It was indeed a fantastic weekend!

By Tom Ferrin

And once again the 2 meter ham radios that many of our rigs are equipped with proved extremely useful. On the road on Friday afternoon and evening we were able to contact each other and stay in touch, even when many of us were still hours out of camp. This was
made possible by the capable "repeater" located in Placerville (KA6GWY- 146.805 Mhz) that acts as a real-time relay. I first reached Alvaro while I was still on the Richmond-San Rafael bridge, a good 120 miles away from Placerville and probably 160 from the campground. Big Jim was just pulling in then, and so we learned both that the camp was dry and that Jim had been able to secure enough spots for our group. Note that there is no cell phone coverage once you get a few miles in on Ice House road from Hwy 50, so this is one of the only ways to communicate at a distance.

On the trail on Saturday we all switched our radios to "simplex" mode (avoids use of a repeater) and dropped our transmit power down to the lowest setting, and it was still easy for the whole group to stay in direct contact even when spread out. That way the leaders knew when someone farther back had run into a problem or was delayed. As Andrew reported, after Rohitash broke his front diff and was forced to convert to 2 wheel drive, we split the group with Big Jim and his 40 leading the three 100s back to camp via the Ellis Creek trail and the other six rigs heading to Loon. There was some concern about possible
deep snow on the Ellis Creek route and not knowing how well Rohitash's crippled rig would fair with that. But even though the two groups were a number of miles apart, we could still easily stay in touch and know that neither group had encountered any serious problems.

If you haven't discovered 2 meter ham radio yet, you should. The technician class license you need to legally operate is pretty easy to get - just a relatively simple test that requires a few nights of study in order to pass. There are even web sites that have practice
tests using the same questions as the actual exam, so when you think you're ready you can test yourself first before doing the real thing.

--Tom (KI6FLL)

Another view

What a great weekend.

By Andrew Pollock

We had a bit of deep water, a few rocks, great food, new friends, and a bit of carnage. What more could you ask for?

This is my version: SOA 40s rock!

Anyway, Jeff and I left Sacramento in my just completed FJ40 rebuild. It's spring over axle, shackle reversed, 4x4 Labs behind the axle steering, FJ62 rear springs, 97 inch wheelbase. We made our way slowly at 2F speed to Ice House Road and met up with Big Jim and crew, Alvaro and David. The road into Wentworth Springs was in late spring condition. The road bed was dry and free of snow, and the water sections were about 24 inches deep at the most. It made for easy going and route finding. Jim had reserved an excellent set of camp sites at the offroad camp, and by the time we arrived it was nearly supper time. A few others drifted in-Chris, Jay and family, Steve, Tom and Rohitash. We had a great dinner, a great fire, some 'smores and went to bed.

Best quote of the evening: "I can drink all of you GUYS under the table" I did not stay up to test that theory or see it tested.

Saturday was warm and sunny, we left camp by 9am, and immediately started the rock gardens just beyond the camp. There are a few steep pitches, and then a challenging boulder field that lasts about 1/2 mile. It took a while to spot the 100s through this, but soon we were out of the stream bed, and left the upper canyon to the burning clutch mini-truck guys.

The tree-dang that squeeze is TIGHT. ALvaro went through clean, I went through cleaner in the 40, but then the fun started. There is a tree and a rock in a critical spot that makes a good wagon line a matter of millimeters. Chris got into the squeeze and put a nice crease/mash mark on his rear upper quarter. "It's my wife's truck". The 100s were tough. Where the 80s had millimeters, the 100's had micrometers. They all got through, but ALvaro put in a full effort spotting everyone.

The territory beyond the squeeze is just fun-narrow trail, a few rocks, moderate challenge, but basically not too hard. I followed the trail leader to the bottom of the rock slabs and then found a new route for me up onto the slick rock slabs. While that was in progress, word filtered back that Rohitash (new group member with killer lamb recipe) had broken a CV in the rocks. I went back down the trail and found Rohitash's front diff making those particularly bad 100 series noises and so we strapped him up to a flat spot to fix. A broken diff is an easier filed fix than a broken CV, so it could have been worse. Tom jumped right in and got the drive shaft out and the splined drive plates off, so that Rohitash could drive in 2 wheel drive.

We had hamburgers for lunch and then split the group. All of the 100 series trucks turned left at the Rubicon Trail proper and returned to camp via the Ellis Creek trail. This is the Rubicon bail-out trail and has saved the day for many crippled trucks over the years. The rest of us turned right toward Loon lake and had a bit of adventure in the rocks. Right away, I got to winch a stuck Jeep off a bad spot, and then we all proceeded through the rock gardens and out to the slabs. At the start of the slabs on a short ledge, Alvaro hooked his rear sway bar and bent it backwards under the truck. That sway bar is now a roof rack trophy.

The route over the upper slabs is great-wide open, great views, minimal challenge. We all dropped the ledges and made our way to the big climb before the Alligator pit. There is a nice step up there we all played a bit on, but no one had any issues. After treading lightly on the remains of the Gatekeeper, we all arrived at Loon Lake running and in good spirits. We made a run for the Wentworth Springs camp and arrived there maybe 15 minutes behind the folks who had taken the Ellis Creek turn off. Derek Lee and family were in camp and so we caught up and got to meet his now talking 2 year old daughter.

This morning was a relaxed and after slowly breaking camp we played a bit in the Gerle Creek crossing before cooking the leftover hamburgers at Airport Flat and heading for home.

Good times, many thinks to the trail boss/organizer Alvaro.

AJP

One more point of view

I learnt a lot

By Rohitash Singh

Thank you all for a great trip! This is certainly one of the best groups I have encountered and looking forward to a lot of good times with you all. I learnt a lot on this one run so thanks to all the experienced people for great tips and spotting.

When I broke the front diff everyone jumped in to help. I got towed up the trail to the rock flats by Alvaro, Tom (helped by Alvaro) took out the front drive shaft and replaced the drive flanges with smooth ones (provided by Jay). The group split into two to help me get the now 2 wheel drive LC back down to camp via the Ellis Creek trail. The other 100s came along (Steve in front and Jay behind) to help tug me over the difficult bits. Jim went ahead
in his 40 to scout the trail as we had heard about snow (and hence missed being out with the rest of the guys on the planned trail). I'd break a diff with this group anytime!

Alvaro, I talked to Shawn at River City Diff about the ARB and he is finding out about the parts availability and pricing.

A quick question to the group - does anyone have the stock front diff gears for the 100 series (if you've upgraded the gears) - I could buy them off you. I'm trying to decide whether to keep the stock gears (and risk another diff break on thr trail) or up my gears to a 4.88 and live with an over geared vehicle for my street stock size tires (275/70R16 BFG all terrain
KOs). The 4.88 would definitely go well with my 35 inch Toyo Muds on the trail and also give me a stronger gear in the diff. Thoughts / suggestions?

The 2 meter HAM radios were definitely a great help. I got my Technician license a few weeks back and its relatively easy. If anyone needs the ARRL study guide for the Technician guide they could borrow it off me. I'm right now studying for the General class exam.

Once again thanks everyone for a really great time!

Ciao
Rohitash

Pictures on the Photo Page