Mary Ellen Gulch, AFC, 8/18
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Mary Ellen Gulch, AFC, 8/18
Seven rigs met at the Chevron - Myself, Dutchman, Trokita, Manlaan, zr2ee, YotaDaniel, and Jentzschman. We pulled out just after 0830, gathered again at Tibble, and chatted with the nice ranger lady while airing down. It was probably 9:15 when we hit dirt. We headed straight to the trail and proceeded up... I was expecting at least a few rock gardens a la Forest Lake, but I didn't even drop into 4wd until we hit a repaired washout with some kinda jagged and very loose rocks that I didn't feel I wanted to spin my tires on too much. There were several more repaired washouts on the way up, all but one were in good condition and the one wasn't bad at all, although I expect it might be by next year if it doesn't get some love.
About 2/3rds of the way up, the convoy came to a halt when YotaDaniels Cherokee died on him. We all trooped back down the hill, and spent probably 15 minutes poking at his engine until Trokita got bored, smacked the distributor cap a couple times, and it fired up. Dutchman's wife wanted to know how many Toyota Geeks it takes to fix a Jeep, now we know . YotaDaniel was a little embarrassed and we all gave him a little grief, but it was all in good fun, and a good learning experience for everybody.
We shortly made the fork in the trail, where we had lunch and chatted, enjoying the sunshine and gorgeous canyon, which is where two more Jeeps (who I think were gijohn40 and sswens1 but don't quote me on that) caught up with us. We poked around the tailings piles above the fork in the trail a little bit, and I got some pics of the old ore bucket, but a couple of guys needed to get back down and everybody else wanted to take a poke at the beginning section of Forest Lake, so down the hill we went (leaving behind sswens1, who wanted to explore more. It was good meeting you, hope to catch you and your very nice Jeep on another trail soon!). After a short delay while we negotiated our way past another pair of rigs coming up (and a minor rescue when zr2ee's rig slipped a front wheel off the soft shoulder), we made the trailhead without further difficulty. Here we aired up YotaDaniel and zr2ee, who had to make it back to town, and then trooped off to play a little on Forest Lake.
Everybody made it up and down the first couple of rock gardens with no trouble, including Dutchmans' wife and my own who got some wheel time. There was a bit of a shellshocked look on the faces of some of the newer drivers, and Trokita got a NICE wheelstand that I didn't tell him about because he was already nervous , but everybody made it out in good trim. Here we said goodbye to Trokita, washed some of the dust off in the creek, and the 5 of us remaining (myself, Dutchman, Jentzchman, gijiohn, and Manlaan) cruised out Pole Line Pass to Midway and then Kamas for some tasty grub at the Gateway Grill. Then we parted ways for home, and made it back to I40 and then down Parleys despite the wildfire raging on the shore of Jordanelle Res.
Total carnage was minimal - other than some pinstriping and bumper scuffing, z2ree's center cap and my LSPV bracket both gave their lives for the cause. Well worth it in my opinion. If the day wasn't epic, it was definitely satisfying, and I won't hesitate to wheel with any of these great guys again.
We need to do this one again - it's perfect as a noob run for stock rigs, and there's lots more to explore up there.
About 2/3rds of the way up, the convoy came to a halt when YotaDaniels Cherokee died on him. We all trooped back down the hill, and spent probably 15 minutes poking at his engine until Trokita got bored, smacked the distributor cap a couple times, and it fired up. Dutchman's wife wanted to know how many Toyota Geeks it takes to fix a Jeep, now we know . YotaDaniel was a little embarrassed and we all gave him a little grief, but it was all in good fun, and a good learning experience for everybody.
We shortly made the fork in the trail, where we had lunch and chatted, enjoying the sunshine and gorgeous canyon, which is where two more Jeeps (who I think were gijohn40 and sswens1 but don't quote me on that) caught up with us. We poked around the tailings piles above the fork in the trail a little bit, and I got some pics of the old ore bucket, but a couple of guys needed to get back down and everybody else wanted to take a poke at the beginning section of Forest Lake, so down the hill we went (leaving behind sswens1, who wanted to explore more. It was good meeting you, hope to catch you and your very nice Jeep on another trail soon!). After a short delay while we negotiated our way past another pair of rigs coming up (and a minor rescue when zr2ee's rig slipped a front wheel off the soft shoulder), we made the trailhead without further difficulty. Here we aired up YotaDaniel and zr2ee, who had to make it back to town, and then trooped off to play a little on Forest Lake.
Everybody made it up and down the first couple of rock gardens with no trouble, including Dutchmans' wife and my own who got some wheel time. There was a bit of a shellshocked look on the faces of some of the newer drivers, and Trokita got a NICE wheelstand that I didn't tell him about because he was already nervous , but everybody made it out in good trim. Here we said goodbye to Trokita, washed some of the dust off in the creek, and the 5 of us remaining (myself, Dutchman, Jentzchman, gijiohn, and Manlaan) cruised out Pole Line Pass to Midway and then Kamas for some tasty grub at the Gateway Grill. Then we parted ways for home, and made it back to I40 and then down Parleys despite the wildfire raging on the shore of Jordanelle Res.
Total carnage was minimal - other than some pinstriping and bumper scuffing, z2ree's center cap and my LSPV bracket both gave their lives for the cause. Well worth it in my opinion. If the day wasn't epic, it was definitely satisfying, and I won't hesitate to wheel with any of these great guys again.
We need to do this one again - it's perfect as a noob run for stock rigs, and there's lots more to explore up there.
Re: Mary Ellen Gulch, AFC, 8/18
In the parking lot at Tibble
Airing down just before the Forest Lake trailhead
On the trail up
Stalled on the trail
At the top
Stacked up
Manlaans Tacoma made the rest of us look like Civics.
Posing on top of the tailings pile
Ruins
Brady's wife on the Forest Lake rock garden
Jentzschman on the rock garden
Exiting via Pole Line Pass
(Several pics stolen from the RME trip report here: http://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.php?92462-Mary-Ellen-Gulch-8-18&p=857106#post857106)
Airing down just before the Forest Lake trailhead
On the trail up
Stalled on the trail
At the top
Stacked up
Manlaans Tacoma made the rest of us look like Civics.
Posing on top of the tailings pile
Ruins
Brady's wife on the Forest Lake rock garden
Jentzschman on the rock garden
Exiting via Pole Line Pass
(Several pics stolen from the RME trip report here: http://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.php?92462-Mary-Ellen-Gulch-8-18&p=857106#post857106)
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