minus the fire, and BS’d for a while, then everyone meandered off to bed. Until around Midnight, when the party bus showed up, with many in tow.. Lance and Mandy, TJDave and Barb, Gerald and Kelly, and Scott. They spent a while doing laps in the campground with the RV’s. I think it was a little dirt track racing, couldn’t tell who won, I was actually trying to sleep. Then a couple of them, Lance for sure, stayed up till like 3 o’clock doing their best to support the brewery’s.
Day Three: GAME ON.. Mandi was nice enough to get us all up with a 7am Generator Start. We get up, eat, and meet with everyone. Everyone is curious to know where the MandiWagon is, and why the hell they showed up at midnight, when they left at 6:00pm or so. That time zone thing is a bitch.. During this time, Doug and his boys show up. HOLY CRAP, they drove up from Tri-Cities, in the wee hours of the morning with no doors, or top.. Man that had to have been cold. Roy also showed up.. After some back and forth the decisions were made on where we were going, and everyone loaded up. We head out minus TJDave, and Gerald, and start exploring. This was supposed to be a mild, nice run, not to tight, at least that is what I had heard. The run was fun the only real trouble we had in the morning section was a shale hill, that took a bit to get up. Scott needed a little help on that one, and then we continued one. The trail wasn’t too tight, but the limbs and branches were very low and hung over the trail. If there was ever a need for “Limb Risersâ€
Last edited by Irish on Tue Aug 12, 2014 12:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
09 JKU Rubicon
Wow! Great pics so far.
So here is my story of failure
...or luck, depending on how you look at it.
Barb could not get out of work early Friday, so we had a late start. She had a bag ready, I had the rig ready, and we rolled out of the house at 9pm. We cruised by to pick up my buddies Kelli and Gerald. We fueled and were off. Kelli texted Barb to ask how fast we like to roll. I told her 70 is good cause we are running late. Holy cow, their huge lifted Powersmoke, with camper and Jeep/trailer in tow, pulled the I-182 hill like it was nothing. I think Gerald has done a little work to it.
75+ it is! I mashed the pedal and our V10 made that noise, (the noise that is supposed to be normal for a V10. The noise I don't make it do very often.) We merged onto I-82, and I noticed a couple rigs behind us. From my rear view mirror, it looked like a pickup hauling a trailer, and a motorhome hauling a trailer. They kept right behind us the whole way, passing trucks, cars, almost everything. I knew for sure who it was when we took the White Pass turnoff, under the lights, just past the town of Naches. Yep, Lance and Scott hauling their Jeeps!
^Why did I write that? Because that is one of the few times on this trip where I was driving and having fun.
Four large rigs rolled into camp very late. Al greeted us and helped us avoid holes and branches. Thank you Al. We probably woke everybody up, but a few came out to greet us also. Everyone had a cold beverage, or 5, to wind down. Last men standing: Lance and Myself.
Well Saturday, we got a late start. Surprise! Lance showed me on the map which direction and trails they were going on. I had a map too. Looked very easy. Right?
The two black TJ's were about an hour behind and headed up the 1201. Up on top I saw a trail marker of the trail they were running, I thought. #608 Perfect! Lets go, and we'll meet up with them. The trail was tight, overgrown, with lots of branches. Didn't look like any rigs have been on it since the last rain. Maybe a year ago.
As we wound through the top portion of the trail, the garbled chatter on the CB became clearer and clearer. I recognized familiar voices and it sounded like we were right on top of the group. Communicating clearly with Lance, he told me they were on the 609a, not the 608. Easy peasy. Turn around and go back up, take the 609, then a right on 609a.
Long story short, we never met up. CB chatter became weaker, stronger, weaker, etc. I think we may have been doing circles around each other!
By the way. Still having fun. I only took a couple pictures.
^Those pic were taken on the #609. We ran that whole trail, taking turnoffs that looked like they could be #609a, since Lance informed us it wasn't marked. Most dead ended after a bit and we turned around. The trail ended up spitting us out on the 1202 fire road. We made our way back to camp and then the radio went off with Lance calling me. Sounded clear and close. Yay! "Go to Lost Lake off the 1201 and we'll there in 10-15."
Here we are waiting at Lost Lake.
Still waiting....
Yep. Waiting..
