THANK YOU!
Let me start off by saying that you don’t really know where a vehicles limit is until you break it. In spite of all of the negatives that occurred, I am truly grateful for the experience! The camaraderie of this club, and the Land Cruiser Community in general, is what separates it from just about any organization that I’ve been part of. One year ago was the first time, after 8 years of ownership, that I had ever taken the 80 on a serious wheeling adventure (last year’s ONSC Christmas party). Weather conditions were similar and I learned the value of lockers, sliders, and a lift as I ran in to trees and ripped off part of my exhaust on Dickey Bell. Everyone rallied to get me up the hill; community is what keeps us coming back. This year Dutch John was the bastard trail for me.
Firstly, thank you to Jonathan, John R, Matt, and Bill (and their families) for not leaving me stranded on the trail. Getting off of the chute took a village – including foreigners of the 4x4 community (kudos to Mike and his ZJ – even though he’ll never see this). Second, thank you to Ryan, Johnny, David, and Greg for field stripping the 100 in an attempt to put her in to a safe driving condition. Although we were ultimately unsuccessful, I enjoyed the heck out of hanging out with everyone, and I feel that we made a responsible decision to tow the 100 home. Thanks to Martin for the offer to trailer the 100 back to Charleston – an awesome gesture and just another exclamation point demonstrating the selflessness that is prevalent in the club. Finally, a second shout out to Johnny for hooking me up with AAA towing – I owe you big.
Here is my personal recap of the Trail Experience
Before we left, we all agreed that we would only do “light wheeling” because of the weather. We wheeled Wolf’s Den; it is more difficult when it’s wet. But there was plenty more sunlight left after we finished, so we discussed “Dutch John”. I’ve been on Dutch John before; we rode it at night. Apparently I’ve never been on THIS part of Dutch John. Jonathan and John R. had, but they seemed certain that we’d miss “the hard parts”.
Hard Part #1 was the rock that Jonathan’s wife has deemed “Holy F__K Rock”. The mud didn’t help, but if you haven’t been there, you should try it (provided you DO have sliders and DON’T suffer from high blood pressure). I got nice vids of John R and Matt V, but they’re too large to upload… Dang this high resolution stuff! Anyhow, this was the point where I felt I should’ve turned around and headed back. Although the 100 is capable, it wasn’t meant for moist Dutch John. Inside I knew this, but I wanted to see the rest of the trail…
Hard Part #2 was the hill climb prior to The Chute. This probably isn’t very tough when it’s dry. Wet, it’s a pain. I think I got up on my second try, which was consistent with everyone else. This was the point of no return. Going back around “Holy F__K Rock” would have risked everyone’s vehicles and I didn’t want that.
The Chute is where good stories are made. It was dark at this point, but the end of the trail was nigh. Everyone wanted to get back and enjoy the Christmas party festivities and gift giving (thanks, John V, for the Apple Pie!). Mike, a gent in a Grand Cherokee that helped guide us on this adventure, made it up the hill without much trouble. Knowing that Mike’s ZJ was beat to hell, he seemed nuts, and his ride was pimped out with cool trail stuff gave none of us any confidence that we could do it. I may have volunteered Matt to go first… And we all cheered him on as he made short work of The Chute. Then Jonathan. Then John. By this time, it was dark, and I was already panicking. I kept reassuring myself that the end of the trail was not far from the top of the hill I had to climb… But I soon found out that climbing the hill on foot isn’t easy either.
So I get most of the way to the top, but this one bump keeps grabbing my passenger front tire. I tried with ATRAC, without ATRAC, and all the while listening to folks tell me “Don’t let up off the gas!”. I didn’t. The computer disagreed with applying more skinny pedal – as was verified when I let Mike try (for the record, I made it further than him). The truck was still not broken at this point. I tried 5 times, he tried twice. It was time to break out the big guns… Mike backed his truck up and hooked a snatch line to my D-Ring. He would yank me over the hump, but when I came down, the truck slid backwards and yanked him back. On the 4th try, my truck broke. I thought it was time to try the winch, except, my winch controls were in the back and I simply couldn’t get to them. Mike came down, unlatched my winch, and pulled out the line. John R. hollered down that I needed to re-engage the winch… Next came the quote of the night… One that reverberates with me now and made my wife howl with laughter…
“Jeremy, buddy, I’m sorry, but you’re just going to have to get on the ground and get your designer jeans dirty.”
- John R.
Point taken. It’s past time to get the heck out of here. Let’s do this. I’m caked in mud, barely able to get a grip on the truck, and terrified that it’s going to slide back down the chute with nobody in the driver’s seat. And still, I can see the lever, but I can’t reach in to grab it. Didn’t matter, ultimately… Jonathan came down, snaked his arm in, flipped the switch, and the line snapped right off the winch when we pulled. I couldn’t see what was going on at this point, but I believe John pulled Mike who pulled me. It took a while, but it worked. The synthetic line held up, surprisingly, after it was tied to my D-Ring by a Boy Scout who deserves about 50 merit badges in knot tying.
We limped home slowly but surely. Lots of bangs, whacks, and shaking. I’m not sure if I did more damage at this point, but it didn’t matter, because we were headed back to The Barn. We can worry about the damage later, for now, I’m just happy we’re all safely going back together.
