Post-NCRC Picnic Trails (the View from Guildenstern)

The Guilty Parties

Who
What
John & Laurel Disco SG*
Armando & Fil Disco SG
Tom Walsh Nebraska (Topless 88" SIII)
Rob Kerner Regent (Topless 88" SIII)
Leslie (a.k.a. The Mad Scientist) Disco (not SD)
William Disco (not SD)
Tony Probably the last IIA ever built
Bill Ruttan Somewhat-modified Disco
Dino Pretty stock Disco
James Collins '97 D90
Charles & Stacey Morris '97 D90 w/ Desert Rover suspension
Chris '93 110
And Introducing General Lee '9? Toyota Pickup
(Later) Michael Carradine '89 Range Rover
*Disco SG indicates a highly modified Disco:  larger tyres, bull bars, sliders, etc.

Lagging behind

As the picnic was ending Armando said he was heading out for the Five Fingers Hill Climb with a bunch of people.  It sounded good to me, so I rounded up the boys and Leslie rounded up Dart and we took off out of the day use area on Foothill Road..  On our way out William came up to me and asked if it would be tame, as he'd never taken his Disco off-road before.  I replied that it wouldn't be bad, and the Disco would drive itself off-road.  Once on the road, I thought that maybe William didn't have a CB, so I asked him to go ahead of me.  Then Dino and Tony came by, and I waved them along, too.

Wrong Turn

We were now so far behind that the dust from the convoy had settled.  Thus, we went right on Garner Flat Road instead of left, like the rest of the convoy.  We saw the convoy from our wrong turn, contacted them on the CB (several times), and eventually ascertained that they had gone through Sycamore Camp to McCray road.

Down to Sycamore Camp Where They Hadn't Seen Rovers

So, we headed back to Garner Flat Road, then down Foothill Road to Sycamore Camp.  When we got to Sycamore Camp we asked if they'd seen any rovers, and they claimed they had not.  Now, this is odd, because it was a pretty long convoy.  Maybe the guy just didn't like Rovers (he had a Hummer).

Hill climb loop & William's gash

We finally caught up to the rest of the convoy  on the loop at the bottom of the Five Fingers Hill Climb.  We went with the rest of the convoy through the loop.  This had an interesting dip, followed by a sharp turn uphill then a steep, side-sloping turn downhill.  It was on this side slope that William (of course) put a nice long dent in the bottom of his front passenger-side door.

Bonanza canyon trail and Leslie's Air Time

It was taking a long time to get the convoy through the loop, so Rob Kerner and Tom Walsh took the lead and we headed out to Bonanza Gulch Road.  We did a long loop there, which included a fun stretch up to the bottom of the Truck Hill Climb.  One of the times we crossed the gulch, Leslie got the back left wheel of the Disco way up in the air (she did this at Cow Mountain, too).  We then went up to Lupine Loop and the Quarry.  After that we went down Dry Trough Trail, then onto Quail Trail.

Back down to Sycamore Camp then Up Hidden Valley Trail

After the gulch, we went stopped for a rest.  We all got a chance to gawk at William's mangled door.  The convoy started to roll, and we  (as usual) took longer to load up due to the dog and the kids.  I ended up in front of the laggers as we lost the convoy again.  We managed to catch up at Sycamore Camp, where we noticed that Charles and Stacey Morris had joined us.

Tony's Surprise!

After the convoy recompressed at Sycamore Camp, we headed out on Hidden Valley Trail.  This was pretty tame for a while but eventually, we came to the Hill Top Climb.  Tony became stuck on the climb and couldn't get himself out.  Recovery procedures began, and proceeded very slowly.  After some time, Armando went up and around him on the bypass so he could start to winch him out with his Mile Marker.

General Lee Nearly Misses A Disco

Meanwhile, the rest of us were greatly entertained by a guy in a red Toyota pickup.  He wanted to get by us, and we started to move our vehicles.  He told us not to bother and proceded to creep alongside the parked Rovers.  When he got to Leslie's Disco, he missed hitting it by inches (possibly one inch, but it always looks worse than it is..).  He ventually gave up and went through the bushes (guess he hadn't heard about Tread Lightly!).

That Steep Bypass

After some more time (while Charles and I geeked out), Charles and James decided to go around on a lower bypass we had seen.  It looked kind of manky, so I watched intently and waited for a report.  While James was coming up, Charles & Stacey reported that it was fine, so I headed up.  It was a bit steep and involved some wheel spinning, but I got up OK.  William had expressed some concern, but I told him to watch Leslie and do what she did.  Well, Leslie tried to do what I did, and due either to differences in our wheelbase or differences in our tyres, she couldn't. On the first attempt, she slid back down the hill.  On the second attempt, she went around and back down the hill (evedently scaring the daylights out of Thelen).  Then Dino tried it.  Dino's navigator suggested going on the right edge of the trail instead of the left (as I had).  That worked fine, and Bill followed, then Leslie got through it with no problem.  I guess that was enough to embolden William, and he got up, too. He didn't even seem ruffled at the top of the hill.

