Birthday Bash
by Rastus
Trees Ranch Sept. 04
We went, we saw, we conquered... Some broke, some spilled, We all wheeled.. Rastus, RiverRat & family, RVreddog & Blazer Killer, Donovan, Sillygirl, Mouse, Shutdown, Romeo_33, Lynnes Toy & kids, Modify & GF, Daltonxj & wife.
We all had a great time. River Rat spanked Mighty Mouse, Lynne's toy broke her transfer case, Trail Guide ( Bob) broke both frt springs in his scout, left frt axle axle stub, lock-out hub, RVreddog had a rear spring center pin go on vacation, RiverRat got a hole in his radiator & his rear driveshaft came loose, I had my fuel pump go south on the way home.
We arrived around Midnight friday night, setup camp and visited till 3 AM. then to bed and up at 7 for breakfast and drivers meeting. After the meeting we met up with our trail guide (Bob) in his Scout and off we went. first obstacle was a hill climb and Lynne and RVreddog were the only ones to make it up unassisted. Rest of us had to winch.
then off we went to the next obstacle, DaltonXJ and I went back to camp for some braking fluid and when we got back, Bob had began the run up Mikes Creek and broke at the bowl. His right front spring shackle went inverted and bent the spring really bad, Thought he had a busted hub as well. Got him back down and off to the side and the group went up the trail. Lynn'es toy was going up good, until a doublewaterfall and she hammered it and the jeep bounced. When it returned to planet earth all they heard ws a loud BAM!! clunk!! clunk!!, they pulled the driveshafts and towed her back to camp. Turned out all the gears are ok, just the transfer case is wasted. I stayed down at the bottom helping Bob with his scout and we found out his right frt axle shaft was broken..RVreddog had brought spares so we got the axle replaced, fixed the driveshaft, and replaced the hub and off we went...
Some of the pics.. http://www.texas4x4.org/gallery/album94
Down the creek bed and thru the woods to the Bowl trail. Nice trail here, twisty and a couple of tight places. the end of the bowl is a good sized waterfall, RiverRat made it up with a lil bit of persuasion on the skinny pedal, Bob inverted his spring shackle once again and then it was RVreddogs turn, It was beginning to rain and with the wet tires and rock, he just was not making it. Rain started coming down in earnest so we all hunted cover till it stopped. leaving the bowl trail, we went up a nice climb past the Indian caves and up a lil hill. Parked up there to let the extreme group go by, and Shutdown and Mouse decided it was time for mudfest 04, so they proceeded to have a wrestling match in the muddy trail and yes it's all on video. The group coming back had popped a axle in a Dana 70 where they had been and we did not want to get back in there and spend the night so we all went back down the hill and checked out the Indian caves and had a really cool run up the creek thru a boulder field. Bob was working a pretty tuff obstacle in his Scout and broke the left front spring in his Scout in two pieces. We had to leave it here while he went for spare parts so we all headed back up to camp for some Supper, mmmmmmm can you say damn good vittles.. RVrredog put on his Chefs hat and cooked up some excellent brisket, ribs, and sausage, Richard (lynnes toy) deep fried some fresh fish and made hush puppies and fries. Some cokes and cool pops with foam on top and we were all good to go.
The Night Run
After Dinner we saw some rigs heading out, so we went to talk with Michael Thompson to see if we could tag along, he said sure.. So RiverRat, RVreddog, Modify and Myself all loaded up and headed out.
Tried a loose hillclimb and all made it except me, My lil heep just was not gonna go up that last ledge... So I backed down and let the ones behind me try it... I had vindication tho, the next rig to try it was locked, loaded and rocking... and he hit it hard and from several ways and he backed down as well, the one after him was an older stretched CJ, with coil spring rear on his model 20 and D30 axles on 37" boggers and when this guy hits a ledge he hits it...HARD..He went up and over... I think he landed 20' past the ledge.. from there we went off to the rock garden and crawled thru it, then off down the creek past Bob's Scout and to the Caves. Those rocks change @ night... even tho we had already went over them that day, the way the light plays on the rocks at night time sure does increase the fun level about 100%. We turned around and headed back up a different creekbed this time with RVreddog leading the way, at least 1\2 mile of boulders if not longer, "pick and choose your rocks Monsieur" We all stopped to ratchet jaw for a while and take some pics, RiverRat and RVreddog posed up on a rock for a cool picture.
