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Bobby was elected trail leader for the day. He had his J.K. that day. As we approached the water hole he swore he was going to go around but just couldn’t stop himself from plunging right in and through the deep water and mud. Steve G. also wanted to try the water, but with no lockers the jeep came to a stop mid way through. To the rescue came Bobby with Joe B. riding the hood and Evan deep in the water with his rig. They hooked up and pulled out the T.J. without getting wet. At the split our group went right and played the different lines up the hill while the group before us made their progress on the ledges. Our turn on the ledges brought the first incident. John in one of the two just built Cherokees tried the far left of the first ledge up the big rock. The truck climbed to the top then slid slightly to the right and slowly rolled onto its side. The truck was quickly righted and John was unhurt save for some bruises. The truck took some damage to the roof, door, and front fender.
On the second ledge the first tire went. Steve G. tore a tire on the sharp rocks. We needed a mechanic to tell us there were more pieces to the stock jack than we had out. Lunch was had while the tire was changed. Shortly later the second tire was ripped when Gene’s sway bar unhooked, fell down, and took out the tire. The repair included moving the sway bar ends out of the way.
Not long after the procession started moving again the last tire change came. John fearing another roll had to throttle out of the situation slamming a front tire into a rock. The rock didn’t give as much as the rim did leading to a multiple tire change to keep sizes the same. These incidents gave us time to work together and just shoot the breeze in the nice sunny weather.
Suzuki hill was fun for all. Most made the trek down pulled to the sides and went back up one by one. It’s an obstacle that looks scarier than it is but if done wrong there is a potential to roll. The group before us did just that. A T.J. bounced on the rock and over it went.
The ride out is just as much fun as the ride in. The tight tree spot needed some pulls to get everybody through or around it. Eric climbed the extreme rock, first time I saw somebody make it all the way up. Nice going Eric and a good show also. Mark S. had a problem with Snow White. Brakes failed taking out a wheel cylinder leaving him with no brakes for the ride out and back to his trailer. A broken axle was had by Eric when a very large tire slipped into a perfectly sized crack to snap a front axle.
Back out by the trail head people were playing on Monster Rock. Bobby almost made it up but needed a pull to crest it. Bob B. had a phenomenal double save of the Howler. Toward the top the Howler started tipping toward the right. Bob throws it in reverse hits the throttle pulling it down and tipping it to left. A repeat performance saves the Howler from rolling. Not many drivers could have saved a roll like this driver did; though the event did leave him sitting a little higher in the seat.
Air up time gave us some time to clean up the trail head. This driver found very little trash on the trail itself and enough at the trailhead to lead one to believe the trash is not from the wheelers but just from people hanging out there. If not for club efforts in protecting and cleaning our wheeling spots they would all disappear quickly.
The last repair of the day was done on the side of the road on the way back to the meeting spot. The ear on Mark’s driveshaft fell apart divorcing the shaft from the case. Good thing he was going slow due to no brakes. The shaft was removed and the jeep moved in front wheel drive.
