Tellico Nov 2nd - 3rd

[donkey boy]

Crab Tree Falls this Sunday

 

[Bionc Marsh.]

WOOOHOOO!

Only a couple of days to go. Looks like we have landed on CB channel 5 for communications.

My truck is still in the shop getting the clutch installed. Had to replace the fly wheel. Order one (elldgedly) from Advance Auto, turns out all they could get was the ring gear. Had to go the VA Beach this morning to get the fly wheel from the Ford dealer ($260!! ). Should be picking the truck up tomorrow.

I thinking of driving all the way on Thursday. I should arrive in Murphy around 7 or 8 pm. Anyone else going to be there by then?

Rick

 

[GJarrett]

Aarrrgh

Rick, check your email today I am about to email you and the CNC guys. My son just got REAL sick last night. After all of this planning I may not be able to make this trip

 

[BRUISER]

Bionc Marsh.,


I will be there around 7 or 8pm thursday night.
We are staying at Tellicocabins.com

You can try to call me if you wish.
I will Pm you with my number.

GJarrett,

Sorry to hear the bad news, hope your son gets better.
Maybe we will get lucky and see you there.

Ken C

 

[donkey boy]

Re: Aarrrgh

Originally posted by GJarrett
Rick, check your email today I am about to email you and the CNC guys. My son just got REAL sick last night. After all of this planning I may not be able to make this trip

Gerald:
I hope your son is doing better and the two of you get to go. Otherwise he will be feeling double-bad, because of being sick and having the feeling of having spoilt your weekend. Sons are like that

 

[GJarrett]

Sorry guys.
Nope, we'll have to stay here and miss the trip. He got hit with a really nasty virus and threw up for a solid day. Like a real bad flu except he didn't have a fever; I have no idea what that was. We couldn't keep him hydrated enough and he had to go to the hospital to get rehydrated. He's out now but still weak so we need to take it easy for a couple of days.

Thanks for the kind thoughts. He'll be fine, just a little weak right now.

 

[Bionc Marsh.]

Back home

Well, I back home (early). Decided to come on home after 2 days of Tellico. I do have a few pics and a little video of the trip. Just quickly here are a few hi-lites; The trails were wet, I think we covered what that means before, Fain's Ford is washed out and tougher than I remember (drug both sliders going up and rear bumper going down), sliders got a huge work out all weekend, went up slickrock (got stuck before the rock and winched up to it, climbed the first part of the rock called the ledge without help, then winched from the middle on up), drove up the bottom of Lower 2 (all I can say is DAMN...no way!). Damage report; right corner panel - Trail 4, left corner panel - Trail 4 & 6, left brake backer plate & parking brake - Slickrock, trim of driver side center window and pillar between rear windows - Trail 6, Rear hatch and window trim - Lower 2 (high lift hit it), front sway bar bracket - Trail 4.

I'll try to do a little more detailed report later; I'm very tired (11 hour drive home tonight).

Rick

 

[diablo5969]

Sounds like a great trip!

Let's see the pics

 

[GJarrett]

Hoo-Wee, maybe I'm glad my kid got sick. You got that much damage on 4 and 6? Musta been an insane weekend. Please post pics and trip report when you have time. How cold was it at night?

 

[BRUISER]

Well we also made it back fine.

Had a great time.
Oh way what ever happened on sat?
you guys never showed up at the pay post.
Oh I see you didn't want to ride us huh. j/k


Here is a detailed report of our days

2002 Fall Tellico Run
November 1-3, 2002

Friday started out at 9:00 at the Trail Head/ Pay Post. The following
people were in attendance:
Myself, Scott Roberts- TJ, 35” MTR’s
Ken Carter- XJ, 35” MTR’s
Jim Nelson- YJ, 36” Super Swampers
J.D.- Samurai, 34” Super Swampers
Craig Scibetta- Rubicon, 31” MTR’s

We rolled out 9:30 and headed for Trail 4. Usually Trail 4 is a nice warm
up, but nothing much for excitement. It was very wet for us and our first
obstacle was a mud pit with a large rock on the left side waiting for some
fresh paint. Our only concern was the Rubicon. Everyone else had rocker
guards or did not care about body damage. It took a little coaxing but with
dual lockers and a good driver we got Craig through without a scratch. We
wanted to try Guardrail because we had a small group and figured it would be
easier with less people.

