Big Bear Success!!!

I'd like to be the first to throw a BIG THANKS! to Sequoia and Capt. Ron making last night's dinner and raffle a big success.

The trail clean up went well and fast with a fabulous turnout.

Mike Rollins led a very enjoyable Holcumb Creek run.

Capt Ron with the help of his wonderful wife and (I think) one other person whose name I didn't catch (though it might have been more than one with the way they were flying around getting things ready!) made and truely wonderful meal!

The rain even stayed away until the food eaten and the raffle was held and the campfile burned low. The raffle was spirited and the prizes were impressive considering the size of the event and the time available to put it together. Again, Sequoia deserves a big hand for doing the leg work and Capt Ron for tossing TWO roof racks into the pool to bump the greed level to the required fever pitch! :kissyou:

It should also be pointed out that Sequoia won a high ticket item and PUT HIS TICKET BACK IN THE BUCKET!!! NOT ONCE BUT TWICE!

I had a great time and it was great to see such a good turnout with everything going great. Others will have more to say (even me! :laugh3: ) but my breakfast is here and after this I have to go back and wait for camp to dry enough to pack...

bburge

Just got home from BB. Had a great time too. Also want to thank Sequoia, Ron, and all the contributing vendors. I even won some Rawbrown motor mounts. Whoo-hoo!

Here are just a few pics from Saturday's Holcomb Creek run.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=95467397906&page=1&sort_order=0

Thanks to everyone that made this a great time. unfortunately, the weather was not that great today (Sunday(, but saturday was fantastic.

I had a great tiem on Holcomb Creek. My son (19 months) had a blast. He just laughed when we were bouncing around. He did cry when we were going throught the rock gardens. The skid plates did their job, but it did nto sound good inside the rig.

Here's a link to a few pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=xj7ztxt.7882pvhh&x=0&y=2lq7t6

We should defintely have more events (trail runs, fund raisers, BBQ's).

A special thanks to Sequoia, Ron, and Mike....and everoen who cooked, cleaned-up, organized, and donated.

Thanks,

Robert

bburge said:

Capt Ron with the help of his wonderful wife and (I think) one other person whose name I didn't catch (though it might have been more than one with the way they were flying around getting things ready!) made and truely wonderful meal!

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That other person would have been Robert who drives a white TJ.

As everyone already mentioned the event turned out great. We had both old timers (some older then others )and some new people. Looks like everyone had fun and even though we had some serious breakage on the second day (rear driveshaft and a diff yoke on a YJ) we were able to put things back together with spare parts

Yea, it was a big success! Hardly any breakage and every break was fixable. No run ending damage or expensive repairs. It was amazing that we had the parts to fix broken ears on a driveline and a new yoke for a YJ no less!

Big thanx go out to capt ron and his wife for the wonderful meal and raffle prizes and Seqouia for a well run event. The weather had threatened the event but we turned out anyway. Just goes to show that theres no stopping members!

I took pics that I will post but not only am I slow at this but I didn't get my camera out as often as I should have. Missed a couple of really good shots and some trail work and conditions photos.

Also I should mention that we had 10+ jeeps show up for our adopt a trail run and clean up and that we are indeed fortunate to have members who care and work hard (you guys know who you are) On saturday the club that adopted Holcomb creek had only 3 members turn out and it needed major work. We had to make one crossing, right after the first major rockgarden, safe to even pass before we could finish the trail and there were some other very glaring potentially dangerous problem areas.

p.s the pics will be here hopefully monday or tuesday as I havn't even unloaded my jeep or found my camera. Also keep Goatman in your prayers as he was stuck there with a tow vehicle that would not start.

Yes! All around it was a great event!

Friday started at 9.00 at the Ranger station, we took off from there with 13 - 15 rigs (don't remember exactly) and headed up to 2N04. Since we had so many people we were able to split up into three groups, with the last group attacking 2N04 from the East. We got the trail fixed up in great time and headed over to the Juniper Springs Group Camp to have some lunch.

After our lunch break (and playing in a mud pit there ) most of us headed out to run Heartbreak Ridge and Pontiac Sluice/Onyx Loop. That run went very well and I plan to hit it again when I am up there. After that we went back to camp and hung out around our camp fires.

Saturday morning we met up at the Discovery Center and split into two groups, we had Mike Rollins leading a Holcomb Creek run and myself set to run a Gold Mountain and John Bull run.

