Post by bob95toy on Apr 5, 2004 10:25:32 GMT -5
This is a pretty long post but a good true
story with a good moral form the book of "Bob's Offroad Fables"
Day 1
I know the title sounds strange but it was one crazy messed up trip that went from a couple hours to all weekend. Started out i was going to recon info about this trail(stone quarry trail in vinton county) had a friend who was supposed to meet me with someone and a lifted full size chevy. I had seen the beggining of the trail and it looked pretty mean. Turns out it was one of the meanest trails if not the meanest trail ive ever seen. Well i waited and waited he didn't show up so i figured i can take it easy and just not try the hard stuff. Well Off we went(my cousin was the ride along) there was no avoiding the hard stuff. most of the trail is cut out of a mean hilllside with just room for a truck. So I hit some nice holes clearance became an issue a lot, on 35's with 7"s lift. At one point my driver mirror hit the ground beside the truck my passenger side was riding about 2' higher on the hill at the time felt a little bad. Ran into a 500' water crossing, trail goes in and way out there trail comes out, I went around. So close to my stopping point hit get rutted directly into a massive hole rubbcenter at both ends spent 15 minutes getting out. ot the other side of this was 4 inches of water. i couldn't avoid it for the deep ruts wouldn't let my balding tires go. So i stepped out to see if it was soft, i stuck in my trusty ditch digging spade which sank about ten inches and hit something solid. So i figured hey no problem well i don't know what that shovel hit but i experienced what i can only descibe as quicksand for the first time. I pulled my front tires in and 35" tires dissappeared entirely and i had gone 2'. Could't back up' coldn't go forward. I had this 10 ton boat winch i picked up for 40$ I thought 10 tons heck yeah well it has a tension nob and clutches and a whole lot of stuff that tore up. At least a dozen guy on 4 wheelers and dirt bike drove by laughed a lot and kept goin, no offers for a ride the 1.5 mile out. so after 4 hours of hand cranking this winch and trying every idiot idea we had to get truck to drive through the hole because we cant back through the other big hole no way. we called a friend to come get us at the begining of the trail we walked out by the end of the day the truck moved 12' the wich broke i had to dig myself out of the qucksand because i sank up to my waist and couldn't move, then finally i walked 3 miles out in the dark soaked head to toe covered in mud.
Day 2
I bought a large come along walked back the trail with my cousin after 4 hours i straightened a tow hook but got the truck out. Unfortunately i popped a tire off the rim. No Spare
So i carried a 15x10 steel rim all the way back to the car, withour the tire because i don't know if its any good and its full of mud. So i came back home and got a really nice looking 31 i have.NOTE lockrite diffs don't like different sized tire it wanted to turn a lot. So i carry the tire on the rim back to the truck. i did finnally get out only knocking loose the skidplate for extreme lack of clearance.
The Moral
Don't go alone
Take a spare
Go propperly preparred.
I am gonna have to get some people and go back i'd say that was also one of the most fun and difficult trails i've ever seen.
story with a good moral form the book of "Bob's Offroad Fables"
Day 1
I know the title sounds strange but it was one crazy messed up trip that went from a couple hours to all weekend. Started out i was going to recon info about this trail(stone quarry trail in vinton county) had a friend who was supposed to meet me with someone and a lifted full size chevy. I had seen the beggining of the trail and it looked pretty mean. Turns out it was one of the meanest trails if not the meanest trail ive ever seen. Well i waited and waited he didn't show up so i figured i can take it easy and just not try the hard stuff. Well Off we went(my cousin was the ride along) there was no avoiding the hard stuff. most of the trail is cut out of a mean hilllside with just room for a truck. So I hit some nice holes clearance became an issue a lot, on 35's with 7"s lift. At one point my driver mirror hit the ground beside the truck my passenger side was riding about 2' higher on the hill at the time felt a little bad. Ran into a 500' water crossing, trail goes in and way out there trail comes out, I went around. So close to my stopping point hit get rutted directly into a massive hole rubbcenter at both ends spent 15 minutes getting out. ot the other side of this was 4 inches of water. i couldn't avoid it for the deep ruts wouldn't let my balding tires go. So i stepped out to see if it was soft, i stuck in my trusty ditch digging spade which sank about ten inches and hit something solid. So i figured hey no problem well i don't know what that shovel hit but i experienced what i can only descibe as quicksand for the first time. I pulled my front tires in and 35" tires dissappeared entirely and i had gone 2'. Could't back up' coldn't go forward. I had this 10 ton boat winch i picked up for 40$ I thought 10 tons heck yeah well it has a tension nob and clutches and a whole lot of stuff that tore up. At least a dozen guy on 4 wheelers and dirt bike drove by laughed a lot and kept goin, no offers for a ride the 1.5 mile out. so after 4 hours of hand cranking this winch and trying every idiot idea we had to get truck to drive through the hole because we cant back through the other big hole no way. we called a friend to come get us at the begining of the trail we walked out by the end of the day the truck moved 12' the wich broke i had to dig myself out of the qucksand because i sank up to my waist and couldn't move, then finally i walked 3 miles out in the dark soaked head to toe covered in mud.
Day 2
I bought a large come along walked back the trail with my cousin after 4 hours i straightened a tow hook but got the truck out. Unfortunately i popped a tire off the rim. No Spare
So i carried a 15x10 steel rim all the way back to the car, withour the tire because i don't know if its any good and its full of mud. So i came back home and got a really nice looking 31 i have.NOTE lockrite diffs don't like different sized tire it wanted to turn a lot. So i carry the tire on the rim back to the truck. i did finnally get out only knocking loose the skidplate for extreme lack of clearance. The Moral
Don't go alone
Take a spare
Go propperly preparred.
I am gonna have to get some people and go back i'd say that was also one of the most fun and difficult trails i've ever seen.
