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Avoiding a repeat of last year's fiasco, we drove quickly into the trail and aired up. This brings up a point; don't expect the air-down area to be level or dry. If you need to disconnect swaybars consider doing so at the meeting spot. Most are close enough to the trail to allow street driving disconnected.
The trail crosses a stream which was swollen and deeper than usual but not a problem for any of us. The one big obsticle ath the Gutter comes up early. A couple of us tried the ledge head on, but the snow and ice made that impossible. The Howler got close, Garrett gave it a few hard shots in his Rubi and Trevor's Unlimited made a quick attempt. But no go.
Attacking the rock from the side by going into it's gully was doable, tougher for some than for others. The XJ's seemed to have a tougher time here than the short wheelbase rigs. Prospective member Bill's pretty XJ got through with some air under the right front and Angies's built XJ had to fight it too.
The bypass, avoiding the rock and narrow gulley, is a fairly steep hillclimb. Like all of our uphill passages, it was covered in snow. This one proved too much for the one JK that tried it. SO he backed up and did the gully.
When we tried to move the line up so all could get by the obsticle, Mike's way-build Sami would not start. Seems an overabundance of articulation let the wiring harness get crushed by the axle. That wasn't the problem, but it fooled all those who tried to get'er done. Turns out the fuse box had some contacts that let a enough current through to light up an LED probe, but not enough to fire the fuel pump & relay. Garrett & Trevor escored the Sami back to the trailhead and Mike sat passenger to salvage some fun for the day.
As we continued to climb, a few got spotted by Bulldog, our ace spotter, over the another stream crossing ledge. I think there was some tugging too. Andy got to test Blue-Jay's winch when Warren's Rubicon got crossed up on a rock in another gulley.
The stock rigs and the ones without body damage diverted out of the next gully which tosses the rig side to side at some very steep angles. They were rewarded with a tough snowy trail that needed some spotting, some careful driving, and some wheelspin. It looked like fun and all made it through quickly.
The two paths converged again. The almost flat, butte-like mountain top is usually very mild wheeling. This year there was lots of mud and some fairly deep standing water. We stopped for lunch about 2:30 at picturesque clearing with a view of the trail ahead.
At lunch we discussed the road crossing and the trail ahead. In years past we've never gone much past the crossing, opting to do the hillclimb and turn back. Last year I scouted the trail and wanted to continue the extra miles, but a blown motor made it impossible.
The downhill after the road crossing has actually gotten easier, and since it faces the sun, was all dirt. No problem there, but some local wheelers were blocking the trail right at the stream crossing. We watched a bit as a nice TJ on 33s flaided back and forth at full throttle without making any progress. I thought something was amiss and asked one of the fellows, who were ther for three hours, to watch the rear tire on ones side while I watched the other. Sure enough, nothing happening out back. When they looked, they saw the hole in the diff cover that let the drive action leak out, tooth by tooth.
I took the Howler down the hill, expecting to winch the the TJ out so we could continue. With a seriously bent tie rod he kept locking onto the boulder in the middle of the trail. We added a snatch block to pull from a different angle. The winch overheated as we got him passed the rock.
While we watched the beat-your-Jeep show, Garrett had scouted the hillclimb on foot and judged it to be impassable, too icy near the dropoff. So we stayed with the recovery. Since it didn't steer too well, the TJ took every opportunity to fall in a ditch or pop a tire off on a rock.
Mariano winched the TJ up the next section, then his winch slowed down as well. He had to back up the hill. Garrett jumped in an winched it the rest of the way. By the time we got him near his buddy's trailer only one tire was left inflated. But he wasn't at the bottom of a snowy ravine anymore and his trial was over. The driver mentioned, as he thanked us, that the Air Force was shipping him to Afganistan very soon. Glad we could help him out before the real danger begins.
The three-winch recovery took too much time to continue, knowing the hillclimb would be next to impossible, so we headed back. Most of the group took the road back, but Evan, Treavor, Mariano and I drove the trail back to help Mike get his damaged Sami on the trailer. Going back, the snow is only on the downhill side, and this was a much smaller group. The trail that took 6 hours in only took 45 minutes back.
The last picture shows some, not all, of the trash we picked up on the trail. Just small 'Thanks' to the property owners who allow us on the trail.
