Trail Run Nov 11?

[slowandsteady BJ]

Write up.

We met at A&W as planned, Dana and I sat in the warmth of the resteraunt watching the horizontal rain hit the side of everything and thought about the mission ahead. We chatted about this and that until Dana said "is the ford blue?" "Yes" I replied. "With a canopy?"... "yes" i reply again. "That thing is f*ckin huge" remarks Dana, as we both turn and see the big, lumbering Ford pull in.

Well the weather left a little to be desired indeed, this however was soon to be overlooked as our attention focused on how to get the Ford to the lake. I knew the Ford could get there but weather or not it could do it in one piece? Hmmmm.

Graham had those "West Coast" style mirrors. Don't know why they have that name.... certainly not from the west coast we were about to show them. They were the triangulated kind and removing them would require a lot of work so Graham said they would stay on. This increased the width of the Ford by a good 16". This was not going to be a damage free run for the Ford, at this point affectionately re-named "The Fat Retarded Kid" for her clumsy, lurchy and generally un coordinated approach to fitting down narrow trails. She drooled and coughed a lot while the carb tried to feed the primitive underhood gas chugging boat anchor. Clearly at this point the TFRK would be setting the pace for the day.

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

Luckily the dozer's had been through the trail and widened it out! The TFRK caught a huge break there. We ran in 3rd gear (usually a 1st gear affair) which bought us time that we would need later on. We flew to the "crossing" which was very deep indeed. After that we stopped for a chat and warned Graham what was to come. We decided on taking the NW rout up the mountain..... to the North West Passage.

All was going well until all radio communications ceased. My CB had a loose connection in the harness at the back, Dana's was old and grumpy and Grahams antenna was somewhere back on the trail. (along with badges, trim, paint and other bits)

We (Dana and I) waited and waited and finally TFRK showed up and Graham looked sweaty and tired. Turns out he wedged TFRK between 3 trees and had to take some serious damage to get out. His truck had indeed taken damage!

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

To the Wall...

As we trundled along the "northwest passage" we took a side route that we ended up abandoning, this however is worth exploring at a later date. Perhaps Ill post some GPS coordinates in the Members area.

We approached the wall and came up with a game plan. Cruiser front, cruiser rear and TFRK in the middle. Steve asked if I was going over or around. I said it depended on how long the Ford took as we were running short on daylight. Dana rounded the wall with ease and then the TFRK went for it. Steve and I guided Graham around .5 of the way. Then it was clear some planning was needed. Either the rocker was going to take damage or the front tire was going over the bank. Graham had another plan. A hefty throttle blip and the TFRK lurched ahead, the front tire rubbed the guard wall and the rear tire hit the rock on the outside of the wall a millisecond before the rocker hit the same rock. The tire climbed up the rock, saving the rocker, and then with an airborne leap cleared the corner with the grace and style of a stumbling elephant she was around. Elapsed time: 3:00min.

I guess Im going over!

Steve spotted, Graham grabbed a winch line (just in case) and I puckered up and climbed the front end up. Then a strange noise....PHHHIIIISSSSS. Air escaping from somewhere? It wasn't a tire, I thought a rear air bag blew, but no. As soon as I locked the rear ARB the noise returned. It was a big enough leak that it was draining the tank faster than the compressors could keep up.

I shut the sixty down and determined the leak was in the rear ARB. The air had filled the rear axle with positive pressure and it was breaching out the left rear axle seal. Hmmm. Well I wasn't going to fix it there so on we went without a rear locker. A little jacking and a little winching I was over. Thanks for the spotting Steve!

Three attempts at loading pics and no luck... WTF?

Ah... here we go...

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

more to come.....

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

The Sixty climbed up just fine and then lowered down onto the sliders. Steve lined me up just right so the rear driveshaft would go in the gap. A quick tug with a snatch block and a rock or two stacked under the left rear and the back of the truck was up! A slow drop off the other side and we were off!

Next, the narrow climb to Tugwell.

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

We climbed (and the ford plowed) up to the lake and made camp. Before dark we assed the ford's new body work and found many new customizations, I think every panel had dents. Those mirrors had dented in both doors, one so badely that it wouldn't open from the outside!

At this point the wind was howling but miraculously the rain stopped! We set up camp and used the dry wood we brought to make a fire. Dana and Graham parked their rigs to block the wind coming off the lake and all was well. The stars were even out and the moonlight lit the lake up nicely. We cooked bacon on the fire and BS'd waiting for Andrew to appear.

