xFallen
02-08-2006, 10:56 PM
I met the Colorado crew at the Table Mesa staging area just before 9:00 am. It was already turning into a beautiful day although the drive out was unusally windy. Just to recap, me TJ on 37s with usual stuff on stock axles, Dale TJ on 44/60 axles and 38s wider but stock length, Cody '74 Bronco on 37s, Zane TJ 109" on 42s and 60F/70R axles. Andrew joined us for Collateral Damage in his YJ shod with 38s on a pair of 9" axles, close to stock length.
We headed off toward Anaconda (rating around 4.5) and found a late model Cherokee stuff nose first down in the crack at the beginning of Lower Terminator. It had been stripped of its license plate. I checked to make sure there were no bodies in it. You never know. I suspect it was stolen and ditched. Dumbasses.
We headed on up Anaconda with Zane leading. I figured he'd be most likely to clean everything and would provide a convenient anchor point if any of us smaller rigs needed to winch. Zane had zero issues on the entire trail.
The frst part of the trail was radically different than when I ran it a few weeks ago. The fall before the rock garden had two huge boulders in it that were either winched there or fell from the bank. They did not make the climb easier. Last time out I climbed that fall without any drama wahtsoever. These damn rocks were situated in such a way as to catch the undercarriage and axles in the oddest of places. With a bunch of wiggling we made it through (except for the Bronco) and on the less than ideal line. After the two rock squeeze (I aplogize -- if these osbtacles have names I do not know them) right near the first bail-out point, there was a rather large rockthat followed me around due to the way I placed my tires on it poresumably. Anywaym, this damn rock got caught dead center underneath my belly pan and caused far too much time to get off of it. Again, it was the darnest thing. I fuigred that this just wouldn't be a good wheeling day for me or something.
The rest of the trail was rather uneventful other than the fun of navigating the various obstacles. Dale completed the trail without winching. I had to take a winch on the second last waterfall, which seemed weird. I just couldn't find the line even though I could feel it was there. I am pretty csure I could have climbed it. Cody in the Bronco also took a winch there. The last fall is the one I figured I would have trouble with but really didn't. Everyone made it up. Andrew joined us somewhere before the end of the trail. He was on foot and had taken the upper access road in above Anaconda to find us. We were almost done with the trail and even though he had wanted to run it, we decided collectively to head to the CD trailhead, break for lunch then wheel CD. The last fall was the one I expected to have grief on but it really wasn't that bad. I picked a line and was able to execute it thanks largely to the tires. Cody used the same line and a bit of throttle.
We ate lunch on the river bank in a shady spot not far from the entrance to Twsited. After lunch we went over and walked Twisted just so everyone could get a chance to see it. Everyone is curious about it but I don't think too many were anxious to try it on that particular day.
We headed up CD which is seems generally rated a 5.0. Everyone winched up the "big" fall on CD except Zane who as one might expect pretty much just climbed right up. I got into a situation where I couldn't move either direction and chose to winch just to keep us moving. I don't believe I would have climbed it today anyway although I am thinking there is a way through it in my rig -- another day. Lots came close to making it but it just wasn't in the cards. It really felt like a wheelbase game to me but could easily have been many other things. Frankly I never expected to be able to climb that fall but tried fairly assertively anyway. Gotta stretch a bit here soon.
Cody may also have had to winch his '74 Bronco on the left-right crevass turn thing (sorry, don't know the names). I got through but put the rig through massive contortions doing it as I had slipped off my line and decided the newly imposed line could work too even though it was off camber and all twisted up. I wish we had pix of that because it would have been kind of cool. Dale made it through with only a little contorting. Andrew made it look pretty easy and did exactly what should be done to get through it. He seemed to have a good plan of attack and executed it very nicely.
It was very rewarding to run those trails. Both were great but I esepecially enjoyed CD. I have run that trail as a passenger but not in my own rig. I had been wanting to run myself for a long time and just never had the opportunity for one reason or another. I had forgotten about the exit to the trail. I was very tired by the time we got to it and I had to talk myself into it being no big deal. It was a fairly easy crawl but I was tired and it looked like more than it turned out to be.
On the way back to the parking lot we went through Raw Deal just because it is nearly as fast as taking the road and it just felt like the thing to do. Dale blew a Warn hub tryng a fun line on Upper Raw Deal. Bummer. She put it in 2WD and humped it back to the trucks while Zane, Andrew and I continued on and went up to complete Upper Raw Deal and head back to the trucks.
I believe everyone had a great time. It was real nice to wheel with Andrew again -- been too long since the last time. I learned a lot about me and my rig.
I ran the Creepy Crawlers at 5 psi for both trails. They worked really well at that pressure, wrapping around the rocks and holding very well even when the tire wasn't always placed exactly right.
