May '01 IE4W Beginner's Run

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Members Present:

Peter and Jonathan Griffith - CJ-7
Don and DJ Bridgewater - CJ-7
Rick and Janis Steinbruecker - Willy's Flatfender
Bob and Karen Peterson - CJ-7

Guests Present:
Peter and Kathleen Colacino - Ranger
Matt Morofski - 4-Runner
Scott Frasier - YJ
John Mackee (sp?) - CJ-7
Nice couple (I can't remember names too well) with nice white Trail Sport CJ-7
Steve "Tankota" Brown
Steve's dad Jan
Family in light blue CJ-5 who showed up for the day, saw the group, and asked to come along
Bob Peterson's friend in the full-size Dodge pickup
Another really nice guy in an orange CJ-5
3 guys who showed up in 2 CJ-7's and a YJ, with red flags that said (I think) "BUDDS"
Evelyn and friend - CJ-5
Probably more that I can't remember

Saturday - Day Run

I had a LOT of people show up on Saturday, including Tankota!  Can you believe it?  Anyway, most everyone remembered that I said 9 AM and got there on time.  There were a few stragglers, but we still left camp by 9:20, which is pretty good.  We all headed out and made our way toward the first obstacle of the day: Bronco Hill.  The whole morning had threatened rain, but I decided to be optimistic and took the top off and put on a bikini (for the Jeep...jeez...).  Of course, 20 minutes later it started raining.  This turned out to be a blessing.  The rain was very light, and only lasted about 5 minutes at a shot.  It came back on and off throughout the day, but was actually very pleasant, and kept the dust down without hurting traction.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.

On the way to Bronco Hill one of the BUDDS Jeeps popped it's clutch linkage.  After about 20 minutes of trying to fix it, they decided to head back to camp and try to fix it. We continued on, less 3 Jeeps .  Then we were 15.  Since I was the trail boss, I got to go up first (read: I had to do everything without a spotter; piece of cake).  I headed right up the right side and climbed right to the top.  Then I stayed up top to help spot everyone else up.  All of the locked Jeeps made it, and the unlocked ones looked at it, then went around through the rock garden.  We all met up and continued on to the mesa overlooking El Hill.  Along the way we hit Up-Down Hill.

On a very god suggestion from Peter Colacino, we split the group in half and took everyone down to El Hill, using both downhill routes to avoid a traffic jam at the bottom. It didn't actually matter, because there was a really nice yellow and white TJ dead right at the bottom of the hill.  Seems he broke his Dana 35C axle, and was going to be there for a while.  Since we had such a large group, I consulted with my Los Coyotes experts and decided to turn everyone around and head out through Wasp Nest Hill to Which Way Way, with a loop back to El Hill in the afternoon, when it was more likely to be usable. So we did.  Everyone had a great time going through the loop, and we stopped to play on For Pete's Sake Hill.   Yes, I tried.  No, I didn't break (I didn't make it, either).  But, Tankota made it, and so did Matt.  Score one for the Toyota crowd. At that point we headed through the newly re-opened Papa's Pass and headed back to El Hill, where legends were made.

Up to this point the only casualty we had was the clutch linkage at the beginning of the run.   Then the dodge guy got a flat, but that was fixed really quick and we continued on.  El Hill.  Just the name conjures up images of a hill on steroids.  Since he got there first, Tankota got to go up first, just to show everyone it could be done.  He locked in his 200:1 and made it look easy.  Next up was me.  Now, I've done El Hill before, but in my Cherokee, which is a LOT different than doing it in my CJ.  I know the CJ line for this hill is on the left, so I boldly headed right up the middle.  More guts than brains.  So, I get to the first ledge and lift it almost straight up, where I promptly stall.  But, I'm not in trouble yet, just at a steep angle.  So, I coax the engine back to life and continue on.  I pop up over the ledge and almost stall again.  Back on the brake and clutch, but holding on. I nurse it back to full power and launch.  The CJ surged ahead, and suddenly I'm up past the bad stuff and motoring to the top.  Piece of cake. Then Tankota comes and pats me on the back and tells me he's never seen a CJ do THAT before.  Apparent, I was just about to go over when I launched it and saved the roll.  I didn't even know I was in any trouble, and so was blissfully ignorant of my impending doom.  Ah well.  I can now say that I took my CJ up the middle line of El Hill and lived to talk about it.

