BadReligion
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You guys doing Rubithon again this year?
Dusy Ershim 2015 (1 Viewer)
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You guys doing Rubithon again this year?
Thursday Morning Breakfast Run.
BadReligion
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We will be on the Wagon run this year but will look for you at the springs.
Michelle has a new job so she can't get off Wednesday. Save a good spot with all the wagons for us.
BadReligion
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Will do. We'll have to talk more about Dusy.
I might be interested in going this year. Let me know on the official dates so I can make a decision.
Thanks,
Ko
Thanks,
Ko
1973Guppie
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pm'd u, I would like to come along and have run the trail before.....
I was coincidentally considering a dusy run that weekend. It doesn't look too hard, just relentless. if that's the weekend we end up going I will try to sync with you guys.
BadReligion
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Keep me posted. How big is the group you are in?
BadReligion
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Just wanted to update this thread....unfortunately the run is not going to happen this year. I know its still a month away but I have to schedule my time off 6 weeks in advance and couldn't get enough people to commit 100% at this point. I think there is another thread where someone is trying to organize a run so for those on the fence it might be worth checking out. As the saying goes....there is always next year.
other dusy run: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/anyone-intersted-in-running-the-dusy-ershim-this-year.866881/
other dusy run: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/anyone-intersted-in-running-the-dusy-ershim-this-year.866881/
planning on running it N to S this Aug between 20-26. I've done it in 3 days before...not again...took my body a week to recover 
getting too old for this schitt. 4 nights/5days including driving to/from home has worked out best IMO.
getting too old for this schitt. 4 nights/5days including driving to/from home has worked out best IMO.
BadReligion
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Disclaimer: This is a long trip report. I tried to keep it short but in the spirit of being thorough and including all parts that really stood out (which was essentially the whole trip), this turned into a mini novel. Proceed with caution.
I posted a few teaser pics in the “What did you do with your 80 this weekend” thread but wanted to do an official write up and conclusion to this thread. Too often these trip threads start out with a grand plan that goes nowhere, but that was not the case this time. Blood was spilt, sheet metal was crushed, wire was burnt (in both a welding and electrical manner), but Dusy was conquered. This trail challenges and tests every aspect of a built cruiser but in the end machine prevailed. I’m neither a creative writer nor good with analogies, but if I had to describe Dusy Ershim in a single word, it would be a few levels above epic….whatever that word may be. If Dusy were a cocktail, it would be one part Rubicon, one part Red Bull, shaken, stirred and served as a double on the rocks with a garnish of pine.
On a technical level, no single part of Dusy is that much harder than parts of the Rubicon, but when looked at as a whole, it is definitely a tougher trail. The combination of length, remoteness, varied terrain, elevation, and unpredictable weather create plenty of opportunities for things to go awry. This was made perfectly clear when we came across a Jeep with a broken pitman arm 10 miles from the nearest exit. Best case scenario, he had a 1 day ride/hike to pavement, then a 2-3 hour round trip to the nearest Napa (if they were open and had the part in stock), then another day ride/hike back in and (hoping he had the right tools to change it), still another day drive back out. If this happened in late October with an approaching storm a day or two away, that Jeep might not be coming out until the following year. In other words, do not run this trail alone or too late in the season.
With that being said, if you have 1; run the Rubicon or similar trails, 2; have a built cruiser, 3; live anywhere within a day drive away from the trailhead, and 4; enjoy camping in beautiful high sierra country, this is a trail that needs to be on the top of your list. To say that a trail can be life changing might sound like a bit of an overstatement, but in reality running Dusy will give you slightly different perspective in the way you look at offroading and even the world in general.
My desire to run Dusy started late one cold February night when I stumbled across an old thread on ‘Mud that detailed the adventures of a group of wagons that tackled the trail several years back. I was blown away by some of the scenery and could not grasp the notion that a difficult, remote, 33 mile trail that was relatively untraveled could still exist in the western sierras of California. The more I researched and read about Dusy Ershim, the more I wanted to run it. Though I had a fairly well build 80, I was still somewhat new to offroading (my first real trail was the Rubicon in 2014) and knew this was probably something I couldn’t do without the help of some more experienced wheelers. That’s why this thread was created. At first it looked promising, lots of interest but the more I started to plan the trip, the harder it was to find a window that could accommodate everyone’ work schedule or give them enough time to finish building their cruiser up. A two day banzai run with non locked 80s on stockish tires was definitely a big negatory. Things were not looking good.
