bulldog-yota

GOt back earlier this evening, great trails out there. It was a very long drive though, more than 3.5 hours with the traffics from the Bay Area.

We did the trail in the morning and got back to the camp at about 1:30 PM. Unfortunately my girlfriend was feeling ill and tired. She deserves a medal though, she just got back from SOuth Africa on Thursday. For those that is not familiar with how long it takes, you fly little over 11 hours to Europe from SOuth Africa then you normally have an 8 hour lay over in Europe and then another 11-12 hours to San Ferancisco flying. And on top of that you need to deal with a 9 hour time difference. SO to land on Thursday and then get up 5:30 on Saturday to drive 3.5 hours go on a trail and drive back 3.5 hours does take some effort.

ANyhow, Terry thanks for postin here it was a great day. Our two passengers did enjoy the ride. We enjoyed the beautiful Trail. If you can post or send me more pics I would appreciate it. Unfortunately I was too busy driving at the tough spots to worry about taking pics or photos.

Unfortunately it seems that I was the only Toyota there, mostly Jeeps with the odd Chevy and Isuzu. Next time moe guys need to try and go, it is really worthwhile and the trails are beautiful with some challenging places (I clipped my running board and nearly my roof at one spot). Needless to say it was recommended that we leave the Freelander at the camp site. It would have done the trail, except for the rock portions without any scrapes or damage if driven carefully. But in the end it would not have made the tough spots on the rock sections. I would not recommend stock rigs, unless they have real good ground clearance, ie. Taco, Wrangler Rubicon, 3rd Gen Runner. A tip as you will see it the pics running boards not recommended.

I will post pics in a couple of minutes, need to get it off the camera. I only got pics from where we stopped, none of the pics on the trail seem to have been saved.

Sunday BBQ

Well I'm glad you had a good time. I really wish I could have gone since it's less than an hour from where I live. I didn't get off work until 4:00 and I just new that if I went up there it would be over and it would have been a waste.

Anyway, let's see some pictures!

bulldog-yota

AT least it all seem to have worked out well and all the passenger did have vehicles to ride in.

Unfortunately my digital camera's batteries where flat, so I could only take pics with the camcorder and the quality sucks. But better than nothing, hope Terry gets some pics from the club and post a link.

View




Bliksem taking a drink, he loves to get it from the bottle (need to try beer sometime)


Running boards not recommended. Hopefully he has a good excuse to get sliders now. I was amazed than he could squeeze it through some of the tight spots between trees.


And somebody wants to get home for some treats. AT least the Freelander is good for something.

Sunday BBQ

Those are some nice pictures. I bet the weather was perfect huh? In town it was in the mid to high 80's I'm guessing so up there it was probably 70's...? I will try my hardest to go next time.

So Morgan Hill is in the bay area? Yeah, durring the day it takes about 2.5 hours to get here from there. And from here, it takes about an hour to get to where the run was.

Terry4X4

As it turns out, yup. I got a chance to talk to them later in the day on Sat. Her husband John is the owner of Avery Muffler.

Had a great time over the weekend. Left Livermore at 6:15 a.m. and made it to camp a little after 9:00 a.m. My two new buddies, Bradley and Mike enjoyed themselves on the run. Funny, when I asked Bradley his name and where he lived, instead of telling me, he would pull out his wallet and show me his ID. After the run, the MUD, Sweat, and Gears Club put on a nice BBQ lunch. During lunch Smokey The Bear showed up for some pics. It was a rewarding experience I'd recommend it to anyone who has the chance to do it next year. It will definitely be on our club calendar next year.

Around 3:30 Sat afternoon eight of us went to go play on "The Rock Pile." It is the most difficult obstacle on the Niagara Rim trail. The Rock Pile is an optional loop that has several large boulders to start with, and a series of V notches going up, and granite slabs with lots of drop offs coming down. Lots of opportunity to so some serious rolls. I was concerned that the TJ might not handle it with only the 33" MTR's. I was wishing I had the truck. After a couple of attempts at the first boulder pile, I got the right line and made it up. Then to negotiate the V notches without suffering any rock rash. As it turns out, I was only one of the few to get through without any body work.

On Sunday morning, another club member and myself ran the first half of the Niagara Rim trail. This section has some steep sections with loose dirt and boulders. It reminded me of sections of Thompson Hill on Dusy. Thunderstorms rolled in later in the morning so we decided to head back to camp.

Back at camp the gear was wet from the rain. Later on down the hill near Sonora the temp was around 90 degrees.

I didn't take many pics, I'll get them posted when I can. Thanks to Bulldog-Yota for showing up. I know Kathy and the organizers where appreciative of all who volunteered their time and rigs.

Terry4X4

One of the participants put up a trip report with a couple of pics. The blue TJ is mine as we were exiting the Rock Pile.

Trip Report

bulldog-yota

The Rock pile looked like fun!! Hope more guys will post pics.

Robinhood150

A couple more pics: http://www.xterraownersclub.com/ubb/...;f=13;t=000840

ldivinag

we had a club run there a couple years ago. video:

http://www.cbe.csuhayward.edu/~ldivi...wd/bbq2002.wmv

at the end is the good portions of the rock pile...

bulldog-yota

I somehow missed the Xterras, but it seems they were a little more back and it was easy to miss some trucks in such a big group. Seems like they had great fun too.

Hope somebody will post some pics of the more interesting areas, where the Chevy lost his running boards and the Xterra his mirror. I almost had a modified side going down some rocks close to trees. Hope somebody took pictures of rigs going through this section of the trail, so people can see how much fun it is.

My runner is still dirty, not going to clen it till after Pismo!!!!!

bulldog-yota

When my runner grows up it will do that

Terry4X4

Hee hee... I forgot about that video. Ironically, my TJ is in the video being driven by the P.O. Who woulda thunk??

calrockx

anyone have an email address for the organization that hosted this event, blood sweat and gears? or a phone number?

ldivinag

first post has kathy avery's phone number...

calrockx

oh yeah :pat:

Terry4X4

Received the following from Kathy Avery of Mud, Sweat, & Gears:

"All,
The following link will get you Kids Photos. It takes a long time to load but is well worth it, complete with titles and music, thanks to Jerry and Harold Hayes.
Thank you all for coming. We couldn't have done it without everyone of you.
Kathy
http://www.photoshow.net/redir_main.php?show=CRGgoxFAd "

Robinhood150

Too many jeeps...

Cool pics, saw a bulldog, a 4runner, an avalanche and a cool cruiser.