soksniffer wrote:
TurtleTruck wrote:
Possible:
Soksniffer
I said I'd go!
Hey, here's an eye-roller for everyone--does anyone mind if I bring my mom as a passenger? Every time I e-mail her pictures of trips she says she wants to try offroading before she's too old to ride along. I'm sure she'll be perfectly happy waiting in the truck while we explore on foot (seriously). But I won't be offended if someone says no; it
is Spinnin' Fours, after all, not Spinnin' old ladies.
Jorge brought his mother to I think it was TDS last year, she had a blast. Caroline Rick's wife goes on runs all the time, so do a lot of the wife's from time to time so I think you should back off on the Spinnin' old ladies, in fact Caroline is not only a Spinnin 4s she's a real spinner, those that know her will understand. If you are going to TDS soks I'd watch where I step. #-o [-X
I am working and I think you already realize I'm not going out this sat.
OK... in are:
Me and MooseOne (passenger)
TruckTrader and Masked Rock Ranger (passenger)
Soksniffer and his Mom (passenger)
Wilson, hope your mother was able to go on the run and had a good time.
Be careful what you call my wife, In Australia, “spinner” is another name for prostitute!! Sort of like “hooker” up here. Guess down there our club name wouldn’t be very good either - it might mean something other than what we had in mind! At least most of us.
Rick
Zuke Guy wrote:
Wilson, hope your mother was able to go on the run and had a good time.
Be careful what you call my wife, In Australia, “spinner” is another name for prostitute!! Sort of like “hooker” up here. Guess down there our club name wouldn’t be very good either - it might mean something other than what we had in mind! At least most of us.
Rick
Thank god were not in Australia, but you know what I'm talking about, with that loom and spinning wheel that sits in your livingroom.
Kinda like if a Brit asked someone here for a spare fag, they'd be directed to Santa Monica Blvd.
soksniffer wrote:
My mom had a ball. :tbsup:
Just wait 'til you guys see the pictures of Vince's new toy in action--I shot a couple of okay video clips, so maybe Mark will link to one of them once I forward them. Also wait until you see the pictures of it
out of action, after he broke one of his upper 4-links!
uch: It sucked, but it was kind of funny only because earlier in the day he layed it into a boulder and was moaning about having scratched the cage... and then he went and ripped a hunk of the bottom out. Poor guy; you all should be extra-nice to him at the next meeting.
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Oh, and I know that in British and ex-British countries (Australia, New Zealand, S. Africa, etc.) "fanny" is a naughty word. Everybody thought it was sooooo funny when a yank like me would call a fanny pack a fanny pack.
Cool bring her anytime you want, everyone is always welcome to come out.
To bad about the scratch on your cage there trader, I'm guessing it is powder coated or you wouldn't care to much. Just break out the rattle can and it will be fine, or you could just start putting little band-aids over all the little scrapes and bruises you get on it.
You gonna fix the other problem before TDS I hope. Would suck to not have a rig for the event, it stunk last year when I didn't have a rig. I could have brought the Willys but it won't pass tech.
I'm already working on getting the buggy repaired. No big deal, just need to replace one small section of tubing and weld it back up. Oh yea, for the record my buggy is not powder coated - just rattle can black. And I have no problem putting it in harms way
Trip ReportIt was a beautiful day for our exploration trip, a light wind, a slight chill in the air, and lots of desert sunshine.
There were lots of “ohhhs” and “awwws” over Vince’s new buggy. It has a very clean design, appears to be well built, and we all want one!
First we headed over to the start of Fry Canyon and the waterfall entrance. Vince gave it a try but couldn’t get any traction on the very slick water polished slab.
I made a half hearted attempt and got a little farther up than Vince (only because I have more wheelbase) and backed down.
It is going to take a nice “bump” at the bottom of the slab to get your rear tires onto the rock… then you will have to somehow find traction on the smooth slab. I suspect that to drive up this obstacle is going to take a bold charge in a very capable rig and some luck. Any bouncing or wandering of the front end is going to put you sideways on possibly on your lid.
Steve suggested that when come back as a club to break this trail that we do not try to bypass the waterfall, but instead winch up it. The more I think about it, the better that idea sounds. What a dramatic way to begin a trail! It would not be dangerous (much) and it would leave the waterfall as a goal for someone to finally drive. I am sure that we can rig a winch anchor to one of the rocks above the slab.
