BIG BEAR [August 3rd-11th] Anyone?

[DesertSpive]

Hopefully I will have my lift by then. I still am looking meet you guys up there.

--Sean

 

[Big Bear Bob]

wish i could since i live in the area but at this point it's very unlikey.

 

[BKennedy]

Trails

Crab Flats is real challenging, but you would have trouble with open diffs. It takes all day.

There is one trail that runs up the valley out there that is placarded as a black diamond, buts not that hard. I can't remember the trail name. I did it 2 years ago with open diffs, 4" lift and 32's. There was a rock garden that did minor damage to one of my rear shocks though (after that run, I relocated my rear shocks, moving them up about 3"). At the end is a real nasty section that an X can just squeeze through in the middle of a stream as your driving over a rock with one side. With no spotter, it was scary.

You can also take a nice easy ride through the whole place on the main roads, and just enjoy the woods.

 

[Paul B.]

or, you can also hit the John Bull Trail if you want to do a mini Rubicon just before you start the Crab Flat trail.
It is a Black Diamond run.

 

[Ray Hutchinson]

Big Bear

Paul,

Have you come up with a date when you might do your pre-Rubicon run in BB? Keep me posted. Ken's 3-11 date aren't too good for me. (Plan to be back in New England then).

 

[Big Bear Bob]

What kind of rig/mods are recommended for this run for someone without that much offroad experience?

 

[Ken Cooke]

Recommendations for Big Bear

The last time I participated in an organized "Jeep" run in Big Bear, I was the "Lone" Ranger, and I was relegated to driving behind the owner of TriCounty Jeeps Full-size Bronco. At the time, I had my Rancho suspension lift (2 1/2"), a 2 inch body lift, and 32" TSL-SX's. I was a little intimidated, but I completed trails like "Gold Mountain Trail" (Page 93-94 Trails of the San Bernardino Mountains by William Teie) along with the stock and modified Jeeps that made a big deal about me driving my Ford Ranger on this run. I have always had open differentials, and aside from nearly getting stuck with my friend Andrew on a trail down in Baja, Mexico I haven't had too much trouble.
We'll be focusing on traveling some of the less extreme trails in the area since I do not have traction diffs and rock rails. If you're running 31's on your rig, and you have 4 wheel drive, you should still be able to have a good time. Although, I'll want to look at some of these harder trails, and if everyone else is up for something difficult, we'll do it together. A CB radio and a spare tire are mandatory. Tow points are also essential. Like I mentioned earlier, my friend Andrew is driving down to Big Bear for the week of August 3rd-11th and he wants to travel as many of the trails in the area as possible in one week. Because my wife and I are hopefully closing escrow on our new house, I might be away from the campsite a few days due to moving. But, I paid for my campsite at Heart Bar (campsite #68)in advance, and I intend to get some 4 wheeling for my $114 that I paid for that week.
My friend Dan will hopefully have his new rockcrawler by the beginning of this trip, and he'll be up for pushing this new rig to the limits of its design. I'm also up for a trip to Big Bear in July. The weekend of the 20th looks good - We'll hopefully be up in Pismo Beach/Oceano Dunes SVRA for the weekend of the 4th, and my "Desert Outlaw" [HARD TRANCE] music project will be touring in Portland, Oregon the weekend of the 13th, so that will be a no-go as well.
I just want to stress that we'll travel these trails as a group, and we'll stick together as a group. There's clubs that like to get exclusive and invite only "Hardcore Jeeps", but I want us to attack those v-notches, and off-camber sections as a Ford group (plus 1 Jeep - Andrews!).
You can view Andrew and I attacking some of the trails in Baja, Mexico at this URL - http://www.timsbaja.com/kencooke.html This will show you that my rig is not very extreme, and Andrew is willing to do scenic/mild 4 wheeling just to get a taste of the great outdoors, not for competition-sake.

 

[Paul B.]

Ray H. I don't know at this point as to when we will be going. Winter ran into a problem with the guy who been fabicatiing the new steering parts and he going to make a change in personnel, so who know's when the truck will be ready to go. We had to change our Rubicon date also because Tom's truck will not be ready in time to do a pre-testing run before we were to leave. Don't want to take a fresh suspension on the Con. without testing it first. So I'm guessing we will not be doing a BB run until Aug. sometime. Will keep you posted though if their is any changes.

 

[BKennedy]

Doesn't Look Good

Plans have changed and it doesn't look good for me. We are in escrow for our new place and it should close just in time to move the first week in August. Bought in Scripps Ranch (suburb of San Diego, Ca) about 20 miles from my current residence. Hey, anyone want to buy a house in Escondido??

 

[Ken Cooke]

My escrow will be closing the 1st week of August too

The escrow on the house my wife and I are buying will close on August 1st. I hope to move in - quickly. We have 800 sq ft. to move, and I believe it can be done in a few days (with enough preparation)...I'm hoping...

 

[Ken Cooke]

Impromptu Sunday Run [July 14th]

Is anyone interested in checking out the trails this Sunday, July the 14th? My brother-in-law from Germany is visiting, and he is interested in seeing what this sport is all about. I'll be interested in running Gold Mountain Trail. It is a fun stair-step trail with plenty of gorgeous scenery to take in. It should be a good time.

 

[Big Bear Bob]

Whoops

 

[sirhk100]

I'm still hoping to make it. If I do it'll be the first weekend. I lost the tranny in my Exploder today though. I'll be pulling it tomorrow to see what the damage/bill is going to be.

 

[Big Bear Bob]

Ken Cooke
Did you make it to Big Bear?
Pretty strange weather up here today, but it would have been a great day to do the trails.

Still hoping we can make it in Aug. But cannot say for sure due to chronic health issues. I would also really like to have at a set of new shocks by then.

If we can't make it hope you guys have a great few days of fun.

 

[Ken Cooke]

Nope, I didn't make it...

Bob,

I didn't make it due to my in-law not wanting to go. I didn't feel like driving completely alone up in the hills today, so I stayed close to home to care for my wife who also has chronic health problems. I hope you're feeling better!

 

[sirhk100]

Well looks like there's still a chance of me making it. I called around and sounds like turn around time on my tranny being seriously built up if everything goes right should be about 1 week. I'll drop it off this Friday, hopefully pick it up next friday install it Sat. and that gives me sometime to put some milage on it to make sure it all seems okay.

Khris

 

[Big Bear Bob]

Ken

Too bad you didn't make it up Sunday the weather has been pretty wild. The weather changed from thundershowers to blue skies and the temp's fluctuated from the mid 70's to the mid 80's and all within a matter of a few minutes.

Sorry to hear the news about your wife's health issues and hope it isn't anything serious.

My wife and I are in our 40's and have been declared permanently disabled (sucks). So we got rid of our cars, and bought a 4X4 for the winter months here in Big Bear.

When we feel human we will go out and do the easy to moderate trails by ourselves. But look forward to getting together with a few others and find out our X really can do.

Hope to be there in Aug.

 

[Xplodor]

I can go for sat and sunday. Let me know.

 

[Big Bear Bob]

Hi all my wife and I and a friend with a toyota 4X are Just curious if this run is still on the schedule? If so we would really like to meet some of the people from this site, and have a good time.
At this point we will probably stick to the moderate and maybe some of the more difficult trails that some people have said aren't really that hard but....

Thanks and hope to see some of you up here in early Aug.

 

[sirhk100]

I should know a lot more about my plans by the end of this weekend. Hoping to get my Tranny back tomorrow and installed this weekend. If all goes well I'll post my plans next week.

Khris