 Back to Trail Reports Main Page |
Story by,
Coach George |
| Rubicon Media Run '99
After they removed the shaft and repositioned the YJ with a Hi-Lift, we pulled him back out toward the beginning of the Sluice so his partner in crime, Chad Crowell, (also of Off-Road.com) could winch him up and start welding with the YJ's Premier Power Welder. Unfortunately, everyone else had moved on, and since the Little Sluice was blocked and we did not know the trail too well, we backed up and headed out to find the bypass. Unfortunately, the bypass is on slab rock and you can not see the trail at all. Everyone else had scooted on, so we guessed our way along. Thanks guys! So much for group traveling etiquette! The designated camp spot at Spider Lake should be here just any time soon. Well, without a guide we ended up hal- way to Buck Island Lake. Oops. Wrong lake? Traversing thru what seemed like Break-It Alley. There were several rigs off to the side chatting with friends posing as pit crews. None of these folks were with our run.
Anyway, feeling like a lost tourist, I finally asked one of those in Break-It Alley if the next lake up was Spider. They pointed back in the other direction and said to follow them. We did. Sat there forever as she chatted with a long-lost buddy while showing off her air-powered drink mixer attached to her spare tire. We finally arrived back at Spider Lake and set up camp. It was around 7:00pm and we were exhausted. Dinner was fabulous and prestigiously cooked. The head cook and chief bottle washer; Jim Bramham is now a CA OHV Rep. and the past President of the CA4WDC. My hats off to the Association and this great chef and his family. The steak was awesome, the salad fresh, and the potatoes scrumptuous.
|
Next, over the Little Sluice, was Dave Gray from Off-Road.com. Nice
YJ with all the techno-rockcrawling features. After several attempts, he
snapped his front drive line. TA-DA! It's ROCKCRAWLER.COM to the rescue!
One thing that caught our eye as odd, was a brand new Toyota Tacoma
with dealer plates and TRD rear-end traversing the terrain. We also witnessed
several nice-sized scrapes on it's sides. Boy I'd like to see him trying to
explain this one off as damage covered by warranty.
Not much later a rumor began spreading of a downed ATV'r. About the
same time, a young boy ran into camp looking for a way to call for a Hellivac.
Apparently, there was really a problem! Luckily, the boy was the son of an EMT
who was in our group. The injured rider was being well taken care of. Several
folks jumped onto their CB's while others scrambled up the rocks to get better
cell phone reception. About thirty minutes later, the call got thru from
several of our folks. The chopper was on the way. From what I gather, if you do
a perfect front one and a quarter flips on an ATV while going down a steep hill
you get a score of a perfect ten... "IF" you land safely. Otherwise,
you get an $8,000 ride in a chopper to the hospital with a broken ankle and
more. This champ was real lucky. The chopper ride could have been for much
worse injuries. 
Each volunteer's club and their media passengers had
circled their wagons into their own little spots and sat happily, telling
stories around their mosquito-chasing bon-fires. Feeling a little like the odd
men out, as Steve and I were not members of any of these clubs, we went and
offered our help to the folks who took charge of the ATV mishap. Being of no
assistance there, we went gawking at vehicles. We stopped to admire Dave Gray's
YJ and Chad Crowell's TJ; both of 