Fast forward to Rubithon 2015. I was hoping to recruit a few more people on the trail but surprisingly even a large majority of people that live in CA and have been running the ‘con for years have not heard of Dusy or were largely unfamiliar with it. Again, this run looked DOA until I started chatting with Andy (Cruiserdrew). He, along with Rick, who was leading the wagon run, were planning on running Dusy in early August. Both were veterans of Dusy with plenty of experience wheeling, leading, and repairing cruisers on all kinds of trails. After a little directed questioning on my part, they cordially invited me to join their run. I was ecstatic. It looked like I was going to make it after all. The next 6 weeks were a blur and spent preparing and finalizing for August 4th, the start of our adventure. Rounding out the group were Aaron and Ben, both out of northern CA and driving well-built 80s. While they may have been Dusy virgins, these guys were no strangers to running difficult trails. Accompanying the drivers were Rick’s two sons and a colleague from work, Aaron’s two sons, and the sole woman on the trip, my courageous wife. I soon discovered that being relatively newly married, it is common for a wife to accompany her husband on their first few offroad adventures. After that, unless the offroad trip terminates at a remote Nordstroms or picturesque winery in the foothills with 3+ star accommodations, she will most likely be staying home. However, according to Ben, a RTT can help change this, but the probability of the wife coming along is still inversely related to the difficulty rating of the trail.
For those that have not wheeled with this group, to say that food is taken seriously is an understatement. The majority of all emails among the group members leading up to our date of departure pertained to meal preparation and planning. To quote someone in the group, “I think I ate better during the 4 days we were on Dusy than I do in a typical 2 week period at home.” Hopefully none of the wife’s are reading this, but even they are, there is no reason to feel bad because the dinners that we ate were truly exceptional. More on this later.
With rigs loaded, fridges on max cold, and all gas tanks topped off, we all hit the road at various times on Monday to meet up just past the start of the trailhead on the south side of the trail. Thinking I could get a full day’s work in at the office and still have time to make it to the trailhead at a reasonable hour, I decided not to take Monday off. I should have known better because in the dental world, Mondays can be very unpredictable as casualties of rib bones, corn on the cob, taffy and other typical summer treats trickle in to have their teeth pieced back together. This coupled with an already busy schedule meant we did not leave Reno until 7pm. No problem I thought, according to google maps, its only 6ish hours to Courtright, and 1am isn’t that late. Well maybe that would have been 6 hours in my wife’s 100 series with no food or fuel stops, but in an 80 that maxes out at 72mph on the freeway (one downside to 5:29s) and has to stop for fuel every 220 miles or so, it was almost an 8 hour ordeal. Finding the group at 2:45am, our tent was promptly yet quietly erected and we were in our bags by 3am. I was hoping the rest of the group was not planning on a 6am departure. After a cold, clear night, sunrise came far too soon but I felt surprisingly refreshed in the morning. Andy was the first one up, and soon after the rest of the group was in the process of preparing their morning coffee. With the sun rapidly rising on the eastern skyline, it went from a few degrees above freezing to being too hot for pants in all of 30 min. Mercy was shown and a gracious 9am departure time was chosen so I could let my wife get another hour of sleep while I disconnected my swaybar and aired down my tires with some help from Aaron. At 9am sharp, we were on the trail. The dream was over, I was actually wheeling Dusy.
First part of the trail is nothing crazy as you work towards Chicken rock. Once there, an official “Dusy Ershim” gate is visible and you drive up the granite slab. Up top, we took our first official group photo. From there, the trail weaves in and out of the trees as it follows a creek up towards Thompson hill. Progress was good and tree squeezes were minimal at this point. We were cruising…until we started climbing and all of the sudden we hear a distress call over the radio. I am not HAM certified (working on this right now) so I will classify the radios we used as “small, portable handheld units.” No further details necessary. On the radio was Rick saying his 80 had a broken axle. We all stop and walk down the trail to see his PS rear axle shaft hanging out a few inches from the hub. At first we think it’s just a broken axle and since we have two sets of spares…an easy fix. Then, upon further examination, we notice that all of the hub studs are sheared off and the axle popped out on its own. Doh! Rick is kind of like a landcruiser MacGyver, capable of repairing almost anything with his vast assortment of tools, but the one tool he didn’t have was an easy out set. After an hour of careful drilling and pounding on a phillips screwdriver, 4 out of the 6 studs were out but the other two were not budging. We conclude that 4/6 holes threaded with new studs should be ok and Rick welds over the other two holes. The group continues on, and I start a new list of parts/tools that I need to acquire before doing this again.
Next part of the trail was Thompson Hill. As previously mentioned, no single part of Dusy is any harder than parts of the Rubicon, but Thompson Hill is no joke. It is a sustained, steep climb up an assortment of constantly moving rocks that are inconveniently positioned in between larger stationary rocks. In other words, you better run this part 3x locked the whole time and even then you still might have to winch a section or two. Progress is slow but steady and before long we all make it into Thompson Lake. Rick’s trail repair (V 1.0) survives until the very top, then makes a sacrificial offering of 4 more hub studs to the gods of Dusy. Once at camp, the first feast of the trip begins as we inhale baba ganoush, followed by grilled chicken and a simple yet satisfying salad, all prepared by Andy, washed down by an assortment of fine wine. Sleep comes early that night as we fall into our tents and drift into altitude and food induced comas.