We went for a wood run in the area around 6pm and decided to set a "Sutherland Trap" We dreamt about digging a big hole and covering it up so he would drive into it unsuspectingly, (like the Dudesons) but that wouldn't be very nice and we decided against it. We did however come up with something funny that Andrew wouldn't mind and we all laughed as we returned to camp with our wood bounty!

 

[Toshi38]

Jeez some poor guy fell down.... I blame Roxanne!

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

So we waited and waited..... 8pm...9pm...9:15.... OK time to mount a rescue team. My rig had a very sophisticated tarp and levelling system in place so Dana was good enough to volunteer to lead the way. Steve rode shotgun and off they went. They headed down Can-opener, to Butler, down Butler for a good .5 hour and then turned around and headed back. They went around the north west side of the lake on the way back in case Andrew had gone that route. This way all bases were covered.

Luckily just... (and I mean just) before they left I gave them an FRS, because I was at a higher elevation I could get word to them. I checked up from time to time heading back to the fire to cook stuff and warm up. It was getting late and I hadn't heard much for a while. Around 11:30 the radio hisses and I can hear Steve mumbling something. I walked to the top of a tall rock near the lake and finally recieved the whole transmission.(more or less) "We are stuck....mpth....hiss... winching.... crackle....mpthee.... dead battery". He heard back....."hisss....crackle.....my way". I suppose he figured that "on" preceded "my way", I took down my contraption and headed off to get them. I ran into the "Sutherland Trap" serves me right I suppose, but no big deal although I was laughing to myself.

I found the boys in the dark looking a bit cold and perhaps a bit embarrassed!
We jumped the 40, got it "un stuck" and headed back to camp. We all had a good laugh, Steve fell over at one point and then we all hit the hay wondering where on earth Andrew was?!

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

The wind and rain picked up during the night but it didnt bother me any. The 60 makes a good tent and I was warm and dry all night. Steve said he got a bit cold sleeping on the Ford bench seat, Graham and his girlfriend had an air matress leak that sucked and Dana was so comfortable that he slept in till 9:30!

In the morning the snow started to fall so it was a good thing Steve got the fire going again. We were all tired and some of us were hungover. I busted out coffee, sausages, .5kg of Bacon and garlic toast to feast on. We all ate up then packed up and headed 4 home. The ford got hung up in the same spot the 40 had gotten hung up the previous night. With some winching, jacking and rock piling she was up and over in about 30min. We headed towards Jordan River and deaked off the mainline and down through a clear-cut. This path was steep (down) muddy, stumpy and did I mention muddy? It appeared that someone had tried very hard to climb up this route but had failed a mere 10 or so feet from the top. Could this hill be Andrew's final demise? We thought it was possible but who was to know? The heavy rain had washed the tire tracks to the point even Mantracker would have been 'stumped' (no pun intended).

We followed fire roads untill JR. Aired up and headed home.....

A good trip indeed.
Thanks Boys (and girl)

Cam.

 

[asutherland]

ThThis path was steep (down) muddy, stumpy and did I mention muddy? It appeared that someone had tried very hard to climb up this route but had failed a mere 10 or so feet from the top. Could this hill be Andrew's final demise?

Yes. I fing H8MUD!

Could have likely made it with more aggressive mud tires or something to winch to. You know, like a 40 or a 60!

Thanks for the rescue attempt tho boys... sounds like you ALMOST found me. It was VERY frustrating being 10 feet from the top and not able to make it, knowing you guys had a warm campfire, food and beer waiting not far away. As it was, I spent a half hour getting myself unstuck from the 1st attempt, then tried it again (dumb) and spent another half hour getting unstuck from the same spot. Did I mention that IH8MUD?

 

[Toshi38]

There where a couple of pretty nice looking stumps

As for the beer... we had pretty much drank all of it by that point

 

[asutherland]

After leaving Sooke in the rain and wind, I stopped to air down just before Jordan River as I pulled onto the main FSR. This is the sight that greeted me. It was amazing, the moon lit up nearly everything down the deserted road, and I cursed myself for not bringing my actual camera. I did snap a shot with my cell phone though. Imagine this picture, but 1000x clearer, spookier and WAY more moon.

 

[Rigpig]

Yup, spectacular night sky views up there along with the ocean and Olympic mountain range in sight. Cam and I got perfect weather, drank a bunch of beers admiring the scenery up there when we rescued my broken-axled 42. We should do more night runs like we used to back in the day!