 We're in the black now Baby!

We started off again towards Chaparall Trail.  Once we got there, Charles & Stacey asked me if I knew where we were, and I responded that we seemed to be at the intersection of the Hill Top Climb and Chaparall trail. This was a bit of a problem, as the only ways down from there were marked black on the trail map, and this was William's first time off-road. I guess I should have ascertained our position before we started up the hill, but then again, who put me in charge?   With no other way out, I just hoped that black meant it was hard to get up, and going down would be easier, and we went on.  Charles and Stacey were in the lead and  they reported that it was pretty light after the first manuever onto the trail.  James went next, and got his back-left will in the air.  He was hitting the brakes, and I got on the radio and told him to let the engine do that for him.  He let off the brakes and rolled through it with no problems.  Everyone got down that section of trail just fine, and by that time, Rob, Armando, Tom, and Tony had caught up with us. It was in this area where the guy in the red Toyota introduced himself to us.  He said his name was Adam, but his handle was General Lee or Big Red.  He offered to lead the way down to Sycamore Camp, and we obliged (this was his home turf, and he knew how to handle his rig pretty well).   It turns out we could have made it just fine, as we were on a straight shot down to the camp. The trail was steep, but I don't see why it was marked black.

General Lee shows us a new way back to the obstacle course

Of course, we all got out and talked when we got back to Sycamore Camp.  General Lee showed off in the ditch for a while, then we decided to go back to the day use area and the obstacle course.  General Lee offered to show us an off-map trail back there, and there were several takers (I think it was just Charles, James, Leslie and me, but Bill and Dino may have been along).  It was a nice route--certainly more fun than going back on the road.

Chris's Surprise!


We came out around the mud pit, and General Lee ran through it quite well.  He goaded me into it, and since my testosterone was flowing (always bad!), I thought I'd try it.  Leslie frowned upon this greatly--with good reason, as it turned out. I proceeded into the mud using my best rock-crawling skill.  This was something that Rick Larson later pointed out was probably somewhat suboptimal.  I became stuck fast.  That mud was really something--sort of soupy on top with nice wet clay underneath.  First, General Lee tried to extract me from behind. This proved less than effective, and he messed up his bumper for his trouble.  Charles tried to extract me from the rear with a tow strap, but it snapped when he tried to go dynamic with it.   We were then left with nothing but a bunch of digging.  The mud was loveley stuff to dig in with a shovel.  Ben Mitchell came along, and since he's incapable of not helping, he took off his shirt and started to dig in with the rest of us.  One of the things that made this so great was that the mud was deeper than my big rubber boots and it kept coming up over the top filling them.  We dug from under the hitch reciever to under the differential.  After that, we used a high-lift to pull the wheels out of the vacuum that had been created.  Quite a crowd was now gathering, including Michael Carradine, who figures promently in the story later.  A guy in a yellow D90 stopped by and offered to pull me out.  He wasn't an NCRC member, but rather just happened to be in the park that day trying to get his vehicle to code (whatever that means).  He had a 40,000lb strap, and after all the digging and jacking, he was able to yank me out.

 

Obstacle Course

After I was extracted, General Lee gave it another try.  He got stuck and Ben Mitchell pulled him out.  Then the group started to break up.  Everyone but Charles & Stacey, General Lee, William, Michael Carradine, Leslie, and I left.  We then proceeded to the obstacle course, where I managed to further mangle the running boards on the 110.  After that Charles tried the see-saw a couple of times,  we threw some rocks in the mud pit, then we headed out.

Sarah's Surprise


On the way out, I saw a Disco stuck in a slightly different place in the mud pit.  Feeling like I had a karmic debt to pay, I decided to go down and help.  When we got there, we found three Stanford graduate students.  The Disco driver was named Sarah, and again, she wasn't an NCRC member, but was coincidently there that day.

First, Charles tried to use his D90 as an anchor for her to use with her winch.  This didn't work.  Basically, Sarah just pulled Charles's D90 across the dirt..  Then Charles tried to yank her from behind, and this yeilded very little movement.  Next, Michael tried to winch her out from behind, and that didn't work either (Michael has a Mile Marker hydraulic winch, and the Land Rover power steering pump just isn't strong enoug for it).  So, we started digging in front of her car (making her do most of the work, of course), and moved the 110 up to the top of the pit for use as an anchor.  We had previously thought of this, but Charles's front hooks both open down, and we thought the angle would be such that the winch cable would come off while winching.  The loop at the end of Sarah's winch cable was large enough that we could stick it in the receiver and put a pin through it.  This made a great attachment point for the cable.  The combination of better purchase (the ground was firmer at the top of the pit) and the upward pull of the winch proved enough to dislodge the Disco from it's muddy tomb.   By the time this was finished, it was dark, and we headed off to dinner.
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