As you may know the curse of John Bull struck again - when I sent my father out to get gas in my Jeep a fuel line blew. Tim Bently ended up taking over leadership of the trail and I got a ride into town to find and fix my dad. After fixing the Jeep we just played around on some easier stuff as we did not have anybody with us.

Saturday night's dinner was excellent, those Captain Ron Tri-Tips are not a thing to miss! After dinner we had the equipment raffle, a few things there I thought I was going to be lynched if I called out Tim or Bill's names one more time! Many things to the vendors for the donations!

Sunday we met again at the Discovery Center and headed up to White Mountain, Half Mile Hill, and Frustration Hill. Frustration ended up being Frustrating for all parties, as the more hard core boys (who Ron was leading) had some carnage (Broken yoke and drive shaft on a YJ) and the milder group (I was leading) had a hard time getting up the Bypass. We did make it up though, with some spotting help for a few of us and a first run of a brand new winch for Bill.

We finished up with the trail around 2 and headed back to camp to pack up and leave, the Serrano staff were not amused at our checking out past 2.00p, oops. :wave:

All in all it was a terrific event! I want to thank each and everybody who was there for making it a good event. I would also like to thank the vendors again for the generous raffle donations.

Sequoia

The "Bill" in question is not me (burge), but a different Bill. His raffle numbers came up many times! He won bunches of stuff, including the RawBrown motor mounts and some FullSizeXJ tailight boxes! - but missed out on the roof rack he wanted too....

I only won one thing... a roof rack! A r-e-a-l nice one that mounts to the factory roof rails. Only one problem, I HAVE a roof rack; ooops, TWO, I don't have factory roof rails. So I traded it to Bill (other Bill) for the mounts and the light boxes!

A good time was had by all (Bill's)! :wave:

bburge

If you guys may,
I need to get feedback on the not yet released mounts. I wish I was up there wheeling with everyone and freezin my arse off. instead I cuddled under a jeep in my garage.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this a fun time. The dinner and raffle where both excellent. The weather was kind to us, with fabulous weather on Saturday for the runs, and even though it got real cold Sat evening and Sun, the snow never came and it only rained at night. It was real nice to see some of the SoCal crowd again, and to meet few new folks.

My PSD didn't like the cold temps (snow in the forcast), and it didn't want to start when it was time to head for home. Plugging in the block heater while we went to the parts store for a can of starting fluid did the trick....one quick shot of the ether and it fired right up.

Friday was *great*, despite having to leave early. At least you guys missed the heavy (8' visibility!) fog heading back down the mountain between 7000 and 2500ft. Had a lot of fun, though, finally got to meet a good bunch of folks, and was thrilled with the work that was done on the trail. It sounds like missing out on Saturday and Sunday was a mistake on my part... But there's always next year, and the possibility of scheduling prior commitments around this run

First, I want to say that this was the first time I went wheeling with a group of people. I usually go all by myself and just meet people on the trail to run with, which I how I originally met Remi and Tim. They seemed like nice peeps and I checked out the SoCalXJ site and found . Hung out in the forums a while and then joined...


I had a GREAT TIME this weekend :exclamati :exclamati :exclamati

Friday was the first time I EVER thought about the "state" of a trail... I usually am looking for ruts or rocks to drive over. But now I know what to look for and how carelessness can really damage a trail. I still don’t think of myself as a treehugger, but I can always help pick up after others. I didn’t think I would be getting stuck in the snow that day, but I’m glad I gave Sequoia a chance to use his strap… and I think he got it on video for his trophy room…

Here are some pictures from Friday…

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I had to go home Friday night to get my friend Chris and we weren't able to get back up there until noon Saturday... The groups were already out on the trail, so Chris and I decided to try to catch the John Bull group. On the trail a rock decided that my Jeep was waaaaay too quiet... So off with the muffler... I figure if John bull was going to take something, I was ok with it being a muffler...

Then came dinner...

When I grew up, dinner was hot dog on wire hangers over a smokey pit...
Ron, THAT WAS AWESOME :exclamati :exclamati :exclamati A good meal at the end of a long day is the way a to end a great day...

Then came the raffle...

I was shocked to see how many prizes there were. it was impressive to say the least. Props to all those who donated... And i still dont believe I won the roof rack even though its in my garage... I never win anything... I guess I will have to stop saying that now...

