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| http://www.outdoorwire.com/4x4/trail/report/wi/rpm1_02/ | Short Cuts | ||||
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By: John Nutter - 2/2002
Rocks, Steep Hills and Ice
Rocks, steep hills and ice... All at once. What more do you want from Winter 4 Wheeling? RPM 4x4 hosted a Winter run on January 12, 2002 and it provided plenty of challenge for all who attended.
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| One of the harder climbs we saw that day. | |
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| Jerry Hunnicutt on the access road. | |
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| Bryan Baker on the second hill. | |
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| Dave Stauffer with his right rear rim spinning, but not the tire attached to it. | |
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| Bryan, seconds before he bends both upper control arms. | |
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| One of Bryan's bent upper control arms. | |
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| Andy Kaplan scoots up an icy hill. | |
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| Mike Marsh had a close encounter with this tree. | |
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| Mike's Jeep after the tree incident. | |
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| Jeff Ayers at the top of a long icy hill. |
The RPM 4x4 club is a relatively new club in the Minnesota and Wisconsin area, but they have already made a name for themselves by hosting well run events on some really challenging terrain. I finally got a chance to check out their trails on January 12, 2002.
The day started with a relatively easy hill climb, this was just the access road to the obstacles. Even on this hill we saw the ice that was everywhere. It had been an unusually dry Winter up to that point, and very warm the week before the event. Most of the snow had melted, but the ground was frozen and prevented the water from soaking in. This left a nice sheet of ice a fraction of an inch below the surface of the ground. Every place a tire spun immediately became glare ice. Even on the mild hills, some momentum was in order if anyone in front of you in the line had spun a tire.
The first real obstacle was passable for several in the group, a snow and ice covered hill climb. The second was steeper, with a curve in the middle, ruts and roots. Several of us gave it a shot, but the roots kept throwing everyone to the side where they'd loose their momentum. The third hill was where the serious fun began. Our trail guide, Travis, started by trying to go up the middle where there was an opening through the brush that looked like a trail but had no tracks. After a couple of tries at this Travis took the easy route to the left. There was a worn in route to the right that looked challenging as well. Travis came back down to the fork in the trail and told me that the middle route was a new trail they had cut yesterday and no one had been up it yet. After studying the trail while waiting for Travis to come back, I could see the limestone ledges near the top. I knew where I was going! The bottom of the new trail was pretty easy, but the top part got very steep and the ledges really threw the Jeep around. After several tries, and using a lot of wheel spin, I bounced over the top. Brian Baker Jeff Ayers had taken the left hand route and were already there. About this time Bryan made his big mistake of the day, saying "I can make that" about the trail I had just come up.
Dave Stauffer started up the hill soon after that, and for some reason was going for the left route. I stopped him and told him he was on the bypass. Dave hadn't seen the two routes to the right, but backed up to try one of them as soon as he knew they were there. Dave went for the far right route. This route was fairly easy, until Dave got to the top. The climb got really steep there and the ruts were deep. Dave got tippy on his first try and backed out. Dave tried crawling number of different lines on this hill and eventually ended up 45 degrees to the hill with the right rear tire pinched in a rut but still on the bead. The problem was that the rim was spinning inside the tire. Not wanting to damage the tire, Dave took the strap for the last few feet to the top.
A few more people came up on the left side, and then we found ourselves waiting for the tailgunner who was at the bottom of the hill with his hood up. Word eventually came back up the hill that his Sami had no spark. All the waiting gave me plenty of time to remind Bryan of how he has said he could drive the middle route up the hill. Bryan started down the left hand route, and he planned to turn and go back up the middle. Somewhere along the way, he was recruited to pull the Sami off a tree and help him get lined up to back down off the lower part of the hill. Once this was done Bryan was ready for the hill. Bryan ran right up to the log across the trail and was stopped. After several tries he decided to winch over the log and keep going. He drove the middle part of the hill with no problems, but the top stopped him. Bryan put on a good show with dirt flying everywhere, but he couldn't quite get over the top. I suggested Bryan try second gear, and he took off like a rocket. Then he bounced way up in the air and when he came down something wasn't right. Both upper control arms were bent. Sorry Bryan! Bryan dropped the front drive shaft off because it was binding and headed for home. I heard later that he had put on some spare control arms and came back for the night run.
After everyone was done playing on the hill and Bryan was on his way home, the trail ride continued. It was about 1:00 in the afternoon by then. Travis led us off into a section of the woods that had no tracks yet. Blake Savage joined up with our group around this time as well. The access road turned icy after a couple of trucks had passed over it and was fun by itself, but the hills it lead to were incredible. One was a straight uphill run with a hump at the bottom and a log across the middle. This hill was glare ice, and everyone that tried it would come sliding down backwards faster than they went up. Next to it were a series of steeper hills with rocks and ledges. We played on these hills for hours. Blake put on a particularly good show of going up a hill that I thought there was no chance of making due to the snow and ice. After watching Blake, I had to try it too. I made it, but it wasn't pretty. My Jeep was bouncing all over by this time and I found out later that I had blown out a rear shock. The next hill over looked challenging too, Dave Stauffer had been up it already. Blake circled back down and tackled it, and then I took my shot at it. Once again, I made it was bouncing all over the hill.
After this, we moved down the trail to the next impossible looking hill. Rob Eide was already on it, stopped at a 20 inch high rock ledge and looking under his Cherokee. Rob's pinion was pointing higher than it should have been. Rob had put a 4 link and coil suspension on the rear of his Cherokee, and he had used the old leaf spring mounts for the lower control arms. The passenger side leaf spring mount and the metal around it had pushed up into the body. Rob backed down. Next up was Jeff Ayers. Jeff got over the ledge after a few tries, but the roots across the trail and ice above the ledge stopped him and Jeff had no winch. Travis took off in his Sami to find a bypass and pull Jeff over the top. Meanwhile Jeff tried repeatedly and polished the hill into glare ice. Eventually Jeff was out of there and it was my turn. I kept hitting my differential on the ledge, and when I tried to go to the side the ice made me slide back into the ruts. After a few tries Blake suggested that I go far right and straddle the whole mess. This worked great and then I was up to Jeff's polished hill side. I shifted up to second gear and throttle on it. After a few bouncy tries I was over the top of the hill, and ready for some new shocks! Blake was up next and practically walked up the hill using the line he told me to take.
We played around a bit more after that and Travis offered to show us some even tougher hills, but it was time for most of our group to leave. It's good to have something to look forward to on the next visit, and Travis' description of some of the areas we hadn't seen yet has me waiting impatiently for the next event hosted by the RPM 4x4 crew at Apple Valley Farms.
Thanks go out to RPM 4x4 for hosting a well organized and challenging event, and to Travis for being our guide for the day.
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