More trail pics...
 

On Sunday we went to a place called Evans Creek. It is an OHV area in the foot hills on the NW corner of MT Rainier here in Washington. It was a good day. There were a lot of people there. Lots of Jeeps, some beat up Yotas, an old Pathfinder, and a couple of heavily modded rock rig used-to-be Jeeps. We ran one trail called the 311. It was pretty tight with the big rig, there were a few spots where I had no more than an inch between the side and a tree, but we made it through without any damage. Well, I take that back. I cracked a center cap, but they are the long center caps that stick way out. And I opted to crack it on purpose instead of jockeying for five minutes to gain a half an inch. They will be coming off anyway as soon as I get the stock set I have painted with bed liner.

Anyway, we followed the two modded rock rigs into the staging area. They were towed on trailers. They both parked to unload, and we slowly cruised through the parking lot. There were a lot of Jeep sneers and smirks, and everyone stared. The 311 starts right out of the parking lot. I stopped and put it in 4-low, and just headed right up the trail. I looked in my mirror and virtually everyone in the parking lot was literally running to watch and point as we started up into the trees. We ran into a beat up Pathfinder and Yota coming out, and they were like "You really going to take that thing up there?" I said we would go as far as we could and they said "Maybe you should bring a backpack and do some hiking. We just about smashed out our back window back there." They said they really didn't think I should keep going but wished us luck.

When we got to a spot called slick rock there was a guy on a quad who just shook his head and said "I really suggest you turn back now. How much is that thing worth to you?" Well, I walked the rock and picked a line, and, well, the beast just walked right up it. I later heard a group of three Jeepers talking while waiting in the air line at the gas station about how one of them had to be pulled up the rock. :clapping: I was hoping someone would ask, but I didn't say anything.

This trail is apparently rated "most difficult."

Really though, why all the hate? I just don't get it. We're all there doing the same thing. I would love to have a Rubicon some time. The outright sneering was just plain as day. Sad! Ok, here are a few pics.



This is an off camber corner leading up to the slick rock. This is where I cracked the center cap. There was a root sticking out on the low side, and one sticking out on the high side keeping me from going any wider. I could have probably jockeyed around a little, but there was Questoning Quad Man behind me, and these wheels are gone in a week or so anyway.


Here is a video off youtbe of a Jeep going up the line I took.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B9am7Lx3f0






My first try I was just about a foot too far left. There was an angled smooth rock on my LR that slid my back end over to the left. I had to back down and try again. Backing down I was crossing a washout/rut, and maxxed out the articulation!


After backing down I got moved way over and it crawled right up. My son has a tendency to tilt the camera to align with the truck on hills. We rotated the pictures with photoshop to put them back in line with vertical so it showes how steep it really was. It was steep!







After this the trail was easy. There was one rock right after this hill where I could not fit around either side and had to slide on the frame a little bit to get over it. The rest was gravy! Sorry the pics are a little blurry. Son was kind of rushing on this one and couldn't hold still! Too much fun I guess!

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Nice pics!! I get that same sneer from other jeep owners!! They always ask "Do you even wheel that thing or is it just for looks?" I was so fed up with it that I have a copy of this pic in my glove box just so they shut up!! I cant begin to even tell you how many jeeps I have pulled out. Nothing against jeeps I would love to get my hands on the Lower 40 jeep that thing is super beastly.



How about this one!! LOL My buddy trying to play with the big boys!!

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It's funny you say that. I just told my wife last night that I should make a little photo book with a half dozen or so good trail pics and keep it in the door pocket for just that. Even my friends and family are like "you aren't really going to take that thing off road, are you?"

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LOL Yeah I still have a video clip some where that I asked my buddy filming me after going through the mud hole "how did I do?" His reply was "Good, but I don't know about mudding in a 50 thousand dollar vehicle, thats just nuts" LOL

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My reply to that would be "It didn't cost me $50,000!"

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Great pics! Looks like you are enjoying the rig.

Bob

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That we are. I absolutely love the contrast of being out in the rocks like the above pictures and then when you're done just cruising down the freeway in leather comfort with the Bose stereo cranking and the sunroof open. There really is nothing like a Hummer!

