This is one Hard trail - made even worse by snow.
we got on the trail really late today - things this morning didn't quite go the way I had hoped for this trail run today. And unfortunately is was a downer....
One of our members rolled his Xterra on the highway while on the way to the meeting spot. Thankfully, he is ok - shocked and shaken up by the ordeal, but OK...
His X on the other hand
I didn't see it, but from what I was told, as they were coming around a cruve on the highway, the rear of his truck kicked out, and he slid towards the left side of the highway - the median there doesn't have a barrier, and slopes downward. When he go to the median, he rolled down the embankment.
What I did see when I arrived at the accident scene was a jeep liberty (which had hit the Jersey Barrier on the other side of the highway) and a Kia Sportage (which had also rolled down the embankment) at the exact same place where his roll happened. All three happened at about the same time.
Thankfully, everyone was OK. - but it says something about that curve on that road and how (un)well the road had been prepped for this snowfall.
Once we got to the trail, we didn't get very far in - in retrospect I probably should have called this off to a later date. Although I know I'm not the direct cause of any carnage that happened today, I still feel badly about what happened to others because I was the one who organized the run. But the weather forecast I checked on Friday didn't seem to be as bad as the weather was.
When we got to the first obstacle - the famous rockface-, it looked like this
You can compare with the first rockface picture located
HereThere is a bypass to the right which we took.
The first climb gave everyone except one person trouble
I had aired down to 18 PSI, and making fresh tracks got up after about 8 attempts.
Mike did well - but you can see how the snow really messed with our traction...
Sorry about the Video - I was trying to spot and film at the same time...We got around the water pit fairly easily...the bypass was open although tougher because of the snow. This pic isn't so good, because I slipped and fell right before taking it...my Camera took a little beating today...
And then the trail carnage began...
After the pit, there are 3 paths you can take to start the hillclimb. I chose the middle:
Which Peckham (the Yellow X) took 4 years ago...Again, I fell just before taking these pictures - so sorry about the quality - I know better ones exist, they will probbaly be posted later
As I went up, my Rear slid to the right onto those rocks (to the left of Peckham's X) with a really loud and hard Bang - causing me to be stuck in the following places - the passenger side slider and frame
The Spare tire and Hitch (I know, I know - I should have taken the spare tire down)
And the rear axle. My rear axle pic didn't come out at all. I was hung right by the diff and axle, and the rock was a wallface facing right towards my Rear Shock and Shock mount. I was maybe a 1/4" away from the side and the bottom and back of the shock of ripping it right off my truck - being more concerned about getting unstuck, I didn't take a picture of it - but this would have been an awesome test for my skids I have made (and am waiting on to be finished).
So I Highlifted (using Mike's Highlift, thank you again) from the slider by the rear, and then realized I hadn't left my X in gear - so it slid backwards (into the position shown in image above). So I highlifted from the hitch, got the spare tire out from underneath, lifted from the slider, and with the help of the group, we stuck rocks under the rear tire, put my spare in front of the rear tire, and thanks to Jarrod's little tugging assist, got me out from being stuck.
Of course, when I was lowering the truck from the hitch when I removed the spare, I mentioned the video Peckham posted some time ago about a high lift jack snapping up uncontrolled and hitting a guy causing him to lose an eye.
So, of course, what would happen as I was lowering the Highlift from my slider, but the handle would snap up uncontrolled (not once, but twice) and thankfully miss me and the people around the jack, but smack and dent the rear door.
A few scrapes on the sliders and frame (no biggie) opne dent in the rear passenger side door (inside the doorjam to match the one outside on the door).
Ma Bell 1 - Wheelers 0
Now while all of that was going on, Max decided to climb the left most path hill...
I've never seen anyone go up that side - I didn't remember at the time that at the very top is a 3 foot rockface (there is a bypass to the right) - but I knew there was a reason I hadn't seen anyone go up.
I didn't see Max start, but what I did see was this:
About 3/5's of the way up, Max's Brake line broke - so he no longer had any brakes.
Ma Bell 2 - Wheelers 0
So, we turn arounbd and head into town to get some parts to fic the truck. we stopped at the Gas station down the road, and thought we might have a bolt to help us out - but that ended up being a no-go. But, he told us of a parts store in town (on Kings road) where we could get parts. We drive in, and stop at International Auto Parts - closed, no parts that we need - but they tell us that Autozone is open and should have what we need. Thankfully, Autozone that had more than what we needed and we went back to the trail. But before that, I filled up my tires, since I had aired down and could feel my tires bending on the road.
Once back to the trailhead - Max, Jarrod and Co head up the trail, and Mike and his brother decide they are going to split. He hasn't suffered any damage or sticks durin the day
Ma Bell 2 - wheelers 1
I then start to head up the trail (with full tires) and had a devil of a time with the bottom section. I don't know if it was icer or what, but I almost slid to the right and down the rockface at the beggining...and where the video shows Mike having traction problems, I stopped, turned around and walked up to where Max's hardbody was.
I get there to find Max bleeding his brakes
After Bleeding his brakes, Max got up to the bypass after hitting a few rocks with his skids and frame and axle, and a couple of trees with his front quarter panel, headlight and bed.
Of course, the start of the second chance of the run was kinda cool
and a little cloudy...After Max cleared the path, Jarrod tried to go up - and found he had a frozen throttle - he almost zoomed right into a whole bunch of trees...but I didn't get a picture of it.
Ma Bell 3- Wheelers 1
Jarrod though he had everything in working order, and tried to get up the hill again, but the throttle stuck open again...and again I didn't get a photo of it.
I unfortuantely had to split before finding out how bad the situation was, but there were a couple of Toyota guys who had gone onto the trail while we were in town, so I didn't leave them exactly alone. They got in a bit farther than we did - but one of the two had sliced a tire
Ma Bell 4 - Wheelers 2.
everything I have heard about the difficulty of this trail going up with snow on the ground was accurate. Carnage, Carnage, and more Carnage.
Although, with the exception of my stick, the carnage we got wasn't so much the trail, as much as it was luck or things that could've happened off that trail today...and the carnage with my stick wasn't really caused by the trail.
I think I jinxed myself by mentioning that video :unsure:
Unfortuantely Luck was just not on our side at all today.