New Years Cougar Buttes Extravaganza

Cougar Buttes New Year’s Extravaganza, December 28 – January 2, 2016

Monday, December 28th. John Cary, Hammer Down Trail

Rich, Sully and I arrived midday on Monday. After setting up camp we decided to run Hammer Down and head back to camp. It was cold and windy so we spent some time in the "Man Cave" before heading to fix dinner.
Tuesday, December 29th. John Cary, Hammer Down and Keith’s Trail
I can't recall all who arrived - Paul, Dwayne, Pat (John's neighbor) and ??? (add names), but we ran Hammer Down and then headed out to Keith's trail. Weather good and only breakdown was a big hole in Pat's tire. Replaced with spare and finished trail. Evening was great with the fire and no wind.

Wednesday, December 30th. Bob Boltner, Hammer Down Trail.

My recollection of just a small part of the 2015 Cougar Buttes Extravaganza,
Judy, Corey, Nikki (Corey’s friend) and I arrived on Wednesday the 30th after lunch some time. After finding our spot and leveling our RV. We organized a group to run Hammer Down.
It shaped up to be Me, Jed, Jed’s friends in their Toyota, Chad, Mike Whittington, Mike Sullivan, Paul (in his very cool moon Buggy) Ric and Scott Morse.
Hammer Down is very close to camp in is protected by a fun gate keeper obstacle. We arrived at the trailhead and I started in on the lead. I banged my way in without much of a problem. I cleared the initial obstacles and walked back to help spot others thru only to find Paul working on his buggy. He had an electrical failure. We did some quick troubleshooting and found out he had no power to his fuel pump. A few minutes more and we discovered that he had a bad ignition switch. We made a jury rig repair, got the buggy running, but he decided to head back to camp.
About this time the sun was getting low in the horizon and we were facing west looking into the setting sun. Mike Sullivan’s buggy has a Lexan windshield and he could hardly see where he was going thru all the crazing so he decided to return to camp.
All the buggies were out. One by one the remaining Toyota’s and Jeeps forged ahead in to the clutches of what was to be the dreaded Hammer Down trail. All made it thru the gate keeper. Beyond is a nice V notch that requires trust in your spotter. For the narrow axle rigs there is not much room for error or you would slip off and you surly would have some body rash or worse. We all made it thru this section without incident. Thank you Spotters!
Next we made the turn to the south and into the valley of the Flop.
Don’t get me wrong this is a fantastic trail. There are lots of great spots that challenge the 35” crowd. None too hard, you just need to mind your line.
Well the first victim to fall off the line was our beloved friend Ric. He was going thru a bit of a tight spot with a large boulder on his left. In classic Ric style he loves to climb the rocks. But this time he climbed just a bit too high and maybe, just maybe gave it a bit too much gas and the rock decided that Ric needed a lesson and shoved his rig onto his right side. No this was not really a bad Flop, but just bad enough that we had to haul Ric out of his Jeep by his belt. The group quickly assessed Ric’s predicament and decided that we could just muster the group and with all hands push his Jeep upright. Success! He was upright and ready to roll in just a few minutes, No problem.
In the beginning of the last paragraph I did mention a first victim. That would be to let you know that there was more than one Flop. On to the next.
I was in the lead and in constant communication with my trusted mentor and gifted spotter Mike Whittington. Several times during this run I believe that I recall hearing some radio chatter from Mike about an obstacle near the end of the trail, and not to fall victim to a nasty little ledge that had in the past sent my trusted spotter Mike onto his side. I acknowledged his warnings and continued to forge ahead. The sun was now dipping below the horizon and the temperature was dropping quickly. Scott had my six and we unknowingly reached the very obstacle that my Trusted Spotter had been warning me of. Mike was several vehicles back and was not close enough to know that I was at the dreaded Death Drop.
I got out of my vehicle, assessed the Death Drop and chose my line. I remounted and buckled up for what I thought was just another easy obstacle. I eased forward, letting my front wheels begin the decent down the rock face. I had made a bad choice and without my trusted spotter nearby I began my decent into exactly the drop off that Mike was trying valiantly to warn me of. I edged a few more feet forward with all the confidence that Mike had taught me over the years. I began a slight left turn down the face of the drop and all was going welllllllllllll. Wait this isn’t right, all of a sudden I am tipping to the left. My front left tire has dropped into a hole and I am going going going over!!!!!
