Sunday, March 28, 1999

The collective Toyota gang decided to head back to Blue Mtn for a jaunt through the forest. I wanted to conquer the waterfall, and Ray needed some seat time... We met up at the usual Subway/Super Save gas station, and headed out for Blue. The view of the mountains from Dewdney Trunk Rd showed a dusting of white from last night's snowfall, and we wondered if we'd even be able to do any 'wheeling.

Once at Blue, it became fairly obvious that the snow had almost no effect on the trails; for the most part the trails were wet but barren of snow, with the run-off meandering down the trails to fill out the mud puddles. We met George and his cousin at the guardian; they were dirt-biking instead of 'wheeling. Five minutes into the trail, Shane noticed an odd squealing noise coming from the vicinity of his front end. An inspection showed it to be caused by a rock jammed between his right front axleshaft and the IFS cross-member. We made the usual IFS jokes while Shane gently worked the rock out with a large hammer. We then headed for the waterfall, with Eric in the lead.

Eric picked his line, and slowly crawled up the first step. He managed to get a rear tire a couple feet in the air, and didn't have enough traction to continue forward. He elected to winch himself up the rest of the way, to avoid possible body damage. Meanwhile, Shane had taken the muddy bypass to position himself at the top of the waterfall in the event Eric needed something to winch to. While Eric was winching, two Toyota pickups ('81 and '84) and a Samurai passed by via the bypass.

Next up was Ray; he tried the right-side line that I tried last week, and managed to do the Wil thing again and plant the left rear corner of his truck into the embankment. Unfortunately, that little escapade took out his taillight lens and lightly crushed the left corner of his truck. *doh* Now it actually looks like he 'wheels it... ;)

Ray continued up the steps, got a front tire a foot into the air, and had no more problems during the rest of the way.

Finally it was my turn; I pointed my truck at the center of the steps and slowly crawled up. No problems, and apparently I made it look so easy that nobody took a picture of me! :) Finally conquered the waterfall... I had a fairly satisfied smile on my face!

About 500m past the waterfall, we encountered the two Toyota pickups and the Samurai... the older Toyota pickup had broken a U-bolt, and the owner was attempting to bo-jang some chain and bolt arrangement to keep his axle located... we took this opportunity to eat lunch. Ray made fun of my fondness for cold KFC, and Eric made fun of Ray's hat. After a few loud bangs, the Toyota driver finally decided that Mickey Mouse just wasn't strong enough to hold the axle, so the Samurai turned around and drove back down the trail to search for a store that sold U-bolts.

We slowly picked our way past the two remaining Toyotas; Ray got a bit too close the '84's camper tie-down and managed to tag his right rear quarterpanel just forward of the taillight... now the two sides match! heh =)

We turned left at the powerline road, and headed towards some of the obstacles. We dropped off the steep ledge that somebody tipped over on to his side during last week's festivities, but it was no big deal; couldn't figure out how he got himself into that predicament. I don't remember what else we tried, but it was all easy-going. At two-step, Ray got that feels-worse-than-it-looks look on his face when he got a tire in the air and slid forwards; he let out the brakes and quickly came off the step, banging his rear bumper in the process.

I started out by straddling the center V (*bang* rear bumper tags rock) then hugging left. I applied the brakes during the drop off the step; I felt the right rear of the truck lift into the air as the front left dropped down, got a real close view of the ground out my side window, then cranked the wheel to the left and gave it a bit of gas to avoid tipping over. *whew*

We climbed the next hill to a small rocky plateau; Eric made it up, but Ray got stuck because both rear tires were positioned against a rock step, and had to be winched up by Eric. I showed Ray the correct line to take, and Shane followed me up with no problems. Of course, we all made fun of Ray for having to have his fully-locked, Marlin Crawler'd, Tonka Toy winched up this very basic obstacle. :p (Ray's probably fuming as he's reading this, but until he writes his own trip reports, he'll have to put up with it! LOL)

After this, we encountered a full-size 90's GMC pickup, a 92-ish Toyota pickup, and a Jeep YJ. The Toyota had blown a front diff, and was attempting to egress in 2wd. What is it with these guys and their Toyotas?? Shane and I went around them by taking a slightly different route down to the big mud puddle, then let them pass by us as we waited for Ray and Eric to come down the hill.

We forded the mud puddle with our Toys, and headed down the road towards the rock trench at the bottom. When we arrived, the Toyota with the broken front diff was stuck in the trench, and the GMC had to strap him through. None of us had any problems except for the usual rear bumper banging, and we proceeded out to the big parking lot at the trailhead.

The other guys were already there; they had the front left of the Jeep jacked up to fix a loose wheel bearing. We amused ourselves on the hillclimbs for a bit, then watched the Jeep attempt it (unsuccessfully). Later on, the Jeep driver realized that he had left his wheel lock key attached to his wheel lock *doh*, so they spent a few minutes trying to find it on the hill. Must be a Jeep thing! :)

We stood around and chatted for a bit, then finally left as I had to get to work :( and the others had things to do as well. A good day of 'wheeling for me; no breaks, no problems, and all obstacles suitably vanquished.

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