- Jon Hylands ('85 CJ-7 -- with my friend Carl Watts)
- Joe Maleski ('83 CJ-7 -- with his son Brandon)
- Joe Sand ('83 CJ-7 -- all by his lonesome)
Joe M. brought along his friend Nancy, who was itching
to try out her new 1997 Land Rover Defender 90
(number 47 built for 1997). She had never been
off-roading before, and was anxious to see what her new
toy could do. That's Joe in her rig in the picture to the left.
We got off to a slow start, and finally got to the park at about 11:00 am. We proceeded directly to the obstacle course, where we aired down. My new "twin-tire air-down" tool worked really well. Nancy had some electrical problems with her Defender, and we ended up having to pull a fuse once she was running in order to stop an alarm buzzer.
Anyway, once we got that problem solved, Nancy tried the frame twister, and went through without too much trouble until the last portion, where she got crossed up pretty severely (that's what the frame twister is supposed to do...). She rocked back and forth a few times, and finally got the right amount of throttle to give enought momentum, and out she popped!
We went over to Truck hill after that, and did some fun
up & down mounds, and found an interesting spot with a
water-trench running down a hill. Joe Sands went over it
first, and then I went over. Since we were hitting it at an
angle, we got some pretty serious air under one of the
front tires. It sure felt like the Jeep was going to just keep
going over at this point... :-)
So, after that bit of excitement,
we headed over to Five Fingers,
and the first thing I headed
towards was the little dirt mound I
had so much fun on last time. I got
up it on the "less-steep" side, but
then got out and looked down.
And down. And down. Boy, it got a lot steeper. The rain had cut away a big chunk of
the bank, and it was pretty close to vertical. I eased down, and slammed my spare tire
on the way down hard enough to bend the carrier frame. Given that I have a good
50-55 degree angle of departure, I think it's pretty safe to say the hill was 75-80
degrees. I tried climbing it on the steep side, but my Jeep just didn't want to climb it that
badly.
Around about this time, Joe M. stopped close to where I
was, and then tried to start up again. Hah. The ground
had other ideas... We got him out with a simple pull, but
boy that ground was just like quicksand.
So, the three Jeeps climbed Five Fingers with no degree of difficulty. Nancy was still a little unsure of her truck, and didn't feel up to doing that steep a hill on her first time out.
After we came down, we were standing around talking,
and noticed this guy in a CJ-7 who was trying to back
down one of the little hills nearby, and got crossed up, and
came very close to rolling. He was at a 45 degree angle to
the the downhill, and tilted back enough that gasoline was
leaking out his gas cap. We drove over to see how we
could get him out. The only way appeared to be to get above him (on the left), and drag
him up to straighten him out, so he could back down again. I tried to get up by him, but
the ground was so soft on the edge, and I knew I wouldn't make it, so I backed off.
There was another guy there in a white Hummer, and he gave it a shot, and promptly
got stuck. So, we strung his winch cable up the hill, fastened it around a small tree, and
he tried pulling himself past the CJ-7. Which would have worked, except his rear end
was sliding sideways, and threatening to hit the CJ-7 and knock it down the hill.
Joe M. to the rescue. We climbed in his Jeep, and drove up to the top of the hill from the other direction. We strung his winch cable (Joe has a Warn 8274) down to the back of the Hummer, and literally dragged the back end of the Hummer away from the CJ-7 while the Hummer winched himself up. Gotta love those 8274's :-)
Anyway, after the Hummer was out of the way, we pulled the CJ straight (with Joe's winch), and then he backed down the hill. Rescue completed...
Once we were all done, we went back up Five Fingers again, ate a late lunch up there, and then Carl & I headed out. We stopped at the sand pit to play for a while, and finally decided it was time to go.
After we got down to the school-house, I had the distinct pleasure of using my new on-board air system to air up my tires. Very nice. Worked like a charm. A perfect end to a very nice day of 'wheeling.