[lupinsea]

Had fun this weekend with a new guy to the Jeep and offroad world. This was his first Jeep. It was stock and he hadlimited experience offroading. We only did a half day but it was worth it. It's always fun showing a new guy the ropes.

Reiter Trails
Gold Bar, WA

December 16th, 2007

A group of us (I Flex, Kercher, myself, and Synax) met up Sunday to show a new Jeeper the ropes and help him get used to his new rig and offroading with some help near by if needed. Synax was a great sport and pushed his stock TJ through some challenging terrain with help from his friend and co-driver.

The day started with the ritual of airing down the tires, disconnecting the front swaybars, and other last minute preparations for the trail. Then we started off on some easier trails that I needed to GPS map (an on-going project for this trail network). We splashed through some small puddles and followed the tight twisting bob-sled-like trails.

Next up was a visit to the Index Wall trail. The snow level had come down recently and the view from the precipice was sure to be interesting. Index Wall trail is a water-logged route. It starts off with a deteriorating road grade submerging under several deep and long puddles, then a creek crossing, then more puddles before turning to pass through a forest obstacles course (Fig 1) with little in the way of a designated route. Finally, it dumps out onto the remnants of the road grade (Fig 2) that lead to the ledge.

The stock rig handled the puddles no problem but we needed to work more slowly and carefully to pick our way through the forest obstacle course where stump roots and wet rocks presented slipery surfaces that could hang up a low-slung Jeep. With a few spoters the stock rig came through a-ok and we were off to the Wall.

Sure enough it was an interesting sight. Gone were the fall colors from a month ago. The town of Index and the valley it sat in looked cold and barren. Across the way it was indeed VERY apparent where the snow level was (Fig 3).

Once back in the Jeeps we re-traced the route out (Fig 4) and headed for the lower trails under the power lines. Along the way a rig got hung up on a stump and my rescue attempt started looking like it's own recovery operation. Taking a muckier route to the stuck Jeep I plowed my rig into a deep mud hole where the engine fan kept whacking the water and I thought I'd need to break out my winch for myself. But with some back and forth steering and a little forward and reverse rocking action I managed to back up out of the hole and try a different route. Good thing too as an inch of water was seeping into the passenger cabin.

A steep hillclimb toward the end of the day was a tricky challenge. I scrambled up to the top where I used my winch to assist the other three Jeeps up. It was only the last 25 ft that gave anyone any trouble (Fig 5) as the grade steepened further and the wet sand and gravel made finding traction difficult.

Before we wrapped up the day we headed toward the Lake Isabel trail water crossings. Wow, big changes wrought by the storms this month. The creek bed had been gouged out about 2 ft lower than it was a month ago. The water dug a hole where there had been a ramp in the trail (Fig 6) necessitating a re-route. And where the upper creek crossing returns to the main trail, that has been washed out and there's now a 3 foot drop. The rest of the Lake Isabel trail must have suffered some tremendous erosion and retouting. Good, it should make things more interesting in the future.

Fig 1 - Crossing through the forest obstacle course on the Index Wall Trail





Fig 2 - Fording a puddle on the Index Wall Trail





Fig 3 - It was very apparent where the snow line was from the top of Index Wall





Fig 4 - Retracing our steps on the Index Wall Trail. More puddles.





Fig 5 - The steep hill climb under the powerlines. This is about where people
could make it before needing to be winched up.





Fig 6 - Storm damage on the Lake Isabel trail. Things were very torn up.

[AZ Bulldog]

Very cool, Pic 2 and 4 would have made me nervous. I don't like the deep water stuff, Pic 4 looked really muddy and fast moving. Great photos, looked like a good time...

[I FLEX]

Great pics as always Jay. I had a blast, it was great getting out and hitting the trails since it had been so long for me. It was nice meeting some new faces and getting Jon into the Jeeping life.

I'd be up for another run to do some exploring and furthering the GPS'ing of the Reiter trails.

[lupinsea]

It was great heading out. Had a lot of fun showing Jon around.

Next time, though, I wish I weren't so limited on time. I'd like to see what damage the lake Isabel trial sustained but especially wrap up the GPSing. I'm *this* close to being done (I think). I have the major trails but it's some small side-stuff I'd like to make sure I get.

