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August 22, 1998
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Well, I wasn't going to write a trip report for this one either, but Ray wanted something to attach the day's photos to. So here it is!
I wanted to see if I could fit an early day-trip in on a work day (I work evenings). Ray and I met up at the Maple Ridge Burger King at 9:00 am, and headed off to Blue Mtn. We drove up to the first parking lot, where I aired down to 10 psi and Ray aired down to 15 psi. I wanted to take Ray through the same trails as the previous trip, as he had not done them, and I wanted a try at the final hill.
After driving past the second parking lot because I forgot where the Suzuki Trail trailhead was, I introduced the trail to Ray. At the end of the trail, I gently caressed the same rock as last time with my front right tire, and slid my back tire into it. Ray did the same, and mananged to slightly dent his rear rim lip.
Once out of the Suzuki Trail, we headed south to the fork, then took the left fork back up the mountain.
No problems at all, and the moss-covered rock that gave me problems last time seemed like a mere bump in the road this time. In one of the large puddles we crossed, I observed tadpoles wiggling away from the path of my tires.
I missed the turn to the right, and started out along Tire Trail by accident. When we passed through the parallel logs, I realized my mistake, but we decided to press on to see what the road was like, and find a suitable location to turn around. We drove over a metal grate which was being used as part of the road, and a bit further until I noticed the road was getting narrower, more off-camber, and had some rocks up ahead. We decided to turn around now, rather than have to turn around in what looked like a narrower section (save it for another day with more time). We wound up backing up a ways, and turning around in a marginally wider section of road. When I was backing up, my rear bumper bumped a tall, 6" wide dead tree, and it came crashing down on my roof and hood, with a branch dropping in through my open passenger window. Good thing I didn't have a soft-top-equipped vehicle! I got out and lifted the trunk off my truck, and moved the debris off to the side of the road. No noticeable dents, and just a few more paint scratches and scuffs to add to the collection. Ray said it looked pretty funny falling down on me. Then it was Ray's turn to turn around; he got himself into one of those weird off-camber situations best described with a picture. =)
The tougher section of road seemed easier this time; I stopped twice on the ascent to pick a different line, but did not get hung up on anything. I spotted Ray through this section, and he had no real problems (his lockers helped here).
At the final hill, I tried crawling up it slowly. I almost made it to the top, but I lost traction.
I backed down and gave it another try, with a bit more speed. I made it up far enough to get my front tires over the top lip, but needed "just a bit more" traction to get over the top. I should point out that I made it up farther than Dave's fully-locked Bronco did during the last trip... =) I tried a couple more times and attempted a different line, each time getting the front tires over the lip, but unable to drag the back tires up over it. I backed down to the switchback, and Ray gave it a try with rear locker only. He made to the exact same location as me. He then engaged his front locker, and easily crawled over the lip. I then drove my truck up to the lip, and we strapped my truck to his, and he gave me the little tug I needed to crest the lip. A couple hundred feet later and we reached the end of the road.
We decided to turn around and then have lunch. Ray picked a weird (in my opinion) location to turn around, and again found himself in one of those off-camber situations, with his tires sideways in the ruts and his APF off the scale.
I think it felt worse than it looked, and it looked worse than it actually was, although rocking the truck by hand got a tire off the ground, and gave Ray a good view of the ground from his drivers' side window. =) Through a combination of spotting, engaging and disengaging the lockers to induce slide, and me hanging off the front passenger side of his bumper to add weight (no wisecracks now!), Ray was able to reposition his 4Runner back on level ground. But it was still facing the wrong way! He was able to turn around in another section with no problem, and I did the same.
The trip out was uneventful, and we were out by 3:30 pm; plenty of time for me to get to work.
While airing up at the Shell Station, I noticed that I had broken another rear shock at the lower eye (drivers' side this time). Doh! Also, back on the road, the truck pulled a bit to the right when braking, most likely due to a tweaked tie rod (or so I thought; Ray later pointed out the broken heim joint on my Rancho torque rod! DOH! Lifetime warranty, though).
It was a nice little day trip, and also an experiment to see if it was possible for us to 'wheel on my work days. And since it is, we're heading out next week too.
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