Met up with a few different groups at SMORR this past weekend. It was two days of solid wheeling in the heat (100 deg days). Luckily the humidity was relatively low compared to Memphis so we didn't suffer to bad in the heat and actually found the temps quit nice in the evenings. Going to be a long post since we did a lot of wheeling. I don't normally take photos but my wife takes them when she is with me, so I do have a few pics.
Friday Day:
Me and Tonya in my TJ on 35's
Steve - JK on 43s
Scott - JK on 43s
Aaron - JKU on 43s
Eddie - Samurai based buggy on 39s (I really liked this buggy!).
Somehow I ended up leading all day:
Trail (Level) SMORR is a 1-6 trail level system.
-V-Notch (4) going down the notch. On the waterfall step up, I sliced a tire and had to put 15 plugs in it to get it back to the parking lot to throw on a spare. I took bronco buster to top of hill.
Rest of the group finished V-notch and waited for me to return.
We then continued on:
-PuppyLicker (5)
-Rattler (5) I was denied on the Waterfall but the rest of the group climbed it with ease.
-Moonshine (5) Right side at top of Rattler
-Cougar Crossing (3) to top of Larry Hill then took bypass down.
-Rocky Road (5)
-Log Jamb (4) down
-Double Whammy (5) - This was probably my favorite trail of the weekend. I did end up having to winch at a big ledge at the top of the trail.
-Iron Horse (3)
-Buck Rub (3)
-Holy Cow (4)
Steve's JK started giving him Transmission overheat issues on Double Whammy and was giving him issues again so we decided to just cruise a little to see what happened.
-High Mountain Road (3)
-Brixley Hill (4) down
-Brixley Creek (2) to Whitney's Hide-out (2) then back to parking lot taking ez trails and just cruising.
When we got back to parking lot, my wife said that she had enough so she asked me to take her to the AirBnB in town. When I returned, I met up with AMS417 and his wife and then we cruised over and hooked up with another group and went out and did a night ride. I don't know what trails we rode but it was a good ride and I had to take several bypasses and winch at least once, maybe twice.
Saturday:
The two groups from the Friday day and the Friday night rides as well as several others all hooked up to ride together Saturday morning. This was looking to be too large of a group for me to handle so AMS417 and myself went out on our own.
Trails ran: (best that i can remember, AMS417 was leading most of the time and I don't really remember or know the exact trails we ran)
-Guard Rail (3)
-Yellow Jacket (3)
-Stampede (4)
-Snow Trail (4)
-Cold Mountain (3)
During that entire morning run we kept getting behind the other large group so we decided to try and split off into another direction.
-Honky Tonk (4) down to top of Larry's Hill, then bypass down.
-Larry's Hill (5) Left line then back down the bypass
- Cheap Trick (5) I really liked this trail, probably my favorite of the day possibly of the trip. it is very tight and technical. I did slice the sidewall of a brand new tire on this trail. I was pinched up a against a rock and looking at it I knew it was a high risk to try and back up, Andy warned me several times and actually encouraged me to winch, but I still backed up and sliced the tire and dented in my rear fender pretty good. But I did end up making the obstacle!
Few tire plugs later we were back at it.
If I remember correctly, the intent was to run back to parking lot to swap on my others spare tire (yes I brought two on this trip, foresight I guess). But on the way back down to the access road my drivers side Tie Rod end let loose from the Knuckle and jambed into the wheel and actually broke a large 8" section of the wheel off. So we left my jeep sit there and my wife and I jumped in AMS417 LJ and headed back to parking lot for parts. Wives ate lunch while we headed back out to fix my jeep.
Having all the parts that needed and an impact wrench made pretty quick fix. Then we headed back to parking lot to eat and get the wives. While we were eating we saw Eddie (Samurai buggie) in his truck heading out the access road with his trailer. Shortly thereafter he returned with his buggy. He hit a tree with his passenger side front wheel at a high speed and sheered off all four of the high steer arm bolts, luckily that was all that broke. I had a 110v welder in my truck and happen to have the bolts that he needed to reattach his arm, so Eddie welded nuts to the sheared studs, extracted them, and then reinstalled arm. Heck, Andy even had locktite.
We headed back out, now with me, AMS417 and Eddie. We headed for V-notch to run it up. Remember I still have tire plugs in my driver's side rear tire because I used my second spare to replace the tire with the damaged wheel.
