Bear
12-08-2008, 09:30 AM
Generally I try to recap the runs the very evening I get home or at the very least the day after. But since the home computer is down, this weekends TFT recap is being done two days later. so if anyone who attended sees any gaps that need to be filled, feel free
The cold December 6th day started out ominous out for 95toyotan ("Y" from this point forward) and I.
Y's taco decided to start swimming and doing fish tails at 70 mph down I74 on our way there to the tune of sliding under an over pass sideways, going through the median as well as popping up onto the East bound lanes as we were traveling Westbound.
Y did a masterful job in keeping the truck headed in the proper direction without putting the truck on it's lid. Ironically ( or possibly out of stupidity) I never felt paniced while sliding sideways down the interstate.
Not 10 miles further down the highway did we come across a state trooper's car off the side of the road needing a hook. as one of the truckers on the Cb stated, "the only thing that patrol car was going to be good for afterward was to be a soup can."
Listening to the truckers, of which one was the one that pulled the trooper from the wreckage, we learned the trooper was on his way to another wreck and lost control, sliding off the road and slamming driver's side first into an outcrop of trees. Minor injures, but in combination of this scene with our own near death experience, Y backed the speed down considerably.
At the park we found Maximum Destruction and Bull Dozer (monster trucks) Greeting everyone outside the main office with the drivers inside signing autographed photos of the trucks.
The group quickly came together with Jason, Bstoocool, NWItaco, and 95toyotan having the only rigs staging. We did have a guest also airing down. Dustin's friend, April driving a Jeep with a moderate lift a sticking transmission linkage and near bald rear tires.
Riders in the group were Brinner (designated spotter, and recovery artist) Dustin, and myself. NwiTaco had three friends with him, of which one was brought strickly to keep the confusion level high with his naming being Ryan. Making our group full of Three Bri(y)an's and one Ryan. Screen and nick names came in handy for this run.
With the snow starting to come down a bit harder we decided to hit the normal warm up area of the quarry. Once there with Brinner starting his rountine of slipping on the ice we got the trucks in order for the first group photo. As Brinner started his snow angle routine, O4TRDtaco called from the office looking for us. NWI headed back to round him up.
The snow and Ice definitely made things slower. General paths in the quarry that would normally not even be thought of as interesting became a challenge to travel up. Twenty foot easy rolling climbs became a test of determination for many of the jeeps and other vehicles also playing in the quarry.
After a period of time in the quarry and a quick trip down the "blue" trail behind the quarry we headed up to the office for a quick bite of free grub the park was providing for the event. BBQ pork or hotdogs. and probably more importantly a stay in a bit of warmth.
After the quick bite, we were back to the quarry to the start of the "white trail". At this point, it needs to be added, that the new management of the park has done a lot of changes. the white trail that was typically easy but tight before this trip seemed even easier but wider. I even caught Brinner throwing downed tree branches into the trail so that Jason would have something to think about going over. :D
Since Bstoocool is a bit top heavy and typically by-passes the one main decent at the beginning. 95toyotan decided to follow his lead since he drives a stock height taco without any armor.
I must say the by-pass seemed tougher than the actual obstacle this trip as the stock taco was grinding it's belly all the way threw the by pass. As the group gathered back together, we collected a nicely built yellow and black S10 sitting on a solid axle and 33's. This gentleman and his wife stayed with our group the remained of the day.
Once out of the white trail via the creek bed. The group decided to tackle the first half of the orange trail.
"Y" and I had our reservations as I knew the orange trail was typically one of the more challenging sections of the park. and with "Y"'s stock vehicle we were a bit skeptical of it's success coming out the other end without much body damage.
At the beginning of the orange trail Dustin and I (for me it was the second time of the day) learnt the value of keeping track of when the last vehicle passes you while on you are on foot. After all the rigs made a very nice 75-100 yard challenging ice climb we had no ride up. So we had to play mountain goats and climb the same hill the trucks had to make a run at to get speed to climb it.
