Trip Reports
| Chinaman Gulch | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date: | March, 15th 2009 | |||
| Trip Leader: | Rob Cooper | |||
| Members Present: | Mike Borum, Glen McMullan, Rob Cooper | |||
| Guests Present: | Rick Tufts, Chris Bowker | |||
| Picture Link: | Mike's Pics | |||
| Description: |
Everyone met up at the Safeway eager and ready for a fun day of wheeling. We had 3 TJ's and an LJ. The drive to Johnsonville truck stop was quick and the weather was perfect. Once we got to the truck stop we all gassed up, aired down and prepared for the trail run. Rick wisely decided to remove his brand new chrome exhaust tip prior to the run for fear of crushing it, which it most certainly would have been. Once on the trail everyone climbed up to the squeeze fairly quickly and with no issues. Everyone slipped through the obstacle with little effort and we all proceeded on. It seems as if the squeeze is really not much of an obstacle anymore but rather just a part of the rocky upward trail system. Just after the fork in the road heading down to Chinaman loop we hit a section of the trail that has been pretty rutted out and has a nice little four foot drop on the right hand side. I attempted this line and found it to be a pretty decent drop that unexpectedly stood my jeep vertical. Rick was second down and took the left side due to some passenger advice from his son. Chris also took the left hand side but half way down lost a bolt in the bottom driver's side bump stop which caused his spring to shoot out and land 15 feet in front of his jeep! Luckily Chris stopped in the perfect location to flex out his front axle and with a little help from my high lift he muscled the spring back in. We couldn't find the bump stop bolt but Chris had a spar in the back of his jeep so we were off and rolling down the trail in no time. We approached the Rock Garden promptly after getting restarted and to my relief the Rock Garden is still a challenge and now has a third route! I started off by taking my jeep up the left hand side trying to get as high as I could on the large boulder to the driver's side for the jeep. After a little struggle in the middle I finally made it and over getting that much needed wheeler's rush. Rick was next up and took the newly formed right hand route which I've only witnessed one other vehicle attempt which ended up with some good old rocky mountain pin striping! He made his way up pretty easily but got hung on his rear diff trying to exit the obstacle. After a few attempts Chris gave it a little bit of the skinny pedal and powered his way off and down to victory. Shortly after completing the obstacle Rick commented on how this was the first real "rock crawling" trail he's wheeled. I was impressed on how well he handled such a difficult trail for his first time! Chris was next in line for the Garden. He also took the left hand line but decided to hug the big boulder on the driver's side rather than posing up for the flex shots. He made it through rather quickly and with no issues. Finally, Mike was up in his shiny yellow LJ. I knew mike was going to take the left hand line and go high like I did but this time he really showed us what that wheelbase can do. Mike's LJ was so high up on the boulder everybody was in awe and we all got a great shot of his Tera Flex LCG kit, which by the way is not as shiny looking as the body! After regrouping we decided to make our way up to Whale Rock while hitting some of the small side obstacles on the way. Mike attempted the last little side obstacle a few times right before Whale Rock but after grinding rockers and rims for about 5 minutes decided to move on. At Whale Rock we got together and ate lunch while deciding on how to drive over it. Chris, Rick and I opted for the middle line and straddled the v-crack with little effort. Mike wanted to see if he could crawl the extreme left line. For safety we put a strap on his front bumper and anchored it to the back of Ricks TJ. Mike gave it about five really good tries but it just wasn't going to happen. Once his tires got wet he lost a lot of traction and let's face it, Whale Rock is not an easy obstacle when its dry let alone wet! Moving on we ascended up the gulch and enjoyed the calm weather and just being out wheeling for the first trip of the year. I thought there might be some snow on this side but to my surprise it was dry all the way to the top up to Double Whammy. Double Whammy is a new addition to the trail which has only been there for about 2, maybe 3 years. This section looks just like a mini Moab with a two shelf rock ridge jetting out starting high on the left and getting lower as it slopes down to the right. Rick, Chris and I made short work of the lower right hand side and were up and over in no time at all. Mike decided to try the left line, the same line I sheared my rear pinion off of the year before attempting to bump my way up. The spacing on Double Whammy had Mikes name all over it. The spacing between the two ledges was just perfect to give Mike some much need challenge. After several attempts up and down the ridge and taking about 5,000 miles off his tread life Mike made it up near the middle. The group was making amazing time. I'm sure we set a club record for time on this trail and we only had one obstacle left. I was first up the v-crack hugging high up the right hand side. This obstacle is very deceiving and if you don't know the line you end up dragging the driver side across a huge rock and/or possibly flipping over. Once up, I made sure Rick and Chris were on the correct line and guided them up with ease. Mike already knew the line so I just sat back and enjoyed watching his rig articulate up the hill. At this point we were pretty much done with the tough part and were on our way down, or so we thought. The back side of the trail coming down had been rutted out pretty good and has a section that looks like Bowling Ball Hill. The only difference is that in the middle of this decent you have to make a shear right hand turn into a 3-foot drop then another tight squeeze left around a boulder with a nice drop to it. We all took this section slow and made it fairly easy but I'm not going to lie, I had white knuckles and a little pucker factor. The rest of the trip was a nice easy decline back to the start of the trail. It was a great trip and a better start to the 2009 Bighorn wheeling season! Everyone in the group was very experienced and in control of their rigs which made it a pleasure to wheel with them and I hope to see Chris and Rick back out on the trails with Bighorn soon! |
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