Yesterday we had a club BBQ Run up to Signal Peak. Signal Peak is located in the Tahoe National Forest, around 25 miles west of Truckee, CA.

We all met up at the Indian Springs campground around 10 AM, and set off for the trail about an hour later. We had 9 people (and 3 dogs) in 7 vehicles: 3 4Runners, and 4 Jeeps.

There's an easy way (fire road) and a hard way (way overgrown, lots of rocks) up to the top. The plan was to take the hard way up, and the easy way back.

Signal Peak isn't far from Fordyce, and from the trailhead you can get to either place. We actually (accidentally) missed a turn on to the Signal Peak trail and got started on the Fordyce Creek trail. Unfortunately, we didn't go far enough to claim that I actually "ran Fordyce".

We backtracked and then got started up the right path to Signal Peak. It was by far the most difficult wheeling I've done in my brief career. I'm happy to report though, I came away with no damage. THANK GOD FOR SLIDERS.

I'd estimate it took between 3 and 4 hours to reach the summit...and only 45 minutes to get down and back to camp.

We ended the night with a steak dinner. Terry did a great job manning the grill.

Here's some pics, I'll put the rest up to webshots tomorrow:

Climbing Rocks:
This particular stretch was probably the most difficult spot on the trail, at least for me. We were coming up what was basically a switchback, and had to first traverse this rock section before hanging a sharp left, where there was a stairstep section.




Up and Over:
Right after this spot you had to swing hard left to start the stairsteps. There wasn't more than a few feet off the passenger side before you could go over the edge.




One of the Jeeps got a bit too close to the edge and had to winch out of there. It took a while, but I got around the corner. For whatever the reason though, I couldn't get up the stairsteps. My RF tire just would not grab the rock. We threw in the towel, Terry broke out his recovery strap and got me up over the first ledge:




Here's two views from the top, at 7773 feet. This really made it worthwile:

 

Yup, it was a nice trail, I had a lot of fun.

Part of Fordyce, the kickouts on his roger brown sliders saved his rear flare:


Here's tom getting ready to go up a step:


Sliders save the day again:


Here's some perspective on how close the drop off is to the trail:


This is a 360deg panaramic shot of the peak: Panarama

And finally, on the way back near sacramento we came upon a 4runner that had hit the center divider:

Everybody appeared to be fine.

Here's the rest of the pictures: http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery/signalpeak

 

Nice pics Steve, especially that 360 degree shot. Do you have any of those in a 1024x768 res. (or bigger)?

 

Here's the rest of my pics:

Signal Peak #1

Signal Peak #2

 

Yeah, let me know which ones you want and I'll send you the large resolution versions.

 

Are you locked?

Chris

 

No, neither Steve nor I have lockers....yet.

 

I'll tell you what. I've done a lot of off-roading in a lot of different vehicles, and my 1997 4runner is the first one that has had a locker in it, and I can't tell anyone how much that it is the best thing to have out on the trail. It's amazing the difference it makes.

The biggest places I find it useful is really off-camber stuff where one tire is stuffed and the other is almost off the ground. It is huge!

Good luck on getting one soon!

Chris

 

I have to agree about the locker! I just finished putting the required easy 500 mile on my new axle gears and was able to try out my new stuff on the "Samoa Rubicon" (a pile of rocks at the local rec area). When I was stock, there was alot of slippage in some spots, and now, it was like CAKE! I couldn't believe the difference.

 

Sweet! I'd like to regear someday too, and add an ARB upfront too. For right now, I've got to get mine protected with sliders and skids.

Chris

 

That looks like a blast. Boy, some sliderz sure would be nice!

Someday we will have to go wheelin!

 

Great pics guys! That drop looked steep enough to cause some sweaty palms working your way around that corner.

 

That was one of those moments I wanted to give up and have someone else drive.

Really though, that's the importance of good spotters! I had one or two guys up front and one at the back guiding me through that stuff.