The following morning my wife and I cook breakfast as the rest of the group assists Rick on his V2.0 axle trail repair. This one lasts the duration of the trip. 30 seconds out of camp, I already need a spotter after a protruding log decides to wedge itself in between my PS front wheel and slider. Whatever you do, do not let your guard down for even a split second on this trail. That’s when a mangy looking 3” round poor excuse for a tree will dent your rear quarter panel. The rest of the day is a blur as we make good time and decide to stop at a beautiful creek crossing/meadow for lunch. We do stumble across a small group that warns us of a massive assembly of Jeeps camped up the trail at Ershim Lake. Heeding their advice, we make camp at the next open spot on the trail. On the menu that night is a fresh sashimi appetizer prepared from wild salmon caught by Andy the previous week in Alaska. Then a fresh guacamole with lime, cilantro, and salsa is made and lasts all of 30 seconds as the kids discover you can avoid double dipping by breaking a tortilla chip into two. As the group is temporarily appeased by the appetisers, Rick artfully prepares his 2 mile high fish bake that consists of rock cod, onions, potatoes, rice, sausage, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. It is so good that we all go back for thirds. Later that night, around our legal campfire that is a verified 150 yards from the trail, a bottle of Hudson Rye makes an appearance and before we know it we are all ready to call it a night again.
The following morning is no different than any other. Andy is first up again and after some coffee and a light breakfast, we are packed up and on the trail again. At this point, I feel like the further we get on the trail, the tighter the tree squeezes become. Some would not be bad at all if it weren’t for the poorly placed rocks on the opposite side of the trail that push you into the tree, or the tree that pushes you into a rock. Either way, you are never more than a centimeter or two away from body damage. After a few miles, we pass Ershim Lake and witness the masses that are camped there. It looked like the Dusy equivalent of the Jeepers Jamboree. Fortunately it looked like they were camped there for at least another day or two and would not be seen on the trail as we continued north. Just after lunch, we find a lone FJ40 at Mallard Lake that exiled himself from the madness at Ershim Lake. Though not a bad spot to camp, it was still early in the day and we decided to press on. I hopped in my 80 and hit the ignition…only to hear a “poof” sound. Kind of like the sound a speaker makes when it blows, but quieter. Not only did my engine not start, but all dash lights were blank and there was no power to the interior of my cruiser. With the other members of the group already heading back to the trail, I tried the ignition again…nothing. Um guys, I think I have a problem. Looks like camping here wasn’t so bad of an idea after all. Within seconds the hood is popped and numerous fuses are being inspected. Battery is a healthy 12.7v and my headlights work so obviously some type of fuse is blown. After a few minutes, Andy zeroes in on the fusible link. Upon visual inspection, bare wire is showing and several of the copper strands are frayed. He quickly diagnoses it as “marginally s***ty,” which Ben then calls “MS”. Luckily Aaron had just what the good doctor ordered, a fresh OEM fusible link. Following a successful transplant procedure, my cruiser fires right up and we are good to go. Mental note to self; always carry an extra fusible link. My spare parts list continues to grow.
At this point we are well past the ½ way mark and our goal was to make it the last lake on the trail, Lakecamp Lake, and settle in for the evening. The trail itself isn’t too difficult in this section but there are still a few nasty rock obstacles just before we roll into camp. Andy’s remaining salmon is turned into a ceviche, which in turn is accompanied by bacon wrapped, cream cheese stuffed jalopeno poppers. Ben is in charge of dinner and cooks up some ginormous grass fed beef burgers. While the burgers of mere mortals are typically measured by ¼ lb increments, the burgers that Ben was serving were closer to the ¼ cow range. Not usually one to pass up desert, I had to wait almost two hours before cracking into the freezer side of my engel fridge and breaking out vanilla bean gelato. A few A&Ws later, and we were savoring delicious root beer floats in the middle of nowhere at almost 10000’.
Up until this point the weather had been fairly stable. There would be a few scattered clouds throughout the day but the temps were mild and the nights always clear. My wife and I had an ongoing disagreement each night on whether or not to put up our rainfly. She liked it for privacy and warmth, I disliked it because it was a pain in the ass to set up and tear down. On this night, she prevailed and the rain fly was covering our tent. Before we went to bed, I couldn’t help but look at the cloudless sky and the countless stars lighting it up. 5 hours later, I awoke, to the sound of large raindrops hitting the top of the tent. I thought it was a bad dream but after a few seconds realized it really was raining. We all reluctantly left the comfort of our sleeping bags and secured any moisture sensitive items around camp. As soon as we were done with this task, it stopped. Just as we were beginning to think that our efforts were in vain, larger drops and even bits of hail came falling from the sky and we all retreated back to our tents. Though the rain didn’t last long, it would have been enough to really soak our bags had we not erected our rainfly.