It took a while just to get to the foot of Guardrail. Lots of winching and
tow strapping got us to the obstacle though. At one point Craig’s back
driver-side tire was about to fall off the mountain. We hooked up Ken’s
Cherokee to pull the Rubicon forward. But before we pulled him up the
mountain, I decided that it would be a good idea to hook a strap to the back
of the Rubicon and run it perpendicular to the jeep up to a tree. As soon
as Ken pulled Craig forward the tire slipped off the trail, luckily the
strap connected to the rear end tightened up real quick and kept the Jeep
(and Craig) from falling down the mountain. Talk about a close call.
Everyone had to winch up Guardrail. It was really wet and nasty. The
embankment decided to leap out and hit my front passenger-side fender. It
was nothing bad though. After we got half of the group up, we ate lunch.
When we finally got the last one up, we had spent four hours on Guardrail.
Talk about a long day.

We headed up the trail to Helicopter Pad. We all took the by-pass and then
proceeded to walk back down to take a look at the pad. It has very steep
rocks with lots of dig outs and a huge rock protruding from the left-side
just waiting for a quarter panel or worse a rear window. After a couple
minutes of gawking we got back in our jeeps and started to head home.
Everyone is tired at this time.

We had two choices to get back home; going down School bus or going down the
Squeeze on Trail 11. We decided to take on the Squeeze. We felt that it
would be quicker because it had only one hard obstacle. Rocker-guards are
almost a necessity for this obstacle. I made it through testing using my
rocker-guards all the way through. Next, came the Rubicon. Myself along
with Ken and J.D. guided Craig through the squeeze very slowly. At one
point we had to use the High Lift jack to put a couple of rocks under the
front tire. After all was said and done, the only damage was a little
scrape of his rear plastic fender flair, nothing a little Armour All can’t
take care of. Ken made it through using his rockers. J.D. in the Samurai
made it look easy. Jim in the YJ pretty much ran over the Squeeze with his
wide axles. The rest of that trail was nice and mellow.

We took Trail 11 to Trail 3 and then we hit Trail 4. At this time the group
split up. Ken, Craig, and myself went to Fain’s Ford. Jim and J.D. along
with their wives, headed back home. The ledge to get out of the creek is
steep; we had to stack a couple of rocks so that the Rubicon could get up.
At this time we met up with Rick Morris and Frank. We chatted for several
minutes and then decided it was time to go home. The way out was easy going
until we got to this mud pit with a huge rock in the middle of it. This is
the same obstacle that earlier in the day we had to guide Craig through.
Somehow, the rock was moved from the side to the middle of the mud pit. It
took a little bit of time and some patience but everyone got through under
their own power. At this time it was around 7:30. Everyone had different
plans so we headed on our way. The plan was to meet the next day at 9:00 at
the pay post.

Saturday morning 9:00am we all met at the pay post with one extra club
member, John Harper, he has a TJ on 33” Super Swampers. We were expecting
Frank, Rick Morris, and Michael Care, so we decided to wait until 10:00am
and then head out. At 10:00am we headed out without them.

We drove down Trail 1 until it hit Trail 5. At this point the trail crosses
the creek. The water was only about 6” deep. We headed on up the trail
until the Rubicon got hung up on its transfercase. We hooked up Ken’s
Cherokee and pulled Craig over the rough spot.

Then, we hopped on Trail 4 heading towards Fain’s Ford. Everyone made it up
the ledge this time. We were slowly making our way to Slick Rock. We hoped
on Trail 8 and then on Trail 9.

Trail 9 has been washed out more than in past years and there was a huge
off-camber mud pit that swallowed even the biggest tires. Everyone made it
through except the Rubicon. Craig bottomed out about ¾’s of the way
through. His exhaust tip was under the mud so we had him keep the RPM’s up
so that the engine would not die. Ken came to the rescue once more and
pulled Craig out.

Now it is time for Slick Rock. It took several attempts. Backing up and
bumping it a couple times, but I made it up under my own power. Next, was
Ken, he was doing great until he got to one obstacle that did not like the
Cherokee’s wheelbase. Each tire was trying to climb a different ledge at
the same time. A little help from his winch got him up. John Harper was
able to get up the rock with no excitement. Come on John, at least put a
tire in the air for us. Craig was able to get up to Slick Rock after a
couple tries and a bent tailpipe we decided to winch. John ran a snatch
block down to Craig to help him out. Jim Nelson was next. He put on a
show. His tires were jumping all over the place. A couple of tries and he
was up the rock. J.D. was last and was trying to compete for the best show
competition. His driver-side Super Swamper decided that it was going to
climb the straight up the mud wall on the left. The Samurai stood almost
straight up. After J.D. put his heart back into chest, Jim winch the
Samurai up the rock.

