Nov 11-13 05
Ozark National Forest near Winslow AR.
Trails Run-
Hurricane Creek
Richardson Mountain (2)
Fern Mountain
Participants
Me- 1968 FJ40 - 33 boggers, locked rear
Mark- 1979 fj40- diesel, SOA, cage, locked f/r, 38x11 boggers, sm420, winch
4 mildly built jeeps - motor/ t case swaps, some lockers, 33-35 MTs
Trek style trip- no base camp. We entered the forest Fri a.m. at the Hurricaine Creek trail. All trails were very narrow- not possible in a full size rig. The Hurricaine Creek Trail has about a dozen stream crossings- this was a dry year so very little water. Primarily rocks and granite slabs. Both Richardson Mountain Trails and Fern Mountain trail are very steep climbs with loose rock. All trails were covered with damp leaves, greatly decreasing traction. Many off camber sections, and many sections where the trail dropped straight away on one side.
We camped on the Hurricaine creek trail Friday night, and made a short run up Fern Mountain near dark. My 40 has 4.11s and a 3spd case coupled to stock 3 on floor, and I was way too high geared. Mark, with a SM420 had zero issues. Even with 38s in 4hi, he was still much slower than me in 4low.
Saturday we ran up one Richardson Mountain Trail, stopped for lunch, then ran down the other. A hunter on an ATV told us of another Richardson trail that was blocked by a fallen tree, so we ran up it in the late afternoon. The tree was completely blocking the trail, so we cut it out of the way, summited, and returned down the Richardson trail we'd decended previously. We camped that night and returned up Hurricaine Creek the next morning.
Trail Damage- no serious issues. One Jeep had a brake drum screaming- stopped and pulled drum to remove gravel, etc. On the run out we were moving pretty fast trying to get back to the trailhead. I dropped off a rock onto a root stob that went between my tire lugs and punctured the carcass. No other damage except for a lot of scraped paint due to very narrow trails.
Other issues- On Saturday, one Jeep was having problems with his fuel pump- couldn't stay running. We were about a mile up the Richardson Mountain trail with no level area to make repairs. I was leading with no one else in front of him, so I towed him about 3/4 of a mile up the trail ( approx 30% grade). I was very impressed with my 40s performance considering it has a tired F in it with no front locker. The only spot I had trouble was near the top in a section of very loose rock. I couldn't get enough traction to get us both up and over. However, and that point the trail widened enough that Mark with his 40 could get by to pull him the rest of the way.
Pictures:
I've not gotten all the photos back yet. The problem with this area is that inmost of the difficult sections there is nowhere to stop for photos. I've posted what I have here-
http://groups.msn.com/FranklinPhotos/shoebox.msnw
Video- Coming soon.
Ozark National Forest near Winslow AR.
Trails Run-
Hurricane Creek
Richardson Mountain (2)
Fern Mountain
Participants
Me- 1968 FJ40 - 33 boggers, locked rear
Mark- 1979 fj40- diesel, SOA, cage, locked f/r, 38x11 boggers, sm420, winch
4 mildly built jeeps - motor/ t case swaps, some lockers, 33-35 MTs
Trek style trip- no base camp. We entered the forest Fri a.m. at the Hurricaine Creek trail. All trails were very narrow- not possible in a full size rig. The Hurricaine Creek Trail has about a dozen stream crossings- this was a dry year so very little water. Primarily rocks and granite slabs. Both Richardson Mountain Trails and Fern Mountain trail are very steep climbs with loose rock. All trails were covered with damp leaves, greatly decreasing traction. Many off camber sections, and many sections where the trail dropped straight away on one side.
We camped on the Hurricaine creek trail Friday night, and made a short run up Fern Mountain near dark. My 40 has 4.11s and a 3spd case coupled to stock 3 on floor, and I was way too high geared. Mark, with a SM420 had zero issues. Even with 38s in 4hi, he was still much slower than me in 4low.
Saturday we ran up one Richardson Mountain Trail, stopped for lunch, then ran down the other. A hunter on an ATV told us of another Richardson trail that was blocked by a fallen tree, so we ran up it in the late afternoon. The tree was completely blocking the trail, so we cut it out of the way, summited, and returned down the Richardson trail we'd decended previously. We camped that night and returned up Hurricaine Creek the next morning.
Trail Damage- no serious issues. One Jeep had a brake drum screaming- stopped and pulled drum to remove gravel, etc. On the run out we were moving pretty fast trying to get back to the trailhead. I dropped off a rock onto a root stob that went between my tire lugs and punctured the carcass. No other damage except for a lot of scraped paint due to very narrow trails.
Other issues- On Saturday, one Jeep was having problems with his fuel pump- couldn't stay running. We were about a mile up the Richardson Mountain trail with no level area to make repairs. I was leading with no one else in front of him, so I towed him about 3/4 of a mile up the trail ( approx 30% grade). I was very impressed with my 40s performance considering it has a tired F in it with no front locker. The only spot I had trouble was near the top in a section of very loose rock. I couldn't get enough traction to get us both up and over. However, and that point the trail widened enough that Mark with his 40 could get by to pull him the rest of the way.
Pictures:
I've not gotten all the photos back yet. The problem with this area is that inmost of the difficult sections there is nowhere to stop for photos. I've posted what I have here-
http://groups.msn.com/FranklinPhotos/shoebox.msnw
Video- Coming soon.
