Newtac11
Observer
Let me preface this with a bit of a disclaimer, and ignorance statement. There are several things I did wrong yesterday. Some of them more severe than others, and I will address them as I go.
Also, I would like to thank the guys in my build thread for convincing me that the rock-rails should be the first thing mounted to a truck I plan on taking on difficult trails. My Taco TRD is stock other than that.
On with the report...
I found a guy at work with a slightly modified JK this week, and he let me borrow his back-country trail book. I quickly made copies of the close by chapters, and listened to his "local" recommendations of trails he had been on. He also showed me the lower quarter panel damage that had been done on a trail called "Hackets Gulch". Well, seeing truck damage was all I needed to know I wanted to hit that trail.
The family and I decided this would be a scouting trip for a future camping trip, so we packed sparingly. (Hi-lift, jacket, various knives, hatchet, firestarter, 2m radio, CB, map on my iPad, and a few bottles of water. We left out about 3pm from Colorado Springs...which will lead into mistake #1. STARTED TRAIL TO LATE. I got to Woodland Park with just under half a tank, and smartly decided that since I didn't know where I was going, I should plan on "something" happening. I did the smart thing and topped off. We arrived at the start point a little after 4. (forest service road 220, 39.0784N, 105.2721W roughly) There was a large sign that read "Trail open due to the efforts of Predator 4WD, LLC" I am much appreciative to them.
We drove in 2hi for a while, and my mind was starting to wander about how much better the wheeling had been on the mountains behind Fort Huachuca AZ. All we were seeing on the Hackets trail were "speed bumps" to direct water off the trail, and keep erosion to a minimum. Don't get me wrong, it was very scenic, but I just didn't see anything that would get my heart racing...until about maybe 2 miles in. I stopped, threw it in neutral, jammed it in to 4lo, and locked the rear (ok...I twisted the plastic knob to 4lo, and pushed the little locker button...but the thought was there) I surveyed the land, chose my line, and crept forward. Not even wheel spin. The little Taco stuck to the rock like a lizard on glass. As I moved forward, I saw that someone had anchored a winch point into one of the large rocks, which I thought was a great idea, as none of the trees looked as if they would support the weight.
Once that 100+ ft section was over, it was back to speed bumps. Again, great scenic trail though. There were steep ascents and descents with loose gravel/sand mix to make me keep in 4hi, and there were fairly large "diff knockers" along the way, but I had disengaged the rear locker.
This is where I show my ignorance/stupidity...
About a 1/4 mile from the South Platte River, there was a small fork in the road. Well...straight ahead there was a road closed sign...to the right was a loose dirt/gravel trail that tilted right along the right downhill side of the spur. A quick look at the Ipad tells me that the trail keeps going, so I take the right fork. Common sense would have told me that this was an illegal bypass of the road closed sign. Hell, if I would have looked to my right I would have seen that back side of the sign, but I was worried about loose sand, angles, and drive lines, so I wasn't listening. (Mistake #2...and it's a big one, to me and the park rangers I'm sure)
The next 1/4 mile is loose dirt on a downhill, until I meet with a 18" high rock ledge, with a hard right turn shortly after. A smart man would have taken a right hand angle so as not to high center, and be able to make the right turn...Today, I was NOT that man. As soon as the front tires came off the rock I was high centered. (mistake #3...take a line with the least chance of wrecking your undercarriage)The wife looked at me with the standard "what did you just do?" look, and I got out to assess the damage. I was resting on the cross member that supports the tranny, and I had taken it very slowly, so no damage. I moved two rocks that people had put near the ledge to get back home and placed them under the front tires. Jumped in the truck and drove forward. This not only gave me grip for the front tires, but also raised me by a couple needed inches to get the rear tires closer to the edge. once I knew the front was clear I turned hard right to get an angled drop of the rears (one at a time....like I should have done to begin with)
I had missed my last point to turn around before the ledge, so I was committed to the end of this trail, which, as I made the right turn realized I might be in over my head...for a stock Tacoma TRD. The trail dropped rapidly. it was very narrow with a high side to the right, a quick drop to the left, and it seemed all the large pointy rocks were in the center line. I tried not to show it, but I was a bit nervous. mostly because I KNEW I was going to take some heat from the wife if I put some body damage on a 6 month old truck. So...for the next 1/4 mile I scraped quite a bit of powder coat off both sides of the rock rails...they had done their job flawlessly, and I was very happy I got the ones with a kick out on the rear. (I'm fairly certain they saved the rear wheels and quarter panel too)
Once I had weaved to the bottom of the gulch, I could see the Platte. Just one boulder stood in the way. I put a front right on it and tried to outmaneuver the tree beside it, but that put us on 2 wheels at a very hard lean to the left. I stopped for a second, and decided I would wait until the truck stopped wobbling before trying to continue. I hadn't felt that close to rolling in a loooong time. But I knew the tree beside me would not let me roll all the way. The wife had become VERY quiet during this, and my son used his time as a photo op. (I have attached his pics) Turning the wheel hard to port allowed the rock rails to shift me enough to get out of it.
