Late notice snow run Feb. 1, tomorrow
- Thread starter CO_Hunter
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Hmm.... Jess is working tomorrow afternoon/evening, but I'll see if I can find a baby sitter.....
I can't do 8:30. Maybe an afternoon run. I have a guy coming to buy some tires from me at 9:00 tomorrow morning.
Wife and I went out tonight, down 315 half way and back, then the 324/325 loop. It's deep out there, I had to end up winching twice. Of course, that d@mn wrangler following me never seems to get stuck.
We followed some tracks down 324, past the 324A turn off to 325 for a good ways. They were small, narrow tires, and what looked to be an IFS rig because of the way it was dragging the snow. Looking at the tracks, I thought maybe they were coming out of 324, so we decided to turn around and head back to the turn off for 325 and took it out. On the way home I checked 323 and didn't see any tracks leading in. That means whoever we were following did go down 324, and is probably still down there. If you didn't take 323 in, there's no other way for a set of tracks to be on 324. I'm not going after them. Been there done that, ended up in the trees hanging from winch cables. Hope they had plenty of gas to keep warm.
Wife and I went out tonight, down 315 half way and back, then the 324/325 loop. It's deep out there, I had to end up winching twice. Of course, that d@mn wrangler following me never seems to get stuck.
We followed some tracks down 324, past the 324A turn off to 325 for a good ways. They were small, narrow tires, and what looked to be an IFS rig because of the way it was dragging the snow. Looking at the tracks, I thought maybe they were coming out of 324, so we decided to turn around and head back to the turn off for 325 and took it out. On the way home I checked 323 and didn't see any tracks leading in. That means whoever we were following did go down 324, and is probably still down there. If you didn't take 323 in, there's no other way for a set of tracks to be on 324. I'm not going after them. Been there done that, ended up in the trees hanging from winch cables. Hope they had plenty of gas to keep warm.
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- #5
Keep me posted, text will be good. An afternoon would be cool with me.
So are you going to sell the Cherokee and get a Wrangler since it does so much better?
Or...did you ever consider it is the driver
So are you going to sell the Cherokee and get a Wrangler since it does so much better?
Or...did you ever consider it is the driver
I'd probably be out if it's an afternoon run, unless I brought the kiddos. ???
Love me some CCR.
Let me know if you guys want to go play this afternoon. I can warm a bottle of milk for Henry and put some Disney movies on for the girls in the back seat. Just as long as we don't slide off and shelf roads, we should be fine.
Let me know if you guys want to go play this afternoon. I can warm a bottle of milk for Henry and put some Disney movies on for the girls in the back seat. Just as long as we don't slide off and shelf roads, we should be fine.
Snow runs can get very long unpredictably ... make sure you're prepared!
Really wish I could go but to much going on here today.
^ Hey, what could go wrong?
The big extra you usually need is time. I slid off a side slope and had to turn myself around with a winch yesterday, took the better part of an hour, then had to throttle down and fight to get out the rest of the trail.
^ Hey, what could go wrong?
Wow............. eating my words BIG time. Explain later, to emotionally exhausted to go into detail.....
Wow............. eating my words BIG time. Explain later, to emotionally exhausted to go into detail.....
Everybody back in one piece??
Everyone made it out of there fine, after an extended battle with N off camber trail and deep snow.
That turned into quite the adventure. We definitely had clinic on snow recovery, with just about every method I can think of for recovering a vehicle.
We started out down 312, the trail was awesome. Followed some tracks for maybe a quarter of a mile to where they turned around, leaving us breaking fresh powder. The only tracks were some cross country ski tracks we were following, and later some cross country skiers. The snow was running about 10-12" deep at this point. Unfortunately, I was the first to get stuck and it happened to be right in front of them. I stopped being stubborn and aired my tires down, which I should have done earlier. That left time for the skiers to cuss at us and carry on ahead a little. We would run across them several more times, have them scold us about how we needed snow shoes, and were destroying the wetland (???), but we just ignored them and went about our day. They were not real happy with us.
We made it down 312 and out to 314 with little drama. On our way up 314 we ran across another vehicular group that had gotten down a hill they couldn't get back up. There was a Ford Ranger and a Jeep Cherokee ZJ that were both stock, and both stuck. I chained up at that point and carried on up the hill to pull the ZJ out so we could clear the road to pull the Ranger through. While I was up top, the others were letting air out of the Ranger's tires. Leon had a go at towing the Ranger without his tire chains on, but the snow proved to be too deep and slippery to make it work. At this point, we decided it was too much trouble to chain up Leon's 80, so I just came back down with tire chains and pulled the Ranger to safety... If we would have known what lay ahead, we would have just gone ahead and chained Leon up.
