Dusy Ershim 2010 trip report

[Osage]

("33's are likely doable. but you would need to do a lot of thinking and slow rollin

From the passenger seat my dad continued to comment how my 42" swamper shoded moster wheeled like a bumbling ogre in comparison to his his parked at home, and METICULOUSLY PAINTED, short wheelbased flatfender on 33's. The argument centered on the preface that a shorter, more nimble vehicle could drive around the rocks and trees and thus avoid the dammage that seemed to befall my Lexus ever the more frequently as the trip progressed. Naturally I felt it necessary to defend the attributes of the larger wheeler and tried to explain to my father that wheeling machines had evolved for the better over the years; and that jeeps by their very nature suck.

"And just when the argument was getting good , and I felt i had made my point, I would hit another tree with my big truck")

My point EXACTLY, thank you.
However, with a smaller rig hauling enough fuel, ice chest, tent, GOOD food, tools, spare parts etc. would have been very difficult. And some spots would have required a winch to get through with the smaller short wheelbase rig. Thompson hill, for example, would ruin a good winch on a rig with anything smaller than 33's and running 33's would be questionable.

 

[VCCruzr]

Thanks for the awesome trip report guys and keep it coming. I have wanted to do this trail but needed to get my rig built up enough to handle it...almost there,, maybe next season.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Continued...Day 1

So the first day of this trail is probably the hardest technically, but mostly it is long. In keeping with the Dusy experience, you work hard all day and then have the most difficult obstacle at the end of the day.

We got up at the Courtright camp and got going slowly. The Taj Majal (4 room family size tent) took awhile for Mike and family to break down and put away. Then we loaded him down with some additional cargo (chainsaw) for his roof rack. It really was just to balance his load.. Anyway, Rick took the lead and we were off on our 3 day adventure in the Sierras.

That first morning was almost perfect-dark blue high altitude sky, warm, light breeze. Perfect for a day in the rocks. We left our camp and started off down the trail. The first taste of the granite is a long slab leading back into the trees, so we crossed that and headed toward Chicken Rock.

Chicken Rock is a long uphill granite slab rising maybe 400 feet or so. It is not technically difficult, though I started in too low a gear and had to wind it all the way to the top since it is too steep to shift while climbing. Everyone else made the climb no problem and we stopped at the top for a great view of the valley containing Courtland Reservoir and the river that feeds it.

From then on, there is an endless series of rocks, trees, log bridges, a creek crossing and general off road run. Finally you come to a difficult right hand turn and this starts Thompson Hill. All of us struggled to one degree or another on the right hand turn, and Mike popped the soft brake line on the right rear wheel. This was a good excuse to get out of the rigs, eat lunch and heckle Mike while he completed the repair.

Thompson Hill is hard. Even will well built trucks it is steep, loose, bouldery and steep. The baby head rock gardens are especially hard as the rocks roll out from under your tires while you climb a 45 degree slope. I saw Rick winching ahead of me, to get out of a boulder hole, and then I could move to the right 6 inches and miss the hole all together. 20 feet later, I was winching too.

Continuing up Thompson while rolling around on a boulder, my truck slid sideways into a door banger and I collected a nice door size dent on my rear passenger door. 100 yards later I was not paying attention and got a tree shot in the DS rear quarter and collected a dent and a broken tail light lens. It was an expensive trip up Thompson. Not as bad as the engine fire I had there 6 years ago!

Finally, after more boulders and baby heads we hit a difficult series of ledges but then were at the top! We rolled on to the campsites at Thompson Lake, where past travelers had left a huge stack of cut firewood just for us. Thank you whoever you are. The mosquitos were fierce, and when Julie and Jenny went down to the lake for a swim, they returned unwashed due to a determined attack by millions of hungry Sierra mosquitos. We ate dinner, had a great fire, told some lies and everyone was in bed by 9pm. It was a hard day. Fun, but hard.

I am hoping Mike and Dusty will post up their day 1 experience, and then on to day 2....

 

[PabloVTA]

jealous!

 

[Dusty]

Im kinda spooked looking at the pics mike posted of the dropoff by the dam. It was dark that first night we drove up to basecamp bast courtright dam. My dad was telling me the whole time how steep it was off that cliff but as i couldn't see i didn't care. Im glad the group had decided to stop at the entrance of Dusy instead of heading to chicken rock that first night as i wouln't have wanted to climp the steep granite in the dark. for those who have wheeled hells revenge in moab, the climb up chicken rock is similar-just smooth and steep granite.

I would agree that the first day wheeling is the most difficult. Thompson hill is no joke. Big boulders and steep. Fun challenging lines are around every corner.


And that night dinner was nice-Salmon for an appetizer followed by grilled chicken. such good eating. im impressed by the cooking gadgets Rick and Andy brought. both carry Engel fridges. Andy carrys this compact gas grill/oven thing. These guys are serious about the cooking thing-its not just about the trucks...

