Deja Trail Report - Paragon 9/23/06

    Amazing turn out for Deja's monthly trail ride. I believe there were 16 jeeps total today at Paragon.


    In attendance there was: Mopar, Deweybp31, 33box, Donsatv, Wolverine, Matty427, Jman, 85cj7, UrbanCrawler w/ Mel93yj, Tigercb12, Omaha, OrangeCrush, Dmaster, BlueJ, and myself.


    We split into 3 groups: Stock, Modified, and Oh yeah! I'll let OrangeCrush and Omaha fill us all in on the Oh Yeah! and the Modified groups' adventures.


    I led the stock group consisting of Mopar, Deweybp31 and 33box. We started the day heading over toward the play area and looping over to Turtle Trail (#7). This trail was extremely washed out and slippery today as we decended into the park. Half way down we met up with 3 ATVer's (one of which had rolled sideways down turtle trail). We assisted them with righting the ATV and getting them on their way as we finished out decent. We looped around the filtration plant over to Outer Spare Tire. Everyone made it through this trail unscathed. From there we waited for the bagillion ATV's to pass us and get unstuck from Inner Spare Tire (Blue 1) before we headed down that trail ourselfs. This trail was filled with mud holes and rock gardens that proved to warm everyone up for the rest of the day. Upon finishing up that trail we made our way to the Spring (or what is left of it) for lunch. We had some entertainment for our lunch break as about 5 "moto-cross" guys showed off their awesome skills climbing a near vertical hill and washing out! Wow, they were cool! :bsflag:


    After lunch we made our way through trail 38 and 36 (both high greens) over to trail 40 and 41 (green 2 and blue 1 respectively). With some spotting and paving everyone got through great! Bob showed us how exactly a bone stock TJ can navigate a hill climb filled with 33" tire size rocks! From there my dad took over the driver seat of my Jeep to hit the 5' wide by 7' deep by 30' long gully at the end of Lower Blueberry. After some great spotting by Mike Sr. and a couple near flops, he thoroughly pushed the old jeep to its limits and came out with out a scratch (ok...so there were some new marks, multiple wheels had their weights overlapping each other, and the axle end trackbar bolt sheered clean off....but other than that he was cool) :driving:


    We started our trek to the exit up Haul Rd. to Valley stopping off to hit up trail 28 (green 3) and then play around some on Valley with the "triple-trail split-off." From there we head to the staging area to air up, hand out trail badges and share the days war stories about how we conquered the rocks yet another day!


    Great turn out and great weather! Had a blast and can't wait for the next one!


    Pictures there were taken by myself, my dad, and Bob (thanks for some great shots) can be found at the link below:
    http://jeepsahara.info/paragon092306/


    -Chris (can make any trail fun!)

    nice report Chris! sounds much more fun than working all day. :)

    Jerry / Whatevah

    2020 Gladiator Mojave - 33" Falken mud tires, LoD side steps, Zroadz bed rack, Quadratec QRC winch bumper, Superwinch EPi 9.0, Kleinn on-board air, Kleinn air horns, lots of lights, Yaesu ham radio with GPS tracker.

    Gone- 2012 JK Rubicon with stuff. Long gone- Long-arm 2001 Cherokee with stuff.

    Well i guess that i will fill in on our Modified group's day. Our group consisted of Urbancrawler, TigerCB12, Matty427, and myself all started on the day out on DrumStick which we made it through with very little scraps. we then had a pretty uneventful day with the acception of my front right flare coming off when i didnt exactly make a turn as tight as i needed to and i hit a tree knocking the flare to the ground. Other than that we had some great pics, that we will post up after we are dont riding tomorrow. We are terrible influences since we have convinced matty to come back up tomorrow and wheel with us when he is supposed to be grading papers. Hopefully we have a good day tomorrow on the trail. I will add in the trail we hit later after i get the map from stetson that is out in the jeep.

    bLaTaNt DiSrEgArD<br /><br /><br />TJ 98 4 banger gone but not fogotten<br />WJ 02 limited- Do all vehicle &quot;QUICK THROW A LOCKER AT IT!!!&quot;

    I'll write up the "Oh Yeah" group's report for Tom, for not making me lead :D.


    Our group consisted of Brian (wolverine) & daughter, Dave (85CJ7) & son, Jason (J-man) & brother, Tom (Orange Crush), Donnie (DonsATV), and me (BlueJ). We did Whompum, then headed out of the park.




    Well, it was a bit more complicated than that, but we only made it through Lower Whompum then Middle Whompum, and the bypass around Upper Whompum, but it was a good ride. We started on the steep descent then climb at the entrance to Lower Whompum, but the two jeeps with little kids decided to sneak around to the side entrance. We made it down OK despite a nasty entrance to the downhill, but Donnie needed a little help to get up the last three feet of the hill climb. We then proceeded up through the rocks, attempting a few sections that we knew better than try, but we did anyway. Then the final rocky section and ledge at the end, which seemed a lot shorter and easier than the last time I was there (on 33's and open).