Near the top of the hill, someone ( I believe it was Y) got smart and threw us down a tow strap so that we could use to climb the rest of the way up. (yes it was that steep and slippery)
After a bit more nail biting from Y and coaching him from the passenger seat from me, we got to the "slide" without any incidence. I don't believe anyone else did as well until "The Slide"
This proved to be an extremely challenging downhill venture! Jason went first without realizing the full scope of difficulty and ended up sliding "brand new CBI" bumper first - into a tree at the bottom of the decent. Moving the bumper back into the fender about an 1/2" to full inch. Would have been much worst by his own admission if the bumper had been the stock crap.
I did not see how Bstoocool got down, but I imagine he got down very quickly as once you started the down hill slide, you ended up at the bottom or into the trees very quickly.
Then it was Y's turn down. But before heading down in the stock unprotected truck Brinner came up with an idea to lower the truck down using tow straps. As no one in the group had seen this technique used before most if not all of us were scratching our heads trying to figure out what Brinner was up to.
But with two straps anchored to the stock truck we started down. as the truck hit the end of the first strap, the second strap was tied to another tree lower on the trail. Then the first strap was released by undoing the cinch wrap around the first tree, and so on. But after the second strap slipped or something (I was too busy watching the trees fly by us at a quick rate) Y was free "sliding" down the trail with brinner sking behind the truck holding the strap. Y was able to keep the truck headed between the trees and made it to the bottom damage free (Although I think while no one was watching afterwards, he was pulling seat cushion out of his ass the rest of the day).
NWI came down next and without any tether. The heavier 05 with it's longer wheel base made the decent look easy as well as the S10.
Since this "slide" was near the end of the first section of the orange, and April had put in a full 16 hours (according to Dustin) from work etc. as well as most of us beat from the cold. We decided to call it a day.
The trip was a lot of fun, especially for my first "snow run" with minimal damaged and no one hurt or broken. It was a good trip.
Photos are found over at http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/gg119/InTTORA/Badlands%2012-6-08/
The cold December 6th day started out ominous out for 95toyotan ("Y" from this point forward) and I.
Y's taco decided to start swimming and doing fish tails at 70 mph down I74 on our way there to the tune of sliding under an over pass sideways, going through the median as well as popping up onto the East bound lanes as we were traveling Westbound.
Y did a masterful job in keeping the truck headed in the proper direction without putting the truck on it's lid. Ironically ( or possibly out of stupidity) I never felt paniced while sliding sideways down the interstate.
Not 10 miles further down the highway did we come across a state trooper's car off the side of the road needing a hook. as one of the truckers on the Cb stated, "the only thing that patrol car was going to be good for afterward was to be a soup can."
Listening to the truckers, of which one was the one that pulled the trooper from the wreckage, we learned the trooper was on his way to another wreck and lost control, sliding off the road and slamming driver's side first into an outcrop of trees. Minor injures, but in combination of this scene with our own near death experience, Y backed the speed down considerably.
At the park we found Maximum Destruction and Bull Dozer (monster trucks) Greeting everyone outside the main office with the drivers inside signing autographed photos of the trucks.
The group quickly came together with Jason, Bstoocool, NWItaco, and 95toyotan having the only rigs staging. We did have a guest also airing down. Dustin's friend, April driving a Jeep with a moderate lift a sticking transmission linkage and near bald rear tires.
Riders in the group were Brinner (designated spotter, and recovery artist) Dustin, and myself. NwiTaco had three friends with him, of which one was brought strickly to keep the confusion level high with his naming being Ryan. Making our group full of Three Bri(y)an's and one Ryan. Screen and nick names came in handy for this run.
With the snow starting to come down a bit harder we decided to hit the normal warm up area of the quarry. Once there with Brinner starting his rountine of slipping on the ice we got the trucks in order for the first group photo. As Brinner started his snow angle routine, O4TRDtaco called from the office looking for us. NWI headed back to round him up.
