Isham Trail - Defense Mine?

Well, I finally had time to sit down and write the report. Track season is over, except CIF and I have 17 athletes going to the prelims. A good year for Malibu Track.

Those on the trip were:
John, Wendy and Nova
Mike and Laura
Bill C.
Russ
Jeremy
Jed
Jeff S.
Norm and Pat
I arrived Wednesday evening to a little wind, which go worse during the night enough to bring in the slideouts. Thursday Mike, Laura, Norm and Pat arrived. Jeff coming Friday morning and the rest Satruday morning.
Friday we went up and drove around the Stockwell mine. The tunnel is well over 1/2 mile in. There are several verticle tunnels which rise and you can access them above the mine.
The weather during the day was pretty good. After exploring the mine we drove over the hill to Fish Creek and spent some time crawling over rocks. It had been washed out pretty good since the last time we were there. From there we drove up to Ballarat. Pat managed to get stuck in the mud and she had to be winched out. There were a lot of campers at Ballarat. After stopping for a soda, we headed home against the wind. flat out in 3rd gear I was doing 40.
It was windy back atcamp, yet it was comfortable in the evening.
Sturday morning we woke to clear weather and little wind. Bill, Jeremy arrived. Jed came in late Friday evening.
Up Isham without any problems. Tried a couple different approaches to the waterfalls and had some fun. It is always interesting getting an XJ up the trail because of several sharp, narrow turns around rocks.
After finishing Isham we headed back to camp for lunch and then out to Defense Mine. Russ headed back home. The trail to Defense had been washed out with many new rocks to crawl. We all did Waterfall 0 and the one next to it was named waterfall .5. Myself, Mike, Jeff did it without too many problems. Jeff got to the top where he lost front wheel traction, so we hooked up a tow rope and he was out.
From there we did the cutoff and again it had been washed out. A lot of rocks to play on. At the mine all the newbies took the tour with Mike and I resting.
Again the wind was interesting going back, but most everyone spent the evening outside enjoying the conversations.
Most of us headed out Sunday morning, with Norm and Pat heading to Jawbone for a few more days. The wind wasn't too bad on the way back.
It was a great relaxing weekend with friends and jeeps.
If I missed any thing, chime in.
John