Of course, Scott Frasier took his YJ up nearly the same line, and made it look easy.  Scott is a friend of Tom Haus' who showed up to have some fun.  He tried EVERYTHING, and made it up most of it.  My hat's off to you Scott!  Then came Rick up the traditional short wheelbase line and he made it, and then Matt, then Kathleen Colacino driving the Ranger.  That was all the takers we had, so we re-grouped and headed up the backside of Hot Dog Hill and up Creek Road.  Everyone made it, and we headed back to camp to relax before the night run.  A few people remembered that we were having a pot luck, and those of us who did gathered around the fire and ate good food and relaxed.  By the time it got dark, there were only 3 takers for the night run:  Me, Matt, and Scott.

Saturday - Night Run

I had planned on going up Dangerous Road for the night run, but as we were driving out to 4 corners I decided to do the mine trail instead.  It had been a while since I had done that trail, and I thought it would make a fun night run.  Not too tough, but challenging enough to be fun in the dark.  All went well up to the Z-Turn, and then we headed up to the mine.  I've only been this far up the trail once about 2 years ago, and so had forgotten about the off-camber stuff that leans you out over a 500 foot drop-off.  You'd think that it would be better at night, but actually it's worse, because the drop-off looks like an abyss with no bottom.  But, we all made it up safely, and got a great view of a clear night sky.  I managed to spot a satellite orbiting the earth, and it was great tracking it across the sky. After about 10 minutes of staring at the beautiful night sky, we headed back down the mountain and were in camp by 10:45.  I was out cold by 11:15 or so, and dreamt about the fun we were going to (and did!) have today.

Sunday

Today was also great.  For the Sunday run, we had 7 trucks left:

Me
Matt
Scott
Peter C.
Rick
Don
John

The perfect size group for some hardcore wheeling in the Los Coyotes back country  John was open, so at Turning Rock John and Don headed out Which Way Way to Bagby's Rock while we headed out toward Pirates of the Caribbean and Camel Toe, and the way to the dreaded Toboggan Run.  We played on all of the interesting loops and I found out that my Jeeps has much better traction than I thought.  I walked right up the waterfall that Kelly broke his Detroit on.  Didn't even slip a tire.  Then on to the other little vertical waterfall right before the drop-off.  And of course, who could forget that rock slabs by Camel Toe where Jack did his turtle imitation?  We did that, too.  I dropped down into the ravine and then climbed back out with no problems.  Everyone else followed, and we all had fun trying to take tougher lines than the guy before.  Then off to Toboggan.  Well, this trail has only one purpose: Body Damage.  But, since it was our last trip every to Los Coyotes (or at least, for the foreseeable future), it had to be done.  Denni didn't understand, but it's a Jeep Thing.

So now I have shiny metal on my fenders where there used to be paint, and my flares are now nicely roughened, but I made it with no dents.  Matt took out his left side, too, and then Scott came down in his TJ.  With quite a bit of finesse, he inched the YJ down with only scratches on the flares.  Good job Scott!  Then came Rick with no damage (also a great job of finessing it down the hill), and then came Peter's Ranger, but with Matt's friend behind the wheel.  Ooops...there went the front fender.  A little further down, and there goes the tail light on the right side. All in a day's fun.

We went through Bagby's and took the obligatory pictures and then headed up Which Way Way.  Along the way we came across No Way Way.  I looked but decided there was no way.  Scott thought there might be a away, but alas there was no way, so we continued on out way down Which Way Way.  We still had a little time left when we got to the plateau, so we headed down to play on El Hillette (the hill to the left of El Hill).  This thing actually looks worse than El Hill, but was surprisingly easy.  We played on that for about 45 minutes, and then headed up Creek Road.  All too soon it was over, and we were on the fire road, heading back to camp.

We all aired up, packed up, said our goodbyes and were on our way.  It was ad leaving, knowing that I may never again be able to enjoy the spectacular scenery and out of this world off-roading that have been the trademarks of Los Coyotes for years.  We will miss this place, and those who didn't make it will have to live on much older memories than those of us who braved the wrath of our mothers to be out there this weekend.

Weekend casualties:

Flat or punctured tires - 2; Dodge guy and Don Bridgewater
1 broken clutch linkage - BUDDS guy in brown CJ-7
1 broken spring hanger - John Mackee - exact same thing that happened to me in Moab.

That's it.

Fondly yet sadly remembering the best ever weekend I have had at Los Coyotes.  Everyone had a good time, no one was hurt, and all of the trucks made it through with little or no damage.

Until next time,

Pete Griffith