I am too bagged to post pictures tonight, I think, so it may have to wait until tomorrow evening. I am not even sure how many decent ones we got since we spent more time on these trails driving and spotting than taking pictures.
Barry
We headed off toward Anaconda (rating around 4.5) and found a late model Cherokee stuff nose first down in the crack at the beginning of Lower Terminator. It had been stripped of its license plate. I checked to make sure there were no bodies in it. You never know. I suspect it was stolen and ditched. Dumbasses.
We headed on up Anaconda with Zane leading. I figured he'd be most likely to clean everything and would provide a convenient anchor point if any of us smaller rigs needed to winch. Zane had zero issues on the entire trail.
The frst part of the trail was radically different than when I ran it a few weeks ago. The fall before the rock garden had two huge boulders in it that were either winched there or fell from the bank. They did not make the climb easier. Last time out I climbed that fall without any drama wahtsoever. These damn rocks were situated in such a way as to catch the undercarriage and axles in the oddest of places. With a bunch of wiggling we made it through (except for the Bronco) and on the less than ideal line. After the two rock squeeze (I aplogize -- if these osbtacles have names I do not know them) right near the first bail-out point, there was a rather large rockthat followed me around due to the way I placed my tires on it poresumably. Anywaym, this damn rock got caught dead center underneath my belly pan and caused far too much time to get off of it. Again, it was the darnest thing. I fuigred that this just wouldn't be a good wheeling day for me or something.
The rest of the trail was rather uneventful other than the fun of navigating the various obstacles. Dale completed the trail without winching. I had to take a winch on the second last waterfall, which seemed weird. I just couldn't find the line even though I could feel it was there. I am pretty csure I could have climbed it. Cody in the Bronco also took a winch there. The last fall is the one I figured I would have trouble with but really didn't. Everyone made it up. Andrew joined us somewhere before the end of the trail. He was on foot and had taken the upper access road in above Anaconda to find us. We were almost done with the trail and even though he had wanted to run it, we decided collectively to head to the CD trailhead, break for lunch then wheel CD. The last fall was the one I expected to have grief on but it really wasn't that bad. I picked a line and was able to execute it thanks largely to the tires. Cody used the same line and a bit of throttle.
We ate lunch on the river bank in a shady spot not far from the entrance to Twsited. After lunch we went over and walked Twisted just so everyone could get a chance to see it. Everyone is curious about it but I don't think too many were anxious to try it on that particular day.
We headed up CD which is seems generally rated a 5.0. Everyone winched up the "big" fall on CD except Zane who as one might expect pretty much just climbed right up. I got into a situation where I couldn't move either direction and chose to winch just to keep us moving. I don't believe I would have climbed it today anyway although I am thinking there is a way through it in my rig -- another day. Lots came close to making it but it just wasn't in the cards. It really felt like a wheelbase game to me but could easily have been many other things. Frankly I never expected to be able to climb that fall but tried fairly assertively anyway. Gotta stretch a bit here soon.
Cody may also have had to winch his '74 Bronco on the left-right crevass turn thing (sorry, don't know the names). I got through but put the rig through massive contortions doing it as I had slipped off my line and decided the newly imposed line could work too even though it was off camber and all twisted up. I wish we had pix of that because it would have been kind of cool. Dale made it through with only a little contorting. Andrew made it look pretty easy and did exactly what should be done to get through it. He seemed to have a good plan of attack and executed it very nicely.
It was very rewarding to run those trails. Both were great but I esepecially enjoyed CD. I have run that trail as a passenger but not in my own rig. I had been wanting to run myself for a long time and just never had the opportunity for one reason or another. I had forgotten about the exit to the trail. I was very tired by the time we got to it and I had to talk myself into it being no big deal. It was a fairly easy crawl but I was tired and it looked like more than it turned out to be.
On the way back to the parking lot we went through Raw Deal just because it is nearly as fast as taking the road and it just felt like the thing to do. Dale blew a Warn hub tryng a fun line on Upper Raw Deal. Bummer. She put it in 2WD and humped it back to the trucks while Zane, Andrew and I continued on and went up to complete Upper Raw Deal and head back to the trucks.
I believe everyone had a great time. It was real nice to wheel with Andrew again -- been too long since the last time. I learned a lot about me and my rig.
I ran the Creepy Crawlers at 5 psi for both trails. They worked really well at that pressure, wrapping around the rocks and holding very well even when the tire wasn't always placed exactly right.
I am too bagged to post pictures tonight, I think, so it may have to wait until tomorrow evening. I am not even sure how many decent ones we got since we spent more time on these trails driving and spotting than taking pictures.
Barry