The following day was our last on the trail. From Lakecamp Lake, the northern trailhead at Kaiser Pass road is only several hours away. This part of the trail really climbs in elevation and before we know it we were creeping above the treeline. The 360* views were spectacular. Somewhere to the north of us was Yosemeite, to the east was Mammoth Mountain and Mt Whitney, and south of us were granite domes as far as the eye could see. White Bark Vista was everything I imagined it to be. With only miles to go, it would be easy for one to let their guard down and inadvertently get into a bad situation. Andy kept this from happening by reminding us of upcoming sections were two separate people rolled their cruisers on past runs. Once through, it was easy to see where a split second of inattention could lead to much more than a smashed taillight or dented door panel. Just when we thought we had Dusy conquered, Rick blew a bead and had to play with fire to get it to reseat. A few rock gardens later, we were airing up on Kaiser Pass Road. And just like that, our grand adventure was over in what felt like the blink of an eye.
Once on pavement, it took a few minutes to process the fact that we were actually done with the trail. In one sense it was a relief as we had made it through relatively unscathed, but it was also kind of bittersweet as that meant our adventure was now mostly over. By the time we made it back to Shaver Lake, it was already 2pm and since Aaron still had a fresh leg of lamb in his ARB fridge, we decided to camp one last night off of Dinkey Creek road. That way we could have one final feast together and feel rested the following morning for the long drive home. This also gave Andy time to swap out a suspect steering box and actually drive faster than 55 on his way home without the fear of being sucked into a semi on highway 99.
Overall, the cruisers did exceptionally well on the trail. Andy’s 40 looked like a mountain goat hopping over rocks and squeezing in between trees. Though an 80 is probably the largest vehicle you could “comfortably” run on Dusy, they were more than capable and the only time I received body damage was when I was either being too lazy to reverse and correct a bad line or just flat out not paying attention to the trail. Sure there was some minor breakage here and there, but everything was fixable trailside and if any, delays from repairs provided the perfect excuse to make a proper lunch. In the end, my cruiser received a small 6’’x6’’ dent on the PS rear quarter (which was already dented from 2014’s Rubithon), two small 1’’ dent/scratches on doors, and a slightly mangled section of wheel well between the front PS tire and slider (at home, a few blows with a 6lb sledge straightened that out), and a blown fusible link. Other than Rick’s broken axle, the other 80’s maybe got a few small dents/scratches between them. Aaron also received small tear on his RTT cover (all from trees), but that was it.
Once back to civilization, reality started to sink in when my phone went into seizure mode as it flashed, beeped and vibrated to alert me of all of the electronic communication that blissfully went unchecked during those magical 4 days on Dusy. Next summer cannot come soon enough.
I posted a few teaser pics in the “What did you do with your 80 this weekend” thread but wanted to do an official write up and conclusion to this thread. Too often these trip threads start out with a grand plan that goes nowhere, but that was not the case this time. Blood was spilt, sheet metal was crushed, wire was burnt (in both a welding and electrical manner), but Dusy was conquered. This trail challenges and tests every aspect of a built cruiser but in the end machine prevailed. I’m neither a creative writer nor good with analogies, but if I had to describe Dusy Ershim in a single word, it would be a few levels above epic….whatever that word may be. If Dusy were a cocktail, it would be one part Rubicon, one part Red Bull, shaken, stirred and served as a double on the rocks with a garnish of pine.
On a technical level, no single part of Dusy is that much harder than parts of the Rubicon, but when looked at as a whole, it is definitely a tougher trail. The combination of length, remoteness, varied terrain, elevation, and unpredictable weather create plenty of opportunities for things to go awry. This was made perfectly clear when we came across a Jeep with a broken pitman arm 10 miles from the nearest exit. Best case scenario, he had a 1 day ride/hike to pavement, then a 2-3 hour round trip to the nearest Napa (if they were open and had the part in stock), then another day ride/hike back in and (hoping he had the right tools to change it), still another day drive back out. If this happened in late October with an approaching storm a day or two away, that Jeep might not be coming out until the following year. In other words, do not run this trail alone or too late in the season.
With that being said, if you have 1; run the Rubicon or similar trails, 2; have a built cruiser, 3; live anywhere within a day drive away from the trailhead, and 4; enjoy camping in beautiful high sierra country, this is a trail that needs to be on the top of your list. To say that a trail can be life changing might sound like a bit of an overstatement, but in reality running Dusy will give you slightly different perspective in the way you look at offroading and even the world in general.