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ABsolutely! Did you wash it when you got home or leave it dirty? I can't leave mine dirty, but I should. Just to prove to others that it does see dirt...

When you getting the winch?

Bob

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Actually, I did wash it the next morning. My wife was going to town and it was really really dusty. If it was more like dirt/mud plastered on it I would leave it for a little while, but just plain heavy dust isn't that impressive. It just looked like it hadn't been washed in a long time.

As for the winch, we have a few small bills to pay off first, so it will probably be a month or two. We are putting a new metal roof on the house right now, and then I need to put in a new septic drainfield. Oh, and the water heater just started leaking last week, so I had to replace that! Ah, the joys of buying an older house! But, it shouldn't be too long.

By the way, I like your user name. I am also a father of 4. Three boys and one girl. It makes for a Hummerfull!

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Thanks. I have the same mix, the oldest is 6 and youngest is 2 .... They aren't quite ready to spot...

Bob

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Well, don't blink. It wont be long! Mine are 11, 9, 5, and 4.

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Nice!! Thanks for sharing. That looks like a cool area to check out. I will have to head up there sometime.

I get the same kind of looks and sneers at Brown's Camp. It's fun proving people wrong about what they think our Hummer's can't do.

Did you run some other trails too? Is there a decent map of the area? Are the trails well marked?

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Well, this was kind of an exploratory trip. We only ran the 311 trail, and then checked out the camp ground and cruised some of the service roads. We also drove out to the lake at the end of Hwy 165. It is really beautiful country with awesome views of Mount Rainier.

The camp ground is pretty nice. It is set in old growth timber, and there are vault toilets. There is also water via a hand pump. Not sure if it is potable or not. Probably not. It is a little bit dusty when dry, but overall a pretty nice place.

On the way out there were fire and police in the lot and they were prepping the the lot with water for life flight to land. Someone had a roll over on a trail and was getting flown out.

This is the best map I have seen of it. The guy who made it does it with a GPS. He also has other Washington trails. Here is his site:

http://web.me.com/jgreening/Jeep_Adv..._ORV_Park.html

Yes, the trails and service roads are all marked with signs. They are not marked for difficulty, but they are on this map:

http://www.pnw4wda.org/trails/washin...vansmaps1.html

You really should come up. Let's meet for a weekend sometime soon before this nice weather goes away. Better yet, if you can do a week day thing there would be fewer people there. We went on a Sunday and it was kind of busy. Let's do it!

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Thanks for the links! I might try to get up there in September. I will let you know if I do.

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You'll appreciate this, based on your experience on that trail. I do some extreme snowmobiling in the winter in Cooke City, MT. Since we were in the area on vacation, I thought it'd be cool to drive up the mountain to show my wife/kids the area where I do my crazy stuff. I dropped off my trailer at the bottom of the mountain then started up (note that the entire back of my H2T (w/slantback) was FULL of food/cooler/clothes/etc.)

I was about to start up when two quads came up to me and pointed and chuckled at me. They said "no way you can get that fat pig up there". I asked why not and their response was "heck, we can barely make it up, you sure can't with that heavy wide thing". I just smiled, reached over, clicked to 4 Hi Lock and started up as they pointed and laughed. They decided to wait cause they assumed I was going to have issues.

After I got past the 6th switchback, which was the point they assured me I'd never get past because of how narrow it was and the huge rocks, I waved and continued up. I think I heard their jaws hitting the ground, but I can't confirm that. :) When we stopped to take pix at the top and head down a different pass, they caught up with us and told us now that we'd never be able to go down the other side cause it was too steep. I'd been over that pass 20x times on sled in the winter, but never saw it during the summer. I looked over and told them, "no issue, I'm not even going to put it in first gear, but rather just leave it in 2nd". And I proceeded to run right down the slope. They thought they could do the same. I helped right the quad that rolled down the mountain. LOL!

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I totally appreciate that! What were you driving? An H3T, or H2 SUT?

Funny thing was no one there that day would come over to say anything after we made it all the way through the trail. I kept waiting, but not a word. They were all quick to point and say I was dumb for thinking I was going up that trail in an H2, but not a word once I actually did it.