The Platte was in full glory that day. It had an amazing campsite.
And...what's this...a water crossing? JACKPOT!
I jumped out and looked into the clear water, that was only about a foot deep to the first sandbar. A hard left to the second sandbar...then I would reassess. Very nervous, as this was my first real river crossing, and the fact that no-one was gonna come get me anytime soon if something went wrong, AND the fact that I would be listening to my wife until they did do an extraction meant that this had to happen correctly. So...did I wade in the water to check the solidity of the bottom, or to see how deep it was...nope! I eyeballed it. Eyes must have been calibrated, because I nailed it. Hard bottom, no more than a foot or so deep. Was easy.
Now time to assess the second part. I jumped out and used my calibrated eyeballs to guess. Bottom looked like the same stuff. Was very clear...maybe 6" deeper..no problem. (Mistake...uh...what number am I up to?) I should have waded in. I would have found that it was in fact about 3 feet. It sure was clear though. I realized my mistake when she started floating. Luckily the momentum pushed me towards grip on the other side. My son didn't miss a beat as he hollered out "hey dad, were in a Toy-BOAT-a"
Heading back was a lot less stressful, as I knew what lay ahead. I scraped up the other side of the rails a bit, but once I got past the 18" ledge it was cake. By now I was racing the Sun. It was already 7:15pm, and even though I was now familiar with the trail, I didn't want to do it by headlight.
All in all it was a great run that we will definitely do again...minus the illegal 1/2 mile. (we'll hike that) I did scrape the bottom of the front bumper a little. I also accidentally removed the bracket holding the electrical tow hitch connection. (which the wife noticed today)
If anyone knows what we have to do to get that last bit opened up, let me know. I'll give my time for others to enjoy it.
I have attached some pics to go along with my story, I hope they are visible on your end. I have no pics of the "hairy areas", as the wife would not let go of the "OH CRAP" bar to get out.
Also, I would like to thank the guys in my build thread for convincing me that the rock-rails should be the first thing mounted to a truck I plan on taking on difficult trails. My Taco TRD is stock other than that.
On with the report...
I found a guy at work with a slightly modified JK this week, and he let me borrow his back-country trail book. I quickly made copies of the close by chapters, and listened to his "local" recommendations of trails he had been on. He also showed me the lower quarter panel damage that had been done on a trail called "Hackets Gulch". Well, seeing truck damage was all I needed to know I wanted to hit that trail.
The family and I decided this would be a scouting trip for a future camping trip, so we packed sparingly. (Hi-lift, jacket, various knives, hatchet, firestarter, 2m radio, CB, map on my iPad, and a few bottles of water. We left out about 3pm from Colorado Springs...which will lead into mistake #1. STARTED TRAIL TO LATE. I got to Woodland Park with just under half a tank, and smartly decided that since I didn't know where I was going, I should plan on "something" happening. I did the smart thing and topped off. We arrived at the start point a little after 4. (forest service road 220, 39.0784N, 105.2721W roughly) There was a large sign that read "Trail open due to the efforts of Predator 4WD, LLC" I am much appreciative to them.
We drove in 2hi for a while, and my mind was starting to wander about how much better the wheeling had been on the mountains behind Fort Huachuca AZ. All we were seeing on the Hackets trail were "speed bumps" to direct water off the trail, and keep erosion to a minimum. Don't get me wrong, it was very scenic, but I just didn't see anything that would get my heart racing...until about maybe 2 miles in. I stopped, threw it in neutral, jammed it in to 4lo, and locked the rear (ok...I twisted the plastic knob to 4lo, and pushed the little locker button...but the thought was there) I surveyed the land, chose my line, and crept forward. Not even wheel spin. The little Taco stuck to the rock like a lizard on glass. As I moved forward, I saw that someone had anchored a winch point into one of the large rocks, which I thought was a great idea, as none of the trees looked as if they would support the weight.
Once that 100+ ft section was over, it was back to speed bumps. Again, great scenic trail though. There were steep ascents and descents with loose gravel/sand mix to make me keep in 4hi, and there were fairly large "diff knockers" along the way, but I had disengaged the rear locker.
