The Colorado FJ’s first trip of the year was a great time! We went hit the trails outside of Idaho Springs (Thanks Bill & Athena!) to do a little recovery demo for the April issue of FJC Magazine.
We ended up with only 4 trucks going, this time of year is pretty busy for everyone so a few people that wanted to couldn’t make it. Still, four FJ’s was plenty to practice getting stuck (and unstuck). Our goal was to intentionally get stuck so we could practice & photograph some recovery techniques. Alan was kind enough to winch our TRD out of a snow bank with his aging MileMarker 9000lb winch. We were able to winch out OK, but in the process figured out that his winch motor was about dead. We weren’t able to get the cable re-wound on the drum, so his winch was out of commission for the rest of the day.
After our winch demo, we decided to practice a little Hi-Lift usage. Bill was kind enough to get hung up on his Rasta skid plates on a burm. I grabbed the 48’ Hi-Lift out of the truck & we went to work. First, we practiced using our Wab-Fab rock rail adapter. It worked beautifully! Using the adapter allowed us to lift safely from the OEM rock rails without the worry of the Hi-Lift slipping off. We even got to see the difference that the Off Road base makes in soft dirt (Thanks Alan!). We ended up trying the Lift mate on a rear tire to get Fa-Jay-Jay off the ground enough to stuff some rocks under the tires. Adding that little bit of height got her up enough to drive right off the burm.
It was a great day & everyone had a wonderful time. It was great to see Mike again, he just got back from Iraq. We’ll get him stuck next time we go out <grin>. Beau Jo’s pizza after the run topped off an awesome first run of 2009. We’ve got several runs planned every month, and everyone is welcome! Check out the calendar link for details on our next outing.
See you on the trail!
Shane
In the month or so since the FJ Summit, the CO FJ's group has been super busy, here's a quick rundown:
Pole Hill, Aug 3rd
Middle St.Vrain and Coney Flats, Aug 4th
Rising Sun Rally, Denver, Aug 9th
Red Cone, Aug 10th
Left Hand & Castle Gulch, Aug 10th
Bill Moore Lake & Kingsont Peak, Aug 16th (First SNOW Run of the year)
Middle St. Vrain and Coney Flats, Aug 17th
I (Jackie - TonysBlueFJ) arrived at 10am at help set up for the event.
The Scion people were already there, boy did they have some awesome cars.
Anyway, I set our FJ in the prime position, one wheel up on a ramp.
This event was a Poker Run & Classic Car Show. The COFJ'ers were invited
guests through Stevinson East. We did speak to some potential buyers on
the FJ.
The TT (Trail Team) was there with us, taking pics of everyone and
everything. We enjoyed there company. The TT and FJ'ers took a run down
Havana and did a pic op. That was the end for the day.
Sunday, June 22, Trail Run - Argentine Pass.
We met at Empire Sports - Downieville. Tony and I were running late,
how unusual for us. When we came down the ramp off the highway we
couldn't believe our eyes. A sea of FJ's, what a beautiful sight. Just
before we pulled out the TT gave a short talk on trail etiquette. We
then lined up, Bill and Athena (athenaceleste) were the trail leaders
and we were asked to gun.
In lining up to get back onto the highway, you wouldn't believe your
eyes, 18 FJ's, the TT Tacoma, and a modified Jeep (athena's sis and
B/F). What a breathtaking sight.
On to Argentine Pass . . . All I can say is absolutely beautiful. There are
water crossings, hills to play on, narrow roads, and scenery that can't
be beat. Lunch was served on top, Fried Chicken, Cole Slaw, Pasta
Salad, and Tres Leche's Cake. YUMMO. A brief lesson by the TT on proper
usage of a winch.
Back down and our Good Bye's. What a wonderful day, weather, new and
old friends. The TT was awesome, look forward to seeing them in Ouray.
What an amazing turn out for our Miller Rock / Skid comparison run on father’s day (June 15th)! There were a total of 13 FJ’s, and not ONE Sun Fusion (I think that’s a first).
Miller Rock is listed as a 5/10 on Traildamage.com , but we all agreed it’s currently closer to a 7/10, it’s definitely the most difficult run I’ve ever done. Still, we had several mostly stock FJ’s make it through with no problems. Bill, Don, and Eric did an amazing job spotting everyone through the tough parts. Thanks to Eric I even managed to get through a major obstacle sans locker AND A-Trac.
We found a great dirt burm to test all the different types of skids on (those pics will be in the July issue of FJC Magazine ). Of course I was the only one to get high centered & STUCK on the burm. A quick pull from Bill & I was back on the trail, but not before trying every trick in the book with a full audience.
The view from the top of Miller Rock was amazing as well; unfortunately we took so many pics of skids that we ran out of room in the camera. It was another really great day with a great group, the Colorado FJ’s certainly know how to have a good time!
After our recent run to Miller Rock on June 15th, I decided to re-visit the trail rating issue.
The
problem is that all resources (guide books, web sites, clubs, etc) use
a different set of standards to rate trails. This can be an issue,
especially if you'd like to attempt a trail that's on the 'edge' of
your ability. Having a 'standard' trail rating system makes sense so
that everyone knows what their getting in to.
The other parts of
this issue are time and mother nature. Depending on the last time the
website, guidebook, or other resource was updated, the stated trail
could be rated much differently. Heavy rains, snow, mudslides, and even
county road workers can all affect the rating of a trail. I've been on
trails that used to be an Easy (4) and are now a Moderate (6).
Conversly, if heavy trail maintenance has been performed, a once
moderate trail can become very easy.
While we'll never solve the
time & weather issues, we can solve the standardized rating issue.
The Colorado Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, Inc (CoA4WDi) has
proposed such a system . What's really great about this rating system is
that it describes what features exists on a trail to determine the
rating. This helps to make rating trails much more objective and easy
for everyone to understand. The Colorado FJ's and Dirtopia.com both use
this system when rating trails, and hopefully more organizations will
begin to use it as well.
To help in determining what ratings from
different organizations mean, I've updated the Rating Cross Reference
from CoA4WDi's site and included it here:
NOTE:
The
rating of a trail can and will change based on a variety of factors.
Rain, snow, mud and other weather events can dramatically change the
difficulty of a trail. A trail resource (such as a book or website) may
not reflect the current condition of a trail. Please evaluate each
trail and obstacle before attempting anything you’re not comfortable
with.
We had a total of 8 FJ's come out for our undetermined Rampart Range run on Sunday June 1st. What a great way to start off the month! It's great to see different people out for every run, in fact only 2 of us were on the Metberry Run last month. Our little group is really starting to grow!
After everyone arrived @ the Sedalia Grill, it was off to the mountains. Gavin & Jock lead the way down 67 to Rampart Range Rd where we aired down. We could tell from the very beginning that this area would be busy all day, there were ATV's, bikes, Jeeps, and even other FJ's all over.
Everyone got aired down & we headed south. It was determined that we'd run down Fern Gulch real quick, then take the shortcut over to Missouri & Illinois Gulches, where there's a fun 'Moab Like' playground (appropriately named “Moab Hill”). Once we arrived at the playground, Gavin was first up the hill. It took a couple of tries & a little stacking, but he made it up without issues. Nearly everyone took their turn running up the obstacle, only myself (because that's how I roll), and Rob (because he's running stock tires) did not attempt the obstacle.
After getting (almost) everyone up the rocks, we chatted for a few & headed down the mountain. The last leg of Illinois Gulch went without incident, but there was enough terrain to make it a little fun.
It was another great day out with the Colorado FJ's – we hope to see you out there next time!
