Columbus Day GWNF in pictures.

[Clark White]

So for the three day weekend last weekend, some friends and I went up to George Washington National Forest to do some camping/wheeling/hiking. The hiking unfortunately went by the wayside, but lots of good camping and wheeling was had!

My Yota in camp the first morning.

The rest of camp...Clay's Dodge on the right and Ed's bivy in the background.

Clay getting splashed from rocks...

Ed jumped down and didn't plan his landing well, went straight onto a knee deep hole, hehe.

Clay laughing at Ed's folly...

The pooch and I.

The "Rat," AKA Crash.

Carter still isn't too sure about water, hope we can change that soon! :gunt:

 

[Clark White]

The small reservoir near camp, surrounded by fall colors.

Andrea showing what a nerd she is!

Clays Dodge Cummins doing a little rock crawling, me in the background letting some air out of my tires.

Me doing the same obstacle...I did it with both differentials open and didn't spin a tire. :shakin:

Driving further down the trail along Dry Creek.

Fall colors along the trail.

 

[Clark White]

While driving down the trail, Clay had some issues getting over some dead fall across the trail. The trunk of the fallen tree was across the road, and when Clay tryed to drive over his rear end slid sideways into a near by tree.

We stopped for a break before attempting a difficult hill climb and Andrea stole my camera to get some nice shots.

Clay went first...

Half way up, we heard a loud pop and chattering come from Clays front end. We correctly assumed it was ring and pinion (when opened at hope three teeth were stripped from his ring gear), so we aborted and carefully began returning to camp.

Andrea opened the rear window so to say hi to the Rat and the Drool Faucet.

 

[Clark White]

Making the crossing back to camp on the far side of Dry River.

Clay had a bit more trouble with only 4x2, but he made it ok without a tow.
He opted to take a shallower but much rockier rout so that his truck wouldn't flood if he got stuck (which he did for a bit, so it was a good decision). In the background you can see some stupid teenagers who came out to drink beer. None of us gave a crap about them drinking beer, but I sure wish I would have known I would be picking up their beer cans a couple hours later (they were apparently too lazy to put them in a trash bag ).

 

[Clark White]

The next morning Andrea grabbed my camera again and took some more great pictures.

We had a late breakfast and a lazy morning before we began packing.

Carter and Crash working hard to help out.

When we were leaving, I waited for everyone else to cross for some pictures of my crossing of the creek next to camp. There is a way around taking this deeper option, but it is rocky and I wanted to get more comfortable with the fording abilities of my truck so I took the direct rout.
Clay Waiting in anticipation.

 

[Clark White]

And my faithful run on "Dry" river.....(don't worry, no carnage, just much excitement as I had never crossed water of this depth).

Safely across, with wet floor boards but no wet gear, we continued across the main part of Dry River and on to the freeway home. Once home I learned that I needed to extend the breathers on the trannie/transfer case (that has since been taken care of). Now I need to figure out how to better seal up the cab...

 

[firemansxterra]

good looking pic...GWNF is a fun place...the river looks like it had a little bit more water in it from when we were there last

 

[IH8RDS]

Great pictures! :clapsmile Did you guys get any coordinates of the river crossing areas? I am assuming the reservoir was Switzer lake?

I bet you would of stayed dry if your window was up! lol

Thanks for sharing and looks like you all had a good time.

 

[Clark White]

good looking pic...GWNF is a fun place...the river looks like it had a little bit more water in it from when we were there last

Yeah, the water was a bit higher then it was a month ago, but that's just fine by me, meant that no one else could get out there :REOutCampFire03:

 

[Clark White]

Great pictures! :clapsmile Did you guys get any coordinates of the river crossing areas? I am assuming the reservoir was Switzer lake?

I bet you would of stayed dry if your window was up! lol

Thanks for sharing and looks like you all had a good time.

I do have coordinates of the crossing areas! PM if you would like them. Not sure of the name of the lake as it's not shown on the Garmin map I was using of the area. Switzer lake is actually a couple miles north of where we were and we never got up there.

Clark

P.S. When I hit the water and realized my window was open I thought I was going to get SOAKED, but surprisingly only a few drops came in, the rest was deflected by the windshield.

 

[J-man]

u are one ballsy dood fording water like that even with your snorkel. Have you sealed all your electronics and ecu yet? Very impressive and that last nose dive is now one of my screen savers - thx.

 

[Christian P.]

amazing trip. We're jealous here...

 

[Clark White]

u are one ballsy dood fording water like that even with your snorkel. Have you sealed all your electronics and ecu yet? Very impressive and that last nose dive is now one of my screen savers - thx.

Ha ha, thanks! My electronics are all sealed from the factory and then i went and packed them full of dielectric grease just to be safe. I also raised the breathers for both differentials, transmission and transfer case. I also keep water sensitive things in waterproof cases or high on the seats. Even so, I was still full of adrenaline since I've never gone through water that deep.

Clark