Troop92
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Layton, UT
Old Ward Night Run 5/2
This truly was a spur of the moment "go now or we won't for a while" run. For that, fellow RME'ers, I apologize. I even neglected to text my buddy that was going to ride with me in my rig. I'll blame it being late, a Friday, and having zero sleep from a baby that still thinks day is night and night day.
Below is just a quick, picture-less writeup of the ride.
Players:
1992 Trooper (mine, see sig for details)
2002 Rodeo (LSD, ARB bumper, rock sliders, rack, winch, onboard air, 265/75-16 Goodyear commercial tires w/ Kevlar)
2002 TJ (custom bumpers, sliders, lunchbox locker rear, ARB air locker front, onboard air, 33" Goodyear Duratracs)
My '92 Trooper, buddy with his '02 Rodeo, and another buddy with his '02 TJ (all of us are in various states of 'built' - we joke that if we combined all our rigs we'd have an awesome unstoppable one) left Layton about 11:40 and hit the staging area below the B at about midnight. Weather was mild and calm, perfect for what we were doing. I led out, since my LED spot/floods make quick work of darkened trails. Took the farthest line left to get up to the start of Old Ward, which is getting seriously washed out on the bottom. I don't envy the passengers on our trails, looking straight down for a good portion it seems. We did a quick spot for each initially and then set out along our way. I didn't air down, nor did the TJ, but the Rodeo did what with having onboard air. We moved along and stopped in the lower meadow to look over the valley, then set out along the route to get to the upper meadow area.
First obstacle encountered was the wash that cants you to the south as you turn slightly south - a definite pucker moment if you don't pick a good line. My LEDs showed a good overview of it, and I picked a line that while felt good to me, had those watching thinking I was going to flop on my side. Next up was the Rodeo, who picked a good line, but having the most street-oriented tires lost traction while not carry enough momentum. In a strange turn, his front passenger tire was holding most of the weight in that situation, and with being already aired down, was pinched in just such a way to start bleeding air quickly. He backed out of it and thankfully it remained on the bead. 5 min to air to get it back up, and put a few more psi in each for good measure, and he was good. After that the Rodeo made quick work of it with a careful line and the fully locked TJ had no troubles walking through it.
Next up was an off-camber bend to the left (Maldito, you know the one I'm talking about...) that while dry this time, got my Trooper all hot and bothered... I approached the same line I took when it was snowy and had issues. Irksome. So backed up, looked it over, and picked a more direct approach (read slightly faster) and was up and over without incident. The Rodeo was much the same, had to hunt and peck for traction and made it up after a few tries. We Isuzu's (while not officially admitting it), uh, admire the solid axle and flex of the TJ, who again, walked through it. However, he is locked front/rear, so that helped. Yes, let's put it that way. Continued on our way and hit the upper meadow without incident, where we lit up the area with my LEDs and we talked, broke out a few sodas and unwound a bit.
From there to the top it was pretty uneventful, taking it slower over the rocky sections and picking smart lines to avoid damage. That giant rock in the middle of the trail toward the top was fun. As we approached the top, we started passing campers, who I'm sure loved being disturbed by three rigs at nearly 3am... Sorry, campers. Got up to the tie-in with Skyline and took it back down to the staging area to air up and go.
It was a fun run, though illuminating - much more erosion on the face of the trail above the B/mud pit, and that access point will no longer be there, leaving the only option up and over on the north to the meadow area. Likewise, that wash (first obstacle that I mentioned between meadows) could be pretty bad next good hard rain we get. All in all, a lot of fun, only heightened by the nighttime atmosphere. I'm sure if we took it right now (noontime) we'd think "oh, that doesn't look so bad...." We're definitely lucky that we have such a good trail, with such a variety of things on trail, as close as we do.
This truly was a spur of the moment "go now or we won't for a while" run. For that, fellow RME'ers, I apologize. I even neglected to text my buddy that was going to ride with me in my rig. I'll blame it being late, a Friday, and having zero sleep from a baby that still thinks day is night and night day.
Below is just a quick, picture-less writeup of the ride.Players:
1992 Trooper (mine, see sig for details)
2002 Rodeo (LSD, ARB bumper, rock sliders, rack, winch, onboard air, 265/75-16 Goodyear commercial tires w/ Kevlar)
2002 TJ (custom bumpers, sliders, lunchbox locker rear, ARB air locker front, onboard air, 33" Goodyear Duratracs)
My '92 Trooper, buddy with his '02 Rodeo, and another buddy with his '02 TJ (all of us are in various states of 'built' - we joke that if we combined all our rigs we'd have an awesome unstoppable one) left Layton about 11:40 and hit the staging area below the B at about midnight. Weather was mild and calm, perfect for what we were doing. I led out, since my LED spot/floods make quick work of darkened trails. Took the farthest line left to get up to the start of Old Ward, which is getting seriously washed out on the bottom. I don't envy the passengers on our trails, looking straight down for a good portion it seems. We did a quick spot for each initially and then set out along our way. I didn't air down, nor did the TJ, but the Rodeo did what with having onboard air. We moved along and stopped in the lower meadow to look over the valley, then set out along the route to get to the upper meadow area.
First obstacle encountered was the wash that cants you to the south as you turn slightly south - a definite pucker moment if you don't pick a good line. My LEDs showed a good overview of it, and I picked a line that while felt good to me, had those watching thinking I was going to flop on my side. Next up was the Rodeo, who picked a good line, but having the most street-oriented tires lost traction while not carry enough momentum. In a strange turn, his front passenger tire was holding most of the weight in that situation, and with being already aired down, was pinched in just such a way to start bleeding air quickly.
He backed out of it and thankfully it remained on the bead. 5 min to air to get it back up, and put a few more psi in each for good measure, and he was good. After that the Rodeo made quick work of it with a careful line and the fully locked TJ had no troubles walking through it. Next up was an off-camber bend to the left (Maldito, you know the one I'm talking about...) that while dry this time, got my Trooper all hot and bothered... I approached the same line I took when it was snowy and had issues. Irksome. So backed up, looked it over, and picked a more direct approach (read slightly faster) and was up and over without incident. The Rodeo was much the same, had to hunt and peck for traction and made it up after a few tries. We Isuzu's (while not officially admitting it), uh, admire the solid axle and flex of the TJ, who again, walked through it. However, he is locked front/rear, so that helped. Yes, let's put it that way.
Continued on our way and hit the upper meadow without incident, where we lit up the area with my LEDs and we talked, broke out a few sodas and unwound a bit.From there to the top it was pretty uneventful, taking it slower over the rocky sections and picking smart lines to avoid damage. That giant rock in the middle of the trail toward the top was fun. As we approached the top, we started passing campers, who I'm sure loved being disturbed by three rigs at nearly 3am... Sorry, campers. Got up to the tie-in with Skyline and took it back down to the staging area to air up and go.
It was a fun run, though illuminating - much more erosion on the face of the trail above the B/mud pit, and that access point will no longer be there, leaving the only option up and over on the north to the meadow area. Likewise, that wash (first obstacle that I mentioned between meadows) could be pretty bad next good hard rain we get. All in all, a lot of fun, only heightened by the nighttime atmosphere. I'm sure if we took it right now (noontime) we'd think "oh, that doesn't look so bad...." We're definitely lucky that we have such a good trail, with such a variety of things on trail, as close as we do.
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