In my group were

Ed Miller (OCC, TJ 35's, locked/locked)
Jonathan Kalmes (OCC, LJ, 35's, locked/locked)
Rob (Guest, LJ, 35's, locked/locked)
Gene, Claudia (NVJA '07JK Rubicon, 35's, locked/locked)
Chip Woods (OCC, TJ, 33's, open/open)
Charles Galpin, Joe Edwards, Sam (OCC, '94 D90, 33's, rear locker)

This was a great sized group and all the vehicles where nicely setup for blues. There were 3 blue groups and we made a rough agreement on which route's we'd take so we didn't end up in traffic on the same trail, and our group was going to start with the u-turns.

We had a slow start. On the way to the trail we saw extreme, and after a brief discussion it was decided we'd give it a shot - someone mentioned they recalled it not living up to it's name. As the trail progressed it got harder and I was running a new [to me] set of tires and wasn't getting traction so I stopped to check my air pressure. It looks like I need to adjust my deflators as they were all high in the low twenties. Chip offered up his deflators set at 12 psi so I aired down to 12 which improved traction. However it was getting tougher for Chip and I and we walked the trail a bit and decided it wasn't getting any easier and there was no end in sight so the smart move was to turn around and head for the trails we knew. Whilst turning around I managed to lose the bead on my right front tire. It was of course a very steep rocky section so we hooked up Ed's winch via a snatch block on a tree to prevent the truck falling downhill and I jacked the right front up with my hi-lift. We then put a ratchet strap around the tire to help seat the bead and used my air tank to inflate the tire. Some smart-ass comments were made as to how far I'd make it without breaking again and fortunately for me it was uneventful from that point forward.

So once back on middle road we went up u-turn hard, and I believe stopped for lunch at this point. During lunch we cut the end of Rob's exhaust off which he had manage to bend on extreme and was pressing up against his right rear shock which was also bleeding out. Later I found out this was a bad move as the exhaust heated the rubber boot on the drive hope and sprayed the rubber into his brakes. Then we went down u-turn easy, and went all the way down to the very start of trickle and road it all the way to the end. We crossed over middle road and took cobra up, came back down winch-only. My memory is fading already but we ended up taking some other trail up and then came down cobra, but I can't remember which trail :( Chip needed to get back to camp so he split when we took wahoo before heading back to camp.

Despite the slow start we covered a lot of ground and had a great day. I want to thank everyone in my group for being patient and helpful which we futzed around with my tire. I am thinking the skinny tires were not a good choice but will setup my deflators and give them at least one more chance :)

I also want to thank everyone who helped organize the event, and especially Chip for cooking a great dinner on Saturday night!

charles