Barely keep my eyes open, but I just cranked out the page.
It has 27 pictues, and 13 vids.

Had a blast up there today. Saw a fawn and it's mother up there when it was still dark out.

Got to drive Bill's solid axle '85 truck. First time I have driven one of his vintage I think.
It was a kick in the butt.

As you can see from the vids when you view them, his truck gets a workout.

Going up early was cool too, as you beat the heat, and other drivers who venture out up there.

Here is the page.

 

Looks like we have 3 Ivan Stuart Juniors on board. Just floor it and bounce up the hill eh? Pretty entertaining to watch. That's really cool of Bill to share his ride with you guys. I usually offer to trade rigs with someone in a 3rd gen on our runs but haven't gotten any takers yet. I wonder why...

Glad you all had a good day on the trails.

When I was working nights I would get off at 7 AM and head for the trails right after, usually a 2 hour drive to the trail, wheel all day till about 4 PM, then drive 2 hours home. I developed a nasty Red Bull habit doing that but I had a really awesome time on all of those trips. I was up to 4 Red Bulls a day on Saturdays when we were wheeling.

 

Page looks good. How did you keep your eyes open?
This run to Greenwater was a blast. Finding our 'secret' lake made the trip worthwhile. What a beautiful spot.
We also found an even better place to watch the sun come up, or go down. Fantastic scenic viewpoints.
Also enjoyed making an assault on that stupid hill with Bill's solid axle truck. It does get the gears turning between the ears. Hmmmm
Fun time!
Jim

 

Nice pics. Is this actually inside the Rainier Nat'l Park, or outside of it? I might head up there with the family this week.

 

Scott,

All the places where we were driving are outside the national park. We were on roads off of forest road 72 which is East of State Hwy 410 South of Greenwater.

If you're actually headed to the park, I just read in the paper that the Sunrise Lodge and visitor center are closing for the winter after Sunday (9/15). The Paradise visitor center will be open weekends only after Oct 7. There were a number of dates in the newspaper article when other facilities in the park are closing. I would imagine the park has a website with the info.

Not a bad time to visit. Some of the trees and bushes had their fall colors, (not like East coast fall colors though with all the hardwood trees) there are fewer bugs, and fewer people. Apparently rifle hunting season is coming up in the area where we were driving, so you might keep that in mind. That, of course, is not an issue in the park.

Alan

 

Well we had some fun on Sat. It was a blast.
Any time someone wants to try out a hill with my 85 they are welcome to do it. By the way Allen next time you get to try it, No backing out.
Jim now you got to try mine when are you going to ride up to Evans Creek and take my rig on a real trail? I will ride shotgun.
Any one else want to take me up on it?
Bill

 

Of course!! We can trade and you can crawl around and see what wheeling with a locker is like. You could make that hill at 15% throttle in 1st gear low range, not 100% 2nd low like it looks you you guys were using.

Just curious about what tires you have Bill, and did you air down? if so to what pressure?

If something is set on the calander for about 3 weeks from now, I can get a 5 or 6 day weekend and make it out. I just need to request the time off 3 weeks in advance and finish my minor repairs/ upgrades.

 

Not sure if that hill can be taken slowly or not.

Reason I say that is because the hill is pea gravel, slick, and you sink down.
Perhaps it could be taken slow.

I'd like to see a locked rig try and crawl up it real slow, maybe it would make it.
Since I have not seen one, I am only assuming the tires would dig in and make the ruts & holes deeper than they are now.

When Jim & I tried that same hill back in August, we did it slow, and dug holes.

When Todd ran it in April, he charged at it like we did yesterday, and got up it.

Driving Bill's rig up that hill without worrying about breaking anything (hey, he said go for it, that's what it is for, and don't worry if anything breaks) was cool.

I am curious now how a locked rig would react if it attempted it slowly.

That Jeep & Land Rover in my last pic came in right after we were done playing in there.
Bill asked the guy with the Jeep to take a stab in the Jeep, but he did not want to.
I think he said he attempted it a few weeks prior.

Oh, we ran the hill in 1st gear, 4L.

 

I am running 31 in tires and had 45lbs of air.
Also went extreme wheeling today at a place called Walker Valley.
Was nothing but rocks stumps and wash outs. Only had to be winched once.
Bill

 

If anyone has not seen Walker Valley pics in the past, here are some from the WA. state Snort forum.

They had a cleaning party up there recently.
They run some pretty serious rigs on the local trails around here.

Saw a link on their site to of a machine that would be cool to use cleaning up trails.
http://www.plustech.fi/Walking1.html

Corey

 

Bill,

Now I know why I seem to recall you mentioning reducing tire pressure on the washboards. At 45 psi those tires must be as hard as a rock! Regarding the challenge to drive your rig next time....we'll see. I'm kind of a novice at this and don't like to screw up something that doesn't belong to me. I actually have the factory electric locker in my 4Runner, but have never used it other than to see that it seemed to engage when I hit the switch. I was wondering how it would do on a loose slope like that, but I wasn't sure about clearance over those bumps at the top or if I have good enough approach and departure angles to avoid crunching the stock bumpers at the bottom. My rig is basically stock.

Corey,

Interesting machine! Sure looks slow though. I wonder how fast it can go. Maybe you measure it in hours per mile. Gas mileage might not be too good either. Its too bad they didn't show it going over something more uneven (like a big rock) to get a better idea of what it could do. I've wondered about those wheeled machines they use to clear brush on the side of the highway with what looks like an industrial strength lawnmower on the end of a hydraulic arm. They seem to be able to adjust all 4 wheels quite a bit and look like they could go over some rough territory.

Alan

 

Alan, I did not know you had the E locker.
Man, I would have loved to have seen how your rig would have taken that hill slowly.

Coming down that you would not hit the front bumper.
My ARB probably hangs a little lower than yours.
I am coming down that same hill I did in Bill's rig here with mine.

The right rear tire did come off the ground a bit though.

 

It looks like you guys had a fun filled day ,I have just got to get off road more ! Its not fair thar you have all that wonderful countryside to roam around in. I am soooo green.

 

A lot of people wonder why I run 40 psi on pavement. They say its too hard but I say the tires wear much slower. However on loose pea gravel, soft sand or big rocks I take em down to 18 psi or that neighborhood for floatation and grip reasons.

I'm just wondering why Bill runs 45 PSI on pea gravel. It would be a lot easier on your tires, springs, shocks, motor mounts, driveline, back, neck etc. to air down some on that stuff.

 

The hill was the last stop on the way out and I just wanted to climb it.
Most time I air down to 18 or 20 lbs.