Blue Lakes

I to would like to give a special THANKS to Mike, Darell and Kathy on a job well done! Everyone knows how Saturday went so I’ll talk about Sunday.

Our Sunday morning Slick Rock Trail went very well. Our group consisted of 3 rigs Brian’s Rubicon, Richards Xterra and my Toyota. We left the trail head at 9:30. Richard being the trooper he is made it through V-Rocks with very little guidance. He does a very good job with that Nissan! No one was on the trails so we made it to the stair step in good time with Brian’s lead. Once at the stair step as normal, we got out of our rigs and walked up the trail to check things out. There were 2 other rigs (Toyota P/U & Rubicon) parked in the by-pass and they were just sitting on the rocks waiting for people to come through. First was Brain and he walked right up with very little spotting from Lonny. Next was Richard in his Xterra. Guess what Ira? Richard made it up with NO rock stacking and made it up on the first try with Brian’s spotting. My job was to stack rocks Richard but I was not needed on this trip. Feeling lazy and not wanting to walk done to my Toyota I told Lonny to go for it. He did not hesitate on going down to get it. Saturday was his first trip ever out on a trail and he made the stair step look easy! How ever on his way down he did lift the right rear tire about 4 feet in the air that made his eyes very big. We made it back to the starting point by noon. There we said our good byes and we all went our different ways.

Blue Lakes

First, Major Kudos to Dennis and Ava. After a very rough start on the firstobstacle I could tell that Dennis had lost a lot of confidence. But he quickly regained it and by the end of the trail he was taking on some tough rock gardens without issue. Just to give you a clue he was carburetted, 31″ tires, stock gears, and open diffs! Those combined with a manual transmission made his day much more challenging than mine! It is really exciting to see new people go on these trails. I know it can be really intimidating for new people with stock, or semi-stock rigs. Again, kudos and I hope to see you both out on trail again.

As to my own experience; the Jeep seemed to be more capable this trail than ever before. I don’t know if the suspension has finally loosened up or if I just finally aired down enough. Perhaps the side walls on the tires are starting to soften? Whatever it was on the way out I seem to crawl just about everything I pointed it at! It was pretty cool. But at the same time I kept thinking something was wrong. It felt really loose. Anyway, that is why at lunch I found my bent spring. Looking back at it now I think it might have been that way for some time but the way the jeep was flexing in the morning I had to wonder if it was going to just break on the way back… Kelly looked at it as did Ed and the both felt it was not that bad. I decided to push it for a change and do the trail back. If not for that and the speed Lorrie and I had a pretty good time on the way out. I did end up taking a couple of “easier” lines on the way back to ensure my suspension was not twisted to it’s limit. This and the increased pace resulted in a couple of rock kisses with my diff and I think my drive shaft? I saw some white rock residue on it…

Anyway, the spring seemed to be just fine. But now I have to change it, because if I don’t you know it will break on me next time… All that and the jeep seemed to be running so great…

Again, another thanks to Mike for a great trail run. I really enjoyed the trail. Honestly I don’t know why but for me the trail seemed easier than I remember. But I would like to think I am just getting to be a better driver…

Thanks again, Ira