Postby Livin4Today » Sun Sep 22, 2013 6:09 pm
Pick Up A Mountain Sep 20-22, 2013
Friday
Mandi, Marlies, Syler & I left about 2:00 pm on Friday to arrive at Jim Sprick Park just before 5:00 pm. We arrived to a number of Putters already encamped along the river as was decided. I'll try and remember all who were there, TJ Dave & family, Iacocca & family, Oddball & family, Lurch & Carrie, a little later SPR & family arrived, squaring out the Richardson troop and TJ Dave had a couple of friends show up and join us too.
Missing Putters, who of course were actually missed, Yrjan & family, and Roman & family, but we hope to get them back out soon!
We went about setting up our RV, and unloading the JK, then had a quick dinner. Then it was socializing time, we had 3 fire rings going, lots of chatter and some ribbing each other and I tied a pretty good one on Colorado Kool-Aid, or Silver Bullets, finally hitting the rack about 1:30 am...
Saturday
Saturday started on schedule -- yeah right, apparently I wasn't alone in my quest to eliminate beverages in my cooler so we got a late start, but then again so did all the other campers! The Drivers' Meeting was pushed back from 8:00 am to 9:00 am with a group picture following. I believe there were about 80-100 rigs that showed up but you can count how many made the picture I took of them parked in a group...
Then we were off and rolling with no real assignments other than we got volunteered to get an abandoned Bronco II off the mountain. Another club was going after the old upside down Merc or Plymouth that has been up there for years.
Myself Curtis & Lee were going to take this challenge on, however my rig was having some clearance issues (banging metal on metal), turns out I had pushed my front axle too far forward and the truss was contacting my steering brace... Anyway long story short, I got the brace removed at Funny Rocks but the banging only lightened up, it didn't go away effectively hobbling my rig and doucing any chance of tearing up any trails...
So we took pics and vids of Lee and Curtis playing on Moon & Funny Rocks. Never found the Bronco II, and at about 2:30 pm decided we should point back at camp to get down by 4;00 ish. We crossed paths with Tim & Ed who went on to find and recover the Bronco II bringing it back to camp, much to our chagrin...
On our way down Curtis found a couple of nice downhill trails that dropped us out on Milk Creek rd, and I have to say for any that wondered why they closed it this season... it is still closed!
Shhhh don't tell anybody... The damage to the road was significant in many places the road was nearly washed away by the torrent of water rocks trees etc that seemed to be down all over the place. Honestly, Mandi & I had a complete conversation about the road, the only way it will ever open (even as a fire road) is with the utliization of some serious heavy equipment and culverts and retaining walls. Still we made it through but even for us it didnt look like it would make through the next rain storm...
Pot Luck was the order for dinner and it was truly a feast with pulled pork as the main entree. A short break to get warmer clothes, chairs and raffle tickets. Then it was raffle time, with Putters carry a fine lot of prizes home. I bought either the most tickets or pretty close and won nothing... Kinda like my day was going anyway...
Then back to camp for more adult time by the fire to listen to Tim, Lee, Curtis & Steve brag about their winnings. I didn't come home empty handed however. I somehow scored a Trail Jammin' coffee cup...
I finally had to call it a night when my eyeballs started slamming shut, Lee and I were the last two hombres standing. However, I found out this morning as he was buttoning up another camper one of Dave's friend caught a second wind and kept Lee up even later.
Sunday
Bummed about my rig, I had loaded it the night before. So we woke up around 8:30 am to find everybody still there, with the exception of some of the wet siders who pulled out early.
I believe there was a plan to take a casual ride today, but everyone decided getting back early might be a better plan. I had breakfast and wrapped up my gear and rig. We said our good byes and headed for home, bumping into Irish and trailed closely by Ed & Karen (Desert Rats) at the Prosser Rest Stop and RV Dump.
We made it home by 2:00 pm and set about getting things in order for another adventure next weekend. Great trip, great people, and good times, can't wait to do it again! Who wants to join us next weekend for the Grey Rock Trail?
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
It was great. Everyone was all over the place, so please share your stories and pictures here.
) Thanks to TJDave for lighting a fire under us and getting us involved in this.