My desire to run Dusy started late one cold February night when I stumbled across an old thread on ‘Mud that detailed the adventures of a group of wagons that tackled the trail several years back. I was blown away by some of the scenery and could not grasp the notion that a difficult, remote, 33 mile trail that was relatively untraveled could still exist in the western sierras of California. The more I researched and read about Dusy Ershim, the more I wanted to run it. Though I had a fairly well build 80, I was still somewhat new to offroading (my first real trail was the Rubicon in 2014) and knew this was probably something I couldn’t do without the help of some more experienced wheelers. That’s why this thread was created. At first it looked promising, lots of interest but the more I started to plan the trip, the harder it was to find a window that could accommodate everyone’ work schedule or give them enough time to finish building their cruiser up. A two day banzai run with non locked 80s on stockish tires was definitely a big negatory. Things were not looking good.
Fast forward to Rubithon 2015. I was hoping to recruit a few more people on the trail but surprisingly even a large majority of people that live in CA and have been running the ‘con for years have not heard of Dusy or were largely unfamiliar with it. Again, this run looked DOA until I started chatting with Andy (Cruiserdrew). He, along with Rick, who was leading the wagon run, were planning on running Dusy in early August. Both were veterans of Dusy with plenty of experience wheeling, leading, and repairing cruisers on all kinds of trails. After a little directed questioning on my part, they cordially invited me to join their run. I was ecstatic. It looked like I was going to make it after all. The next 6 weeks were a blur and spent preparing and finalizing for August 4th, the start of our adventure. Rounding out the group were Aaron and Ben, both out of northern CA and driving well-built 80s. While they may have been Dusy virgins, these guys were no strangers to running difficult trails. Accompanying the drivers were Rick’s two sons and a colleague from work, Aaron’s two sons, and the sole woman on the trip, my courageous wife. I soon discovered that being relatively newly married, it is common for a wife to accompany her husband on their first few offroad adventures. After that, unless the offroad trip terminates at a remote Nordstroms or picturesque winery in the foothills with 3+ star accommodations, she will most likely be staying home. However, according to Ben, a RTT can help change this, but the probability of the wife coming along is still inversely related to the difficulty rating of the trail.
For those that have not wheeled with this group, to say that food is taken seriously is an understatement. The majority of all emails among the group members leading up to our date of departure pertained to meal preparation and planning. To quote someone in the group, “I think I ate better during the 4 days we were on Dusy than I do in a typical 2 week period at home.” Hopefully none of the wife’s are reading this, but even they are, there is no reason to feel bad because the dinners that we ate were truly exceptional. More on this later.
With rigs loaded, fridges on max cold, and all gas tanks topped off, we all hit the road at various times on Monday to meet up just past the start of the trailhead on the south side of the trail. Thinking I could get a full day’s work in at the office and still have time to make it to the trailhead at a reasonable hour, I decided not to take Monday off. I should have known better because in the dental world, Mondays can be very unpredictable as casualties of rib bones, corn on the cob, taffy and other typical summer treats trickle in to have their teeth pieced back together. This coupled with an already busy schedule meant we did not leave Reno until 7pm. No problem I thought, according to google maps, its only 6ish hours to Courtright, and 1am isn’t that late. Well maybe that would have been 6 hours in my wife’s 100 series with no food or fuel stops, but in an 80 that maxes out at 72mph on the freeway (one downside to 5:29s) and has to stop for fuel every 220 miles or so, it was almost an 8 hour ordeal. Finding the group at 2:45am, our tent was promptly yet quietly erected and we were in our bags by 3am. I was hoping the rest of the group was not planning on a 6am departure. After a cold, clear night, sunrise came far too soon but I felt surprisingly refreshed in the morning. Andy was the first one up, and soon after the rest of the group was in the process of preparing their morning coffee. With the sun rapidly rising on the eastern skyline, it went from a few degrees above freezing to being too hot for pants in all of 30 min. Mercy was shown and a gracious 9am departure time was chosen so I could let my wife get another hour of sleep while I disconnected my swaybar and aired down my tires with some help from Aaron. At 9am sharp, we were on the trail. The dream was over, I was actually wheeling Dusy.
First part of the trail is nothing crazy as you work towards Chicken rock. Once there, an official “Dusy Ershim” gate is visible and you drive up the granite slab. Up top, we took our first official group photo. From there, the trail weaves in and out of the trees as it follows a creek up towards Thompson hill. Progress was good and tree squeezes were minimal at this point. We were cruising…until we started climbing and all of the sudden we hear a distress call over the radio. I am not HAM certified (working on this right now) so I will classify the radios we used as “small, portable handheld units.” No further details necessary. On the radio was Rick saying his 80 had a broken axle. We all stop and walk down the trail to see his PS rear axle shaft hanging out a few inches from the hub. At first we think it’s just a broken axle and since we have two sets of spares…an easy fix. Then, upon further examination, we notice that all of the hub studs are sheared off and the axle popped out on its own. Doh! Rick is kind of like a landcruiser MacGyver, capable of repairing almost anything with his vast assortment of tools, but the one tool he didn’t have was an easy out set. After an hour of careful drilling and pounding on a phillips screwdriver, 4 out of the 6 studs were out but the other two were not budging. We conclude that 4/6 holes threaded with new studs should be ok and Rick welds over the other two holes. The group continues on, and I start a new list of parts/tools that I need to acquire before doing this again.