Everybody knows that once you get up Slick Rock it is not over. There are a
couple more obstacle that await you. The Rubicon needed a little help; John
helped him out this time. Once we all got to the top. We noticed gear oil
on the rock behind Jim’s wrangler. It wasn’t good. The oil was dripping
from the axle tube. Upon further inspection we discovered that his ladder
bar had actually ripped open the axle tube at the welds. (Jim your welds
are too strong, jk) We tried to weld up the hole with welding rods and
batteries but it did not work. To get Jim home, we disconnected the ladder
bar and drive shaft. We slowly made our way out of the park. Jim had to be
helped on a couple of obstacles because he only had front wheel drive.

We got out of the park at 9:00pm. Time to eat. We went to the steak house
but they were going to close soon. So, we headed down to the Mexican
restaurant. Everybody had a great time. Can’t beat grubbing and telling
stories after a long day of wheeling. It was really great getting to know
the individuals on this trip. I believe that everyone had a good time and
everyone got home ok. (Jim had a trailer) I can’t wait to do it again next
year.

I will have to say that Daimler Chrysler did great job on the Rubicon. We
did have to pull Craig a couple of times. But for a jeep off the show room
floor, it did awesome. We got him up Guardrail and Slick Rock with only a
bent tail pipe, scraped plastic fender flair and a bent license plate. I
can’t imagine what this vehicle will be capable of with a little more
clearance under the transfercase.

Let’s do it again


Ken C

Some pics here:
Dead Link Removed

 

[X-1]

BRUISER

Excellent write up, and pics! That trip would have ate my ex for breakfast. I was up at Norris, but didn't get to play, they had the trails where I go closed for hunting So now I have to wait till spring.

 

[jobunn]

Great pics and write-up!!!

 

[diablo5969]

Originally posted by BRUISER
The embankment decided to leap out and hit my front passenger-side fender.

Uh huh, yeah

The more stories I hear, the more fun it sounds!

 

[Bionc Marsh.]

BRUISER

We were on a parts hunt Sat morning (sorry, no way to contact you). We had to find shocks for the rear of Mike's runner and we were looking for parts to repair my rear brakes. I think we finally got on the trail at 12:30. I felt bad about John (Harper), he was looking for me to ride Sunday, but I just didn't have it me. One of these days we will get more Ford Ex/Mazda Nav on the trail at one time. We did pass a group and heard on the CB, "hey John, did you see that Exploder?” Then someone said (not me), "it was a Mazda!” I thought, cool someone actually recognized it!

Rick

 

[GJarrett]

Great Writeup

Someone who does a more thorough trip report than me, LOL. Great writeup and pics, BRUISER.

Now I wish I could have joined, but I still don't have my 35's on, so maybe it was just as well. I will definately be pumped for a spring run next time out! I notice in the photos that the trees were exploding in color. Musta been awesome to be out there.

Keep in touch!

 

[diablo5969]

Re: Great Writeup

Originally posted by GJarrett
I notice in the photos that the trees were exploding in color.

Is it just me, or is anybody else having problems with the link and/or pictures?

 

[jobunn]

Re: Re: Great Writeup

Originally posted by diablo5969
Is it just me, or is anybody else having problems with the link and/or pictures?

Right click on the pics that don't show...go to properties...highlight the web address and copy it.....paste to your web address bar. That worked for me.

 

[diablo5969]

Now I can't even get the link to work. Oh well, I guess I'll try again later to check them out

 

[dgibson]

Awesome pics guys. Looks like you all had one hell of a time. Glad to say I couldn't make that trip. Some of the things that I seen and read sounds like it would have ripped my x up.

 

[Bionc Marsh.]

Ken,

That is a great write up and some good pics as well! I have a few pics of our (little) group, how can I get them on the CNC site for all to see?

dgibson,

You never know 'till you try! Are you locked at all....yet? It looks like you have a good look'n truck, let's get in the woods.

Rick