Next we went to Potential New Route 1, which I will call (at least for now) Shaft Canyon after the vertical mine shaft located half way up it.
Vince scampered up the entrance in his buggy. What an amazing rig. As we spotted him I asked “how far can it tilt before going over? We didn’t really know, so we kept him on the same line until it did start to go over sideways. The cage came to rest on a rock and stopped the gentle flop. Vince was able to drive out of the tilt (it really wasn’t a flop).
The next obstacle was a steep slab with a big hole at the top. Vince tried to climb to the top of the slab, but we advised him against trying too hard. There was no way we could get my 4Runner up the first ledge (without major body damage) to help him if he needed it, and besides, this was an exploratory trip.
Vince backed off and descended the first obstacle with no problem. Once again his cage scraped on the rock a little. The lower portion of Shaft Canyon is very difficult!
We walked a couple of hundred yards up the canyon to a side canyon that comes in from the right. We could drop into the main canyon here and establish a route up the rest of the canyon, bypassing the very difficult lower part.
Wilson led the way as we ascended the Cross Mountain Route and dropped back into Shaft Canyon at the vertical mine shaft.
I walked down the canyon to the side canyon mentioned above (a distance of about ¼ mile), taking pictures.
Vince descended the canyon in his buggy, down several interesting ledges to a ledge that was more difficult and stopped there, poised above the ledge. This ledge will be difficult for the rest of us, but probably possible. This ledge is probably the crux of the middle portion of Shaft Canyon.
As I hiked back up the canyon we learned that Vince’s buggy wouldn’t start. The previous owner had told Vince that this happens from time to time and may be a problem with the switch in the automatic transmission that locks out starting unless in park.
I hiked back to the 4Runner and drove it down to Vince so that we would have tools and possibly to tow Vince out. By the time I got there they had the buggy started. We don’t know why, but after playing with the shifter for a while, the buggy started.
I needed to have a rock stacked at one ledge, but other than that I made it back up the canyon without any trouble.
Vince gave Wilson a ride up the canyon in the buggy and Wilson was all smiles.
We worked our way up the canyon and Vince had no trouble with a nice ledge that Wilson and I bypassed.
We stayed in the canyon and soon came to a section of decomposing rock. Vince and I took the hard side and Wilson did very well on a slightly easier route to the right.
Soon we came to difficulties again. Wilson, Steve, and I walked up the canyon, which I will call upper Shaft Canyon.
There was only one obstacle that would be difficult for us, a steep climb with a hole at the bottom. It will take some work for us to get up this.
We hiked back to the others and had lunch.
After lunch we found a single track that led us to the upper part of Fry Canyon, just before it gets really serious.
Wilson was able to make it about half way, but then it got very steep and rocky and he parked his Ranger and walked the trail with Steve.
We followed the single track up and down gullies and over lots of rocks and finally dropped into the upper portion of Fry Canyon. This route would be a good exit from Fry Canyon and is a nice trail in itself.
By the time we retraced our new route and picked up Wilson it was 3:30 PM, so we decided to call it a day and head back down the Cross Mountain Route.
Just as we got off of the Cross Mountain Route Wilson noticed something hanging down on Vince’s buggy. It turned out that the driver’s side lower link of his 4 link suspension had ripped from its mount on the frame. We tied the link arm up to the frame so that it wouldn’t dig into the ground and Vince was able to limp carefully back to his truck and trailer.
It was a great day. We probed the waterfall entrance to Fry Canyon, finished exploring Shaft Canyon, and found an exit route for Fry Canyon when we break that trail.
Now Vince will have to get his buggy fixed before TDS!
Participants:
Mark and Steve B. in Mark’s 4Runner
Vince and Jorge in Vince’s new Samurai Rock Buggy
Wilson and his mother Susan in Wilson’s Ranger
Nice write up Mark, and thanks for the pics! I will have the buggy repaired on Tuesday and it should be ready to go. \:D/
Looks very nice Vince, so does the trail progress. I wish I had more free time to explore and break ground with you guys. Vince you may want to figure out a override with a switch for the neutral safety switch, you could use it to start in gear if you get into trouble.
Rocksurfer wrote:
Vince you may want to figure out a override with a switch for the neutral safety switch, you could use it to start in gear if you get into trouble.
My thoughts exactly, I'm working on it.
Great job putting together the map MarK! Look forward spending a weekend out there soon....Need to plan a club trip before it gets to hot.
