- Location
- Bakersfield, CA
Well, we had another great weekend in Calico. I always enjoy that place because of the real interesting scenery and the fun wheeling. Saturday morning we lined up in camp and headed for Doran Canyon, with part of the group taking the bypass to the hard beginning section of the trail. FullsizeXJ broke an upper link right before the first obstacle, but got it fixed before everyone got through. Jay (Rabbit) popped a bead, but other than a few scratches everyone made it up the first hard section without serious trouble. On the next hard ledge most went up fine, but a few who weren't locked needed a strap, and some got a nice taste of a very off camber climb next to a two foot drop off. Lion lost his rear tire carrier as the tire rubbed on rocks as he was trying to get up the ledge. Just up from there, we turned up a side canyon that is much more interesting than the rest of Doran, for both the near stockers and the hardcore folks. I lead the way up an optional section that is pretty tough, then Dave Taylor followed. Dave needed a high lift when he got hung up at the top of the first climb, and then cut a tire, but made it the rest of the way OK. Dan Turner broke a front brake line on the first climb, so wisely backed out and clamped the line with a ViseGrip. Richard B (FullsizeXJ) made the first climb, but then broke an axle a little further into the hard section, but he was able to back out in three wheel drive and took another route to meet us at the lunch spot. Other than a few people getting hung up here and there, we made it up the canyon and to the lunch spot and meet the other group that had gone up Odessa.
After lunch, actually close to 2:00 pm by now, a smaller group wanting to do some more hard stuff headed out, leaving the road for a run up a short canyon just past the lunch spot. Then we headed over into Odessa Canyon, but just as it started getting narrow we took a left and headed for yet another canyon. Our group was me, Christopher, Jay (Wheel'er-DLR), Dave Taylor, Pat and Norm Taylor (Pat driving), and Jim Cowling. On the first ledge, everyone made it (Jay needed a strap), but a certain rock liked tail lights.....we lost three or four of them with Christopher's getting totally ripped off. We proceeded to work our way up the canyon, Jay wondering why on earth he had decided to follow us, and Pat nervously having a blast driving some pretty tough obstacles. We made it to the top, went over a ridge, and started down the next canyon over with no incidents, other than Dave re-plugging his tire again after the plugs ripped out. We came up to a nice fall, where the passenger tire had to drop four feet straight down off a boulder. After driving down, I came back to spot for the others, and Pat thought I was kidding when I said the line was driving off of that rock.....there must be another way down! But, everyone made it down just fine, and we proceeded to the next drop off. This one had a rock in the middle that liked to grab the front diff, and even though we knew it was there and tried to avoid it, I seemed to spot most right into it. A couple needed a little winching to get them off of it. By this time it was close to dark, and Jim was the last one down. I carefully spotted him into what I thought was the right place, but he still stuck his front diff hard with both tires in the air. Now we had no one behind him to pull him back, so Pat tried to tow him off from below but that didn't work. That left us using the high lift, but it wasn't tall enough to get him up as high as needed, so Dave walked back up with his 5 ft jack, which worked. By the time we got Jim unstuck and down it was dark, and we were concerned that we might miss the pot luck. We headed towards Mule Canyon, making pretty good time, other than a wrong turn in the dark and Pat and Norm realizing they had a rear shock dangling. When we got back to camp, we found the pot luck was just coming together, so we got our food out and had a great time eating and visiting around the camp fire.
The next day, myself, Christopher, Dan, and Jay (Rabbit) headed over to Stoddard Valley to run Pumpkin Eater. We met two of Dan and Jay's friends in CJ's and the six of us headed for the trail. Chris took out his other tail light in a big V notch, which left him having to drive home to Bakersfield with no tail lights. I've never seen anyone totally break out two tail lights on a run, so my hat's off to Chris.
One of the CJ's quit running, and after not being able to diagnose anything (maybe a bad computer), he had to be dead pulled back down the trail. On the way down I wasn't watching and ran into a big rock with my drivers side front tire, hearing a pop and tink, tink as parts hit the rocks. The steering box had broken completely off of the frame, with two broken bolts and one ear broken off the box, plus there was a nice crack in the pitman arm. Thankfully, I had a spare bolt, so after welding the pitman arm we bolted the box back up with just two bolts and headed down the trail and back to the trailers. It was near dark by this time, so we said good bye and I followed Chris (with no tail lights) back to Bakersfield. Even with a little trouble, it was good wheeling with good people. Thanks to Dan and Jay, who jumped in to help with both repairs.....a couple of good guys to have along on a trail run.
After lunch, actually close to 2:00 pm by now, a smaller group wanting to do some more hard stuff headed out, leaving the road for a run up a short canyon just past the lunch spot. Then we headed over into Odessa Canyon, but just as it started getting narrow we took a left and headed for yet another canyon. Our group was me, Christopher, Jay (Wheel'er-DLR), Dave Taylor, Pat and Norm Taylor (Pat driving), and Jim Cowling. On the first ledge, everyone made it (Jay needed a strap), but a certain rock liked tail lights.....we lost three or four of them with Christopher's getting totally ripped off. We proceeded to work our way up the canyon, Jay wondering why on earth he had decided to follow us, and Pat nervously having a blast driving some pretty tough obstacles. We made it to the top, went over a ridge, and started down the next canyon over with no incidents, other than Dave re-plugging his tire again after the plugs ripped out. We came up to a nice fall, where the passenger tire had to drop four feet straight down off a boulder. After driving down, I came back to spot for the others, and Pat thought I was kidding when I said the line was driving off of that rock.....there must be another way down! But, everyone made it down just fine, and we proceeded to the next drop off. This one had a rock in the middle that liked to grab the front diff, and even though we knew it was there and tried to avoid it, I seemed to spot most right into it. A couple needed a little winching to get them off of it. By this time it was close to dark, and Jim was the last one down. I carefully spotted him into what I thought was the right place, but he still stuck his front diff hard with both tires in the air. Now we had no one behind him to pull him back, so Pat tried to tow him off from below but that didn't work. That left us using the high lift, but it wasn't tall enough to get him up as high as needed, so Dave walked back up with his 5 ft jack, which worked. By the time we got Jim unstuck and down it was dark, and we were concerned that we might miss the pot luck. We headed towards Mule Canyon, making pretty good time, other than a wrong turn in the dark and Pat and Norm realizing they had a rear shock dangling. When we got back to camp, we found the pot luck was just coming together, so we got our food out and had a great time eating and visiting around the camp fire.
The next day, myself, Christopher, Dan, and Jay (Rabbit) headed over to Stoddard Valley to run Pumpkin Eater. We met two of Dan and Jay's friends in CJ's and the six of us headed for the trail. Chris took out his other tail light in a big V notch, which left him having to drive home to Bakersfield with no tail lights. I've never seen anyone totally break out two tail lights on a run, so my hat's off to Chris.
One of the CJ's quit running, and after not being able to diagnose anything (maybe a bad computer), he had to be dead pulled back down the trail. On the way down I wasn't watching and ran into a big rock with my drivers side front tire, hearing a pop and tink, tink as parts hit the rocks. The steering box had broken completely off of the frame, with two broken bolts and one ear broken off the box, plus there was a nice crack in the pitman arm. Thankfully, I had a spare bolt, so after welding the pitman arm we bolted the box back up with just two bolts and headed down the trail and back to the trailers. It was near dark by this time, so we said good bye and I followed Chris (with no tail lights) back to Bakersfield. Even with a little trouble, it was good wheeling with good people. Thanks to Dan and Jay, who jumped in to help with both repairs.....a couple of good guys to have along on a trail run.