I quickly try to shift into reverse and stop the roll. Alas reaction time was just a bit too slow. I think that my reaction was delayed by my disbelief of what was actually happening. It was a slow roll to my left and in just a second or two I was on my side. I came to a stop with the rocks only inches from my face. CRAP I rolled!!!. Engine off. Corey was walking the trail and was at my side quickly asking if I am ok. I’m fine, just butt hurt at my mistake.
I quickly climbed out and as soon as I emerged Scott was already formulating a recovery plan. He had his strap and snatch block out and had a rock on my right picked out to winch me back onto all fours. We had my Jeep rigged in a matter of minutes and back on her wheels. I gave the key a quick turn and the 4.3 rotated a bit and quickly stopped. I was hydro locked! Out came the tools and in a few minutes I had the left 3 plugs out. The front plug was soaked with oil. I pulled the coil wire and cranked her over. She turned freely puking some oil out of the cylinder. It’s now dark and getting cold. I slammed the plugs back in and reconnected all the ignition wires. Turned the key and she belched back to life spewing a cloud of oily smoke. We were ready to roll.
I am sure you are wondering. How bad was the damage? Well I guess the Hammer Down gods decided to go easy on me. It seems that my rock slider absorbed most of the roll and the only damage was a cracked driver’s side mirror and a very small dent in the windshield frame where the mirror folded back.
I thanked my recovery team and we mounted up for the short finally of the Hammer Down Trail and a quick run back to camp to tell the story.
I hope you all enjoyed this segment of Cougar Buttes Extravaganza 2015. This is not the end, but just one of several stories of this remarkable trip to come. Please post your recollection of this story or a story of one of the other very exciting runs from this week.
Thursday, December 31st. Mike Whittington, Riffel Canyon Trail
This trail is for the hard core guys on 40s. The group included Rich and Corkey, me and Laura, John C., Zuki John, Amy and kids, Scott M., DuWayne and Tina. Riffel Canyon is definitely one of my favorites. Just getting started at the gate keeper will send all but the most dedicated back to camp. We all made it safely over and then headed for the stair steps, a series of nasty rocky climbs with one final steep nasty Z turn where you have to place your tires just right to make it over and continue up trail. Next obstacle; the wall. This is the point several years ago when we first attempted Riffel where we turned around and headed back down…in the dark! We didn’t know what was ahead but we knew what was behind us. I hate going downhill on nasty trails…one of those gravity type things. Oh well, I digressed. The wall is about 20’ tall with around a 70 degree angle to it. It looks almost vertical. Rich actually told us that he has friends that actually drive the wall w
ithout winching. I don’t believe it. We located a convenient rock as an anchor point over the top of the wall to put a strap around. This anchor strap was then used to connect our winch lines to. The technique is to use a combination of engine drive while at the same time using the winch while trying NOT to outrun your line spooling in. It is actually easier than it sounds…just make sure you have a very good winch with a fast line speed. Oh, and listen to your spotter as the only thing the driver can see is sky. We all made it up and over then continued on through the boulders.
All was going very well until we came to Broke Jeep Rock. This is just a simple squeeze between two rocks. If you were walking the trail you wouldn’t think anything of it… The rock on the driver’s side is tall and flat on the side. As you drive through the squeeze, your rear 40” tire makes hard contact against said rock stopping forward momentum. Stopped 40” tires hard against a big flat sided rock and very low gearing creates a lot of leverage on gears and axle shafts. This is where I cratered a ring and pinion gear last year which ultimately produced a RockJoc 60 paper weight by the time we got the Jeep off the trail…the next day. This year Zuki John fell victim to said flat sided rock. He broke an axle shaft at the same exact spot. Thankfully, using a combination of assistance from John Cary’s buggy and his own power, Zuki John was able to continue on. The rest of the trail out was uneventful. It was getting late in the day and we needed to get John’s bug
gy off the trail so we made a left turn onto Crowbar Trail and back to camp.
