Trip 17

Estacada/Promontory Park

     

     Attendees:

     Rick Anderson - 77 Blazer

     Tom Brown - 88 Cherokee

     Guy Hammer - 79 Bronco

     Roger Chistal - 95 Jeep Wrangler

     Rock Muraoka - 95 Jeep Wrangler

     

     We met at the Estacada Food Forum around 9am.  Rick and Guy were 

     already there when I arrived.  Few minutes later Roger showed up, then 

     Tom.  Tom was sporting some new Super Swamper TSL Tires, 32x9.5 I 

     believe, and he was itching to try them out.  The sun was shining, 

     what a great day to be out.  We headed to Promontory Park and got on 

     Forest Service Road #4610.  After airing down we went up several 

     trials that turned out to be dead ends.  So we headed for the big mud 

     holes that some of you played in on the previous trip to Promontory 

     Park.  As you can see by the pictures on the OBH ftp site, some areas 

     of the mud holes were quite deep.  Guy got stuck first and was taking 

     on water.  He couldn't get the engine started, and Tom had to pull him 

     out.  Turns out that water probably got into the distributor.  Tom and 

     Roger got up to their hoods in mud & water.  After going from one mud 

     hole to another, Tom eventually got stuck and needed to be pulled out 

     (by yours truly).  Tom also couldn't get his engine started, probably 

     due to wet air filter (gotta get that snorkle).  Roger, while 

     venturing into the "deep" was able to get out without too much 

     trouble.  Rick and I got up to our fender wells but managed to avoid 

     the really deep areas.  It took awhile before Guy and Tom could get 

     going again.  So when they finally did we decided to drive to Squaw 

     Peak for lunch.  The trial up to Squaw Peak is pretty rutted near the 

     bottom, then the trial got a little rocky.  Nothing big but it made 

     you go very slow.  Later on we hit snow.  It was hard to believe.  

     Rick had to give up the lead because he couldn't get traction (gotta 

     get those SS/TSLs).  Guy took the lead but the snow got pretty deep, 

     and the trial got narrow and sloped off.  We decided it was not worth 

     the risk and headed for the quarry that we passed earlier.  At the 

     quarry we took a break for lunch.  The quarry had a couple of steep 

     runs to the top.  After lunch Roger had a go at the lesser of the two. 

     It took him a few tries before making it.  I tried it, and as luck 

     would have it, I made it up on my first attempt (later it would take 

     me 3 or 4 attempts).  Rick and Tom made it up after several attempts.  

     Tom tried to go up the steeper run, but even with his new tires 

     couldn't get the traction.  Actually, it was really steep with very 

     soft dirt at the bottom with rocks in the middle (waiting for axles 

     and diffs to damage).  I doubt if anyone in the OBH could have made 

     it, George? :)  Tom, with Rick riding with him, did go down this run.  

     At one point, I thought the Cherokee was going to go sideways, but Tom 

     managed to keep it in line and avoid those nasty rock.  From here we 

     went to another quarry.  Rick and Tom took a different enterance into 

     the quarry.  This entrance got real steep near the top with a mud hole 

     at the bottom of the slope.  Rick after several attempts, including 

     getting his tires it the air, Rick couldn't make it up and decided to 

     let Tom have a go.  Tom experienced the same problems, but probably 

     due to a narrow stance, new tires, and much more persistence, he 

     finally made it.  Later, Roger and I would try but with no success.  

     In the quarry there were some short slopes (as you can see from the 

     pictures on the OBH ftp site) that each of us made a run at.  Tom and 

     I went to check out some other trials while the others were helping 

     Roger with his winch.  Apparently, during this time the rear end in 

     Roger's Jeep blew up.  We didn't know it at the time, but turns out he 

     broke his rear R&P gear and rear locker.  Roger decided to call it a 

     day, and tried to head home powered with front wheel drive.  The rest 

     of us were going to go back to the mud hole, Tom wanted another go at 

     it.  We caught up to Roger on the way, and ended up escorting him, 

     with Tom towing him, into Estacada, where Roger called AAA for a tow.

     

     Rock Muraoka

     rock_muraoka@ccm.jf.intel.com