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Exploring
the backroads of the Sooke Hills...November 10th 2002
Met up with
Dave & Cam, and Cody at ScrubWay off Wilkinson Rd., and headed out
to Sooke for a little exploring today.
Ran into the IRC at the A&W, and
Ibby showing up a little tardy for their run.
Our two Jeep group asked if it would be all right to tag along behind
the IRC run up to No-Way-Out. Just as we hit the dirt to air down, Ibby
got his now famous
phone call. Oh the look on the poor guys face. Go get some airtime
on the trail or get some airtime on the boob tube. Hmm...the wheels turning
in the carrot garden...then the evil glint in THE
eye. Well, at least if the camera crew's van broke down they'd have
an IBBY!
Ibby took off for his 15 minutes, and we followed the IRC to the entrance
of Hackers/Gas-It. Pretty impressive site as pretty much all the trucks
were purpose built, and built to the hilt. Of particular interest to me
was Rob's CJ5 on it's maiden voyage. Very nicely done up CJ!
Heading up the trail we ran into another group coming down the trail.
Speaking of faces I haven't seen for a while, Gary Hoff in his Xterra,
with another Xterra, TJ, Grand Cherokee, Pathfinder (?), and maybe one
or two others I can't recall. One of them had a flat, and the boys at
the head of the line helped get them back on their way. The
Hulk and it's massive size had to find a strategic spot to pull over
to let the mild-core group get by.
Onward and upward, and onto another group of four going the other direction.
Again the Hulk was not likely to agree that the trail was two lanes friendly.
When we got to No-Way-Out, we could see that the last group we past had
just come up No-Way-Out. The steep drop into the gully was VERY sloppy.
You know when you've been eating burritos the night before, and washed
it down with too much Tequila, and remember the effect that had on your
digestive system the next day? Ya, well...I think you get the idea.
Anyway, by the time we had walked up to the hill, there was already a
broken Toyota on the other side. Over extended front drive shaft.
All the trucks made the obstacle look easy. Not too hard to do with the
right tires, plenty of ground clearance, and lockers. That reminds me
of one reason to build your truck, less impact on the trail.
The Hulk was the last of the IRC group to go up, driven by Andy James
(Rob Bryce's truck). Andy had a little bit of trouble. I believe there
was a cable broken or something. I think it was the front locker cable,
but I'm not sure.
I went up next, and other than a little more tire spin than I would like
(again, lockers would help here), I made it up no problem on the first
attempt. Dave was next, with basically the same result as I had, but maybe
a little more speed as he was bouncing a bit at the top.
The IRC group waited to see if we needed any help getting up the hill.
Once we were up we broke out our lunches and their group headed on to
Gas-It-Hill.
While we were having lunch, and discussing the obstacle and other trails
in the area etc., we heard some people coming to the top of the steep
side. It was a blue Suzuki LJ hardtop with no fenders, and an ATV. There
were three guys riding in the LJ, one just sort of lying in the back,
which had no rear hatch, and a woman on the ATV.
They didn't see us at first, and as we peered through the branches to
see who they were, we saw a large rock come tumbling down the hill, and
then a fellow following it and pushing it further off the trail. This
was one of the two rocks at the top of the hill that can (rephrase, "would
have" or "used to") put you off-camber towards the big
tree on the drivers side (going down) near the top of the hill.
I wasn't too pleased to see that, but what can you do eh. I guess the
rock scared them. For me personally, it was just another one of those
fun little Tippy Toys© that I liked using to make my passengers wish
they brought two pairs of Huggies™ instead of just the one.
Well, the little LJ came down pretty fast, and bounced around a bit. Looked
like it could have gone over at one point, but bounced back into a safe
line. One guy then was walking up towards us, beer in hand. When the LJ
made it up, the passenger came out beer in hand. Then the woman on the
bike came up, did a pretty nice job of it, if a little uncontrolled (my
perception) at the end pulling a wheelie at the top of the hill.
She got off the ATV quite exhilarated. One of the guys commented tat she
"could have done it sober", and her reply was "ya, but
why". Hmm, 'nuff said!
After they had past, our little Jeep group went back down and up the other
side that we had just come down. I was a little paranoid about going up
the slop hill on the other side because it is quite steep, very sloppy
at the moment, and I don't trust my Jeep to not stall and start sliding
backwards.
Dave gave
it a shot anyway, and made it about 3/4 of the way up. They winched from
there, and at my nervous request, they set up for another pull, but for
me this time. I looked it over and thought I'd give it a try anyway. In
my mind I was thinking, "tell these guys to have the cable ready
and they can quickly throw the hook on my recovery shackle". But
NOOOOOOOOO, you'd think I'd actually vocalize half the stuff that goes
on in my head sometimes. Duh!
I gave it my best shot, and almost, and I mean almost made it. A nasty
little stump snagged me, all I needed was another three or four feet and
the front end would be up and I'd feel safe and happy. Instead, all forward
motion ceased, and there I was dangling at a severe angle, and backwards
to boot. It's not a happy go lucky warm fuzzy rub my tummy and get a surprise
kinda feeling that's for sure.
So instead of clutch in and hit the brake, I kept the tires spinning.
If I had done what would be the common thing to do, I had the feeling
(from the experience of going down the hill earlier) that I would have
stalled, had no power, and started sliding down the hill. Sliding down
the first time was not a problem, I had power for corrections, and I had
good steering capability. Going down backwards is different. The chance
of getting sideways and going for a roll in this kind of situation is
very real and for me very frightening. I have no qualms about going over
on my side, never really have, but a full roll...ah...nope sorry, I always
try to avoid that situation for the simple fact that my Jeep and any Jeep
I've ever owned is just simply not safe to roll in.
Mental
note to self after this weekend: Get serious about tying the existing
roll bar into the frame and adding front hoops and cross bars. You know
damn well that that thing will rip away from your rusting body... [insert
Adam Sandler tune] "piece of crap car" ...like what the hell
is wrong with you anyway.... damn I'm so funkey monkeyed in the head...just
get on it will ya.... ya ya, I know I will.... I’ll do it tomorrow!".
Oops...sorry. Anyway, I yelled at Dave to hook me up fast, and as fast
as he could grab the hook and pull the cable out he did. A pull from their
newly mounted winch and we were on our way again. Phew...
We then headed back down the trail and did some exploring in other areas.
Can't say exactly where we were (Ibby has my GPS), just another very old
logging road etc., but we saw a decent view here and there, and we made
good use of the chainsaw. Oh and we sort of heard Danno mumbling to himself
on the CB while driving up Boneyard. =:)
Carnage report:
Body damage
- Cody's foot somehow made it's way under my rear tire
- Cody's hand somehow managed to make it's way between the back of my
seat and large toolbox
- Dave manages to rip a mirror off his YJ
- Cam thoroughly mangles some plastic crap on the YJ
- West Coast Pin-Striping galore
Side note:
It was busy out there. It was cold, wet, and wet again, and yet there
were all kinds of people on the trails, and on the main roads. You can
really start to see the effect of loosing Harbourview.
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