Next part of the trail was Thompson Hill. As previously mentioned, no single part of Dusy is any harder than parts of the Rubicon, but Thompson Hill is no joke. It is a sustained, steep climb up an assortment of constantly moving rocks that are inconveniently positioned in between larger stationary rocks. In other words, you better run this part 3x locked the whole time and even then you still might have to winch a section or two. Progress is slow but steady and before long we all make it into Thompson Lake. Rick’s trail repair (V 1.0) survives until the very top, then makes a sacrificial offering of 4 more hub studs to the gods of Dusy. Once at camp, the first feast of the trip begins as we inhale baba ganoush, followed by grilled chicken and a simple yet satisfying salad, all prepared by Andy, washed down by an assortment of fine wine. Sleep comes early that night as we fall into our tents and drift into altitude and food induced comas.
The following morning my wife and I cook breakfast as the rest of the group assists Rick on his V2.0 axle trail repair. This one lasts the duration of the trip. 30 seconds out of camp, I already need a spotter after a protruding log decides to wedge itself in between my PS front wheel and slider. Whatever you do, do not let your guard down for even a split second on this trail. That’s when a mangy looking 3” round poor excuse for a tree will dent your rear quarter panel. The rest of the day is a blur as we make good time and decide to stop at a beautiful creek crossing/meadow for lunch. We do stumble across a small group that warns us of a massive assembly of Jeeps camped up the trail at Ershim Lake. Heeding their advice, we make camp at the next open spot on the trail. On the menu that night is a fresh sashimi appetizer prepared from wild salmon caught by Andy the previous week in Alaska. Then a fresh guacamole with lime, cilantro, and salsa is made and lasts all of 30 seconds as the kids discover you can avoid double dipping by breaking a tortilla chip into two. As the group is temporarily appeased by the appetisers, Rick artfully prepares his 2 mile high fish bake that consists of rock cod, onions, potatoes, rice, sausage, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. It is so good that we all go back for thirds. Later that night, around our legal campfire that is a verified 150 yards from the trail, a bottle of Hudson Rye makes an appearance and before we know it we are all ready to call it a night again.
The following morning is no different than any other. Andy is first up again and after some coffee and a light breakfast, we are packed up and on the trail again. At this point, I feel like the further we get on the trail, the tighter the tree squeezes become. Some would not be bad at all if it weren’t for the poorly placed rocks on the opposite side of the trail that push you into the tree, or the tree that pushes you into a rock. Either way, you are never more than a centimeter or two away from body damage. After a few miles, we pass Ershim Lake and witness the masses that are camped there. It looked like the Dusy equivalent of the Jeepers Jamboree. Fortunately it looked like they were camped there for at least another day or two and would not be seen on the trail as we continued north. Just after lunch, we find a lone FJ40 at Mallard Lake that exiled himself from the madness at Ershim Lake. Though not a bad spot to camp, it was still early in the day and we decided to press on. I hopped in my 80 and hit the ignition…only to hear a “poof” sound. Kind of like the sound a speaker makes when it blows, but quieter. Not only did my engine not start, but all dash lights were blank and there was no power to the interior of my cruiser. With the other members of the group already heading back to the trail, I tried the ignition again…nothing. Um guys, I think I have a problem. Looks like camping here wasn’t so bad of an idea after all. Within seconds the hood is popped and numerous fuses are being inspected. Battery is a healthy 12.7v and my headlights work so obviously some type of fuse is blown. After a few minutes, Andy zeroes in on the fusible link. Upon visual inspection, bare wire is showing and several of the copper strands are frayed. He quickly diagnoses it as “marginally s***ty,” which Ben then calls “MS”. Luckily Aaron had just what the good doctor ordered, a fresh OEM fusible link. Following a successful transplant procedure, my cruiser fires right up and we are good to go. Mental note to self; always carry an extra fusible link. My spare parts list continues to grow.
At this point we are well past the ½ way mark and our goal was to make it the last lake on the trail, Lakecamp Lake, and settle in for the evening. The trail itself isn’t too difficult in this section but there are still a few nasty rock obstacles just before we roll into camp. Andy’s remaining salmon is turned into a ceviche, which in turn is accompanied by bacon wrapped, cream cheese stuffed jalopeno poppers. Ben is in charge of dinner and cooks up some ginormous grass fed beef burgers. While the burgers of mere mortals are typically measured by ¼ lb increments, the burgers that Ben was serving were closer to the ¼ cow range. Not usually one to pass up desert, I had to wait almost two hours before cracking into the freezer side of my engel fridge and breaking out vanilla bean gelato. A few A&Ws later, and we were savoring delicious root beer floats in the middle of nowhere at almost 10000’.