 

[OGBeno]

These guys are serious about the cooking thing-its not just about the trucks...

This is not an understatement...wheeling with these guys is sometimes more about the food than the trucks!! The trucks merely carry the main course.



The trip report and pics are coming together nicely.

I hope someday to do this trail.

 

[CreeperSleeper]

I loved following Ricks truck as he goes so fast. I had to focus to keep up if I wanted to chase him. his suspension is tuned spot on

I got to talk to Mike a bit about this trail last night. This is def on my to-do list!

One question I have (slight hi-jack, so please PM me instead of posting it on here), how is Rick's suspension set up? As much as I would love to follow in Dusty's footsteps, I really don't see that happening. However I would love to dial my 80 in for the 37's I run!

 

[alia176]

I got to talk to Mike a bit about this trail last night. This is def on my to-do list!

One question I have (slight hi-jack, so please PM me instead of posting it on here), how is Rick's suspension set up? As much as I would love to follow in Dusty's footsteps, I really don't see that happening. However I would love to dial my 80 in for the 37's I run!

Rick has Slee 6" with Blingstein 7100 remote res 12" shocks. In the rear he is running Light Racing 3" Jounce shocks. He is on 37" and 5.29s with an intercooled Supercharger. The tires are KM2's and the rims are 17" ARE's with the total weight of each wheel being exactly 95 lbs. He is running stock axles/birfs front and rear.

Did I forget anything?

 

[Dusty]

I got to talk to Mike a bit about this trail last night. This is def on my to-do list!

One question I have (slight hi-jack, so please PM me instead of posting it on here), how is Rick's suspension set up? As much as I would love to follow in Dusty's footsteps, I really don't see that happening. However I would love to dial my 80 in for the 37's I run!

i love my tons as they make climbing over big rocks easier. But the suspension on my truck cant handle the mass of my 80. the 2.0 fox's im running on all 4 corners are valved to the max on both compression and rebound but they are not enough to handle the 80 when I start wheeling large rocks at pace. She starts to sway. and i dont have reservoirs so after 5 min of moving quickly they fade and are like jello-like nothing is there at all. I love the oe 80 series bump stops but they "bounce" when you hit them hard

Now watch mikes truck come off the same boulders-its isn't bouncing. off big drops his jounce stops seem so soft in comparison. And the 80 series axles must be a hundred pounds plus of less weight each.

truss the 80 knuckles, run cryoed and arbed r&p's, and longfields. then run well shocked suspension and 40's.....and....

....you gotta 3 link the front end. the single most limiting factor on the 80. this one issue cant be sucessfully debated

 

[alia176]

Thanks for letting me ride along folks, I enjoyed it very much. It was very cool to see diff rigs setup differently tackle the same terrain. I'm looking forward to the next year's run.

Two very important take aways from this trip:

Link to my album: Picasa Web Albums - A. - Dusy Ershim t...

 

[CreeperSleeper]

Rick has Slee 6" with Blingstein 7100 remote res 12" shocks. In the rear he is running Light Racing 3" Jounce shocks. He is on 37" and 5.29s with an intercooled Supercharger. The tires are KM2's and the rims are 17" ARE's with the total weight of each wheel being exactly 95 lbs. He is running stock axles/birfs front and rear.

Did I forget anything?

That's what I needed! I'm currently running J's and L's... They aren't bad but there is something not right with the setup. I just need to figure out what that something is!

i love my tons as they make climbing over big rocks easier. But the suspension on my truck cant handle the mass of my 80. the 2.0 fox's im running on all 4 corners are valved to the max on both compression and rebound but they are not enough to handle the 80 when I start wheeling large rocks at pace. She starts to sway. and i dont have reservoirs so after 5 min of moving quickly they fade and are like jello-like nothing is there at all. I love the oe 80 series bump stops but they "bounce" when you hit them hard

Now watch mikes truck come off the same boulders-its isn't bouncing. off big drops his jounce stops seem so soft in comparison. And the 80 series axles must be a hundred pounds plus of less weight each.

truss the 80 knuckles, run cryoed and arbed r&p's, and longfields. then run well shocked suspension and 40's.....and....

....you gotta 3 link the front end. the single most limiting factor on the 80. this one issue cant be sucessfully debated

That's good to know, Dusty. I would love to run tons but the money just isn't there. Heck, I think my front housing is tweeked now too and I'm not sure how I'm going to find the money to replace just that! Currently I have Longs, I have cryoed front 5.29's, & eLockers so I think I'm good with the hard parts. Next is dialing in the suspension (possibly a 3-link front now that she is a trailer queen) then I will go on to fitting 40's. I just need to get it dialed with 37's first!


