• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

2nd Annual March Mudfest (in February)-

IXNAYXJ

NAXJA Forum User
On February 25th, 2008, the NAXJA's Northwest Chapter held it's second annual Walker Valley March Mudfest. Yes, I said March Mudfest...because it rhymes...and we had one last year...so this sounds better...even though it wasn't in March. Anyway, enough with trivialities.

Saturday morning met us with clear blue skies and mild temperatures, thoroughly out of character for this time of year, and certainly for an event called “Mudfest.” Further, the weather had been pleasant for a full week, ever since a small group of us previewed the trials the weekend previous. Things were definitely not as they should be. To make things even stranger, our Chapter President decided to buck the trend of sitting officials never wheeling during their tenure, and stayed up until 3 a.m. getting his Jeep ready to wheel. Bravo!

As I was staying at the Presidential Mansion that evening, it meant that I was up until 3 a.m as well. Also, for the sake of historical accuracy, I should mention that Ryan’s week long thrash trying to put his Jeep back together to make the event ultimately ended up yielding no Jeep, and costing Fubar a pair of bump stops (more on that later). Yes, despite his best efforts, the Wheeling Gods dropped a Deuce on him when they ran his welder out of gas, then wire. It was as if they were trying to restore balance to the world...or Ryan just uses cubic yards of dripping booger welds and ran his supplies out.

Back to the weather: It was a beautiful morning as we met up and proceeded to the trailhead to air down, disco, secure coolers, and strap passengers in. Here’s the group preparing to tackle the best Walker Valley ORV park has to offer:

Cimg4209.jpg


There were lots of other rigs out there, as well as the entire population of Everett riding Quads and dirt bikes. It made for a loud and crowded departure. The first challenge of the day was getting everybody through Walker’s notorious Gate Keeper. It’s sort of a “you must be this built to ride” obstacle that bypasses a locked gate. It helps keep people out who weren’t up to the task of WV’s tough trials.

Eli (Can’tMan) going through the Gate Keeper. This can be a challenge with a stick, but he did just fine:

Cimg4220.jpg


Cimg4222.jpg


Nick Outlaw picking up a tire:

Cimg4227.jpg


I think everyone had mixed feelings wheeling with reason46; Willy and his wife just moved here from Texas. Just kidding! The real reason we were both excited and worried to see their MJ on the trail was that it was a Long Bed, and it was so damn nice! We all had images of twisted sheet metal and broken lights in our minds...and we would be proven wrong. With a combination of careful spotting and patience, they made it through (swapping drivers) with very little damage. Here the MJ is going through Gate Keeper:

Cimg4233.jpg


Cimg4240.jpg


Here’s FubarXJ, voted (by me) most quotable NWC member...and supplier of beer:

Cimg4241.jpg


“Navy,” as we came to call him that day:

Cimg4243.jpg


And me:

Cimg4228.jpg


Cimg4229.jpg


Finally, with everyone through and arranged, we hit the trails!

WalkerValley016.jpg


-----Matt-----
 
Now I’m just going to post some pics, because I simply don’t have enough BS to match all the great shots from the day:

Cimg4254.jpg


Cimg4257.jpg


Cimg4264.jpg


Cimg4267.jpg


Cimg4268.jpg


Caption this pic. Is Nick actually screaming?

Cimg4272.jpg


Cimg4274.jpg


WalkerValley014.jpg


Cimg4279.jpg


Here’s a tough little section that had pretty much everybody needing encouragement and spotting :

Cimg4283.jpg


Cimg4288.jpg


Bald-ish Swampers, lots of throttle and big bounces equals...

Cimg4292.jpg


...bent tie-rod:

WalkerValley020.jpg


-----Matt-----
 
And here’s the moment we were all fearing:

Cimg4295.jpg


Not to be deterred, an alternate line was finally settled upon...one I’d never seen before:

Cimg4297.jpg


Cimg4299.jpg


Not quite scott free, but close:

Cimg4303.jpg


Cimg4305.jpg


Cimg4307.jpg


Cimg4308.jpg


Can you spot the XJ in this picture?

Cimg4310.jpg


Cimg4314.jpg


Getting back under way:

Cimg4315.jpg


Our fist of two times through this section proved to be dramatic, with Eli putting on one helluva show. Everyone who saw it swore he was going over...and Eli just swore:

WalkerValley028.jpg


The section looked like some war-torn battlefield in Chechnya, but offered an endless number of optional lines:

WalkerValley030.jpg


Cimg4321.jpg


Cimg4336.jpg


-----Matt-----
 
Well done, Matt. :)


And obviously, more pics from whomever's got 'em.
 
I gotta get up there. Great pics Matt
 
I like this one. It shows how off camber this section is.
WalkerValley011.jpg


Nice flex!
WalkerValley010.jpg


Eli pushing his luck.
WalkerValley027.jpg


Matt gitt'en it.......Sort of. Nobody made it up the rock on Saturday. Even though Matt had made it in similar conditions 6 days before.
WalkerValley033.jpg


-Jeremy
 
Megawatt said:
Matt gitt'en it.......Sort of. Nobody made it up the rock on Saturday. Even though Matt had made it in similar conditions 6 days before.
WalkerValley033.jpg


-Jeremy

Details!!! What changed???
 
Sorry for the delay, but without further ado, here are the rest:

Cimg4335.jpg


Cimg4334.jpg


I got a LOT of video from the rock face, so much so that my lame ass computer is not up to the task. Any volunteers to help upload them? Anyway, here are the few stills I got of the Rock Face:

Cimg4356.jpg


Nick looked like he was going to make it a couple times, only to let off the gas at the last second. As he put, "I just don't have the balls to do this."

Cimg4357.jpg


Cimg4364.jpg


As Jeremy said, the rock was just too sloppy and nobody was having much luck. Especially a Toyota Truggy that went over onto it's roof earlier in the day. Discouraged, we pressed on.

Cimg4396.jpg


Cimg4401.jpg


Cimg4414.jpg


Cimg4418.jpg


Cimg4426.jpg


Cimg4428.jpg


Cimg4429.jpg


Cimg4433.jpg


-----Matt-----
 
IXNAYXJ said:
Cimg4356.jpg


Nick looked like he was going to make it a couple times, only to let off the gas at the last second. As he put, "I just don't have the balls to do this."

Cimg4357.jpg


-----Matt-----
If you've never tried the rockface or seen it in person it is a much nastier beast then it looks. I only let off the gas because I was sliding left to right getting very close to a drop-off. Everybody was telling me to stay in it but, I just couldn't. :tears:
 
noutlawjeeper said:
Everybody was telling me to stay in it but, I just couldn't. :tears:

They just wanted the photo op of an upside down XJ....
 
noutlawjeeper said:
If you've never tried the rockface or seen it in person it is a much nastier beast then it looks. I only let off the gas because I was sliding left to right getting very close to a drop-off. Everybody was telling me to stay in it but, I just couldn't. :tears:

It is pretty dang scary. The last couple times I've tried it, I thought I was going over!

I'm liking this picture. I didn't know it flexed that much!
Cimg4433.jpg
 
Megawatt said:
I'm liking this picture. I didn't know it flexed that much!
Cimg4433.jpg

What are you using for Leafs?
 
Back
Top