Kingston Peak report
Three vehicles represented our chapter: 1 XJ, 1 JK, and 1 XK. The JK and XK still had temps tags, so, kudos to them!
The stats:
25 4WD’s
38 ATV’s
7 Motorcycles
7 Hikers
6 stops for litter
We drove the trail from North to South, starting from Apex Road & FS 353. Since the campgrounds were still in use, we did not disturb the campers. From the drive-by, the camping areas looked clean, much better than last year!
Back in April, our FS contact mentioned a project set for August 13:
“It is a project led by our Wildlife Biologist, removing old unneeded range fence is very beneficial to large tasty wildlife (like elk and deer) which can get entangled in the wire.” As we drove the road from the camp sites, we saw rolls of old barbed wire by the side of the trail.
After the obligatory run through the mud puddles, we headed up. At the second leg of the shelf road, above the overlook, the owner of stock Commander called it quits. My buddy in the new JK (1freaky1), called it a day, and got the XK home. Soon enough, I was glad the stocker called it quits: The fun factor was about to diminish for him, which is not my idea of a good time.
After the shelf road crests, the soil erosion gets worse. There were a few sections of road where I could not see where the road actually was. Even the bypasses were eroding into the drainage. If a stock XJ were to attempt this section of trail, there would be some tire-spin and tug straps involved in getting through it.
About ¼ mile north of the Rock House, is a split in the road. Looking at it from the bottom of the hill, I watched an FJ Cruiser spin tires trying to get up the side that looked like a straight line to the top. I took the side that runs cross-ways to gravity. At the top, the ‘Straight” approach was staked off. I drove to the bottom and started looking around for the marker that should have been at the bottom. It was laying in the weeds, maybe fifteen to twenty feet from the road. I set the stake back on the lower portion, using what was available at that moment.
After that, the rest of the trail was in good shape, and, as enchanting as ever.
Finally!
:cheers: