Rockin' XJ Jamboree trip report

[Goatman]

Thought I'd throw up some comments about this years annual Johnson Valley XJ event. I appreciate all the people who came out for a good time, and we had a very good time. There were folks from AZ, Utah, NorCal, and IntrepidXJ even flew out from Chicago. Sat evening we counted 70 rigs in camp, which should make this the second largest XJ event we've had, second only to the 20th Anniversary Celebration in Moab where we had about 175. Sat evening we fed over 100 people, and the raffle was one of the best I've ever seen.

The raffle raised $3500 and most of that will be a donation to Friends of Panamint Valley to support the legal battle to reopen Surprise Canyon. Thanks to Capt Ron for organizing a super raffle, to all the members who stepped up and made merchandise donations, and to all the participants who bought tickets. Boatwrench (Tom) was the big winner of the evening, walking away with a pair of Beard racing seats AND a Warn M8000 winch.

Johnson Valley is the king of hardcore rockcrawling destinations, but it also has plenty to offer for the not so hardcore folks. I was very happy to see that the easy and the moderate run on Sat had by far the most participants. Thanks to Norm Taylor for leading the easy run, to Capt Ron Johnson for leading the moderate run, to Avery/Cracker for leading the hard moderate run, and to Dave Taylor for leading the hard run. From what I hear, everyone had a good time on the trails and all the runs were back in camp by 4:00 pm, which is very unusual out there when getting back after dark is almost the norm. There was a little carnage, but not bad, and the only roll over was on the easy run.......go figure. Someone brought friends in an older 4Runner and it rolled going down a little rough section of road, just a fluke situation and no one was hurt. Earlier in the week, Matt from AZ rolled his nicely built pristine '01 silver XJ, then tore up the other side on Wrecking Ball Sat. He definitely qualifies for the hard luck award for the trip.

I didn't end up taking pics this trip, so have none to post. Let's see some pics and hear some more stories about stuff that happened. Thanks again to all who participated and all who helped. See you next year.

 

[kndrewa]

Wow, this truly sounds like an awesome event!

I probably wouldnt know what to do if I ever found myself surrounded by 70 cherokees. I would probably need a bib (for drool) and a video camera (to help me remember all the cool ways people are solving problems and increasing their rigs capabilities).

I hope to see this in person next year, and see some pictures from this year...

Is it wrong to get so excited about an event I didnt even attend?

 

[Geepfreak]

Thought I'd throw up some comments about this years annual Johnson Valley XJ event. I appreciate all the people who came out for a good time, and we had a very good time. There were folks from AZ, Utah, NorCal, and IntrepidXJ even flew out from Chicago. Sat evening we counted 70 rigs in camp, which should make this the second largest XJ event we've had, second only to the 20th Anniversary Celebration in Moab where we had about 175. Sat evening we fed over 100 people, and the raffle was one of the best I've ever seen.

The raffle raised $3500 and most of that will be a donation to Friends of Panamint Valley to support the legal battle to reopen Surprise Canyon. Thanks to Capt Ron for organizing a super raffle, to all the members who stepped up and made merchandise donations, and to all the participants who bought tickets. Boatwrench (Tom) was the big winner of the evening, walking away with a pair of Beard racing seats AND a Warn M8000 winch.

Johnson Valley is the king of hardcore rockcrawling destinations, but it also has plenty to offer for the not so hardcore folks. I was very happy to see that the easy and the moderate run on Sat had by far the most participants. Thanks to Norm Taylor for leading the easy run, to Capt Ron Johnson for leading the moderate run, to Avery/Cracker for leading the hard moderate run, and to Dave Taylor for leading the hard run. From what I hear, everyone had a good time on the trails and all the runs were back in camp by 4:00 pm, which is very unusual out there when getting back after dark is almost the norm. There was a little carnage, but not bad, and the only roll over was on the easy run.......go figure. Someone brought friends in an older 4Runner and it rolled going down a little rough section of road, just a fluke situation and no one was hurt. Earlier in the week, Matt from AZ rolled his nicely built pristine '01 silver XJ, then tore up the other side on Wrecking Ball Sat. He definitely qualifies for the hard luck award for the trip.

I didn't end up taking pics this trip, so have none to post. Let's see some pics and hear some more stories about stuff that happened. Thanks again to all who participated and all who helped. See you next year.

:thumbup: Maybe next year, :fingers crossed:

 

[cracker]

Thanks for a great weekend Richard!

 

[shelbyluvv]

Thanks for the tug! We had a great weekend!

 

[karstic]

I finally made it out to the camp around 330pm Bought a bunch of raffle tickets and pitched in cooking up the burgers and dogs. For the short time I was there I had a great time. I look forward to it again next year. I've got a few picks of the raffle trailer and the food line, but there at home I'll post em up tonight.

 

[Letterman]

I went up AfterShock on Wednesday morning with Farmer Matt, Jes and Bryan C.

Bryan C. looking up at Matt on the falls

Jes trying to make the trail harder, he some how rolled a 3 foot rock on end under his front pass tire:

 

[mikeyl]

had a great time. thanks to all who helped set it up. too many to list, but thanks to richard and ron and the dozens of others who make it happen. special thanks to the vendors who make this non-event worth going to. hope to see everyone again next time.
posted below are my pics from sledge hammer on sat. if the link doesn't work it is also posted on the socal forum. hope to see all again. and thanks to avery and scrappy keeping me moving on the trail!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=197in0g1.3funhzv1&x=0&y=7dsz13

 

[Letterman]

Jes on Highway 20 Thursday morn:

Dave made a pass as Jes worked on his Locker:

Bryan C. on the same spot:

Matt from AZ getting it back up on all 4's:

 

[Letterman]

More Highway 20

Jes:

Bryan C. about to loose a window:

 

[Letterman]

Goatman in a nasty part of 20:

 

[Letterman]

Mat in the cat on 20 made a nice run:

He was so happy to have made that:

 

[Letterman]

Crazy white boy:

 

[Letterman]

Paul playing near the edge at the top of 20:

 

[Letterman]

Friday went up Claw, Scrappy made some redneck coil overs:

Did not work, and he almost ripped his front drive shaft off on a rock:

Sunset Friday night top of Claw:

 

[IntrepidXJ]

well, i just woke up after finally catching up on some sleep. i'm glad i made the trip out, because i had a great time, and met a lot of cool people.

uploading my pics and videos right now, so stay tuned

thanks to everyone that organized this event and attended. big thanks to geoff for actually getting me there and back, too

 

[xDUMPTRUCKx]

THANKS GOAT!

 

[xDUMPTRUCKx]

Crazy white boy:

WHITE POW....whoops i mean......FLOUR!

 

[GSequoia]

As usual another fantastic event. We had everything ranging from Matt's nuts to Letterman's monkey lovin' goodness with some wheeling thrown in for good measure.

Pulled into the lake bed at 6am on Friday morning and got about twenty-five or thirty minutes of sleep.

Fun little pose at dawn on a random dirt road along 247.

Friday was pretty lazy for me since I didn't sleep much and had some finishing touches to do. Got the rear driveline in (thanks Opie) and later on, after they returned from the trails they rode along on, Clint and Randy helped me bleed the brakes after I put the front lines in.

Between all that I did manage to talk some shit at various campsites there and go along to Backdoor to watch Scrappy Matt get denied.

Saturday I went on the easy run with Norm Taylor; I was kinda nervous about hitting anything hard because I had 35's with spicer shafts and when I learend that he was ending the run at Wrecking Ball I was all over it; there is a lot of fun to be had pointing and laughing while people try to drive over impossibly large rocks.

Had a bit of fun on Emmerson Dry Lake:

Ended up going up to the end of Wrecking Ball / Clawhammer and sat around a bit, then saw Tim (Bent) coming up Claw so waited for him.

Then we headed up the hill to go to Wrecking Ball; Randy and I walked while those Sierra boys drove and Tim drove (although Randy and I jumped in Tim's Jeep shortly thereafter, we were feeling lazy).

Timed it perfectly! We got over to the big waterfall just as Dave was getting ready to go up it. Of course Dave made it look real easy and boring because he's uncool like that.

Santa, realizing that we were bored, was a nice guy and provided us with some entertainment going up the waterfall, tahnks Santa!

Had a few more go up then Joe got up there in his four cylinder TJ and nailed the fall. Rick Norman is never going to hear the end of that one...

Those TJ's climb well when you stretch them out to XJ wheelbase

Sunday we headed over to Back Door to watch what happens.

Avery got into the throttle a bit while going up and took an, ahem, alternate line at the top.

This time Scrappy Matt made it up the first waterfall with ease - enough ease that aparently I didn't ahve time to photograph it, so here he is on the second one.

Everybody had a hard time on the second fall, I think only Dave, Avery, and Richard made it up wtihout a tug but I could be wrong...

Of coruse Richard made it look easy.

One last poser shot and then I went back to the lake bed to pack ukp and head out. Was a great time!

The rest of my pics are here: http://events.sequoia4x4.com/v/20061117-jv/?g2_highlightId=15768

 

[Brendan_91XJ]

The Family had a great time as I did!
Have to throw out some thanks to Richard and Ron and everyone else that put this together. Thanks to Johnny for spotting me on LBJ and helping me change out my tire after throwing a bead. the quote of the day on that run should be "What do you mean you are not locked up front" or "That locker in your garage is not doing you any good here". Capt Ron helped me through a few tough spots and was waiting for me at the end with the winch at the ready which I did not have to use. Thanks to Opie and a bunch of others that go me through that last obsticle of LBJ.
I am now sporting a few more dents, but it was fun getting them! :roll: mostly.