The nice thing about Reiter is that because it's at a much lower elevation than, say, Evan's Creek we don't have to worry about the trails getting burried under several feet of snow. This means the trails should be open year round.

[breckboarder55]

nice picks man, that looks pretty deep! Any damage done?

[synax]

Jay, thanks for the hospitality and the invite to go up with you and the guys. I had a blast - minimal damage to the Jeep. I've got to get it to the power wash tomorrow and take a closer look at the undercarriage but I think all in all this was a very successful trip for the stock jeep.

Some pictures that came off my camera can be seen here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/synax/sets/72157603478266829/

Damage to the stock jeep that I have found so far:

• The rims got a bit messed up - but thats what you get for wheeling street tires on chrome...
• The front drivers side fender above the bumper got dinged up - I figured this would be the first place for damage.
• The rear passenger corner was saved by the stock plastic bumper extensions - those will come off when they fall off or the bumper gets replaced.
• A few scratches here and there

All in all, very minimal - I am happy with how it handled and the damage gives it character - I wouldn't have bought a jeep if I wanted to keep it perfect.


Thanks again - hopefully in a few months I can start working on the suspension and new tires. My buddy is drawing up some idea's for the bumper he will fab up.

[synax]

Jay, thanks for the hospitality and the invite to go up with you and the guys. I had a blast - minimal damage to the Jeep. I've got to get it to the power wash tomorrow and take a closer look at the undercarriage but I think all in all this was a very successful trip for the stock jeep.

Some pictures that came off my camera can be seen here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/synax/sets/72157603478266829/

Damage to the stock jeep that I have found so far:

• The rims got a bit messed up - but thats what you get for wheeling street tires on chrome...
• The front drivers side fender above the bumper got dinged up - I figured this would be the first place for damage.
• The rear passenger corner was saved by the stock plastic bumper extensions - those will come off when they fall off or the bumper gets replaced.
• A few scratches here and there

All in all, very minimal - I am happy with how it handled and the damage gives it character - I wouldn't have bought a jeep if I wanted to keep it perfect.


Thanks again - hopefully in a few months I can start working on the suspension and new tires. My buddy is drawing up some idea's for the bumper he will fab up.

[GrimJeeper91]

You guys call those puddles. We call those ponds down here. Always enjoy your pic's, thanks for sharing...

[lupinsea]

Thanks for posting your pix, Jon. I forgot about this guy:



This young guy was out exploring the trails with a 500+ lb. dual sport bike. Most of the areas under the powerlines were fine for it but it was big and bulky. He got himself to the big hill climb by a different route and didn't want to go back but was nervous about dropping down the climb. So we braced his bike and helped ease him down the hill.

His leg was shaking the whole way down.

[I FLEX]

I could not believe that guy on the bike.... wow, he was crazy. He would have been SOL had we not gone up there.

[lupinsea]

Yeah, it's a good thing for him I winched everybody up the hill.

[I FLEX]

Originally Posted by lupinsea

Yeah, it's a good thing for him I winched everybody up the hill.

Lol, im a tad out of shape. i could've used another winch up that hill instead of hiking back up it.


I'm up for another run sometime at Reiter or possibly another at Walker. Is there any snow accumulation at Walker...? I was looking at altitude on Google Earth, it seems to be around 800 ft to 1600 ft and higher in spots. Maybe there may be a little snow....

[kercher]

Originally Posted by I FLEX

I'm up for another run sometime at Reiter or possibly another at Walker. Is there any snow accumulation at Walker...? I was looking at altitude on Google Earth, it seems to be around 800 ft to 1600 ft and higher in spots. Maybe there may be a little snow....

anytime you wanna go, shoot me a pm or post up. I am always up for it.

[lupinsea]

Originally Posted by I FLEX

Lol, im a tad out of shape. i could've used another winch up that hill instead of hiking back up it.

Me too. . . Synax was at the top of the hill, he could have tossed the winch cable down and we all could have grabbed it and been winched up. Noooo, we hiked up instead.

[Timmybung]

Yeah- nice "puddles". We would call that a "river" here.