You are here

Big Bear Mountain Madness

Date: 
Friday, June 24, 2016 to Sunday, June 26, 2016
Type:
Club Run
Leader(s): 
John & Wendy Cary
Rating (min):
2+
Rating (max):
3+

Event Reports

Big Bear Retreat

Submitted by John & Wendy Cary on Mon, 06/27/2016 - 22:23
Run: 
Big Bear Mountain Madness

What a great weekend. Weather was in the mid 80's most of the days and cool at night. Several good nights around the fire with great conversation.

If I miss anything, please chime in.

The Cary's arrived on Tuesday and took a tour of the lake on Wednesday with the oldest tour boat on the lake. The history of the valley was very interesting. Thursday we spent the morning on Deep Creek. I went fly fishing while Wendy and Nova enjoyed the scenery. I caught two and lost two.

On Thursday the Wohlers, Dwayne, the Zuki group of John, Dave and Rick, Ric and Lisa arrived.
On Friday Robert and Diane, Kevin and Brandon, and Bob and Judy. As you heard Bob had a brake problem and had to return home. He was able to replace the Master Cyl on the MH and arrive Friday. Keith and Damian arrived Friday evening, spending the night in a motel in BB.

Friday we traveled to Dishpan Springs via Rim of the World Trail(also know as Snow Slide Road or 2N13) to Crab Flats so Zuki John would not have to drive his buggy 44 miles on the pavement. It actually saves about 15 miles and covers a lot of interesting areas. It was a great alternative to pavement. From Crab Flats we went down Deep Creek Road also called Dishpan Springs Trail. We met Kevin and Brandon coming from the beginning of Dishpan. Sadly, they were still having problems with the rear ARB and continued on and back to camp while we continued doing Dishpan backwards. At the bottom of the Gatekeeper, Ric blew out a brake line so we decided to have lunch. Finding no spare brake lines and excellent cell reception Zuki John contacted All Jeeps in BB and they had the replacement lines. A fast credit card and the lines were purchased. Wendy picked them up at the store and they were ready for installation when we returned to camp. In the meantime Ric had a line plug and the problem temporarily was fixed. Considering the time, we decided not to go to the start and returned up the Gatekeeper and headed to Holcombe Road for the Rock Pile. Rick had his open diff Zuki and I am sure he had fun being dragged through the Rock Pile and many others until we exited the trail.
On returning to camp Ric's brake line was replaced. A great evening of food and a few beers.

Saturday morning Keith and Damian arrived around 8:30. We planned to leave around nine, however, were delayed by a broken fan belt.
Our plan was to drive Gold Mountain and then on to John Bull. Rick felt he had been dragged around enough so he ventured the trip with me.

Gold Mountain was uneventful. At John Bull we found a group of three trying to get through and were able to start shortly. While waiting a group of three came in behind us. After several of us made it through, Ric managed to turtle his Jeep and in the process his ARB's stopped working. We pulled him off and Brandon had ARB problems, so both headed back to camp while we moved on. The silt was so fine it was like driving on glass with oil over the rocks. It was interesting trying to maintain a path without sliding off the rocks.

We stopped at the rock section on the top and had lunch. Keith suggested we return just for some more fun. Rich went down and talked to the group who came in after us and was told there were around 25 Rubi's trying to make it through the Gatekeeper with little success. Thinking better of it we finished the trail and headed back to camp for refreshments and snacks.

The amount of food at dinner was overwhelming. Tri Tip, chicken, burgers, hot dogs, salads, deserts, etc. More than we could all eat. Another great evening around the fire. Sunday morning we packed up and headed home.

An excellent trip with friends.

As a final note, Ric came up to AV today and Rich and I rewired his ARB system with a new harness and switches, plus a mod to allow him to engage front or rear as needed. ARB problem solved.

John Cary

Big Bear Run

Submitted by John & Wendy Cary on Sun, 06/25/2017 - 21:36
Run: 
Big Bear Mountain Madness

Big Bear was an interesting weekend with the fire and temperatures in the high 80’s – low 90’s.

Wendy and I arrived Sunday, 6/18 to great weather. My neighbor, Pat, arrived Monday morning to get in some fly fishing on Bear Creek near the Santa Ana river. Pat is a Fire Captain and ended up spending several days on the fire. On the way back we saw a very large plume of smoke arising from the valley. Coming down the 38 into Big Bear we could see it was on the back side of Gold Mountain. The rest is history – a lot of trails were closed including the 18, which opened Saturday.

Arriving Thursday were Mary and John, Randy, Lori and Mike, Dwayne and late evening Bob. Ric and Lisa, with Lisa’s brother and girl friend, arrived early Friday morning and Carol and Gary, Friday afternoon. My backpacking friend, Brian, arrived Thursday. Friday was his first jeep wheeling adventure. He took a lot of pictures and videos. As soon as I get them I will post.

Our trip Friday went to the southeast of Big Bear off the 38 to Heartbreak Ridge and other trails in the area. We went in on 2N01 to Broom flat to Rose Valley. We were over mapped for the area. Both John and I had the BB 4 wheel drive map and Dwayne had the book. In addition he had marked way points the last time he was in.

As we were airing down Randy noticed his front locker cap was loose and was considering going back to the 4x4 shop in town. Instead, we decided to take a look and found the cap had not been clocked correctly, so turning it to the next position solved the problem. The roads in the area are rated black and blue diamond. After traveling in to the area we started up the ridge and Mike managed to get hi-centered on a rock. A short pull with the winch and we were moving again. The trail has some interesting climbs and rock piles. Nothing really difficult. At the top of the ridge we stopped for lunch and Mike managed to drive a branch through his front windshield trying to get shade. It was Lori’s side.

After we drove back down to Rose valley one group wanted to go back the same way we came 2N01 in and another group wanted to go 3N03 to Cactus Flats staging area.
On the way back from Cactus Flats, just before Division Rd. we just missed seeing a five car pileup. Luckily no one was seriously hurt.

Friday night the typical beer thirty and refreshments.

Saturday morning Rich and Corkey arrived for the run. We ended up going up Coxey Canyon to Holcombe Valley Rd and ran it backwards. On the first obstacle I went to turn on the ARB compressor and nothing. Decided on not to try and fix after checking fuses, so ran with 3 wheels. It was warm, in the low 90’s. We had lunch at the Rock Pile, next to Holcombe creek. We came back Crab Flats road and the Lower Larga Flat cutoff road when Ric started spewing fluid out of the Hydro-boost. Problem was shortly solved and we made it back with no other problems.

Saturday evening was started with beer thirty and hors de oeuvres, finishing with a great TriTip dinner and lots of great side dishes which was followed by a great evening around the fire.

Sunday morning most were gone by noon. Gary had a slight problem with the door awning on his new motorhome. It would not close. After checking the manual and blogs we were able to remove it. Apparently, it is a common problem with this door awning. Another project to work on the MH.

A great weekend. No smoke from the fire as the wind was coming in from the south and blew it over the desert. To my knowledge there were no structures damaged. There were two fire fighters who suffered heat related problems. I have not been able to find out how long John Bull and Gold Mountain trails will be closed.

If I missed anything, please add comments.

Thanks for a great weekend.