Smiley
Rock Trail~ 9/28/03 Gallery
Attendee's:
Brian, Brenda, Jordan and Dakota
Dan and Shoki
Mark, Shannon and Kuma
Chuck, Ryan and his other daughter that was too shy to answer
what her name is :-)
Chris
Lee and Rocky
Mike (New recruit) his wife and friend.
Dan, Brenda and I camped out the night
before at the beginning of the trail. A nice forest area
at 7,000 feet. Dan made a gourmet dinner and we went to
sleep with full bellies and cool temps.
In the morning after breakfast, we did
some scouting to make sure we could find the trail because
it's not marked very well- Then we met up with the rest
of the crew who came up Sunday morning.
This was not a trail for the faint of
heart OR a 2WD Xterra....
Wait a minute- New recruit Mike did the trail in his 2003
2wd ! It took some work from him and the others doing the
trail, but everyone made it through the boulder field with
very little damage.
We started out on the trail and stopped
before reaching the downhill's going into Martinez Canyon-
home of the boulder field which gives this trail a "Difficult"
rating.
We got through the first section and thought
"That wasn't bad!" A couple of us even talked
of turning around after lunch and doing it uphill for a
better challenge. Then we hit the second wave...
A little tougher than the first with a
couple places that needed spotters. Then the 3rd wave of
the boulder field...
This one turned a quarter mile section
into an hour and a half traffic jam. After everyone made
it through we found a small spot to relax for lunch. A couple
of us helped Mark do the resonator mod on the trail and
then we were off again.
By 1:30, We had only gone 5 of the 21
miles of the trail.
The rest of the trail was pretty easy
although not well marked. The road we needed had a sign,
but it had been shot at so much that only a small part remained.
We took the next one and after looping by a an old cattle
area, made it back to the main trail.
From here, we just had to hug some shelf
road and do a few mountain passes and we were in Jerome!
Whew~ that was a run!
Gas, air and nourishment were needed,
so we stopped at gas stations and then to Sonic for grub
and ice cream~
Thanks to those who went and helped make
it a great run! If you have digital pics, send them to the
web dude: thomas@tekbytes.com so he can put them on the
website.
Damage report:
I rolled over a small log and when I did, the end snapped
up and hit my driver door...
Dan came over a rock and didn't have his wheels turned enough
to the right and tore off a piece of his front driver's
side bumper on a rock...
Chris came over a boulder in the same
area and when coming down, his lack of sliders gave him
a nice war wound on the bottom of his passenger door...
Other than that, it was a good time on
a good trail. I would definitely recommend it to anyone
wanting to test themselves a little bit and have some fun!
See ya at the October run~ Who's
ready for the Coke Ovens????