Hmm. Getting late. No radio chatter. Back to camp to comfy chairs, cold beverages, and BBQ's.
The next morning we were ready, and mounted up on time with the rest of the group. Just up the road from camp, my Jeep's CEL came on and locked up in second gear. No Lo gear. Got the tranny malfunction code on the odometer. I did not want to hold the group up. Even though they said they would wait while I cleared the code.
There they go....
Barb and I limped the Jeep over to the lake for awhile.
Back at camp I checked for loose connections, fluid level, then unhooked the battery for a couple hours to see if it would re-set itself. Nope. No Go.
So on the trailer went the Heep, and we hung out to wait for the gang to get back. You know that story.
We still had a great time. It was good to see everybody.
So here is my story of failure
...or luck, depending on how you look at it.
Barb could not get out of work early Friday, so we had a late start. She had a bag ready, I had the rig ready, and we rolled out of the house at 9pm. We cruised by to pick up my buddies Kelli and Gerald. We fueled and were off. Kelli texted Barb to ask how fast we like to roll. I told her 70 is good cause we are running late. Holy cow, their huge lifted Powersmoke, with camper and Jeep/trailer in tow, pulled the I-182 hill like it was nothing. I think Gerald has done a little work to it.
75+ it is! I mashed the pedal and our V10 made that noise, (the noise that is supposed to be normal for a V10. The noise I don't make it do very often.) We merged onto I-82, and I noticed a couple rigs behind us. From my rear view mirror, it looked like a pickup hauling a trailer, and a motorhome hauling a trailer. They kept right behind us the whole way, passing trucks, cars, almost everything. I knew for sure who it was when we took the White Pass turnoff, under the lights, just past the town of Naches. Yep, Lance and Scott hauling their Jeeps!
^Why did I write that? Because that is one of the few times on this trip where I was driving and having fun.
Four large rigs rolled into camp very late. Al greeted us and helped us avoid holes and branches. Thank you Al. We probably woke everybody up, but a few came out to greet us also. Everyone had a cold beverage, or 5, to wind down. Last men standing: Lance and Myself.
Well Saturday, we got a late start. Surprise! Lance showed me on the map which direction and trails they were going on. I had a map too. Looked very easy. Right?
The two black TJ's were about an hour behind and headed up the 1201. Up on top I saw a trail marker of the trail they were running, I thought. #608 Perfect! Lets go, and we'll meet up with them. The trail was tight, overgrown, with lots of branches. Didn't look like any rigs have been on it since the last rain. Maybe a year ago.
As we wound through the top portion of the trail, the garbled chatter on the CB became clearer and clearer. I recognized familiar voices and it sounded like we were right on top of the group. Communicating clearly with Lance, he told me they were on the 609a, not the 608. Easy peasy. Turn around and go back up, take the 609, then a right on 609a.
Long story short, we never met up. CB chatter became weaker, stronger, weaker, etc. I think we may have been doing circles around each other!
By the way. Still having fun. I only took a couple pictures.
^Those pic were taken on the #609. We ran that whole trail, taking turnoffs that looked like they could be #609a, since Lance informed us it wasn't marked. Most dead ended after a bit and we turned around. The trail ended up spitting us out on the 1202 fire road. We made our way back to camp and then the radio went off with Lance calling me. Sounded clear and close. Yay! "Go to Lost Lake off the 1201 and we'll there in 10-15."
Here we are waiting at Lost Lake.
Still waiting....
Yep. Waiting..
Hmm. Getting late. No radio chatter. Back to camp to comfy chairs, cold beverages, and BBQ's.
The next morning we were ready, and mounted up on time with the rest of the group. Just up the road from camp, my Jeep's CEL came on and locked up in second gear. No Lo gear. Got the tranny malfunction code on the odometer. I did not want to hold the group up. Even though they said they would wait while I cleared the code.
There they go....
Barb and I limped the Jeep over to the lake for awhile.
Back at camp I checked for loose connections, fluid level, then unhooked the battery for a couple hours to see if it would re-set itself. Nope. No Go.
So on the trailer went the Heep, and we hung out to wait for the gang to get back. You know that story.
We still had a great time. It was good to see everybody.
2018 JLU Rubicon
Tow bar mount
Trailer hitch
Tow bar mount
Trailer hitch
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