Stars...you should see the stars in the West Texas sky @ night with no other lights on... Wish I could show you that picture..Been a long time since I saw the milky way so clearly...ok... back to the rocks... We all loaded back up and off we went up the creekbed..just crawling and having fun on the radios...No, I did not sing this time. Once we finished the creekbed we headed back up to camp to watch the days Movies the River Rat took with his camera..then off to bed..
Sunday
We got up and Sillygirl made Huevos Rancheros for breakfat... mmmmm While she was cooking we meandered around looking at all the other rigs there.. A large group from the Houston area in the TX4WD clubs was there as well as a smattering of others from across the state. Once we finished breakfast we all headed down to the rockgarden to watch and for the morning drivers meeting. From the Rock Garden we headed up the creek to Mighty Mouse, where the RiverRat had a nice chat with Ole Mr. Mouse.. and showed him who was Boss. After Mighty Mouse we headed up towards the bowls trail again and deviated onto the Deception Trail. We made it up to the 2nd turn and there was a Jeep with a broken axle so we turned around and ran a short trail down a waterfall, thru a gulley and up and over a nice hill at the end. After a lil lunch we headed out to finish Deception, this is a fun run up the creek with a deep bowl and a really cool waterfall. Just past the waterfall we turned left and headed uphill. At the top of the hill is a good sized ledge that was all wet and loose dirt, RiverRat was 1st to try and had a hard time, so he changed his mind and began to try his turn-around, He got a mite sideways on the hill and we all got on the tow-strap and held him while he finished his turn. ( Is that Seat back to Normal yet, RiverRat? ) After this we headed back out Deception to the Bowls trail. We hit the big climb going into the bowls and it was there RVreddog lost his centering pin on the right rear spring. We tied the the front of his Scout off to my Jeep and took the U-bolts loose, then RiverRat hooked a strap to the axle and we got it back into position. Got out the Torque Wrench and made sure the bolts were good and tight, then turned around and headed back to camp. RiverRat had a good sized hole in his radiator from his electric fan mount rubbing and we took it easy going back. Almost to camp RiverRat lost his rear driveshaft. so we stopped and finished pulling it out.
Once we got back to camp, We got things sorted, loaded and headed for home. Made it about 10 miles or so and my fuel pump gave up the ghost. We hooked the Rat to Richards Trailer, put my heep on River Rats trailer, and off we went.. Rolled into SA around 9 or so...
I am looking forward to going back to Tree's Ranch very much.. Lots of good terrain and lots of different trails. This is a very nice wheeling place and well worth the trip, no mattter where you are coming from.
Rough Canyon IV
March 2004
By Bowtie
Day 1 - Consists of the check in and poker run on friday. poker run was cool and pretty much was set up to kill some time friday. with the majority of the check points being hill climbs. awards for the top three highest hands were handed out saturday night and it turned out that Isidro (River Rat's son) took first place. that got him a high lift jack and a 1st place trophy.
Friday night was a busy night for Mike, he was putting things back together for some that had problems earlier in the day. the worst was the red yj that had a spring over that needed to be redone. after so many hours and plenty of drinks he was set up ready for saturday's events. After that it was back to the fire for some bull shittin' and drinking when we got word that a bronco was out on the trail with a broken center pin on his rear leaf spring, so we went out to see if we could lend a hand and put him back together, by the time we made it to where they were they were putting the Bronco back together. that pretty much ended the night.
Day 2 - was the actual Rough Canyon run. with about 70+ vehicles broken up into about 3-4 groups we headed out to tho other side of the ranch. The run was fun and offered some challenges to the rigs that were in our group, nice rocky trails and steep rock ledged climbs put some rigs to the limits. which in turn took out some parts. Gabe busted a 30 spline outer shaft form his d60, Delta took out a u-joint on the front driveshaft, Randy took out an inner axle shaft in his front 10 bolt, Chris wiped out two vavle stems, Bobby shattered a u-joint on his rear driveshaft, and Isidro had a cracked rear leaf spring hanger. I'm almost certain that I left out some stuff but that pretty much sums it up for the weekend.
here are the pics http://www.texasoffroad.net/galleries/members/roughcanyon
