I've gotta say I had some doubts going through my head when I saw him almost tip. But yeah, that brand new Bronco would have gotten quite a few battle scars if he tried it.
That's awesome you at least got to run Holcomb. It's an interesting crowd out there at Big Bear. It seems like trail etiquette doesn't always apply....... like that big group of about 10 Jeeps that cut in front of us at John Bull yesterday.I had such a blast, thanks to everyone. What a good group.
I had so much fun I stayed Saturday and tried to run some trails today.
I waited at John Bull for almost an hour in the morning and never saw anyone! I tried to get up the gatekeeper and couldn’t get my big wagon turned the right way and gave up.
So I ended up running Holcomb Creek east to west. That rock garden in the middle was pretty legit. Spent a few hours there, two guys stuck going the other way made it out. Then the two right in front of me took a while. Then, a huge rowdy group cut in while we were at the end trying to get out. So took another hour waiting for them to get stuck and try to move their Jeeps out of the way for us to leave the obstacle. Wasn’t very courteous
Definitely used all of the skids on Holcomb, but I didn’t have to pull rope! Just stacked about 1,000 rocks
Yea the two Jeeps I followed took a while and stacked a bunch of rocks, one got through and me and the second guy were at the end (hardest part) when the big group came. The Jeeps towards the back of their group were honking their horns for like ten mins, I’m not sure what that was supposed to accomplish.That's awesome you at least got to run Holcomb. It's an interesting crowd out there at Big Bear. It seems like trail etiquette doesn't always apply....... like that big group of about 10 Jeeps that cut in front of us at John Bull yesterday.
maybe come help stack rocks or something?
Ha! Honking at people on an offroad trail is the most LA thing I've heard this week.Yea the two Jeeps I followed took a while and stacked a bunch of rocks, one got through and me and the second guy were at the end (hardest part) when the big group came. The Jeeps towards the back of their group were honking their horns for like ten mins, I’m not sure what that was supposed to accomplish.
Compare that to our group Saturday, even stopped for a long time to try to get that gladiator working!
Yeah you want me to slow down, take more time and be deliberate about everything I'm doing honk your horn at me lol.Ha! Honking at people on an offroad trail is the most LA thing I've heard this week.
Yes! White Jeeps are the best Jeeps!Was nice to see some you out on the trails from previously wheeling with some of you at cougar buttes. The holiday traffic was definitely out there in the trails aswell. We managed to get an early enough start at John Bull by 9am and finished just about by 130. I believe we did see @ChuckQue on the tail end of John Bull and just out exploring aswell haha. John Bull will definitely require some good spotting, got through it with the stock XR and the 2 door bronco handled it just aswell, the white Rubicon with the 3.5 + 37's makes it look 6/10 on rating.
Also the house we all aired up next to must have haunting nightmares of air compressors
Awesome photos and glad you were able to get the wheel sorted out - hack saw to the rescue!Man, wife and I are really bummed we were behind and couldn’t catch up to you guys. It looks like you had a blast, I would’ve loved to have been there. It was a great weekend on the mountain, but I agree there are a lot of people who don’t understand trail etiquette or even just manners and common sense.
John Bull was amazing. That gatekeeper is no joke but with a good line it’s not bad. Just intimidating. Biggest hurdle I had was not getting turtled one or twice but as long as I just immediately stopped and backed up I didn’t get hung. Once we cleared the gatekeeper we cruised through. We ran into a group of TJ’s pulled to the side repairing a busted u-joint. We hung out with them for a bit to see if they needed any help, plus they had an adorable French bulldog my wife HAD to love on. After that we saw almost no one on the trail until the end when we saw you guys!
We ran Gold Mountain Sunday around noon. There was a group of Toyotas in front of us and a group of three Jeeps. They were blocking the first obstacle for about thirty minutes. Guy in a 4Runner wanted to run the hard line and got completely high centered on the big waterfall ledge. Finally pulled rope and got through. Luckily after a couple more spots they pulled over and let the Jeep group and us through. Ran the rest of it no problem except for one spot I got stuck a bit, waterfall was dug out really well so I had to stack to get my driver back tire up. My wife drove a lot of it and had a blast. She got stuck on a waterfall and wanted to give up but eventually she made it through. That was a big boost to her confidence. Finished in 2 hours 45 minutes with lunch so not too bad despite the traffic jams. She’s officially bitten by the bug. Now to convince her to let me buy her a two door and build it up!
Headed back to our campsite to pack up and head home but as we rolled down 3N16 I heard a metal on metal grinding from the front end. Couldn’t figure out what the hell it was but suspected it was brakes. Limped it in to camp and after tearing apart the front driver’s side I figured out the top bolt on the dust shield had backed out and wedged into the rotor. Nice gouge. I had every tool I needed EXCEPT a T-30 to get the damn rotor off. Couldn’t get a 10mm over the offending bolt because it was flanged and just not enough room. Finally said fuck it and cut it in half with a hacksaw, ripped it out with pliers and we were good to go. Hooked up the trailer and made it home by 2015 hours. Whew.
Some of the photos we took. My wife got a lot more and we used her phone for most of the video since mine was running our GPS stuff in the Jeep. Hard to get cool shots since we were solo.
We also went into town Saturday for dinner at Captain’s Anchorage, which is kind of an old school steakhouse. The food was very good, drinks were strong (hell yeah) and the service was amazing. Very friendly staff and a beautiful patio dining area with a cool water sculpture. It was wonderful to relax while surrounded by towering pines. Highly recommend this restaurant.
Well - I'm supposed to be working on other stuff and of course I'm procrastinating and ran across this on YouTube:
