Beasley Bash 08 was a huge success for the Ga. Cruisers. A big round of applause for all those who put this together,
Congratulations. I believe the final count was about 30 trucks and 50 people,
An additional
Big Thanks should be given to the Toyota Trail Team (TTT) for their hard work, professionalism and dedication to helping clubs promote responsible wheeling. Woody, Conner, Andy and Zack are great guys and I hope to see them back next year.
This will be a 2 Volume write-up with Sunday and the carnage report coming later tonight.
Thought to remember: These trails are tight!
Now for the actual Beasley Bash. 
FRIDAY
I left about 1:00 and had a few scheduled stops along the way. I hooked up with John Schmitt @ Turner's corner about 3:30 and we caravanned up to Beasley arriving about 5 PM. Josh & Brian went up early for setup and then spent the rest of the day counting rocks in camp.
Woody arrived in camp shortly before John and me so at first glance all seamed quiet.
In hindsight it was the calm before the storm.
By 6 the camp was filling in nicely with roughly 20 people and 15 rigs. By 6:30 the steaks were on the grill and everyone was preparing to settle in for a good campfire and the obligatory campfire cheer, nobody was disappointed!
Friday's honorable mention has to go to the mad_African and Chris England for "wheelin" the 27' motor home into camp while pulling an FJ40 on the trailer, a true accomplishment. However, once there it only took about an hour to park it.
Just kidding guys, good to see you both!
You need keep this in in as you read below: many of the Beasley trails have high banks kind of like a bobsled course that keeps you on the trail. This is a good thing but it also limits your ability to maneuver around many of the obstacles.
SATURDAY
Saturday started with 2 large pots of coffee and a phone call from Downhill Dave (DD). He was making tracks in from Hiawassee and was looking to get a little support once he got there, HIS MISTAKE!!! I somehow made it public knowledge that DD was on his way and would be arriving shortly, turns out this was just the opportunity a few were looking for as an apparent beverage shortage was taking place in camp. So two quick return calls on the speaker phone and DD was volunteered to pick up "a couple" of beverages which delayed his arrival, needless to say he won't make that mistake again.
An hour later we returned to camp w/ DD and his spotter only to find that 2 groups of rigs had already departed for the trails. We quickly unloaded the provisions and formed into our own group of about 8 trucks including the TTT.
First we ran down 93A and shot straight though onto 93C, crested the first short hill climb and almost immediately hit a traffic jam. We all piled out of our trucks and gathered at the crest of the hill. Through the trees we peered down to see a 2 Air Force Humvees (the real ones) having a few issues. As luck would have it one of our Beasley Bash groups was already on the job assisting the Air Force "ground troops" with their carnage which still resulted in a 30 minute delay. Apparently the Air Force guys were on a training mission and one of them had broken a ball joint thus blocking the trail. Meanwhile, the obvious sound of 4-wheelers was coming at us from behind which kept getting closer and closer. A few of us thought that it was odd that they could be getting closer as the entire trail behind was blocked with about 6 truck from our group. Well it turns out that the 2
-wheelers did not want to wait so they decided to make their own trail to get around our trucks by cutting through the woods. To the credit of our fellow "Bashers" someone capitalized on this opportunity to "educate" the 2 impatient 4-wheeler "fellows" in the ways of Treading Lightly so all was well and they
waited along with us.
We then came up 93D, hung a left on 93F and almost immediately caught up with an earlier group that was bottle necked in a tough spot. This part of the 93F was best described as 250 yard "bobsled" hill climb with of thousands of loose, shoebox sized rocks and tight walls that close in the further up you go. While initially not difficult the rocks do a good job of bouncing you around on your approach up the hill,
a little word of advice here: don't eat a big bowl of spaghetti before doing this trail, it will not stay down. Close to the top is where he fun begins with the last 50-75 feet being the challenge. As the walls start to close in the hill gets a little steeper and just for good measure we'll throw in a rather large boulder buried in the middle of the trail. For trucks that are vertically challenged this boulder creates something of a problem, since you can't go over it you have to get around it by squeezing b/w the boulder and climbing the wall with your front tires. Once on the left wall you ride it for as long as possible trying to get the front tires past the boulder. If, or should I say when you drop off the wall you slam your right side slider onto the boulder making a good crunching noise that everyone enjoys. Then you must attempt to drag yourself over the boulder (you hope) to setup for the 2nd real obstacle. If you don't succeed in dragging your your butt over the boulder you get to back down and try it all over again so go immediately to your truck and give your rock sliders a big hug right now!