-V-notch (4) - While climbing the v-notch I picked a bad line and I heard a burst of air (tire plugs being ripped out of the tire), then another burst of air (bead popping) and then I slid down into the notch on the wheel. I tried to maneuver a little bit to try and git it to pop back up on the left side rock but Andy yelled at me that the bead was off and that if I kept trying that I would probably ruin the wheel and or tire. I did the sensible thing (not my normal MO) and stopped.
When you are in this position, this is the view that your wife has of you looking down.
And this is her view after you climb out of the top of the roll cage to help set up the winch line:
We got her somewhat horizontal and the used a hi-lift jack to get the weight of the rear wheel and was able to reinstall new plugs and then get the bead to seat. Back at it!!
We decided to take Eddie to Copperhead (6) to give it a shot. He was denied, but gave it a good effort.
We then headed over to Larry's Hill and ran into Steve, Aaron, and Scott who were trying to climb the hard lines on Larry's Hill. Luckily, Eddie took off up the real hard line on the right and made it look easy. I say luckily because this put him at the top of the hill where I needed him next. Aaron's JKU bent (and when I say bent I mean it was a rainbow) his tie rod and his wheels were both toed in sitting on a steep ledge. We were able to use Eddie's winch, a snatch block, and a few soft tackles to get him going again, hell it may have been straighter after our fix then when he started the day
. While I was helping Aaron with the rainbowed tie rod, AMS417 was over helping Scott with a front brake caliper issue (the issue was that it was no longer attached). I believe they used rocks, duct tape, and some zip ties. After we got that whole crew to the top of the hill, they all headed back to the parking lot and Andy and I decided to take the long way back to the parking lot (It was now dark out, so some night riding was in order).
I know we took Larry's Hill (5) left side and then took Honky Tonk (4) to the top of the ridge. After that I told AMS417 to just pick a long way back and I would follow. I have no clue what trails we took but it was fun, I know we hit puppylicker and ended up winching a few times and then finally ended up on PeeWees (3) and then took it back to the parking lot. I think it was after 10pm when we got back, just in time for a great dinner!
Two full days of wheeling some great trails, working on rigs, great conversation, a little ball busting, and minimal sleep made for a long day of driving back to Memphis on Sunday. Now time to get some tires ordered, check my CO2 tank levels, see what else is broke, and do some Trailer Brake and Hub maintenance before heading to Harlan KY labor day weekend.
Friday Day:
Me and Tonya in my TJ on 35's
Steve - JK on 43s
Scott - JK on 43s
Aaron - JKU on 43s
Eddie - Samurai based buggy on 39s (I really liked this buggy!).
Somehow I ended up leading all day:
Trail (Level) SMORR is a 1-6 trail level system.
-V-Notch (4) going down the notch. On the waterfall step up, I sliced a tire and had to put 15 plugs in it to get it back to the parking lot to throw on a spare. I took bronco buster to top of hill.
Rest of the group finished V-notch and waited for me to return.
We then continued on:
-PuppyLicker (5)
-Rattler (5) I was denied on the Waterfall but the rest of the group climbed it with ease.
-Moonshine (5) Right side at top of Rattler
-Cougar Crossing (3) to top of Larry Hill then took bypass down.
-Rocky Road (5)
-Log Jamb (4) down
-Double Whammy (5) - This was probably my favorite trail of the weekend. I did end up having to winch at a big ledge at the top of the trail.
-Iron Horse (3)
-Buck Rub (3)
-Holy Cow (4)
Steve's JK started giving him Transmission overheat issues on Double Whammy and was giving him issues again so we decided to just cruise a little to see what happened.
-High Mountain Road (3)
-Brixley Hill (4) down
-Brixley Creek (2) to Whitney's Hide-out (2) then back to parking lot taking ez trails and just cruising.
When we got back to parking lot, my wife said that she had enough so she asked me to take her to the AirBnB in town. When I returned, I met up with AMS417 and his wife and then we cruised over and hooked up with another group and went out and did a night ride. I don't know what trails we rode but it was a good ride and I had to take several bypasses and winch at least once, maybe twice.
Saturday:
The two groups from the Friday day and the Friday night rides as well as several others all hooked up to ride together Saturday morning. This was looking to be too large of a group for me to handle so AMS417 and myself went out on our own.