Upon returning to camp, Zuki John contacted his buddies at Mayhem Metalworks in Simi Valley. They were planning to come up on the next day to run with us. John arranged for delivery of a new axle shaft for his buggy. He then proceeded to pull the axle shaft (third members are sure nice for things like this) in preparation for the replacement shaft.
Since this was New Year’s Eve, out came the plethora of hors d’oeuvres, margaritas, etc. for a good time had by all while Joanna, Nash and Chad launched a few Chinese Lanterns (better known as tampon bombs) and the neighbors launched a million dollars (at least it seemed like it) fireworks. I don’t think anybody stayed up until midnight.
Friday January 1, 2016, New Year’s Day. Mike Whittington, Keith’s Trail
New Year’s Day at Cougar Buttes for OTR starts with the pot luck breakfast. This event for the club gets bigger every year and this was no exception. I think we had at least 30 people for breakfast this year. Rich generously opened up the man cave and pulled out a bunch of folding chairs (thanks as always Rich!!!). Folding tables were assembled and out came the food. You name it…we had it. Ric brought out the coffee and tea bar. I think I saw mimosas. Everyone else brought out different egg dishes, pancakes, potatoes, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy and well…the list goes on. Did I also mention that the weather was fantastic? I bit chilly but not bad at all and no real wind to speak of. I doesn’t get better than this.
After breakfast we divided up into two groups with some heading for Keith’s Trail and others to the more challenging buggies only destination.
On Keith’s trail we had Joe P., Jed and Phil C., Mike, Chad and Nash, and Bob B. I like Keith’s Trail. One, it is challenging but not too difficult. Anybody with 33+” tires, lockers and a bit of rocker armor can make it through. The second reason why I like it is because it is an OTR trail, pioneered by Keith Lyon about 4 or 5 years ago when poking around in various canyons doing some exploring. It is our trail and we got to name it. Kind of like Pry Bar trail…another club trail.
Keith’s has some nice big rocks that require careful wheel placement for the smaller diameter tires to keep from hanging up underneath. We did have a bit of carnage however. First was Bob B. He started to hear a ticking sound coming from the front axle that got worse as the trail went on, especially when traversing more challenging sections. It turned out to be a ring and pinion missing a tooth or two or three. He got through the trail okay, just had to be careful and “time” it through the more difficult spots. Jed C. announced he had a flat tire. Turned out he cut the side wall bad enough that he had to mount the spare. I don’t think we had enough tire plugs in the whole group to fix that tire.
While on Keith’s Trail I received a radio call from John C. wanting to know where we were and if I had AN-6 caps for a steering gear. He needed them. One of the Mayhem Metalworks buggies broke a steering box. The plan was to head back to camp where they would remove the steering gear from John’s FToy; take it back and install it on the broken buggy to get it back to camp. He needed my caps. I do have caps…in my Jeep. We had just finished the trail and were slowly meandering back to camp along the exit route from Keith’s. Upon returning to camp, they had just finished removing John’s steering gear. I gave them the caps and they headed back to the broke buggy to make the necessary repairs and get it back to camp. The repair crew returned later that night with the fixed buggy.
Saturday, January 2nd. Mike Whittington, Matino Wash
We had a small group for Matino Wash. Jerome came out for the day and he along with Chad, Joanna, Nash, Laura and me. Tagging along were Ric and Lisa. Ric rode with Jerome and Lisa rode with Chad.
This was Chad and family’s first trip on this trail which made it kind of special since they had not experienced the beauty of Matino Wash and just beyond; the Joshua tree forest and surrounding mountains near Big Bear. Like every other day, the weather was fantastic.
When we returned to camp, Laura and I packed up and headed for home. Ric, Lisa, Chad and family stayed until Sunday. Everyone else had already left.

Another great New Year’s Extravaganza in Cougar Buttes. There was just a bit of carnage this year however…in fact, quite a bit. The list includes:
1. Electrical issues – Paul
2. Rollovers by Bob B and Ric. No real damage done to either vehicle.
3. Broken front axle U-joint – Ric
4. Broken axle shaft – Zuki John
5. Scott M. – caved in door
6. Broken front ring and pinion – Bob B.
7. Jed C. – trashed tire
8. Broken steering gear – Andrew from Mayhem Metalworks
I think that was it.
See you all next year and… Happy New Year On The Rocks!