Spent the weekend in Hungry Valley..

[Tbars4]

...Got an email from a guy who invited me up to Gorman, Hungry Valley SVRA for a customer appreciation event put on by Badlands Off-Road Adventures along with UDS and 4WP...

..It was full of exhibits, demonstrations, several trail runs going on at the same time (easy to black diamond), free food, and killer discounts from 4wp for the day...

...I seen a lot of cool stuff, took lot's of pics, got lot's of info to share, and a good sunburn...

...The event was held at the "A Lil Lik" campground which is right up against the 4wd training area...

Map..
http://ohv.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=1200

..Pics of training area...
http://www.4x4training.com/images/HungryValley/index.html

...The weather was about 85 in the day, 55 at night and both had a cool breese...Gas up there was $3.29 and there is a Mcdonalds and Carl's just outside the park and that's about the whole town...

...There were about 800 attendeesI made out buying a cool wand flashlight with magnet, got a free 20' tow strap and another T-shirt...

...On to the info and the pics...

The night before...

...And the morning before the crowd showed up...

...Baja Rack...
http://www.bajarack.com/

...This guy wasn't a vendor but thought I would get some pics of his hinged rack..

..Truck Airbedz...
http://www.truckairbedz.com/
These mattress' go over the wheel well and come with wheel well inserts so you can use them anywhere as a normal bed...Self inflating and has a rechargeable battery..

TRAILHEAD Automatic Tire Deflators..Air down while you drive..
http://trailheaddeflators.com/product.htm
...They were also checking and servicing other auto deflators for attendee's..

 

[Tbars4]

...Trasharoo...
http://www.trasharoo.com/iWeb/TRASHAROO /About.html
Probably the best deal out there...This bag is tough with ton's of storage with many uses..It was going for $40 bucks..:biggthump

...CA4WDC...
http://www.cal4wheel.com/
They are the ones who take care of "John Bull" trail in the "Adopt a trail" program amongst serving the offroad community in land issues...Raffling off a jeep..

...Also not a vendor but thought this was cool..This was an insulated top on a Pinzguar and it was actually cool on the underneath...
http://www.tuffriverstuff.com/

..He also had these secondary fuse panels with usb power supply's and not seen to the left behind the fridge, Hella 5 relay pack with dust cover..(you can see the top of his Hummer air compressor...It is huge)

...And a step, 3rd brake light..

 

[Tbars4]

...Training wheels rock...:biggthump

....On to the vehicles...There were of course hundreds of jeeps out there..But I seen some other cool Truck's..

...The 2010 "Mexican 1000" winner..

...And some others...

...Azusa crowd made a showing...

...and a space saver spare...:

 

[Tbars4]

...Demonstrations...

...I was bummed as there was going to be a welding demo with batteries in series that didn't happen..It was a little to breezy with all the high vegetation...

...There was a demo though on how to winch your rig backwards with only a front winch...Got pics for those who can't remember the set up...

...And there were some rocks to play on and plenty of carnage was had...

 

[Stic-o]

Didn't stop by and say HI or invite me...

 

[Tbars4]

...I apologize to all...

...Work canceled, I got an email, and I was off....

...We definitely need to do a run up there some time...That whole training section and rock gardens is open to all (not counting all the trails too), except when they are doing Badlands, Leo, or government training...

...Camping is up to $10 a night now but this State campground is one of the few that are still open 24/7 and they keep it real nice and clean...

...BTW,this event will be held up there next year too...

 

[Mojorisen]

Great write up Ted, I was glad to run into you and Dan there. You captured a lot of great images. I feel like I saw even more through your write up than i got to see when i was there. Talk to you soon...

-Gene

 

[Tbars4]

...Glad to see you guys too... and also that you remembered your old password here...:biggthump

...There's a few members up in your area I would like to see you meet up with...Stic-o and Brother of Jefe to name a few...They are always looking for someone to go wheeling with locally and they have little spotters they are raising as well...

 

[FROADER]

A lot of guys from Expedition Portal were there.

Did Dave (Trasharoo guy) have his Boston "Dixie" with him?

 

[Tbars4]

...You mean the other spoiled dog with it's own blankets??...Yep...

...Dave and Yoshin, cool people...Actually, all the vendors out there were cool people...Everyone took there time answering your questions, how things were developed, and how other people have made use of there products...No hard sale from anybody and we got to learn a lot...

