October run of the month

[Saddletramp]

CHANGE

We are running the trail from Sunflower to Bartlet lake. Many of us will be camping. This is a very easy run, great scenery and we will camp at the lake.

We will meet up at Baja gas station on the Beeline highway, 8AM and departing by 830. CB and HAM Chanel's will be shared at the gas station.

Again, sorry for the last minute planning.

Steve

 

[Saddletramp]

We are making an change in plan. We will be taking The route from Sunflower to Bartlet lake. Apologies to our friends up north but we do not want to get ourselves caught on a trail that appears to be open when it is not. Risking any goodwill built up in the OHV community and NFS is not the route we want to take.

 

[Pitch]

My wife and I were planning on going, but will pass now that plans have changed. It would likely be a muddy mess up on the rim anyway. Ih8mud, right?

Have fun!

 

[richardlillard1]

The 393 power line road?

Not to continue raining on the parade, but the last time I ran that in any kind of wet conditions, our lead rig almost slid off the road; it took his winch to a big crow bar nailed into the ground, his rear bumper strapped to my front bumper, and my rear bumper attached to the winch of the truck behind me to safely get him back onto stable ground.

All three vehicles were on mud terrains that didn't help because, well, snot is snot and the dirt on that road turns to snot when it rains.

It took about two and a half hours and the crow bar, which is likely what saved him from the nose sliding off the edge, was bent to a V-shape from straight. We're talking about a 1" diameter crow bar, not a light weight, dinky one. On top of this, it took about another hour to get backed up enough to make a multi-point turn and go out the direction in which we had come, because we obviously had been denied and weren't going to run the road in its entirety.

If 393 is wet, please be extremely careful. I know most of you travel with families and I don't want to be reading about you guys in the paper.

 

[jclarke450]

On our way. Maybe 10 mins late to baja

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

The 393 power line road?

Not to continue raining on the parade, but the last time I ran that in any kind of wet conditions, our lead rig almost slid off the road; it took his winch to a big crow bar nailed into the ground, his rear bumper strapped to my front bumper, and my rear bumper attached to the winch of the truck behind me to safely get him back onto stable ground.

All three vehicles were on mud terrains that didn't help because, well, snot is snot and the dirt on that road turns to snot when it rains.

It took about two and a half hours and the crow bar, which is likely what saved him from the nose sliding off the edge, was bent to a V-shape from straight. We're talking about a 1" diameter crow bar, not a light weight, dinky one. On top of this, it took about another hour to get backed up enough to make a multi-point turn and go out the direction in which we had come, because we obviously had been denied and weren't going to run the road in its entirety.

If 393 is wet, please be extremely careful. I know most of you travel with families and I don't want to be reading about you guys in the paper.

This is common with most trails.

 

[inkpot]

This is common with most trails.

True dat, but this area has more potential than most. Very little rock , if any , to bind the soils, and the hillside has a history of cave ins , or cave outs, landslides if you prefer, in this case.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

True dat, but this area has more potential than most. Very little rock , if any , to bind the soils, and the hillside has a history of cave ins , or cave outs, landslides if you prefer, in this case.

Thanks for your input, will add it to the TTOTM

 

[crawlAZ]

ROTM

 

[medtro]

True dat, but this area has more potential than most. Very little rock , if any , to bind the soils, and the hillside has a history of cave ins , or cave outs, landslides if you prefer, in this case.

That sounds extremely dangerous and deserves a sign from TRAL if not closed.

 

[Saddletramp]

Well we are happy to report another successful ROTM. The trail was more challenging than I remember and all seven vehicles made it all the way to the end of Bartlett and back. Our one 200 series did scuff its bumper twice but the bumper was already scuffed in the same area so no real new scraps. Lots of spotting and exciting scenery with just a little rain.

Thank to all who attended and making the adjustments at huge last minute.

Eric, welcome to the group, you did a fantastic job of driving and were a great sport. Especially good was the last minute camping decision, mistake, but you took it all in stride. We could not have asked for a better first time member experience.

See you all on the next trail.

 

[Saddletramp]

Nice shot of the dam and a little fishing for dinner. Alvis went without his fish and chips dinner, but he was a hit with the kids and has an offer to babysit in the future. Super people and beautiful sunsets.

Jason and his beautiful family, Murf, Alvis, Eric, Thomas, Richard lets do it again.

 

[LongDuck]

Great ROTM completed today, and adding my pictures and commentary. I want to thank SaddleTramp for being flexible on the route planning given the discussion up to this point; erring on the side of caution is appreciated by all, and choosing this route made for a great day with plenty of learning opportunities interspersed with a little rain to keep the dust down. Unrelated, but here's what was in front of me at the turn from Shea onto Beeline (the guys will get a laugh out of this):

@crawlAZ did some great driving on this trip in one of the few UZJ200's I've seen on the trail - hat's off to him for stick with us and tackling some of the NOT-Stocker-Friendly terrain:

Cool erosion pattern about 1/2 way between the pavement and our campsite:

Even this natural 'tank barricade' didn't stop us from getting to the lake:

---------splitting post to add pictures-----------

 

[LongDuck]

(Part2 - I really should upgrade my account to post all the pictures in one thread!)

As we were packed up and ready to head out this morning, we spotted a guy on a paddle-board hauling ass across the lake directly toward us. I got out my binoculars to see if it was LCPhil and his dog! (It wasn't, just some guy wondering how the heck we got out there in our LandCruisers)

Here's our ROTM trail organizer bringing up the back of the pack on the way out - maybe you can zoom in and see what's dangling from his new Slee Shortbus:

And finally, the 3-Amigo's trecking together on the way out this morning:

All in all, a great day on the trail complete with fireside chat, family time, Millie the Camping Dog, and a perfectly time torrential rain back on the Beeline to wash off all the dust. Perfect timing on getting us out, and a final Thank You to @Saddletramp, @murf for scouting ahead for a river crossing which didn't pan out, and the rest of the club members who made this a memorable ride. I really appreciate the spot-support on some of the tougher sections, and looking forward to the next one,

 

[Saddletramp]

One key item I forgot. Thomas made a peach cobbler in his Dutch oven using Brittans recipe. Smelling the cobbler with a light drizzle of rain coming down we all enjoyed the tasty treat and reminisced about Brittan and members who we have camped with.

Many thanks Thomas for the dessert, great way to end the evening. No pictures to show, it was just too good to stop eating for a picture.

 

[murf]

We saw the tops of many Saguaros toppoed off under the powerlines. Saguaro topping looks like done as recently as 2009. Since then this new stance

APS adjusts policy on plant removal

 

[murf]

here are several that i took

 

[murf]

no dust on the trail! the rain only came around 8:30pm and sprinkled for about an hour and more sprinkles in the way out. couple of wash outs that made it pucker worthy. the most challenging spot had people stacking and directing vs taking pictures. I think we had more than one rear tire sliding down the washout as motivating through

 

[murf]

 

[Saddletramp]

Great pictures Murf and Jason