Sorry man, I spend all week in this cave so when the weekend comes
Anyway, where did I leave off?
SO, back at camp, Katie decides Nimby doesn't like the hills with his present gearing and she is tired of the skeeters so they opt out of the rest of the day.
The rest of us head back up to the trail heads and turn left this time. It's probably a good thing Nimby didn't continue cause it was a solid 1/2 mile of steep up hill to the top of the cliff. We rested and paid our respects, threw some rocks off the edge. They took a good 5-6 seconds to finally hit the bottom. Kinda makes you wonder what those kids were thinking about during the time they were falling.
Back in the rigs and time for the real fun. Another 1/2 mile of tight trail and we hit the bottom of the ledge. Having been there before, from the other direction, I stopped to evaluate the options. Walking was hard enough, I had a hard time imagining driving up. More trees to weave through, many flexy bumps (bump on one side, hole on the other), then there was a spot that, if you were on level ground, it would be a 3ft verticle wall. I really didn't think I had enough approach angle to get up it without leaving the air dam on the trail.
The alternate wasn't very attractive either. Last time we lowered several rigs, including myself, down a very steep and very loose hill but it was straight down with a very short run out at the bottom. The middle option was good for a while but then went off camber really bad and it would be a 150ft roll to the bottom.
I was going to try the straight up alternate after a few rigs got up and could provide an anchor point.
First one up was Kevin and as expected, he didn't have any problems and showed a viable line. Next was Painter Ken, again no real problems. I thought Keith was going to try the straight up bypass with me but they talked him into trying the ledge too. As you can see, that monster walked up it too.
Decision time;
Do I try the toughest section I've ever tried or do I wimp out, at this point the bypass was just as dangerous since I would be the first but 3 had already successfully climbed the ledge and I knew the adrenelin rush that lay ahead.
The video tells all. I'm really glad I rebuilt the clutches in the rear
There was no slip all day long.
A quick gulp of nice cold beer, thanks Keith, and we talked about what to do next.
Oh sorry, Ryan was the last one to come up, again no problemo.
So the discussion was wether to look for more trails or try to make it to Lion Rock. That was a long way and it was already mid afternoon. I estimated we'd be back at camp around 7-8 if we did but it would be a shame to have made the trip without going up there. Lion Rock it was. we have plenty of food and drinks.
Back in the trucks for LOTS of tight twisty tree weaving. Several little gullies with short steep climbs out of them. At the crest, there were several times I had to stop, open the door and stand on the running boards to see where the trail went. It is so tight you couldn't see any opening in the trees.
There were a couple squeezes I didn't think the full width axels would get through. In fact, there was one (my mirrors cleared by 2") that I heard Ketih was like the T-Rex in Jurasic Park. "Keith's coming, can't you see the trees bending apart?"
The trail was decieving, it looked pretty flat in many locations but if you tried to go more than 5mph, you were bouncing back and forth due to the baby head and melon sized rocks. Did I mention the dust?? and I was in front.
Finally we pop out on the top of the ridge onto the service roads. The meadows were in full bloom and absolutely georgous.
On to Lion Rock for the views. I can't believe I didn't get more pictures from there. You can get there via service roads and there are several camp areas. It's strange to drive up the 4x4 trails and then see motor homes at the top
(you can look for the first trip report for more pics)
Kevin and I pour over the maps to figure out the quickest way back to camp and we haven't seen the sandstone pinnacles yet.
Forest service roads here we come.
About 1/2 way down he rounds a corner and there they are!! we regroup and check them out. It's interesting to go from basalt (Lion Rock) and a mile away, sandstone (Hole in the Rock).
Finally back in the rigs headed for camp and dinner. Back at camp, I hook up a projector (the kind you hook up to a laptop for a meeting) and Ryan plugs in his camera. Kevin breaks out the last clean sheet (he packed it especially for this trip) and they hang it off the awing of Keith's motor home.
We watched the videos of the ledge several times. I didn't have a specific video cable so we couldn't put in a movie, we just re-ran the wheeling over and over.
That's it for now, I'll get to the singing a little later.
Kevin tried to sling some mud on Painter Ken
:bsnicker:
outfiting the hummers with them