Let me start off by saying that you don’t really know where a vehicles limit is until you break it. In spite of all of the negatives that occurred, I am truly grateful for the experience! The camaraderie of this club, and the Land Cruiser Community in general, is what separates it from just about any organization that I’ve been part of. One year ago was the first time, after 8 years of ownership, that I had ever taken the 80 on a serious wheeling adventure (last year’s ONSC Christmas party). Weather conditions were similar and I learned the value of lockers, sliders, and a lift as I ran in to trees and ripped off part of my exhaust on Dickey Bell. Everyone rallied to get me up the hill; community is what keeps us coming back. This year Dutch John was the bastard trail for me.
Firstly, thank you to Jonathan, John R, Matt, and Bill (and their families) for not leaving me stranded on the trail. Getting off of the chute took a village – including foreigners of the 4x4 community (kudos to Mike and his ZJ – even though he’ll never see this). Second, thank you to Ryan, Johnny, David, and Greg for field stripping the 100 in an attempt to put her in to a safe driving condition. Although we were ultimately unsuccessful, I enjoyed the heck out of hanging out with everyone, and I feel that we made a responsible decision to tow the 100 home. Thanks to Martin for the offer to trailer the 100 back to Charleston – an awesome gesture and just another exclamation point demonstrating the selflessness that is prevalent in the club. Finally, a second shout out to Johnny for hooking me up with AAA towing – I owe you big.
Here is my personal recap of the Trail Experience
Before we left, we all agreed that we would only do “light wheeling” because of the weather. We wheeled Wolf’s Den; it is more difficult when it’s wet. But there was plenty more sunlight left after we finished, so we discussed “Dutch John”. I’ve been on Dutch John before; we rode it at night. Apparently I’ve never been on THIS part of Dutch John. Jonathan and John R. had, but they seemed certain that we’d miss “the hard parts”.
Hard Part #1 was the rock that Jonathan’s wife has deemed “Holy F__K Rock”. The mud didn’t help, but if you haven’t been there, you should try it (provided you DO have sliders and DON’T suffer from high blood pressure). I got nice vids of John R and Matt V, but they’re too large to upload… Dang this high resolution stuff! Anyhow, this was the point where I felt I should’ve turned around and headed back. Although the 100 is capable, it wasn’t meant for moist Dutch John. Inside I knew this, but I wanted to see the rest of the trail…
Hard Part #2 was the hill climb prior to The Chute. This probably isn’t very tough when it’s dry. Wet, it’s a pain. I think I got up on my second try, which was consistent with everyone else. This was the point of no return. Going back around “Holy F__K Rock” would have risked everyone’s vehicles and I didn’t want that.
The Chute is where good stories are made. It was dark at this point, but the end of the trail was nigh. Everyone wanted to get back and enjoy the Christmas party festivities and gift giving (thanks, John V, for the Apple Pie!). Mike, a gent in a Grand Cherokee that helped guide us on this adventure, made it up the hill without much trouble. Knowing that Mike’s ZJ was beat to hell, he seemed nuts, and his ride was pimped out with cool trail stuff gave none of us any confidence that we could do it. I may have volunteered Matt to go first… And we all cheered him on as he made short work of The Chute. Then Jonathan. Then John. By this time, it was dark, and I was already panicking. I kept reassuring myself that the end of the trail was not far from the top of the hill I had to climb… But I soon found out that climbing the hill on foot isn’t easy either.
So I get most of the way to the top, but this one bump keeps grabbing my passenger front tire. I tried with ATRAC, without ATRAC, and all the while listening to folks tell me “Don’t let up off the gas!”. I didn’t. The computer disagreed with applying more skinny pedal – as was verified when I let Mike try (for the record, I made it further than him). The truck was still not broken at this point. I tried 5 times, he tried twice. It was time to break out the big guns… Mike backed his truck up and hooked a snatch line to my D-Ring. He would yank me over the hump, but when I came down, the truck slid backwards and yanked him back. On the 4th try, my truck broke. I thought it was time to try the winch, except, my winch controls were in the back and I simply couldn’t get to them. Mike came down, unlatched my winch, and pulled out the line. John R. hollered down that I needed to re-engage the winch… Next came the quote of the night… One that reverberates with me now and made my wife howl with laughter…
“Jeremy, buddy, I’m sorry, but you’re just going to have to get on the ground and get your designer jeans dirty.”
- John R.
Point taken. It’s past time to get the heck out of here. Let’s do this. I’m caked in mud, barely able to get a grip on the truck, and terrified that it’s going to slide back down the chute with nobody in the driver’s seat. And still, I can see the lever, but I can’t reach in to grab it. Didn’t matter, ultimately… Jonathan came down, snaked his arm in, flipped the switch, and the line snapped right off the winch when we pulled. I couldn’t see what was going on at this point, but I believe John pulled Mike who pulled me. It took a while, but it worked. The synthetic line held up, surprisingly, after it was tied to my D-Ring by a Boy Scout who deserves about 50 merit badges in knot tying.
We limped home slowly but surely. Lots of bangs, whacks, and shaking. I’m not sure if I did more damage at this point, but it didn’t matter, because we were headed back to The Barn. We can worry about the damage later, for now, I’m just happy we’re all safely going back together.
