Whispering Pines Day Trip Dec 12th 2010

[ollllllo]

[color=009900]Whispering Pines day trip December 12th 2010


The weather forecast earlier in the week was calling for freezing rain and ice for Sundays planned Day Trip to Whispering Pines. After the crazy work week I had, the CJ7 was loaded and ready, and I planned on wheeling no matter what weather I was faced with Sunday morning.

Whispering Pines is only about 35 minutes or so from my house in Victor, so after grabbing some HOT Dunkin Donuts Decaf, I headed out. I finally started wearing my \"ear buds\" when I drive the CJ to help with the road noise and so I can actually hear the music coming from the radio. It makes the drive so much less stressful when my ears aren\'t ringing for the next couple of hours.

I took my faithful companion, OLLIE with me. He is my 4yr old black lab. He loves to go for rides in the CJ, and loves to go off-road. However he doesn\'t do so well in the big rocks. Luckily we wont encounter many big rocks on this trip.

I arrived at the lodge about 9:15. Jared and Mary in their 06 Rubicon had arrived already. They live nearby and apparently didn\'t know about WP until this past April\'s 4x4101 event. I think we\'ve got them hooked pretty good now. Paul and His dad showed up next in the TJ followed by Smike who was embarking on the maiden voyage for the Winter Wonderland XJ. We unhooked a few sway-bars and headed over to the Townline rd. property.
 
First things first…

In order to enjoy a day of wheeling your JEEP you must first make it to the trail. At the entrance to the first trail which is just over a small knoll at the end of an open field we encountered a good sized snow drift. What made this snow drift difficult was that it had been raining all night and most of the morning. When we attacked it was still 3 + feet deep. I was leading and my first attempt  came to a rather abrupt stop when the densely packed snow held my CJ up and all four wheels were airborne and screaming for traction. Jared tried to tug me backwards but I didn’t move an inch. So, out came the winch. 5 minutes into the day and we were winching already. Needless to say my anxiety about the conditions of the trails rose a little. I left the winch controller hooked up and threw it in the window. As we progressed we noticed some of the trails had been recently driven on. Lots of foot prints and lots of mud covered snow  makes me think the vehicles before us had a rough day.

I soon realized I had never led a group through this section of WP, and combined with the snow on the ground I was getting easily disoriented. None the less, we meandered our way through the maze of hills and bowls down near the railroad tracks. After we all made it safely to the top of the last big hill climb, Smike’s XJ decided it wanted to take a pit stop for a while. Seemed like maybe the thermostat might be sticking or the cap is bad and it overheated. He topped it off with some fresh coolant but now it wouldn’t restart. He elected to let it sit for a while and ride along with Paul hoping it would fire after it cooled. Heading out towards the opposite side of the hill we were soon reminded how snow and slush can make even the simplest trail difficult. With the off-camber trails covered with heavy wet snow I soon found myself sliding side hill off the trail and into the trees. At the end of this trail we arrived at… you guessed it, another Hill Climb. But before we even attempted it Paul needed the winch and snatch block to place his TJ back on the trail. At that point we decided to back track and head back to some trails with less side hill action.

A Bitter sweet Victory ensues…
We continued traversing the ever winding trail network over near the railroad tracks for quite a while. Then I spotted it. A trail untouched by any wheeler before us. It twisted and turned until it dropped into a frozen mud hole. After that, the passenger side was washed out to the depth of about 4 ft. As I dropped into the Snow covered mud, I soon realized I might need to back up and “GET IT”. Second try took me through the Chocolate milkshake. So using the same game plan I attacked the washout. It seemed to be mostly wet sand below the snow, but none the less it took two attempts to get through. I parked at the top and walked back with my camera to watch Paul and his dad. Pauls TruXs tires were hooking up really well in the white stuff despite the lack of assistance from a locker.  After a few tries he whipped those puppies right to the top. Proving that driver skill and good tires can be just as beneficial as a locker. Unfortunately, I heard a loud crack and something broke in the rear differential as he crested the top. Sounded like a Ring gear or pinion. We opted to hook up the strap and I towed him through the rest of the trail and out to the paved road. We had to fight our way back through the same snowdrift we encountered earlier in the day, but with some more momentum this time we made it without incident. When I realized Smike and Jared were not right behind us, I went back to find Jared pulling Smike out of the drift but he was facing in the opposite direction he went into it. After a quick laugh, we headed back to the Lodge, said our goodbyes and headed home.

I had forgotten how many new trails there were on the Townline Rd. property, and combined with the snow, I had an absolute blast. It still amazes me how even a short day trip can help relieve the stress associated with work and holidays.


4Year old Black Lab = $400 + food, water, Vet & kennel cost’s
Trusty old CJ7 = I can’t remember how much I have spent on it, is that bad?
Spending ½ the day on your two year anniversary wheeling with your Dog and friends = PRICELESS

I have the Best GF ever!
Pauls Video on YOUTUBE


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[carchameleon]

good stuff
thanks for getting my climb & break on vido :-)

[jACeL86]

Paul, was the radio blaring the whole trip home to mask the noise? Lol...sorry about the breakage. Thank you guys for being patient with my learning curve today, we had an absolute blast!

[carchameleon]

glad you came out and had a good time
radio was turned down so i could hear my dad, we listened to it the whole ride home at 45mph (at most) haha

[ollllllo]

Jared,
Did Mary get her knitting done? HEHE!
Knitting in a Rubicon...That must lower its trade-in value!

[jACeL86]

She had to do something while I was spinning my tires going nowhere! :-)

[CoraC143]

That sounds dangerous!

[ollllllo]

Long pointy objects in a persons lap while traversing hills and gulleys.

Maybe we should discuss @ 4x4101, 2011. LOL

[jACeL86]

I\'ll put a powerpoint presentation together. What type of fades/transitions would you like between slides? hehehe

[MrMindless]

martini wipes all the way.