Trails ran: (best that i can remember, AMS417 was leading most of the time and I don't really remember or know the exact trails we ran)
-Guard Rail (3)
-Yellow Jacket (3)
-Stampede (4)
-Snow Trail (4)
-Cold Mountain (3)
During that entire morning run we kept getting behind the other large group so we decided to try and split off into another direction.
-Honky Tonk (4) down to top of Larry's Hill, then bypass down.
-Larry's Hill (5) Left line then back down the bypass
- Cheap Trick (5) I really liked this trail, probably my favorite of the day possibly of the trip. it is very tight and technical. I did slice the sidewall of a brand new tire on this trail. I was pinched up a against a rock and looking at it I knew it was a high risk to try and back up, Andy warned me several times and actually encouraged me to winch, but I still backed up and sliced the tire and dented in my rear fender pretty good. But I did end up making the obstacle!
Few tire plugs later we were back at it.
If I remember correctly, the intent was to run back to parking lot to swap on my others spare tire (yes I brought two on this trip, foresight I guess). But on the way back down to the access road my drivers side Tie Rod end let loose from the Knuckle and jambed into the wheel and actually broke a large 8" section of the wheel off. So we left my jeep sit there and my wife and I jumped in AMS417 LJ and headed back to parking lot for parts. Wives ate lunch while we headed back out to fix my jeep.
Having all the parts that needed and an impact wrench made pretty quick fix. Then we headed back to parking lot to eat and get the wives. While we were eating we saw Eddie (Samurai buggie) in his truck heading out the access road with his trailer. Shortly thereafter he returned with his buggy. He hit a tree with his passenger side front wheel at a high speed and sheered off all four of the high steer arm bolts, luckily that was all that broke. I had a 110v welder in my truck and happen to have the bolts that he needed to reattach his arm, so Eddie welded nuts to the sheared studs, extracted them, and then reinstalled arm. Heck, Andy even had locktite.
We headed back out, now with me, AMS417 and Eddie. We headed for V-notch to run it up. Remember I still have tire plugs in my driver's side rear tire because I used my second spare to replace the tire with the damaged wheel.
-V-notch (4) - While climbing the v-notch I picked a bad line and I heard a burst of air (tire plugs being ripped out of the tire), then another burst of air (bead popping) and then I slid down into the notch on the wheel. I tried to maneuver a little bit to try and git it to pop back up on the left side rock but Andy yelled at me that the bead was off and that if I kept trying that I would probably ruin the wheel and or tire. I did the sensible thing (not my normal MO) and stopped.
When you are in this position, this is the view that your wife has of you looking down.
And this is her view after you climb out of the top of the roll cage to help set up the winch line:
We got her somewhat horizontal and the used a hi-lift jack to get the weight of the rear wheel and was able to reinstall new plugs and then get the bead to seat. Back at it!!
We decided to take Eddie to Copperhead (6) to give it a shot. He was denied, but gave it a good effort.
We then headed over to Larry's Hill and ran into Steve, Aaron, and Scott who were trying to climb the hard lines on Larry's Hill. Luckily, Eddie took off up the real hard line on the right and made it look easy. I say luckily because this put him at the top of the hill where I needed him next. Aaron's JKU bent (and when I say bent I mean it was a rainbow) his tie rod and his wheels were both toed in sitting on a steep ledge. We were able to use Eddie's winch, a snatch block, and a few soft tackles to get him going again, hell it may have been straighter after our fix then when he started the day
. While I was helping Aaron with the rainbowed tie rod, AMS417 was over helping Scott with a front brake caliper issue (the issue was that it was no longer attached). I believe they used rocks, duct tape, and some zip ties. After we got that whole crew to the top of the hill, they all headed back to the parking lot and Andy and I decided to take the long way back to the parking lot (It was now dark out, so some night riding was in order).I know we took Larry's Hill (5) left side and then took Honky Tonk (4) to the top of the ridge. After that I told AMS417 to just pick a long way back and I would follow. I have no clue what trails we took but it was fun, I know we hit puppylicker and ended up winching a few times and then finally ended up on PeeWees (3) and then took it back to the parking lot. I think it was after 10pm when we got back, just in time for a great dinner!
Two full days of wheeling some great trails, working on rigs, great conversation, a little ball busting, and minimal sleep made for a long day of driving back to Memphis on Sunday. Now time to get some tires ordered, check my CO2 tank levels, see what else is broke, and do some Trailer Brake and Hub maintenance before heading to Harlan KY labor day weekend.
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