Okay, hijack over.... Sorry guys.

 

[boots4]

My first day was mostly one of getting to know how my truck works with a roof rack and weight on top. I had to get used to testing the limits of leaning. I did feel at home in the tight trees since that's what some of the trails are like here in the PNW; however, traction was better on the Dusy. In fact it felt like a mix between my rubicon experience and dry conditions on the trails up here. It was a great way to practice picking lines over and over again and for the most part I stuck it in double low and used 1-3 on the tranny. Before the start of the day I pulled out some fuel from my tune in attempts to reduce some smoke at the elevation and I bumped the idle so I'd be in the 800rpm range with the t.converter loaded i.e., stopped by the brakes.

Andy can probably name this lake but there were a couple camping spots along it. Looked like a nice place to relax.

All along the trail the trees warned you about tight spots with missing bark at key locations on the trunk.

Little bit of 3-link magic.

Rick was usually far ahead of us so it was harder for us to snap pics of him in action.

There were some BIG rocks on the trail.

You could tell which of the guys are fathers of young ones. Dusty's ram was leaking and he demonstrates the blend between parenting skills, trail soil care, and back woods spontaneity. Rather an ingenious way to capture fluids you don't want dripping anywhere. Amazingly it stayed on the whole way to the camping spot! What's just as funny is that all he needed was to tighten the fittings, which he did at camp that night, and it didn't leak the rest of the trip.

The group minus women and child.

Here's the famous 'Face in the Rock'.

 

[boots4]

There were several log bridgeways to help control erosion in the soggy areas. These were fantastic mosquito breeding grounds.

There were good and bad things about following Dusty. If he made it through a tight spot with his wideness, I definitely could. The bad was trying to follow 42's.

This was a spot where the gas can had to be removed to get by.

Once passed the can could be resinched until the next tree came along. Actually I only saw him have to take the can down this one time. If there were others I must have been playing catch-up.

Even though it was dry not all the rocks offered great traction.

 

[desertdude]

Brutal & Beauty -

Andy almost had me convinced to go this year.


:::

 

[Osage]

Good Rigs & Captain Hook

All of the rigs on this trip were impressive. Andy's 60 could crawl so slow I had to watch closely to see if he were going forward or backward, Ricks 80 just went swiftly along without any muss or fuss, Dusty's 80 could go through just about any line with the 42's and Mike's diesel came through just about everything with what appeared to be little effort. The diesel was behind us for most of the trip. The engine noise was a constant ticking at what sounded like the same speed no matter what. I kept thinking about poor Captain hook in the Peter Pan movie. We would get a little ahead and the ticking would fade out. Then we would slow for an obstacle and the ticking would ease up behind us. I kept looking over my shoulder expecting to see an alligator that had swallowed a clock. Thanks again guys for a wonderful outing.

 

[OGBeno]

Brutal & Beauty -

Andy almost had me convinced to go this year.


:::

Andy is very good at convincing.....

 

[alia176]

I learned a lot about suspension dynamics by riding in the various vehicles. Their capability was very impressive to say the least.

 

[boots4]

... The diesel was behind us for most of the trip. The engine noise was a constant ticking at what sounded like the same speed no matter what. I kept thinking about poor Captain hook in the Peter Pan movie. We would get a little ahead and the ticking would fade out. Then we would slow for an obstacle and the ticking would ease up behind us. I kept looking over my shoulder expecting to see an alligator that had swallowed a clock. Thanks again guys for a wonderful outing.

Lol. If I didn't already have my rig named this would have been a great way to name my rig. Capt Hook's Alligator

 

[boots4]

On to more pics.

You can see Andy's modified passenger door panel.

In my attempts to defuel the diesel all I did was keep the turbo from spooling so when I needed a little more throttle it puffed out. With less O2 at elevation and without the turbo spooling to compensate, this is why they put me in back. I averaged around 1000rpm on the trail but once in a while I needed a little more juice to get over something.

mmmm baby heads. Dusty was kind enough to wheel open most of the time so once in a while it was almost a challenge for those tires.

Dusty has the reflexes of a prairie dog and in challenging spots would pop right out of the rig to get a look. Depending on the challenge, the further out he'd go. It was kind of a warning sign for me that something big was coming up.

Certainly a beautiful and scenic area. The weather was nice. Just a little dusty.

Andy using those outer lugs.

We stopped here for a moment...

while Rick's rig got some assistance. He was hiking up the trail while the mice were at play.

I've still got a few more from day 1.

 

[chicago]

This is BY FAR the BEST write up of this trail I have ever seen!
This is one trail that I HAVE TO DO one day. Hopefully next year.

Thanks for much for the report and pics gents!

LOVE IT!

FAAAAWK ive gotta get my rig running!!!!!!!!!!