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It was a small group of us who braved the elements today. Leigh Ann and myself, and Artur and Darcy in their trucks. High winds and pouring rain tried to put a damper on our spirits but we were determined to 4wheel. With the group assembled, we figured that the route Darcy had explored by
ATV sounded like a good route. There wasn't a full size in the group, so we should be able to make it through the tight spots.
The wheeling started almost as soon as we hit dirt. A quick jog up the Weaver lake road took us to a fun little road that took us back to the main road. This set the tone for the day. Basically we kept taking side roads that sort of paralleled the main road. This was way more fun that driving along boring old mainline.
Our next trail was definitely not full-size friendly. Down a fun little section to the beach for a little sand and gravel play. Then back up a tight trail to the main road again.
By now we had made it to Hale Ck area and took yet another road that had a great section on it. It was a narrow winding trail that took us to Lookout lake (we think) for lunch. Just before the lake there is a nicely rutted section of road.
You put the passenger side tires into the trench and watch as the roof of your truck tips precariously close to the nearby trees as you get steadily more and more off-camber. Definitely not for the faint hearted. Darcy was in the lead and got just about to the worst of it when he ran
out of traction (damn IFS!) The added ballast of Artur and Leigh Ann perched on the bumper and hood on his uphill side (and me busy taking pictures!) helped to stabilize him and allowed him to drive through. Next up was my turn and it's a little trickier when you aren't just taking pictures. I got to the same spot as Darcy did and ran out of traction (damn open diffs!) so Artur stood on the edge of my frame (yes, on the frame!) to help my truck find some grip. After the fun that Darcy and I
had, it was almost disappointing when Artur's well built Sidekick made the area look like nothing. Lance's 'love' of off-camber sections would have been tested here!
Some more fun trails and we were at an abandoned mine site located on the shores of Harrison Lake which looked like a great spot to camp for a weekend (take note everyone! :) ) There is a mysterious old engine there, an I6 with a concrete block and a very weird camshaft sort of set-up. None of us could figure out quite how the engine worked but it was very neat.
As the day wound down, we decided to run up Sunrise to finish off a very full day of wheeling. Artur and I had somehow never been up there before. Once again, Darcy was cursing his IFS, I was cursing my open diffs and Artur was making it look easy. The V-rock was a lot of fun in the pouring
rain. The added level of difficulty in the fading day light made it really challenging. We made it to the lake unscathed, had a quick chance to play on the rocks there and then descended the trail in the dark.
That was a great trip to wind up the year of wheeling! Thanks everyone who came to play!
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