Up until this point the weather had been fairly stable. There would be a few scattered clouds throughout the day but the temps were mild and the nights always clear. My wife and I had an ongoing disagreement each night on whether or not to put up our rainfly. She liked it for privacy and warmth, I disliked it because it was a pain in the ass to set up and tear down. On this night, she prevailed and the rain fly was covering our tent. Before we went to bed, I couldn’t help but look at the cloudless sky and the countless stars lighting it up. 5 hours later, I awoke, to the sound of large raindrops hitting the top of the tent. I thought it was a bad dream but after a few seconds realized it really was raining. We all reluctantly left the comfort of our sleeping bags and secured any moisture sensitive items around camp. As soon as we were done with this task, it stopped. Just as we were beginning to think that our efforts were in vain, larger drops and even bits of hail came falling from the sky and we all retreated back to our tents. Though the rain didn’t last long, it would have been enough to really soak our bags had we not erected our rainfly.
The following day was our last on the trail. From Lakecamp Lake, the northern trailhead at Kaiser Pass road is only several hours away. This part of the trail really climbs in elevation and before we know it we were creeping above the treeline. The 360* views were spectacular. Somewhere to the north of us was Yosemeite, to the east was Mammoth Mountain and Mt Whitney, and south of us were granite domes as far as the eye could see. White Bark Vista was everything I imagined it to be. With only miles to go, it would be easy for one to let their guard down and inadvertently get into a bad situation. Andy kept this from happening by reminding us of upcoming sections were two separate people rolled their cruisers on past runs. Once through, it was easy to see where a split second of inattention could lead to much more than a smashed taillight or dented door panel. Just when we thought we had Dusy conquered, Rick blew a bead and had to play with fire to get it to reseat. A few rock gardens later, we were airing up on Kaiser Pass Road. And just like that, our grand adventure was over in what felt like the blink of an eye.
Once on pavement, it took a few minutes to process the fact that we were actually done with the trail. In one sense it was a relief as we had made it through relatively unscathed, but it was also kind of bittersweet as that meant our adventure was now mostly over. By the time we made it back to Shaver Lake, it was already 2pm and since Aaron still had a fresh leg of lamb in his ARB fridge, we decided to camp one last night off of Dinkey Creek road. That way we could have one final feast together and feel rested the following morning for the long drive home. This also gave Andy time to swap out a suspect steering box and actually drive faster than 55 on his way home without the fear of being sucked into a semi on highway 99.
Overall, the cruisers did exceptionally well on the trail. Andy’s 40 looked like a mountain goat hopping over rocks and squeezing in between trees. Though an 80 is probably the largest vehicle you could “comfortably” run on Dusy, they were more than capable and the only time I received body damage was when I was either being too lazy to reverse and correct a bad line or just flat out not paying attention to the trail. Sure there was some minor breakage here and there, but everything was fixable trailside and if any, delays from repairs provided the perfect excuse to make a proper lunch. In the end, my cruiser received a small 6’’x6’’ dent on the PS rear quarter (which was already dented from 2014’s Rubithon), two small 1’’ dent/scratches on doors, and a slightly mangled section of wheel well between the front PS tire and slider (at home, a few blows with a 6lb sledge straightened that out), and a blown fusible link. Other than Rick’s broken axle, the other 80’s maybe got a few small dents/scratches between them. Aaron also received small tear on his RTT cover (all from trees), but that was it.
Once back to civilization, reality started to sink in when my phone went into seizure mode as it flashed, beeped and vibrated to alert me of all of the electronic communication that blissfully went unchecked during those magical 4 days on Dusy. Next summer cannot come soon enough.
Cruiserdrew
On the way there
Great write up Kris, thanks for taking the time.
Regarding my steering-It was difficult and a bit unpredictable running down the 99 to the trail, and it was great on the trail. But coming down off Kaiser Pass, it was down right dangerous. RIght turns in particular had the cruiser all over the road and about the best I could manage was 30mph, and even that was dangerous. No way that was going to make it home to Sacramento.
So that afternoon, the entire group pitched in to work on my steering-welded up a cracked spring hanger (which I thought might be the problem but nope. A problem, but not the problem.) So I had a nearly sleepless night worrying about trying to steer the beast home and got up at 5am to swap out my steering box. I had a spare steering box-a mythical 4inch 1976 Jeep J20 Saginaw box that is supposed to be unobtainable. But I had stumbled on one just before Rubicon and it was tucked away in the back of the 40, freshly rebuilt, perfect. I just was not sure if the input splines were right. Turns out my fears were unfounded, and the box went in with out drama. By 7am I was headed down the long grade from Shaver and was home before noon-at 65 MPH. So not only was the steering fixed, it was upgraded from a 3.5 inch piston box, to the 4in piston J20 box. But note to self, NEVER take the 40 anywhere without a spare saginaw box, although in fairness, the first one had lasted 14 years.
