Well it sure was a good day at AAOA yesterday. It was John and the missus in his 4 door Taco, Chris in the camo 80 series, and me riding with Andy in the 4Runner. Only three trucks and all were early so we got out of the staging area either right at or a little before 9AM. Early enough in fact that the gate to the eastern (main) section was still gated!!!! There were guys working on the pipeline but I couldn't see exactly what they are doing.
We started out on the culvert trail (BA on the map) and that went well. From there we did trail 33 and the BA extension, then over to Muddy Shackle. All went easily until we got to the muddy wash near the end of MS. Ended up having to winch all three trucks out of that morass it was deep, extremely slippery with mud, and a tall vertical wall to get over at the exit. To top it off it can't be straddled and makes for an unavoidable off camber situation. Good news is you can't go far if you do flop. None of our guys did but Chris sure felt like he was on the edge!!!!!
We took a short lunch break then headed off and did Twister then down Barney Rubble. No surprises except that the entrance to Twister has become difficult for the long WB rigs (like John's Taco) while the chute part of it has become easier because it's wider and it is now able to squeeze between the big rock on the right and the wall on the left. From the bottom of Barney Rubble we went over and took an easy ride through the pine trees on Excaliber. Out of there we did the bucket trail and both John and Chris remarked how tight that trail is for the full sized rigs.
We had an hour or two left to wheel and let John take over the lead and he took us through all the blue trails in the area closest to the staging area. Frist left turn out of the SA gets you down to these trails. I'd done a few of them before but I believe we tattooed all of them Saturday. It's a little difficult for me to navigate in that area but John knew his way around. Out of there we did the hillclimb up the power line and took in the view at the scenic outlook out over the valley.
Great day for wheeling. Weather was picture perfect, no bugs, and we didn't see another full sized vehicle the entire day. Chris got some real good experience and got an introduction to his remote winch controller. I like it and might have to get me one. Chris 80 on 37 inch tires locked front and rear is a beast! Andy's truck as usual had little trouble anywhere while the few problems John had were due to the long wheelbase.
We started out on the culvert trail (BA on the map) and that went well. From there we did trail 33 and the BA extension, then over to Muddy Shackle. All went easily until we got to the muddy wash near the end of MS. Ended up having to winch all three trucks out of that morass it was deep, extremely slippery with mud, and a tall vertical wall to get over at the exit. To top it off it can't be straddled and makes for an unavoidable off camber situation. Good news is you can't go far if you do flop. None of our guys did but Chris sure felt like he was on the edge!!!!!
We took a short lunch break then headed off and did Twister then down Barney Rubble. No surprises except that the entrance to Twister has become difficult for the long WB rigs (like John's Taco) while the chute part of it has become easier because it's wider and it is now able to squeeze between the big rock on the right and the wall on the left. From the bottom of Barney Rubble we went over and took an easy ride through the pine trees on Excaliber. Out of there we did the bucket trail and both John and Chris remarked how tight that trail is for the full sized rigs.
We had an hour or two left to wheel and let John take over the lead and he took us through all the blue trails in the area closest to the staging area. Frist left turn out of the SA gets you down to these trails. I'd done a few of them before but I believe we tattooed all of them Saturday. It's a little difficult for me to navigate in that area but John knew his way around. Out of there we did the hillclimb up the power line and took in the view at the scenic outlook out over the valley.
Great day for wheeling. Weather was picture perfect, no bugs, and we didn't see another full sized vehicle the entire day. Chris got some real good experience and got an introduction to his remote winch controller. I like it and might have to get me one. Chris 80 on 37 inch tires locked front and rear is a beast! Andy's truck as usual had little trouble anywhere while the few problems John had were due to the long wheelbase.