Bidding farewell to the other crew, we headed down Rampart to 300U. Tackled that trail fairly easy since it is all down hill, and made the right onto 300V. We were talking about how it was not going to be fun to turn around and make it all the way out on the that uphill trail, and how we didn't want to mess with the icy spot on 300V, but there is another way out of that trail. I figured that was going to be our easiest exit.... Couldn't have been more wrong.
We started down the back side of 300V into the trees and the trail go a little off camber, luckily, the trail doesn't have a significant drop off. I slid off first, figured maybe I just came into that little section with too much speed, but when I got out, I realized that snow was much deeper at this point. It was knee deep and the snow started falling again, adding to what was already there. I tried to wiggle my way out and back up onto trail, but it just ended up putting me against an aspen tree. Funny how your attitude changes when you have a nice rig with no dents. If I was in the old 4runner, I would have just hit the gas and drove out of there. As it was, I had Leon hook up his winch to me and pull the back of the Cherokee back onto the trail. Then I was able to winch my way up the trail-- albeit half on the trail, and half in the trees, until I got to another clearing. There will be some nice deep brush scratches once I clean that thing up. Leon chained up while I was winching myself out of the way, but he ended up having the same troubles I did and winching himself up the trail as well.
At that point, with more snow coming down, and it getting late, we asked Andrew and Travis to go ahead and back down the trail to the last clearing and turn around. Since they didn't have winches, it was going to be a lot of work to get them through the trail to where we were. Well, it was a lot of work anyway. Travis backed down first and ended up sliding off into the trees, while Andrew ended up sliding off into, and over a couple trees. Andrew had a 10 inch aspen firmly lodged under the front J arm on his 80. I walked back to see how bad Travis was- his rig was off the trail, but was not up against or over any trees. We aired down his tires, still couldn't get it moving, and then got out his come-a-long and started cranking. We figured this was the only way, since we broke our club rules and didn't have a winch rig in the back, and a winch rig in the front. We would have had to somehow slip a rig past Andrew's to get to Travis... and we all know how that would have ended up. In the end, Travis and I took an hour and a half to flip that heavy 100 around 180 degrees, AND got it back up on the trail... with just a come-a-long and a strap. That was awesome. Very rewarding. Cheers all around. Travis drove out to the clearing to reassure his children we were all going to live, and wait on us to get Andrew's rig back on the trail.
Little did we know-- Leon, Andrew, and Rodney were already hard at work making that happen. Apparently, there were shovels, winches, snatch blocks, and chainsaws involved in this-- and somehow, Travis and I heard none of it. I don't know the whole story, but somehow Leon used the chainsaw that was in the back of my Cherokee and cut the log out from under Andrew's 80, and Rodney had slipped into the drivers seat of my rig and used it to snatch block to a tree and pull the back of the 80 up onto the trail. We got out my other set of chains and thankfully they fit Andrew's 33x12.50's. With chains on the rear, that rig moved around a whole lot easier, Now we just had to get it turned around. We tried to back Leon up the trail, and I was going to follow in my Cherokee, but even with Leon having all four tire chains on, he just couldn't hold onto the trail. I only had rear chains on, so I knew I had no chance. We backed up as far as we could and decided to drive Andrew's off the trail and into the forest on purpose, then winch him back up and around 180 so he could drive out in front of us. I thought we were going to be there all night, but that tank almost made that turn by itself. It's a beast. All I had to do was pull with the winch until the front tires could make their way up, and it was ready to head out. With Andrew leading the way, we drove past a spot where it looked like someone had pulled a barge out of the snow (it was actually a 100 series), and on to the next clearing.
Much to my amazement, we all made it back up and out 300U with nothing more than a thrown tire chain, which was recovered. Got back up to Rampart and figured out who's equipment was who's, and divided it all up.
It was a tough night, but a whole lot of fun. I guess in the end, it was your typical "we're going on a snow run, just for a couple hours" snow run. Why do they always take twice as long??? Haha, I'd do it again anytime.
We started out down 312, the trail was awesome. Followed some tracks for maybe a quarter of a mile to where they turned around, leaving us breaking fresh powder. The only tracks were some cross country ski tracks we were following, and later some cross country skiers. The snow was running about 10-12" deep at this point. Unfortunately, I was the first to get stuck and it happened to be right in front of them. I stopped being stubborn and aired my tires down, which I should have done earlier. That left time for the skiers to cuss at us and carry on ahead a little. We would run across them several more times, have them scold us about how we needed snow shoes, and were destroying the wetland (???), but we just ignored them and went about our day. They were not real happy with us.