The second thing I can add is that Kris' wife Regina is a TROOPER. She had no problems 5 days on a dusty trail with a bunch of equally dusty guys. Kudos to her.
The last thing I should mention is the last nights dinner and why I didn't fix my steering then. Ben's kids had done a 4H project where they raised 2 lambs (salt and pepper). Let's just say, we feasted on salt. It was awesome, and Kris in particular had some excellent wine to wash it down.
Anyway, awesome trip, great people, and just the right size group. I'm already looking forward to next year.
Regarding my steering-It was difficult and a bit unpredictable running down the 99 to the trail, and it was great on the trail. But coming down off Kaiser Pass, it was down right dangerous. RIght turns in particular had the cruiser all over the road and about the best I could manage was 30mph, and even that was dangerous. No way that was going to make it home to Sacramento.
So that afternoon, the entire group pitched in to work on my steering-welded up a cracked spring hanger (which I thought might be the problem but nope. A problem, but not the problem.) So I had a nearly sleepless night worrying about trying to steer the beast home and got up at 5am to swap out my steering box. I had a spare steering box-a mythical 4inch 1976 Jeep J20 Saginaw box that is supposed to be unobtainable. But I had stumbled on one just before Rubicon and it was tucked away in the back of the 40, freshly rebuilt, perfect. I just was not sure if the input splines were right. Turns out my fears were unfounded, and the box went in with out drama. By 7am I was headed down the long grade from Shaver and was home before noon-at 65 MPH. So not only was the steering fixed, it was upgraded from a 3.5 inch piston box, to the 4in piston J20 box. But note to self, NEVER take the 40 anywhere without a spare saginaw box, although in fairness, the first one had lasted 14 years.
The second thing I can add is that Kris' wife Regina is a TROOPER. She had no problems 5 days on a dusty trail with a bunch of equally dusty guys. Kudos to her.
The last thing I should mention is the last nights dinner and why I didn't fix my steering then. Ben's kids had done a 4H project where they raised 2 lambs (salt and pepper). Let's just say, we feasted on salt. It was awesome, and Kris in particular had some excellent wine to wash it down.
Anyway, awesome trip, great people, and just the right size group. I'm already looking forward to next year.
Great work Andy and Rick bringing another group through Dusy.
I'm coming next year. Been too long.
Rick is : "kind of a MacGyver"....
classic.
Understatement of the century.
classic.
Understatement of the century.
Most excellent write-up! Dusy is on my bucket list! 
Great work Andy and Rick bringing another group through Dusy.
I'm coming next year. Been too long.
1973Guppie
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I would agree with you that the trail is epic and even life changing. I think this trail really brings back the idea of being self sufficient and dealing with nature and the elements to 4x4ing. Surprised to hear of all the crowds, but I guess that is normal in August. We ran it in October and did not see anyone for 6 days, which was nice, but it was COLD and we got snow. My trip had a lot of drama added to it as I was strapped out the last 3 miles with my tires pumped up to 45 psi, which was exciting to say the least. I am hoping next time it goes a bit more smoothly with the 80. Nice write up.
BadReligion
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I should have written a little more about our last supper. I have always liked lamb and come to accept that all lamb will have a very light “gamey” taste to it…which is nothing compared to venison (especially Nevada mule deer). However, the lamb that Ben’s kids raised was out of this world. So tender, rich and flavorful, it had no detectible traces of the typical “gamey” taste often associated with NZ imports. It literally melted in your mouth. It was hilarious hearing Ben tell us what he and the kids went through to raise “Salt” and “Pepper.” I thought you just let them graze in a pasture for 9 months but that is not the case. These lambs were fed only the finest grass and grain, and exercised, washed, and massaged on a regular basis. All for the sake of making the meat more tender. I bet every pound of meat had at least 1 hour of human labor associated with it. Ben said his kids are going to raise another pair next year and we already have requested a pre-order for ¼ of one (how ‘bout “Dusy” and “Ershim” for names?).
Regina did to very well on the trip and put up with everything from getting bounced around in the passenger seat , never ending unpacking/repacking of our tent and sleeping bags, and various cooking/cleaning duties. She also had to deal with seeing brown packages from UPS on our doorstep on almost a daily basis the few weeks leading up to Dusy as I finished some last minute preparations on the cruiser. I definitely owe her a trip of her picking very soon. She did have fun and said she now actually prefers Dusy over the Rubicon. I just need to get her driving on the trail now.
When you go on an adventure like running Dusy, a special bond is formed with the group and I feel honored to call all members of our expedition my “cruiser brothers.”
Most excellent write-up! Dusy is on my bucket list!
Thanks Cameron. Andy told me about your Jarbridge or Bust! thread and I spent 3 hours reading it just a few nights ago. Your awesome write-up of that journey inspired me to do something more than the standard post trip report on our Dusy run.
Nice report, I really wanted to do that trail but feel like there are just a few parts that my 80 should have before I tackle it.