Participants:
Edward Salas TJ 37 inch tires
Ryan Gillespie Nissan Pathfinder 31 inch tires
Mike Anderson TJ 35 inch tires
Paul Neubert Ford Explorer 35 inch tires
After the drivers meeting at 9 we started for the trails at 9:30. From the parking lot we drove down past the old office and took L3 to A and then B to 1a and Turned on to a section of trail 1 then back down to B and over to the pole line. All of us took the far right line and completed the descent without any issues or spotting. The water crossing/ Mud pit made Ryan a little nervous and we were able to find a route around it since the water was a little deeper than normal and he is on 31’s. After the pole line we turned on to H and entered the west property.
The first Blue that we hit on the west property was 12B then on to 12 and 10A back on to H then to 11 to trail 23 all of us were moving along when all of a sudden I heard the hissing sound of a tire coming off the bead. Ryan’s front passenger side tire bead had come unseated. This was quickly fixed with lifting the tire off the ground with a bottle jack and using my onboard air to reseat the bead. We also used a ratchet strap looped around the tire to help seal the bead that had to yet seat. After a few minutes were moving again. After 23 we turned on to 11B then 18A and 18B. Trail 18 had some deep mud that caused Mike and Ryan to get stuck in the same place at the same time. Paul pulled Mike out and Mike pulled out Ryan. After trail 18 we turned on to 10b and then to trail 13. Trail 13 was probably one of the more challenging trails we did since it crosses rock creek and has some decent sized rocks and holes after you cross. By walking the trail and making a solid game plan we were able to get Ryan across rock creek and past the large rocks and holes on the other side. The remainder of trail 13 was uneventful. Once we were done with 13 we had a quick drivers meeting and it was about 2:30 we decided to start working our way back to the parking lot. On the way back we hit 19a and then took 11 back to H which brought us back to the East side of the park. We made our way down the pole line and on to D to run crawler ridge after crawler ridge we hoped on trail 2 and then B which took us back to the parking lot.
I wish I could have provided you with a more thrilling account of what happened but it was a rather uneventful day. The weather was spectacular and felt more spring like then the middle of December. Since there were no mechanical issues on the trail we all just drove along and covered a lot of ground. As always I was reminded how some basic mods can allow a vehicle to do some amazing things. I would like to thank everyone that came out and wheeled.
Hope to see everyone on the trail soon!
Edward