Wheeling 11/10/18

Looks like I will make it out. Fingers crossed.

I can bring a nice camera I bought my wife for Christmas 2 years ago that she's never used if someone wants to volunteer to take pics. May as well use it for something

 

Since I'm riding shot gun with Andy, i would gladly volunteer!!

 

Perfect. Make sure you get a few shots of Andy sipping a latte and reading a newspaper when we are on the green and blue trails. Can't wait to tell the wife I used the camera. She told me we would never use it LOL.

 

Well if he is up to it, maybe someone can capture me driving it blindfolded lol if hes willing to do that again lol

 

I’m out. Have to do charity work on my brother in laws car. Womp womp

 

I feel your pain, Thanksgiving I think I'm just loading my box into a trailer and bringing it to my parents

 

Have fun everyone. With snow in the forecast, and having not addressed the driver's rear tire bead since Fall Crawl, I'll be passing on this outing. I prefer for the 4R and trailer to only see salt from dropped crackers.

 

I'm out. My sons last soccer game got moved to tomorrow.

 

Yep, me too, I'll be at soccer, not Rausch :-(

 

I'm probably not gonna make it.

 

I'm up for it, snow or no snow.

 

I'm still in.

 

Unfortunately out. Work schedule interfered with me getting my skidplates modified.
Hopefully I will be ready next month.

 

Just got home a little while ago from our Utah/Colorado trip.

Sucks to be back in civilization...

How'd things go today, any pics?

 

Well it went....

Lol

It was a good day. A bit of an adventure!
Andy and I showed up and Cass007 and El Dahs were there waiting as the snowed...

VBRoamer showed up, we all got checked in and aired down the snow stopped and we headed out along the south property and headed straight to Snake Bite, we did the first and last part of that and skipped the middle. I took over 500 photos here, Cass007 has them on his camera, hopefully some turned out good.

Then we deliberated a bit a decided to head down towards 21 and 22.

On our way we noticed some new signage and walked over on foot and checked it out. It appears to be signs for fallen officers. The trail was not marked on the map yet and looked fairly new so we diliberated again and decided to check it out... and this is where the day got interesting.

The assumption was the trailed would be like TaTas and be a lighter blue.
About 1/4 of the way in that thought began to change.
The trail is very new, off camber, mossy, with lots of loose dirt and rocks.

About a 1/4 of the way in the trails also started to get a little tight. We get to a hill climb that's very loose and has a tight off camber turn up top. Andy made it alright and then Vince was next up, the hill was a little challenging but he made it up without having to winch, the turn is where the adventure hit its peak. Navigating around the turn was going well till the mossy rocks under his tires had a better idea. Slid right off and almost hit a tree on his right. At this point we decided to pull line and try to pull him away from the tree. Things seemed to be going well and then SNAP and there went the line and Vinces passenger front door into the tree. Andy made some fancy knots to fix his line and we pulled Chris half way up the hill and use a snatch block on a tree to help keep Vince off the tree. Chris was next and his lift and 37s were a huge help since we didn't have to winch him. Then Greg was last and we had to at least winch him forward.

After all this, we were ready to get off this trail. We got to the next obstical that was a pretty steep down hill and another tight off camber turn. We could see the lunch spot and we hoping we could ditch the trail there, after looking we came to s conclusion that was a no go, fortunately the end of the trail was just to the left of the lunch spot so we decided to continue. After getting Andy down and around the tight turn that probably wasn't the designated line, but the line to try to follow was to tight and off camber, we got him out of the way, then Vinve and Chris and finally Greg, who we had to winch once more over is diff skid. I dont think I took any pictures here....

We started the second trail at around 11 and got to the trail and around 3.... 4 hrs later we grabbed a quick bit since we didn't really stop to eat and then headed back to the staging area, we were beat.

Thankfully everyone was able to drive out and home and we have a good story to tell.

Hopefully pictures will he uploaded in the next few days!

 

Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet the Keystone cruisers on Saturday, as my friend wanted to meet at AOAA. We had hired a guide, and he gave great advice for my first outing with the 1974 FJ40.

1. Just pick a gear either 1 or 2 and let the engine do the work. Basically, by applying only slight gas and slight brake, I was able to follow the guides Jeep YJ line pretty easily. I was amazed by what the F.5 engine could do in 4Lo up and down some pretty scary terrain.

2. When I hit an obstacle, my instinct is to let off the gas pedal, but that resulted in my getting stuck. Instead, by applying gentle but steady throttle, I was able to go up obstacles. This was fantastic advice.

My 1974 FJ40 with 4" inch HFS lift and Mud Terrain tires (14 years old but not yet dry rotted) did incredibly well.

I hope to ride with the Keystone Cruisers soon!

 

So much fun yesterday. Had a blast, got scared a few times and learned a lot about how to look at and tackle different obstacles. Andy out in front making lattes for himself and Avi seeking out the most difficult lines. Vince (my personal comfort blanket) unfazed by all of it like it's nothing he hasn't seen before. Me white knuckling the wheel like a Champion and just repeating to myself ... Andy won't put you in danger, just follow Vince. Greg bringing up the rear with the smallest lift and tires and just crushing every obstacle with ease. The loose downhill section with mossy rocks and the steep incline he handles with no spotter, just crazy.

What a beautiful day. It was raining at home, but nice above Harrisburg

Hopped over the last mountain and into Ravine just before the Exit to Rausch and wtf?!?!?


Andy getting us started on Snakebite


Vince, my personal trail guide, showing me the line