This is where I show my ignorance/stupidity...
About a 1/4 mile from the South Platte River, there was a small fork in the road. Well...straight ahead there was a road closed sign...to the right was a loose dirt/gravel trail that tilted right along the right downhill side of the spur. A quick look at the Ipad tells me that the trail keeps going, so I take the right fork. Common sense would have told me that this was an illegal bypass of the road closed sign. Hell, if I would have looked to my right I would have seen that back side of the sign, but I was worried about loose sand, angles, and drive lines, so I wasn't listening. (Mistake #2...and it's a big one, to me and the park rangers I'm sure)
The next 1/4 mile is loose dirt on a downhill, until I meet with a 18" high rock ledge, with a hard right turn shortly after. A smart man would have taken a right hand angle so as not to high center, and be able to make the right turn...Today, I was NOT that man. As soon as the front tires came off the rock I was high centered. (mistake #3...take a line with the least chance of wrecking your undercarriage)The wife looked at me with the standard "what did you just do?" look, and I got out to assess the damage. I was resting on the cross member that supports the tranny, and I had taken it very slowly, so no damage. I moved two rocks that people had put near the ledge to get back home and placed them under the front tires. Jumped in the truck and drove forward. This not only gave me grip for the front tires, but also raised me by a couple needed inches to get the rear tires closer to the edge. once I knew the front was clear I turned hard right to get an angled drop of the rears (one at a time....like I should have done to begin with)
I had missed my last point to turn around before the ledge, so I was committed to the end of this trail, which, as I made the right turn realized I might be in over my head...for a stock Tacoma TRD. The trail dropped rapidly. it was very narrow with a high side to the right, a quick drop to the left, and it seemed all the large pointy rocks were in the center line. I tried not to show it, but I was a bit nervous. mostly because I KNEW I was going to take some heat from the wife if I put some body damage on a 6 month old truck. So...for the next 1/4 mile I scraped quite a bit of powder coat off both sides of the rock rails...they had done their job flawlessly, and I was very happy I got the ones with a kick out on the rear. (I'm fairly certain they saved the rear wheels and quarter panel too)
Once I had weaved to the bottom of the gulch, I could see the Platte. Just one boulder stood in the way. I put a front right on it and tried to outmaneuver the tree beside it, but that put us on 2 wheels at a very hard lean to the left. I stopped for a second, and decided I would wait until the truck stopped wobbling before trying to continue. I hadn't felt that close to rolling in a loooong time. But I knew the tree beside me would not let me roll all the way. The wife had become VERY quiet during this, and my son used his time as a photo op. (I have attached his pics) Turning the wheel hard to port allowed the rock rails to shift me enough to get out of it.
The Platte was in full glory that day. It had an amazing campsite.
And...what's this...a water crossing? JACKPOT!
I jumped out and looked into the clear water, that was only about a foot deep to the first sandbar. A hard left to the second sandbar...then I would reassess. Very nervous, as this was my first real river crossing, and the fact that no-one was gonna come get me anytime soon if something went wrong, AND the fact that I would be listening to my wife until they did do an extraction meant that this had to happen correctly. So...did I wade in the water to check the solidity of the bottom, or to see how deep it was...nope! I eyeballed it. Eyes must have been calibrated, because I nailed it. Hard bottom, no more than a foot or so deep. Was easy.
Now time to assess the second part. I jumped out and used my calibrated eyeballs to guess. Bottom looked like the same stuff. Was very clear...maybe 6" deeper..no problem. (Mistake...uh...what number am I up to?) I should have waded in. I would have found that it was in fact about 3 feet. It sure was clear though. I realized my mistake when she started floating. Luckily the momentum pushed me towards grip on the other side. My son didn't miss a beat as he hollered out "hey dad, were in a Toy-BOAT-a"
Heading back was a lot less stressful, as I knew what lay ahead. I scraped up the other side of the rails a bit, but once I got past the 18" ledge it was cake. By now I was racing the Sun. It was already 7:15pm, and even though I was now familiar with the trail, I didn't want to do it by headlight.
All in all it was a great run that we will definitely do again...minus the illegal 1/2 mile. (we'll hike that) I did scrape the bottom of the front bumper a little. I also accidentally removed the bracket holding the electrical tow hitch connection. (which the wife noticed today)
If anyone knows what we have to do to get that last bit opened up, let me know. I'll give my time for others to enjoy it.
I have attached some pics to go along with my story, I hope they are visible on your end. I have no pics of the "hairy areas", as the wife would not let go of the "OH CRAP" bar to get out.
