I'll try my hand at a trip report:
The day started for me at 6:30, I rolled out of our driveway at around 7:45. After topping off at the Shell station I pulled into Rogers Camp at 8:45. By 9:00 everyone had shown up, disconnected, and aired down. Supposedly a Toyota group was coming so we hung out till 9:30, and then decided to go along and if they showed catch up with them later. We then made our way over to the first section of Powerline. It looked like a work party had been up there before us because the trail had been freshly redone. When we got done with the first section we went up the hill to get onto the second part, hoping that we eventually would end up near Mini Rubicon. There was a sharp uphill left turn that took some paint off my bumper but other than that we cruised. Jason then started talking to the Toyota group. We pulled over and gave them directions to where we were on Powerline. About a half hour later they met up with us and we carried on now sporting 12 rigs total, 6 Cherokees, 3 Toyotas, 1 FJ40 (yes I know its a Toyota), 1 Mazda, and a CJ5, quite the variety.
We continued on powerline until we hit the gravel road. After a quick map check we were headed for Mini Rubicon. Jason, Miles, and the FJ40 all gave it a shot but it was just to slick and required lockers. Maybe next time. Then we headed off towards Hoodraiser. Jason gave a great description of the trail as a, "Rolly Polly" trail. Literally that's what it is, but still fun none the less. After Hoodraiser we climbed up towards Hogsback, a good hill climb with some nasty holes at the top. For the most part everyone crawled up and through it gracefully, I on the other hand did not. However, I did make it unassisted. We all gathered at the bottom again afterwards deciding on where to go next while some people did some wrenching. We decided to hit Archers Firebreak, but first we would do the second part of Hogsback. At the beginning a sign was posted saying vehicles wider than 76 WMS were not allowed. I think we all understood why. At the beginning it was a TIGHT squeeze, scary but fun. The rest of the trail wasn't difficult just tight. We all were doing 2 point turns throughout the whole trail. The Toyota guys decided they were to wide so they hung back at the trailhead, but the FJ came along with us. When we popped out we regrouped and decided to head for Archers. Miles at this point had to leave so we sent him on his way with some directions on how to get back. The rest of us 11 now were headed for Archers. The first part was a downhill rock section that provided for some good entertainment. Mike had a close call on a possible flop but recovered and I heard some noises coming from underneath that I would like to forget.
Onto the second section of Archers. We were again greeted by a group of squeeze rocks and then another rocky downhill section. Jason led the way as I followed. I think he managed to clear everything relatively okay, unlike me. Once again I heard scraping, clunking, banging, ratcheting, squealing, and a little voice in my head saying, "what are you doing." However I did manage to slide on down the hill. The rest of the group followed behind, the higher vehicles and those with slider were fine, but the lower vehicles came out with some body damage.
At the exit of this section Ken and the CJ5 ran into a little problem. He somehow manages to slam his gas tank on a rock thus denting his tank and cutting off flow from the pickup tube. In the rain we tried to get it running but didnt have any luck. We decided to flat tow it to SR6. Kyle (Aussiewheeler) hooked up and started towing. After a long drive out much like the last Browns Camp run we reached SR6. The toyota guys had left by now and it was now us
guys plus Ken. The next idea we had may be a little :farmer:, but it kind of worked. Ken filled his washer fluid bottle with gas and put the outlet hose in the carb. After a little tweaking he was up and running. We then hit the highway with a goal of reaching the Shell station 12 miles down the road. We got up to speed and within a minute we were stopped again. The bottle had run out of gas (there was only a cup or two in there to begin with). Ken hopped in my Jeep and we drove down to the Shell to fill the gas can. I aired up and we headed back. After filling the bottle and cranking trying to get it started the battery went dead. Kyle hooked up some jumper cables, but the 304 just wouldnt fire. Well rather than leaving it on the side of the highway we decided tow it to the shell station. Jason was experiencing some wet distributor issues at this time but volunteered to tow anyways. By now Mike and Josh had taken off so Kyle and I followed. It was slow going at first but we gained speed. By the time we reached the Shell there was at least 15 cars behind us. However we were going 45mph so it wasnt that bad. Ken called home and got hooked up with a trailer. After talking a little bit Jason and Kyle headed for Sonic Burger and I for home.
Another fun and eventful trip, unfortunately the rain managed to fog up my camera so my pictures didnt come out very good. So apply this to Jasons pictures and you'll get the picture.
TORX
