Just to let y'all know, the Faithwheelers are hosting at the Evan's Creek campground this weekend, so stop by and say hello!

 

WATTORA will be there on the 28th.

 

If you get a chance, stop by and say hello!

 

Will do.

 

I'm going to try to make it out there. Thanks for the info.

 

*bump* for Evan's Creek this weekend!

Faithwheeler's and WATTORA will be out this weekend.


The Faithwheeler's have extended an open invite, and WATTORA would like you to pre-register so that we don't leave the gatherin' spot without ya'!

Head here: http://www.wattora.com/EventDetails.asp?ID=66, and click "Click here to RSVP" in the upper right corner.

 

If this doesn't conflict with WOTTORA times, let's meet up for BBQ at our campsite for dinner (if you guys are out there Saturday).

 

I thought a few of you were coming by to say hello - didn't see any of you. Lotsa Toys there though!

It was a great weekend of wheeling. We started by running 311a Friday night night after we set up camp. A night run is Waaaaayyyyy different. I'm glad we tried this on a trail that we know pretty well.
On Saturday we had the park rangers riding along with us and ran both sections of 311. What was the bypass to the rock ledge near the top of 311a is now tougher than the rock ledge! With the recent rains, all the dirt has washed off the rocks except for one big hole on the left that's still dirt filled. IFS rigs show their weakness here. Even with lockers only 2 wheels are getting power to the ground because of the articulation needs. We didn't see any IFS rigs get up this line at all. Bring your winch to run 311 now! Both sections of 311 are still great Toyota trails but a winch will be required for most rigs to get past that one spot.

Next we ran 520 all the way from the bottom to the top. That's an awesome trail that has plenty of off-camber turns, tight squeezes and sloppy goo. We took an exploder through there (lifted, sliders, good tires and a front locker. He made it through fine. All the toys can fit through this trail. The long beds will struggle a little on the turns, but expect a real possiblity of kissing up against a tree a little. By the end of this trail, I was still damage free.

That night, we took another late night run through both sections of 311. I think I got my first ding on the upper section. We had a Taco and 1st gen along with us. The 1st gen had a rear locker only and so-so tires. The Taco had good tires, but no locker. Both required winching to get through that bypass on 311a that I talked about.

On Sunday we hit 197/197 to start. 3 guys required pulls to get up the rock face entrance. Dave in his Jeep, had good tires and rear locker, but not enough flex to keep all the wheels on the ground. Todd in his 1st gen 4Runner got his front left about 4' in the air (can't wait to see that pic). I asked him if he wanted me to change his oil, he said, "No, but you'll need to change my pants!"

We started to run 198, but Brian wisely advised Todd and Scott to take a different route, while Dave, Jason (both in Jeeps) and I took 198 all the way up. This is where we ALL got some body moulding done. Jason and Dave both took a little hit on the right rear. Even with my ability to crawl slow over the tough obstacles, I still bounced into a couple trees. No scraps, but the classic bounce off a root or into a hole and thump against a tree. This is NOT a trail anyone should take that's not willing to accept some body damage. Even dent we had was completely avoidable if we'd stopped, spotted, winched etc., but we were speed wheeling and choose to take on the challenge of getting through unassisted vs the risk of some dings. For anyone you that wonder if you fit, the answer is Yes. I'm sitting on 40s with 9" lift, and 106 wheel base and 81" bulge to bulge on the tires. The longer wheel bases are going to see the biggest challenge.

Todd headed home and the rest of ran 519 to finish the day. We took the route to head up the rock ledges. This otherwise easy trail has only one major obstacle. Dave and Jason had to work their Jeeps but got up unassisted. Scott however required two pulls to get his Taco through this section.

All in all, we all survived with NO mechanical damage at all and relatively minor body damage considering the number of trails that we ran and the difficulty of these trails. I suffered the most dents, but that was primarily because I ran 198 and the other Toys took a different route.

 

Ya, by the time we remembered we were on our way out of the immediate area and had already passed the campsite. Weren't sure what time you were gonna be at or setting up camp. Sorry we missed ya.

 

Mark, your link for web page dont work, it hasnt been for a while FYI

 

?? Which link Ray? I just ran through all of my run pics and they come up for me.

I don't have any pics up yet from this (Evan's Creek 8.29.04) run. My camera ended up at Shannon's so I don't have those pulled. Then her pics are on a CD in a box on their way down to me (with the camera!). I have some of Ben's pics locally, but I haven't put them up online 'cause I was gonna do it all at once.


Lemme know what you're looking at and I'll let ya' know what's up.


EDIT: OH! THAT LINK! Damn case dependent server OS's. Fixing it now!
EDIT EDIT: FIXED! Thanks Ray!

 

he he

when are we gonna have another 4roc meeting?