The snow and Ice definitely made things slower. General paths in the quarry that would normally not even be thought of as interesting became a challenge to travel up. Twenty foot easy rolling climbs became a test of determination for many of the jeeps and other vehicles also playing in the quarry.
After a period of time in the quarry and a quick trip down the "blue" trail behind the quarry we headed up to the office for a quick bite of free grub the park was providing for the event. BBQ pork or hotdogs. and probably more importantly a stay in a bit of warmth.
After the quick bite, we were back to the quarry to the start of the "white trail". At this point, it needs to be added, that the new management of the park has done a lot of changes. the white trail that was typically easy but tight before this trip seemed even easier but wider. I even caught Brinner throwing downed tree branches into the trail so that Jason would have something to think about going over. :D
Since Bstoocool is a bit top heavy and typically by-passes the one main decent at the beginning. 95toyotan decided to follow his lead since he drives a stock height taco without any armor.
I must say the by-pass seemed tougher than the actual obstacle this trip as the stock taco was grinding it's belly all the way threw the by pass. As the group gathered back together, we collected a nicely built yellow and black S10 sitting on a solid axle and 33's. This gentleman and his wife stayed with our group the remained of the day.
Once out of the white trail via the creek bed. The group decided to tackle the first half of the orange trail.
"Y" and I had our reservations as I knew the orange trail was typically one of the more challenging sections of the park. and with "Y"'s stock vehicle we were a bit skeptical of it's success coming out the other end without much body damage.
At the beginning of the orange trail Dustin and I (for me it was the second time of the day) learnt the value of keeping track of when the last vehicle passes you while on you are on foot. After all the rigs made a very nice 75-100 yard challenging ice climb we had no ride up. So we had to play mountain goats and climb the same hill the trucks had to make a run at to get speed to climb it.
Near the top of the hill, someone ( I believe it was Y) got smart and threw us down a tow strap so that we could use to climb the rest of the way up. (yes it was that steep and slippery)
After a bit more nail biting from Y and coaching him from the passenger seat from me, we got to the "slide" without any incidence. I don't believe anyone else did as well until "The Slide"
This proved to be an extremely challenging downhill venture! Jason went first without realizing the full scope of difficulty and ended up sliding "brand new CBI" bumper first - into a tree at the bottom of the decent. Moving the bumper back into the fender about an 1/2" to full inch. Would have been much worst by his own admission if the bumper had been the stock crap.
I did not see how Bstoocool got down, but I imagine he got down very quickly as once you started the down hill slide, you ended up at the bottom or into the trees very quickly.
Then it was Y's turn down. But before heading down in the stock unprotected truck Brinner came up with an idea to lower the truck down using tow straps. As no one in the group had seen this technique used before most if not all of us were scratching our heads trying to figure out what Brinner was up to.
But with two straps anchored to the stock truck we started down. as the truck hit the end of the first strap, the second strap was tied to another tree lower on the trail. Then the first strap was released by undoing the cinch wrap around the first tree, and so on. But after the second strap slipped or something (I was too busy watching the trees fly by us at a quick rate) Y was free "sliding" down the trail with brinner sking behind the truck holding the strap. Y was able to keep the truck headed between the trees and made it to the bottom damage free (Although I think while no one was watching afterwards, he was pulling seat cushion out of his ass the rest of the day).
NWI came down next and without any tether. The heavier 05 with it's longer wheel base made the decent look easy as well as the S10.
Since this "slide" was near the end of the first section of the orange, and April had put in a full 16 hours (according to Dustin) from work etc. as well as most of us beat from the cold. We decided to call it a day.
The trip was a lot of fun, especially for my first "snow run" with minimal damaged and no one hurt or broken. It was a good trip.
Photos are found over at http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/gg119/InTTORA/Badlands%2012-6-08/