    Tom then lead us into another trail, which we think was Middle Whompum. Only a few of us had even seen the trail before (not me), and it was a doozy. Lots of big rock sections ;D. Our first mechanical issue was Brian's fron righ coil spring, which popped out of place due to too much flex. We rigged up a contraption that included two tow straps, two shackles, a big tree, a turnbuckle, and a winchline - you can imagine how those were put together. We used it to lift up the yellow TJ and get the spring back into place. (The next time it popped out we just used a highlift - how boring.) We got lunch invitations over the phone from Matty and Omaha, but we were too busy (sorry guys) -- we never did stop for a formal lunch break, did we?


    We finally reached the tough part of M.W. towards the end, some big flat sloping rocks with deep holes, and played there for a while. Tom tried first, banging and bouncing and screeching over the rocks, but ended up backing down. I think Donnie was next...but got stuck in a hole. While trying to winch himself out, he broke his winch cable. Then Brian pulled up through the bypass to winch Donnie out. Once he was clear (and Brian had backed himself out), I managed to get Donnie stuck again through the pypass. Jason gave him a tug from the rear, then Tom and Brian guided Donnie out. I couldn't leave without trying the big rock obstacle (since Tom tried), so I bang and bounced about for a little while as well, but couldn't get any farther then Tom did. Brian spotted me back down, so I could get out unharmed.


    After finishing up that trail on the "slick rock" hill (mostly loose, soft sandy dirt), we headed to Upper Whompum. Tom gave a try up the huge shelf rock, but it wasn't happening, so he backed down, and we all went up the bypass then proceeded out the trail to the "Bypass to 7" and eventually back to the staging area. Aside from Brian's spring issue and Donnie's winchline, the only other damage was Jason's draglink, which got bent back far enough for the TRE to get stuck on the track bar bracket and prevent him from steering. A few big pry bars later, Jason was moving and steering again.


    That was the day. Thanks for a good trail ride! :wavey:

    no one was hurt by the broken cable i hope , correct?
    any damaged caused by the snapped winch cable?
    how much was unspooled when it snapped ?
    donnie how old is the cable ?

    Quote from surfrider


    no one was hurt by the broken cable i hope , correct?
    any damaged caused by the snapped winch cable?
    how much was unspooled when it snapped ?
    donnie how old is the cable ?


    No injury's, no damage. The piece of cable that broke off is about 15' long. The cable is about 3 (hard) yrs old. My flairlead is missing a roller and it was pulling on that side and pretty much cut it into. The broken end of the cable was less then 10' from my Jeep when I got out to get it. Luckily I wasn't stuck that bad to have needed all the strength that the cable should handle. I've thought about synthetic line but with me I'd need to change it every year (if not sooner). So I'll be getting another 100' roll of steel cable here in the near future, and prolly make my own roller flair lead that can take my abuse.

    Great reports! It looks like there was something for everybody. Sorry I couldn't make it. See you all at the next ride.



    Randy

    '88 YJ, 4" suspension, 2"body lift, 456 locked F & R, 35-12.50-15 BFG KM2s on Cragar Soft 8's
    &'03 KJ, 2"+ shackle lift, armor, BBs, 245-70-16 BFG A/T TAs

    Quote from omaha


    We are terrible influences since we have convinced matty to come back up tomorrow and wheel with us when he is supposed to be grading papers.


    Well, after waking up late and then driving for 20 minutes before I realized that I had forgotten my wallet, I decided that RC wasn't in the books for me today. I had fully buried my responsible side and was ready for a day of trails at RC too. Hope you guys have a great time and if you need help w/ the movie, let me know.

    Taylor and I had an awesome time. I guess its time to limit some of my flex or figure out how to hold the springs in. Either way on the way home Taylor asked me when we can go back so I guess it was a GREAT day. Good Father Daughter time. Its always good to get out on the trail with new and old friends. :up:

    Former V.P. (2006-2007)
    V.P. of Jeeps for Joy (2004-2010)
    President of Jeeps for Joy (2010-2012)
    Beater Build Winning Driver (2009)

    I think Matthew has a crush on Taylor . She is all he has talked about today .

    85 cj7 4&quot; suspension 1&quot; body lift on 33X13.50 swampers , Ford 9&quot; / arb , t18 trans , dana 300 t case , and a efi 5.0 from a 93 gt . ( soon to have dana 44 and arb in the front )

    "More Donnie"




    Hey!!! What's that make me "Less Donnie"?!?!? :shrug: :upset: :cuss:

















    J/K...:jester: :razz:
    Nice pix. :up: :up: Looks like ya'll had a good time, hope to see ya'll on the trails again.

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