We made it down 312 and out to 314 with little drama. On our way up 314 we ran across another vehicular group that had gotten down a hill they couldn't get back up. There was a Ford Ranger and a Jeep Cherokee ZJ that were both stock, and both stuck. I chained up at that point and carried on up the hill to pull the ZJ out so we could clear the road to pull the Ranger through. While I was up top, the others were letting air out of the Ranger's tires. Leon had a go at towing the Ranger without his tire chains on, but the snow proved to be too deep and slippery to make it work. At this point, we decided it was too much trouble to chain up Leon's 80, so I just came back down with tire chains and pulled the Ranger to safety... If we would have known what lay ahead, we would have just gone ahead and chained Leon up.
Bidding farewell to the other crew, we headed down Rampart to 300U. Tackled that trail fairly easy since it is all down hill, and made the right onto 300V. We were talking about how it was not going to be fun to turn around and make it all the way out on the that uphill trail, and how we didn't want to mess with the icy spot on 300V, but there is another way out of that trail. I figured that was going to be our easiest exit.... Couldn't have been more wrong.
We started down the back side of 300V into the trees and the trail go a little off camber, luckily, the trail doesn't have a significant drop off. I slid off first, figured maybe I just came into that little section with too much speed, but when I got out, I realized that snow was much deeper at this point. It was knee deep and the snow started falling again, adding to what was already there. I tried to wiggle my way out and back up onto trail, but it just ended up putting me against an aspen tree. Funny how your attitude changes when you have a nice rig with no dents. If I was in the old 4runner, I would have just hit the gas and drove out of there. As it was, I had Leon hook up his winch to me and pull the back of the Cherokee back onto the trail. Then I was able to winch my way up the trail-- albeit half on the trail, and half in the trees, until I got to another clearing. There will be some nice deep brush scratches once I clean that thing up. Leon chained up while I was winching myself out of the way, but he ended up having the same troubles I did and winching himself up the trail as well.
At that point, with more snow coming down, and it getting late, we asked Andrew and Travis to go ahead and back down the trail to the last clearing and turn around. Since they didn't have winches, it was going to be a lot of work to get them through the trail to where we were. Well, it was a lot of work anyway. Travis backed down first and ended up sliding off into the trees, while Andrew ended up sliding off into, and over a couple trees. Andrew had a 10 inch aspen firmly lodged under the front J arm on his 80. I walked back to see how bad Travis was- his rig was off the trail, but was not up against or over any trees. We aired down his tires, still couldn't get it moving, and then got out his come-a-long and started cranking. We figured this was the only way, since we broke our club rules and didn't have a winch rig in the back, and a winch rig in the front. We would have had to somehow slip a rig past Andrew's to get to Travis... and we all know how that would have ended up. In the end, Travis and I took an hour and a half to flip that heavy 100 around 180 degrees, AND got it back up on the trail... with just a come-a-long and a strap. That was awesome. Very rewarding. Cheers all around. Travis drove out to the clearing to reassure his children we were all going to live, and wait on us to get Andrew's rig back on the trail.
Little did we know-- Leon, Andrew, and Rodney were already hard at work making that happen. Apparently, there were shovels, winches, snatch blocks, and chainsaws involved in this-- and somehow, Travis and I heard none of it. I don't know the whole story, but somehow Leon used the chainsaw that was in the back of my Cherokee and cut the log out from under Andrew's 80, and Rodney had slipped into the drivers seat of my rig and used it to snatch block to a tree and pull the back of the 80 up onto the trail. We got out my other set of chains and thankfully they fit Andrew's 33x12.50's. With chains on the rear, that rig moved around a whole lot easier, Now we just had to get it turned around. We tried to back Leon up the trail, and I was going to follow in my Cherokee, but even with Leon having all four tire chains on, he just couldn't hold onto the trail. I only had rear chains on, so I knew I had no chance. We backed up as far as we could and decided to drive Andrew's off the trail and into the forest on purpose, then winch him back up and around 180 so he could drive out in front of us. I thought we were going to be there all night, but that tank almost made that turn by itself. It's a beast. All I had to do was pull with the winch until the front tires could make their way up, and it was ready to head out. With Andrew leading the way, we drove past a spot where it looked like someone had pulled a barge out of the snow (it was actually a 100 series), and on to the next clearing.
Much to my amazement, we all made it back up and out 300U with nothing more than a thrown tire chain, which was recovered. Got back up to Rampart and figured out who's equipment was who's, and divided it all up.
It was a tough night, but a whole lot of fun. I guess in the end, it was your typical "we're going on a snow run, just for a couple hours" snow run. Why do they always take twice as long??? Haha, I'd do it again anytime.
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Pictures:
Airing down (some of us) at the sledding hill
Heading down 312
Luke getting unstuck in the "wetlands"
Travis tugged out of the "wetlands"
Airing down (some of us) at the sledding hill
Heading down 312
Luke getting unstuck in the "wetlands"
Travis tugged out of the "wetlands"