Fun in the Desert

FITD 2007-A Compendium

Cork and I had a great time out there this weekend. Hope others will
post their thoughts.

We got out there on Thursday around 1PM. We had lunch and waited for
John Cary to show up. John got there and later on in the evening Mike
and Lara arrived. Thursday evening was wonderful. We sat around our
campfire and just looked around in amazement how beautiful our desert
is in the evening. We had no wind, a full moon and a really nice
temperature. We thought Joe Picker and Ric would show up, but Joe did
not make it til Friday AM and Ric did not make it til Saturday.

Friday AM we had Jeff Sanders show and finally Joe. Will let Joe talk
about his experiences getting out of town on Thursday evening. Not
fun. We also had Stu and his friend show.

On Friday we ran Sunbonnet, which is the trail furthest from the lake
bed. We did quite a bit of stacking, but we got everyone through. Mike
suffered a bit of damage. He poked a hole in a tire, punctured a rear
soft brake line (Currie ran the line on the bottom!!!) and a couple of
minor dings. We had no significant issues that I remember.

Got back to camp in the late afternoon and the wind was blowing. Not
so bad we could not BS, but enough so that we did not start a fire and
most went into their rigs early.

On Saturday we had the whole group. The major issue was that Ric was
not able to get his rig started and had his friend John bring his TJ.
Six of us ran Wrecking Ball and Big Joe ran Aftershock. The Wrecking
Ball run had the six of us from OTR, two FJ40s and two Victor Valley
guys. The Victor Valley trail leader ended up breaking a rear U-Bolt,
which took a while to replace. They had us lead the trail to the
waterfall at the end. The previous weekend they had spent the day
making a by-pass. The by-pass was not all that easy, but everyone got
out. We had no OTR issues (expect John Cary kinda bent his rear
springs-let John talk more about this).

Back to camp before six and had a great evening. Had liquid
refreshments around the campfire, re-lived part of the day and some of
the group went over to the raffle. Some of the group caught the
crazies on Backdoor a bit before midnight.

Sunday AM we woke up to a 40 deg morning. Most of the group left and
we had Rich and Cork, John, Tony and James make a run up Claw. John's
spring problem cropped up again and he decided it was best to go back
to camp about a quarter of the way into the trail. The three of us
finished the trail. The previous day, Chuck Shaner (Father of the
Hammers) had told us that few people know that once you get to the top
of the canyon, you have not actually finished the trail as they had
designed it. So, we took off to look at the next canyon. The three of
us walked to the top, but did not take the vehicles. We thought that
it would be best to do that some other weekend. Back to camp and packed.

Great weekend, spent with a really nice group of people.

Rich and Cork

Rich,
Nice write up.
James & I did not run Wrecking Ball with the bulk on the club so I could mingle a bit more. We started up the trail with the group but when the CJ broke we bailed and went over to see the action on Jack… We ended up helping a nice group of folks that was miserably stuck and broken. Then went back to the RV around 2:30pm for some lunch. Then hung out in camp until the group got back from Wrecking Ball, socialized and had dinner.
Today the weather was real nice and the run up Claw was quick. 
I thought the sand on Boone road out was particularly deep in spots this year! I almost got stuck. James did and John’s Jeep (flat towing) tires turned sideways and got him stuck. In fact, a lot of people got stuck and there was a line of RV’s on the road.
Jeeps were pulling RV’s, etc. out for the hour or so we were there helping John.
It was great to be back out there and can not wait for the next trip. 

Tony P.
Yeah, that sand was bad. A 5th wheel got stuck in front of me and then I almost got stuck. I was able to back the rig up 5-6 feet and make a run at it. I had to do it four times before slowly working through it. So what's the best technique for getting out of that stuff. I thought about placing my trailer ramps under the real RV wheels. What do you guys do?

Joe

Joe,
Yes, jacking, digging and the trailer ramps are all necessary to get an RV unstuck.
Just ask Rich Wohlers. 
We had vehicles stuck in front of us when we went out. The guy that
caught us on Sunbonnet on Friday was a couple of vehicles in front of
us and used his Jeep to pull out a truck pulling a large trailer with
rig inside. There was also a MH stuck a bit in front of him. I did not
have any problems, but after seeing what can happen, you just gas it a
bit more than you might have. It was really soft in places.

Rich

When I left at 6:30am the sand was still frozen with lots of traction available.

Rich W., as usual, did an excellent job of trailbossing on our Sunbonnet ride
Friday.

Had loads of fun out there this weekend.

I think I saw a post from Tholke suggesting we start looking forward to PVD.
From the talk at FITD, it sounds like there will be another big group of us
going.

Wanted to thank Jed, of Phil and Jed fame, for riding along as my co-
pilot on Wrecking Ball.

Jeff Sanders

Excellent report Rich. I can't think of much to add other than Laura and I had a great time. Rich did a great job of leading the group through Sunbonnet. The trails were excellent with that waterfall at the end of Wrecking Ball almost unbelievable. Keith...GET ME MY BROWN PANTS!!!!
Oh and a big thanks to all, especially Keith for doing a great spotting job at Wrecking Ball.
Saturday night around the campfire sums it all up. A great group, the best BS session, and great margaritas thanks to Ric.
BTW...last year, driving out on Boone Road, while flat towing, my TJ's wheels turned sideways in the sand. I thought I was stuck at first until I realized what happened. This year, I drove the TJ out to the highway (something the trailering guys couldn't do). We had no problem.
We are definitely in for PVD and will be signing up online. Got to do Isham again.

Mike W.

Rich,
Great writeup. The weekend was a lot of fun. The trip up Sunbonnet was a great
way to start the weekend.
A lot of good fun had with friends. It was great to see so many club members out
having a good time.

Bent springs - one would not expect Deaver springs to bend the way they did. A
third of the way up Wrecking Ball both rear springs in the front bent slightly
after one rock pile. I was actually thinking of heading back and was talked out
of it.
Then on Sunday we decided to do Claw and 2/3's up the trail both springs bent
again. This time, not a little, but several inches. It was decided I should head
back. I had no desire to break a spring on the trail and then figure out how to
get home on a Sunday afternoon.

The first time they bent we noticed there was no military wrap. Considering who
Deaver made them for I would expect all his springs to be military wrap. Anyway
I will be contacting them for a few mods and repairs. Hope to have this done
before PVD.

Several individuals strongly suggested it was time to move up to a 4 link. Not
till the Spring.

I was the first one to get stuck. I was moving a long reasonably well, when it
felt like I had a sled behind the RV. The jeep front wheels turned and started
plowing. I had to unhook and drive the jeep up the road. Even then I had a
difficult time getting out. Thanks to James and TP, I was able to get out and
move up to a harder spot where we could re-hook up the jeep. In the meantime,
there were a couple of guys with ATV's in a two wheel truck stuck above the
road. Used the jeep to pull them out. Suggested in future they not load up the
truck before they are on solid ground. Even the jeep had a time getting them out
because they were up to the frame on both axles.
While I was getting them out several other RV's were having a rough time getting
through the soft sand.

John Cary