The first carnage of the day. Once you've cleared the boulder there is a 3-4 ft rock climb that forces you to make a choice: 1) take the more inviting passenger line or 2) pick the more difficult driver's line. Either choice is challenging but you MUST continue to pay close attention not to drop back down the first boulder. Most choose the right side but this presents it's own set of issues, remember that driver's wall? Keep an eye out for your left rear corner as you try to climb the 2nd set of rocks, these damn rocks want to push you into the left wall as I later learned. We watched about 8-10 trucks attempt the obstacle with varying degrees of success, a couple managing to "modify" their own rear trail light a little but I did the best job by far. :whoops: I made it by the first boulder without much of a problem and then chose to take the right side for the 2nd set of rocks. Well I started to climb up the rock but missed the line a little. The rear end slid to the left jamming the tail light into the left wall, Having nowhere to go but forward I tried to start the climb back up the rocks but only managed to make things worse, now I could neither climb the rock in front of me or back up, JAMMED IN! Out comes the gloves and cable, hooked up and pulled out of the spot, Damn!
my very first "on the trail" modifications!
While we got all but one of the trucks through that spot with varying degrees of success a few guys managed to "modify" body panels in a similar manner as mine. Of the carnage participants I would like to introduce to you all
"Side Swipe Sylvain"! He earned his name by smashing the rear tail light lens off the TTT Tacoma when he was told to "bump it" over the large boulder, he was proud (hmm, maybe not!) of his accomplishment and he felt
great about his abilities to produce carnage!
see the pics. Actually
Side Swipe would have preferred to bang up his own truck but since he was wheeling a Camry this weekend he immediately offered to pay for the damages right there, Woody declined of course!
Is it Sunday yet? not even close!!!!
From here I largely forget the trail numbers we ran but it didn't get much easier I promise you. We bailed off 93F, then ran up the very steep and tight hill climb on 93C where and we hung a left at the top and continued on a 1/2 mile where we found another good obstacle near the intersection of 93C and 93B. It consisted of a series of rocks that culminated in a 3 to 4 ft. rock where Conner and Woody got to practice their cheater-rock piling skills. Both Conner and Woody did a great job spotting and piling while managing to get about half of the group over the rocks. The other half (myself included) decided it was not an obstacle for us so we chose to watch in admiration as the Cruiser guys navigated to climb in good fashion. By now it was 4:00 and we were all getting a little tired and hungry. The decision to head back was made after a quick scouting trip on foot of the next next hill climb, it was just too late in the day so we started to U-turn everyone so we coulld head back to camp.
Now, do you remember the "tight trails" comment from above? The trucks that made it over the last rock obstacle needed a little time to get turned around so along comes Andy (of the TTT) with a "Grand" Idea. The few of us that did not attempt the prior rock crawl decided to go along with Andy's great idea. (
why did I listen to him????)
Okay, let's do it! came from my my mouth without ever hitting the brain. Downhill Dave took it on first and with Conner's good spotting skills, a little gas and even a less driving skill
flipoff2
Downhill Dave conquers the obstacle with little trouble. I'm next, I line it up as directed by Conner, get the front tires on top of the rock but just can't quite make the climb so i just sit and spin.
Attempt #2, get the front tires on top and spin again. Well, after watching Downhill Dave conquering the rock wall and then letting my competitive nature get the best of me I put my foot into it.
Well, few big hops later and my foot still buried on the gas... BANG! Suddenly things got real calm and I knew instantly I had broken something. LESSON LEARNED: As Connor always says: "We're in no big hurry and
always listen to your spotter", I did neither Connor sorry. The end result was a sheered off rear drive shaft, a bent front control arm and a severe tow-in of my front wheels. It took 2 Tacos from 2 different angles strapped on to the front of my truck from above to get me out of that bind. Upon securing my truck and getting on flat ground I crawled under, removed the broken drive shaft and made it back to camp. Thanks Guys!
Is it Sunday Yet? No way! I told you this was gonna be a long one!
Back in camp I started hearing numerous stories of trucks having their own versions of trail carnage. While I still don't know the exact count or descriptions of each there were about 4-5 trucks that managed scrapes, dents, flats tires and even one that tried to run over a 70' oak tree, backwards! Obviously, that did not work
By 6:30 we were settling into our chairs around the campfires ring awaiting the raffle, BBQ dinner and some well earned beverages. The raffle was a big success and the BBQ was great, we had more than enough food for everyone so we all filled up Good job Guys
Saturday night was filled with about 25 people around the campfire. Had a great time making fun of Andy's "synthetic materials" and I was catching more flack from
Side Swipe & Woody for missing Kokopelli. It's a good thing I'm thick skinned!
SUNDAY:
EDITED: SCROLL DOWN, we ran the hardest trails in Beasley and not everyone got away clean. Obligatory carnage report will posted later
PICS HERE