...I am going to get one of their Trasharoo's in the future...I new these could work as emergency backpacks too but, the one thing I missed there was that they fit on truck tailgates too...
http://www.trasharoo.com/iWeb/TRASHAROO /Uses.html

 

[RangerX]

...I am going to get one of their Trasharoo's in the future...I new these could work as emergency backpacks too but, the one thing I missed there was that they fit on truck tailgates too...
http://www.trasharoo.com/iWeb/TRASHAROO /Uses.html

They should change the name to Trailaroo, or Trunkaroo. They're too nice and multipurpose to have the name focus on trash!

 

[cybergasm]

So where do we sign up for the Group Buy on these? :

 

[Brian1]

Looks like it was a great event! That yellow FJ has all kinds of goodies on/in it.

got a free 20' tow strap

I hate that deal, they always tell me sorry we have ran out

 

[Tbars4]

They're too nice and multipurpose to have the name focus on trash!

...They really don't show all the stash pockets this thing has...What looks like horizontal banding in this pic is actually elastic bandings stitched for carrying things like mini mags and such...

So where do we sign up for the Group Buy on these?

..If there is interest enough, they are right by me and Colin knows them...Elite member's get first dibs...:

I hate that deal, they always tell me sorry we have ran out

...I've been trying for 2-3 years for one of these...They literally had a few hundred on hand and if they ran out it was at the end of the day...They also had 8000# Smittybilt winches on sale for $270...

...As for the FJ, that picture was after it was all unpacked...

 

[rhauf]

Hmm makes me want to go to gorman. it's been a while since i was there. it seems like there are usually a lot of dirtbikes/quads. did you find any good wheelin spots?

 

[Tbars4]

...The rock sections at the training area are sweet...:biggthump

...I didn't run the rock sections as I was in my Ranger, and 35's with sliders would make a nice run thru them...I didn't go on the group runs though...After seeing a few full size pickups get into the black diamond line up after watching them get stuck in the wash at camp a few minutes earlier, I opted out...

...I did some exploring on my own and was told of a few interesting areas there since they've had the big rains come thru...

...A lot of people at this event had mentioned how this was pretty much a quad and cycle area for the past few years...As with most of the Cali parks lately, this one was pretty empty for such a nice weekend and being fathers day...The talk turned quickly to how everyone is anxious to now come back and wheel this park...

...CA4WDC...
http://www.cal4wheel.com/
They are the ones who take care of "John Bull" trail in the "Adopt a trail" program amongst serving the offroad community in land issues...Raffling off a jeep..

...^^^^...After talking to these folks for a while, they had mentioned there is a new guy in charge of the area and he wants to make some new trails out there and make some new, hard, black diamond trails...

...Definitely a place to start going back too...

 

[JW]

Hungry Valley is pretty decent. Geared more towards bikes and quads, but some good truck trails as well. I almost rolled my Expedition out there the first time I took it out.

 

[rhauf]

well hell yea!! sounds good then, maybe i'll be out there on my next wheelin' trip!! (which is currently planned for july 10'th weekend) i know i'm going to wheel somewhere that weekend.. not sure where i'll be going (but gorman is a likely possibility) and i'm also not sure WHAT i'll be wheelin. i seem to break everything.. i broke my (brand newly aquired) explorer making that romping video the other day (broke the trans high centering it) and my bronco has a broken rear AND front axles. and my other explorer isn't assembled yet haha. well i'll have at least one of them fixed by then and i'll be out there..

would be awesome to see some new "black diamond" trails out there. from what i remember it's a bunch of dirt roads. the "training area" is kinda fun sometimes (especially for showing off, im a bit of an attention *****) but the prefab stuff gets old after a couple trips. i do know i went through that one rock course (the level one, not the one on the hill) in 12 seconds flat in my full size bronco on fright night a while back. heh heh

 

[Tbars4]

...I'm sure it will be a while for the new trails but, a video of you racing up the rock section on the hill would serve dual purposes......

 

[rhauf]

...I'm sure it will be a while for the new trails but, a video of you racing up the rock section on the hill would serve dual purposes......

Oh i'll take plenty of video while i'm out there, you can count on that


As long as we're on the topic of gorman, here's some video i've got from there, from a while back. it's nothing super awesome, but still cool