U.S.S. IXNAY, Icebreaker

Tahuya is kinda lame. Not news for most people, but I have to admit, I actually had a few challenges and a lot of fun on Sunday when Cody (GreenbeltXJ) and I went out there.

The trip served a few purposes; I had an idle Sunday with no plans staring at me and a bad day wheeling is better than a boring Sunday. Or something. I also bought a new camera recently and still haven't got the operation down pat. One thing that can be said for Tahuya is it seems to be a good place to take poser shots. Lots and lots of poser shots.

We started the day by seeking out a new hillclimb that has the Tahuya faithful all atwitter. When I say new, I mean there a steep-ish hill that has been badly eroded over the course of the winter, and then guys in full-size rigs with Boggers and open diffs have dug it out further. It's Tahuya, come on.

Here's the upper half of the hill. There's a pretty steep ledge that you have to climb up to get to this section, and if you don't hug the right side and straddle the hole you can see in this picture, it can get a little hairy...as you'll see when I go through it.



Here's Cody, trying the ledge I mentioned:



And again....



Unfortunately, it was just too deep for his 32's and quit before he broke something. I was able to crawl up it pretty easily, due mainly to the taller tires, gears and a rear locker:





It was actually pretty fun, and Cody got to play hard-core photographer. Here's him getting that one last shot before scrambling out of the way.



See that big hole under my front axle? That's where my left rear tire ends up in the next shot:



I remember looking out my window, seeing the ground about 5-6 feet below, and my tire, just sitting there...nowhere near the ground. Luckily I had the good sense to just stay on the throttle and pull my way out of it. Here's a picture of the tire coming off the ground:



Cody tells me is got a lot higher before it got better. I did tear my passenger mirror off, but otherwise escaped unscathed.

More to follow in the next post.

-----Matt-----

With elevated heart rates, we went to the other fun place at Tahuya: Mud Lake. Due to the low temps we've been having, there wasn't much "lake" to it, more like an ice-skating rink. Meh, no problem I think to myself. I'll just plow through it. It was a rude shock when my bumper made contact with the first really solid area. The ice was at least 2-3 inches thick, and I had a really hard time busting through it.

Here's the video: Be warned there is some swearing, but it's awfully funny. Watch for the ice shattering and flying up. There's also a part when I ram into it pretty hard and the camera operator almost bounces off the dash board. Playing Icebreaker

Here's the aftermath:





Here's Cody playing around in the water/ice flow:





We had really great weather and the views of the Olympics were fantastic:



More video of me playing…great audio of the Flowmaster.

Here's a really cool picture, that unfortunately features a beater Chevy. These guys are the reason I enjoy Mud Lake. They totally embrace the "Hold my beer and watch this! Yeeee-haw!!!" ethos that is so fun to watch. We actually did a lot of that, just hanging out and watching people be idiots.



Here's one coming through after I cleared the ice.



With that out of our systems we headed off to run some “trails” and play on the rocks. We stopped for some posing along the way.

Cody said:

Wait, so the air goes in here….

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Tahuya Hard Core:



Some of the ice is still on the Jeep today. Just playing with the camera and different settings. I’m becoming more and more impressed as I get used to it, but it has also convinced me I need a real SLR too. This thread could be called "Trees and White Jeeps."



The sun was threatening to go down and the temp was beginning to drop so we decided to head out. We went via the multi-pronged hill climb that claimed Jamez' quarter panel last trip out. We were surprised to find this:



Uber-gnarly buggy (I'm sure XJoe or Avanteone know who it is) running 37" Krawlers.



Makes my accomplishment feel a little insignificant in contrast:



Beats the hell out of sitting around at home on a beautiful Sunday! Thanks, Cody!

-----Matt-----

AWESOME! That ice is huge, and that trail at the beginning looks really different.

Back in November: Pretty tame.

Thanks, it was a fun day. That first trail was pretty cool, too. Cody was able to make it last weekend, and now he couldn't get past the first obstacle. Erosion at work. He probably could have made it if he'd hammered it, but nobody wanted to fawk around with changing shafts in the cold.

-----Matt-----

That must be some crazy magical erosion.

did you guys even air down?

Matt? What camera? Great pics!

:cheers:

Believe it or not, it's a Casio. Not a name I typically associate with cameras, but it's really highly rated and has some cool features that sold me on it.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/casioz850/

PDeeXJ said:

That must be some crazy magical erosion.

did you guys even air down?

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I aired down to about 12-13 and Cody was running a little more. Just enough to make the ride nice, basically.

Not much of a 2000th post, but what the hell. I'm such a post whore....

-----Matt-----

Hey matt, I'm bidding on D200, hoping to win it in a couple of hours. So next time I see you you might be able to tinker around with a real camera Anyway, nice pictures and I know exactly what hill that is that eroded out. That's what I was talking about that last time when you couldn't get ahold of me, cuz of the power outage, then we ran into each other at mud lake? Yeah, that time, we found that hill, and it almost claimed our right mirrors too.

Does a good job.
We got my daughter a fuji s5200 for Christmas, (she is wanting to get into photography) so now I have my own personal photographer when I go wheeling.

:cheers:

adamusmc2002 said:

Hey matt, I'm bidding on D200, hoping to win it in a couple of hours. So next time I see you you might be able to tinker around with a real camera

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Swwet! Like I said, I'm convinced of the need to have two cameras. The little ones are just too convienent for wheeling to not have one. I'll be looking forward to seeing how you like yours.

adamusmc2002 said:

Anyway, nice pictures and I know exactly what hill that is that eroded out. That's what I was talking about that last time when you couldn't get ahold of me, cuz of the power outage, then we ran into each other at mud lake? Yeah, that time, we found that hill, and it almost claimed our right mirrors too.

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I ran that same place at night on that last trip when I was out looking for Cody. It's a totally different animal now! Before all you had to do was hug the right bank, but now it requires a little more finesse.

-----Matt-----

Nice pics

That buggy is one of "Those Guys" from Those Guys Rod & Customs in Bremerton. It's not Patrick's rig, but this rig's owner escapes me. They will most likely be doing the cage work & chassis prep. on the JeepSpeed rig.

J

My baby is still crying from the encounter with that stump on the left side of the picture.:tears:

There's alway some ignorant hicks out wheelin, usually in a beat chevy.

Jamez.

XJLaredo said:

There's alway some ignorant hicks out wheelin, usually in a beat chevy.

Jamez.

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i noticed they are sporting worshington plates:farmer:


:laugh: :laugh:

If you're looking for a nice SLR I just picked up this bad boy.
http://www.precision-camera.com/product/0209B001
Way too nice to take wheelin (for me) but still a great camera. Come to think of it, I've never taken a camera wheelin.

I'll try and get a pic or two from this weekend. Apparently everyone has avoided the deep holes at Evans this winter. All up until Saturday.

adamusmc2002 said:

Hey matt, I'm bidding on D200, hoping to win it in a couple of hours. So next time I see you you might be able to tinker around with a real camera

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My D70 has done great for the last couple of years. I'm about maxed on usable features, however. D200 is my next stop unless there's something better (for my needs) by that time.

hell great pics ... I'm shopping for a DSLR now maybe we should start a diff thread eh? torn between the Nikon D40 and the Canon Rebel XT

Nice pics man. Thank you for posting them. Beautiful country. Looks like ya'll had fun..

Scott

xj² said:

Nice pics man. Thank you for posting them. Beautiful country. Looks like ya'll had fun..

Scott

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Thanks! Glad you enjoyed them.

-----Matt-----

Everything looked pretty much the same this week.
Without the ice ,just frost in places,and a great view of the Olympics,alot of people...