I used to go there a lot. I twas a fun day trip because we took the ferry to get there. They is some crazy mud there after good rains. It was one of my favorite places to go. Got to stretch the legs on the winch just about every time we went.
"Jeep Adventures"
- Thread starter lowranger
- Start date
I used to go there a lot. I twas a fun day trip because we took the ferry to get there. They is some crazy mud there after good rains. It was one of my favorite places to go. Got to stretch the legs on the winch just about every time we went.
Ron Hockett
TJ Enthusiast
@Dave K. and I are on vacation and started the week off atving , and today took the top off his Jeep for the first time and went strawberry picking and took some state trails around my parents home. Very nice day!
And the adventures continue. As we returned, my mom yelled there’s the bears! We had an Encounter with them a month ago coming up on my parents deck. Dave made a bear alarm to scare them from the deck. Tonight they avoided the deck, but boy the back bear is huge! And then we realized how gorgeous the sky was over my parents lake. Life is good!
They were great looking berries. We could have picked two more trays. If AZ wasn’t so far, I’d send you some, but they are so ripe I’d hate to see them spoil
I had a jeep adventure today, I'm back in my hotel room and have showered and I'm laying on my bed, but I'm still a bit keyed up from it all even though all is well. there was a few moments where things could have been hmmmm, not good and it would have been a long night. One of the gold prospecting clubs I belong to has a claim near Auburn in the historic forest hill mining area of the N. California Sierra Nevada. The canyons are unbelievably steep (western states trail shares some of the road leading to the road to the claim) and the trail down to the river must have been cut by a dozer operator high on crack and tranquilizer because I can't imagine doing that cut any other way. The drive down was always tough but the winter before last tore everything up so much dozens of down trees and washouts have made the drive down to the river impossible, everything is also overgrown so you only have a 3 foot narrow path to navigate through is spots. For the last 6 months there was also a 4x4 truck stuck halfway, the forrest service just hauled it out with a small dozer, they sort of fixed the washouts but it's very narrow. The road if you want to call it that is rocky, rough, loose, steep (I walked the 3.5 mile stretch once, took 3 hours and two short naps in the middle of the road) and sharply cambered to the slope of the hill, it's narrow and the sides a pretty much straight down (almost). I was driving back up from the river out of the claim, about 1/3 of the way out when... not sure exactly what happened but the jeep must have scooted to the right a little and the right side of the jeep instantly slid off the edge, I immediately stopped, I've been in this kind of spot on trails before and any movement would send my jeep further to the right and rolling down the canyon. I grabbed the winch cable and went looking for a big tree further up the road on the uphill side. I found a good anchor but the back of the jeep still wanted to slide down hill and now the left rear tire is starting to lift a bit. I also carry a portable 4K winch and battery pack so I grabbed it and hooked the back of the jeep to another tree to the rear, unfortunately the first and second trees I connected to the rear bumper ripped from the hillside I did manage to pull the back of the jeep a couple inches, but the rear tire is now a good 4 inches in the air, I'm miles out (alone) and not sure if I'm gonna get this or not. I grab another strap and claw my way up the bank to a nice fat tree anchor and with the remaining power in the portable pack also using a snatch block to get more pull out of the little winch pull the back of the jeep another couple of inches and more importantly the left rear tire is being held to earth by my small winch. Now, with great effort I climb up and fall down into my jeep as it's perched precariously on the edge at an uncomfortable angle winching from the front winch now and luckily my rear anchor held pulling the jeep sideways at an angle back up onto the road again. All this took a couple of hours, several times I considered taking pictures, but needed to just focus on pulling myself out and keep on goal, this was to close a call, but everything worked as planned, so good day... fun adventure. Sorry no pics.
Man, I am glad you are ok...I hope you wore your brown pants.
OP
Glad you made it out Okay. A lot of rugged country over there. It's about 3 hours from me.
OP
Mendocino National Forest in Northern California on Dec. 1st for a Christmas tree/snow run.
Ron Hockett
TJ Enthusiast
On Saturday I went up to the summit of Snoqualmie Pass in Washington that had a couple feet of snow on the ground. I then went about a mile to a Forest Service road that I have taken several times before, I was shocked to see it had not been plowed. There were tire tracks in the snow, normally I would not have gone down the road as I was by myself. I decided that I would see if I would have any issues with the snow being too deep and if anything happened someone should be coming in or going out, the snow was not to deep, if nothing else I could back out. So I’m driving down this road thinking that I am very foolish and decide to turn around, I can’t because the snow is too deep along the sides of the road and it has a layer of ice preventing me from turning and I’m about a half mile down this one lane road and didn’t want to try to back out. I drive forward in the ruts until I get to an intersection that I know about so I can have room enough to maneuver. I come around the corner and there are 2 pick up’s facing me in the road, With a SUV that turned right at the intersection but since no one had been down that road he was trying to plow 3 feet of snow all season tires, and a brand new pick up stuck in the middle of the intersection. One of the guys walks up to my Jeep and tell’s me their plan, it is a good one when another SUV pulls up behind me. The guy groans and then tells me that he is in one of the trucks facing me and he had to turn around because there are 2 trucks and an off road wrecker that will be coming up the because they had been stuck. They get the the pick up unstuck and turned around, eventually everyone gets turned around. The thing that was most notable was the people who had lockers/limited slip had no real issues, while those that didn’t have them had to be pushed. I have Torsten differentials front and rear and had no problems. Lucky for me, there were 10 strong young men to do the shoveling and the pushing. While I was kicking myself for driving down that road one of the SUV’s had a guy, his wife and two kids with him and no winter coats. While this makes me no less foolish I was at least ready that if need be to spend a couple nights in my Jeep and I had a CB radio for communication.
I think I know exactly where this is.... The last time I was under that rock I was on a KTM 350 4 stroke.In Moab instead of going around rocks that fall in the road, you can go "under" them.
If I'm thinking right that is on one of the roads that takes you out of Canyonlands, or down to Canyonlands from the Moab side.
The drive out of the canyon is just breathtaking .
One thing for sure ...slick rock is not slick . Like 50 grit sandpaper . Steel shod horses couldn't keep their footing , hence the name.
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OP
Great story indeed, and yes, this is a good reminder for sure! Even with the most capable vehicle, there are still areas you'll have trouble with.
When I lived up there we used to go play in the lake bed when they drained it. I don't think it is legal anymore, but we had a great time winching each other around in the Lake bed.
06TJ35's
TJ Addict
Scary situation there. I learned my lesson to never wheel alone on my first time on a trail. Now I would never go alone. Let’s remind ourselves to never wheel alone. Anything can happen.
OP