I wish it was not so cold so I could have gabbed after that but I am a city boy...



Sunday was a good time also...

I have never driven that fast on a dirt road before and it was really fun. I got to hit a couple of mud pits on the way - I love mud!! Thanks to Remi for giving me bolts & nuts for the shock mount after all of that fun... ( So Lets see so far - Got stuck in snow - Muffler ripped off on John Bull - Front shock loses bolts ---- Not bad fo far) ---

I had been on White Mtn before but it was neat being in a line of XJ's and watching the other guys in front of me take the hills... (Tim - I bow to your driving that was fun to watch)... I scared myself on the last hill but that's part of the fun... ( I got 3 "Ken, you're scaring me" from chris today -- :roflmao: )

What a Great Bunch of Guys to have parts to fix the TJ/YJ (or what ever it was) --- Note to self :lecture: CARRY MORE PARTS --- yet another reason I like this group.

Sorry about getting antsy at the end, I have this thing about being late left over from the military...

here are my pics from Sunday:
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As I said before, I had a great time with a bunch of nice people. It's nice to put faces with the names on the boards...

Another closing thanks to Sequoia for organizing everything. Remi for the Parts, Ron for the Food and the rest of you for the conversation...

I look forward to future runs!

Ken in Corona

hey everybody. like it says above the food was awesome, the ride was great and the people of the club even greater. sorry i missed sundays run but holcomb was a blast on saturday. many thanks to ron and his wife and the other helper (one day i'll remember names better) for the great feast. also kudos to the vendors who donated so many completely great prizes. i also want to say to sequoia that his turning down two big ticket items really show's his class ( class and sequioa, who woulda thought these two words would be in the same sentence :laugh3: ) and his comitment to being chapter prez. the trail work on friday was a show of how much this club cares about the places we ride. as a club we were able to get workers out on a friday when other clubs had a hard time bringing more than three rigs on a weekend. then on top of it we ended up still doing trail repair on sat too, so even those not able to make friday got a chance, lol. anyway i had a great time and i will post up my pics as sone as i go through and remove the ones with my thumb in the way..,.

Sorry guys, I couldn't make it. My wifes transmission in her Camry went out. And she blames me for always working on the Jeep and not enough on her car... So to make a long story short, she wanted a Jeep too so I can give it just as much attention as my XJ..... I bought her a ZJ :kissyou:

Then the fridge broke..................

Never fails, you get a little bit of money and everything lets you know its time for replacing.

Scott S.

RisingSun said:

Then the fridge broke..................

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Did you find a jeep fridge to replace it as well?

What a great weekend, great bunch of people, great turnout for the maintenance day Friday. With so many volunteers in attendance we were able to make short work of the trail repairs. The crossing at Arrastre Creek turned out to be one of the areas that required the most effort. When we finished it appeared that the creek will actually continue to cross the trail instead of running down it. There were a couple of areas where the rock formations above the trail were a slide hazard. It was here that our crazier members ( you know who you are ) climbed up to pry the rocks loose, avoiding falling with them so the saner in the group could wrestle them off the trail.



The work we do up there does make a difference. There was a lot of snow on 2N04 this year that translated into a lot of run off. Many of the areas that had been back filled last year with rocks to prevent further erosion were still intact. The signs such as those where the Pacific Coast Trail that were re-set were still standing. Most of those who will run this trail this year will never even know that we had been there, and in a way, that’s ok.



Saturday morning it was cool to arrive at the Discovery Center and see almost one entire parking area filled with grocery getters in all degrees of build. Once the destinations for the two runs were established, I decided to go with the smallest group. Gold mountain and John Bull as it turned out. Joy! After the curse struck Sequoia, I was going to be leading. Double joy! It wasn’t so much that I’m open/open and most of those running behind me were locked. It was that a couple of weeks prior a group of us were there for ten hours of having our butts kicked by the snow, the mud, the flora and of course gravity. LOL! What a difference a couple of weeks of sunshine make. With the exception of a few little patches of shallow snow, things were pretty much back to normal.



Gold Mountain went smoothly and we made good time. We stopped at the rock garden near the top for those who wanted to bounce around and play to do so. Oddly enough nobody wanted to follow Richard around, go figure. After Ethan got us off Gold Mtn, and onto the approach to John Bull ha found out that the hole he was trying to avoid was not nearly as deep or abrupt as the one hiding in the mud on my side. After a NASCAR style exit I winched him out to find that the gasp of air we heard was the front passenger tire filling with mud. With some help from Richard, a bottle of water, some paper towels some air and some video for posterity we were on our way. I told Ethan not to sweat it, he won’t get stuck in the same hole again; at least not in the same way. To make him feel better I ended up bending a tie rod (Edit: and taking a strap) going down through the Goal Posts towards the end of the trail. The drive back to camp was a hoot! Jeep Speed all the way! Jay and Richard, I owe you a re-match when I don’t have the advantage of a smoke screen.



The dinner and raffle Saturday night was awesome! Ron, Ardis and Robert, thank you for an incredible meal. To Sequoia and the contributing vendors, thank you, what an unbelievable selection of prizes. To the rest of you in attendance, thank you for not taking me on that “night run” I started hearing about as the raffle progressed. LOL! You’ll all be glad to know though; I was able to fit all my winnings in the Jeep.



Sundays run was a very good time. Ron thanks for leading another great run. With what I think was the only breakage of the event, Rabbit and Dan, hats off for helping out on the trail with repairs. I consider myself fortunate to be associated with those so willing to help out fellow Jeepers. Ethan and I had a great three days seeing friends and meeting new ones. It was even nice to provide the line up Frustration for a long eared buddy who shall remain nameless.



Till next time,



Tim
and of course Ethan

the racing is always a blast back from a trail, we know it's hard on the shocks though, as some of you know. 'G' great job on planning the weekend, tim and ron thanks for being our trail host. the bako gang had a great time. and those of you who helped dan with his driveline, he sends his thanks!
it was nice to put a face to our 'web names' and to meet alot of you and yes the weather turned out to our favor. i hope some of you will make the 'swamp lake event' in july, we'd love for you to come.

happy wheel'in

I hope everyone enjoyed the event as much as we did. It was a pleasure to participate with a great group of people. XJ owners, their families, and their friends, rock... period.

A big thanks to the vendors that donated equipment for the raffle. I havn't checked on the rules about posting this kind of thing in this forum, but BrettM, Dan Turner, Ryan Brown, Richard Burrow, Erik, and the others that I'm missing here, deserve a big thanks, and our business. Raising money for important causes is made possible by this kind of support.

Nice to see quite a few of the new (newer than me ) guys, and I was happy to see that there were quite a few mostly stock rigs. I think some may get the impression that you need lift, lockers, and 35's to have fun at an event... Not so!

The trail maint was huge. Sounds like another group Ranger Greg worked with had like 3 people show up... not very impressive compared to what we had out there.

Nice to run with the usuals again too, it's getting to be a habit, that WFW thing and all... Met a great group from Bakersfield, Goatman, Jay, Chris, there's another I'm missing here, and one that didn't make it up the 18. Musta been tough heading right to JV, and make that turn OFF of the 247. Course, you woulda just spent the weekend there counting busted Birfields

Cheers!

--ron

Glad to hear everything went off so well. I am a little bummed I missed the event, but there is always the next one :laugh3:

Glad to hear Tim is still having fun playing in the snow, esp after he drove my jeep off a hill and into a tree :gag: haha JUST PLAYING Tim. My jeep is currently in JB's workshop getting slowly beatin into something all new. It should be ready in a few weeks and we'll have to take a run up the moutain and give it a proper break in.

Its also awesome that the raffle was so sucessful and it really sounds like everyone had a ton of fun with it.

-Scott

sintax said:

Glad to hear Tim is still having fun playing in the snow, esp after he drove my jeep off a hill and into a tree :gag: haha JUST PLAYING Tim. My jeep is currently in JB's workshop getting slowly beatin into something all new. It should be ready in a few weeks and we'll have to take a run up the moutain and give it a proper break in.
-Scott

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:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

You set me up for that one and you know it Scott! LOL! But on the bright side, no more winching with the Hi Lift. :compwork: Drop me a line when you're ready to head up the mountain again, we can go ask that tree what really happened.:rtm:


Tim

Captain Ron said:

The trail maint was huge. Sounds like another group Ranger Greg worked with had like 3 people show up... not very impressive compared to what we had out there.

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And it's worth mentioning that we actually spent a bit over an hour fixing their trail as well