SoCal Shenanigans: Crab Flats Campout II

Sounds like my 9 yr old

 

Between the birthday party that got rescheduled and the move, there’s no way but to miss this run. I’m sure you guys had a lot of fun. Keep posting pictures

 

So @BestGen what did we run and what didn’t we run? After that thrill I need to save them in my head to say that we conquered those trails

 

It was the White Mtn trail 3N17, a black diamond trail. And you did it! Sorry about the pinstripes! I didn't think you were gonna opt to run it. But impressed you did.

 

Before explaining what’s going on in the following video and stills from this run, I have some Thank You‘s to make even though I already did so in person.

Jason! @JasonJK
Daniel and Ashlynn! @JDL17CM4x4
Phil the new dude! @TacoPharm
and not to say the least Sunny! @Sunnier
My Homies for life! Thanks for getting me out of a jam! Best trail buddies anyone could ever ask for!! You guys got me out and I am forever grateful!

So before we even got the the black diamond part of White Mountain we were making our way and at this point I’m 2nd from the last truck and most everyone is making their way up a steep, very gravely area.
After reviewing what led up to going over the edge I am realizing my eyes are up that hill where we are about to go and the other trucks are. I thought I was just making a quick glance and I still believe my eyes were off the trail for a short time; but that’s all it took! I was off trail and sat in a weird angle and I tried to back up but couldn’t for the life of me, not realizing my one wheel was in the air! And to add to my sticky sish-A-wasshion, in my panic I unbelted my seatbelt and could not get it back on because it locked up!

Watching the video doesn’t give the viewer nearly as good perspective on the angle I went down nearly as well as the stills do. Where I went over, down the hill I would say was a distance of 30-40 feet to bottom, and although in theory in a better angle one could possibly have driven down and over to the other side and back on the trail, it was my misfortune being in that spot, as heavy of a load I keep in the bed, that I am close to rolling over had the front wheels moved just the wrong way.

Sunny, I can’t thank you enough for being calm and thus keeping me calm! And formulating the extrication! The truck with a winch got behind me and also was anchored by HulkSmash as it pulled me out, and Jason’s truck was tied into my slider up front to anchor me so as I got pulled out the front wouldn’t slide out any further.
This was a “typical” part of a trail that wasn’t even technical, so don’t let my mishap make you think our runs are unsafe! This could happen on any “easy” trail with any experience level, I just paid the price to remind anyone off-roading to just pay attention always!! And know your trail buddies and be prepared and equipped for anything!

Here it is...

 

Dude, you rocked this run man!!! BA to the bone in your spacer lift! Good job!!

 

Hahaha i was cool to him until he was about 12 and then i do not know what happened lol

 

We are all here to help each other out. It went as smoothly as possible and it was great to see you stay calm through the whole thing

as well. I was so pleased to see everyone do part of 3n17 too. That was awesome. See you on the next run!​

 

Way to go tony!! Part of 3n17 master now

 

There is no way you have a a 12yr old! We’re you 12 when you had him??

 

hahahaha i appreciate that compliment. I am the good old prime age of 32.

 

I love the last line Monet utters in the video. "Uhhh, it's not a road..."

 

I don't even remember!

 

Thank you for sharing this @Pinay you illustrate an important lesson.

It’s important to acknowledge our successes and failures with equal scrutiny, so please understand my comments come from a desire to keep everyone safe and enjoying the outdoors.

You observe in your explanation that “my eyes are up that hill where we are about to go and the other trucks are.” You know you only glanced away for a moment, but you (and everyone, again thank you) can now see how quickly shit will go sideways - very literally.

We always want to take a quick look around. Whether to appreciate the scenery or to evaluate what kind of fuckery we’re about to undertake. The most important thing to do when we’re stealing this glances is to come to a complete stop. I’m gonna say that again in all caps.

COME TO A COMPLETE STOP

when you want to look at something. We take for granted on the street that the road is straight or almost straight and usually bounded by curbs or bright paint. We can easily just creep along while we look at something.

Looking away from the trail while moving is probably the single biggest contributor to off road accidents.

Thanks again for sharing and please everyone that reads this - pay attention to the trail you are on and come to a complete stop if you want to look at something else.

 

And I wasn't even going that fast! Thanks Kevin. Will this run be at T2S next year?

 

You’re welcome. Since it all turned out well, it’s another cool thing we did together. Between us we had all the recovery gear we needed (Phil even brought a winch!), and there was no squabbling or indecision.

It’s cool you decided to share so others can learn. Day 4 and the Shenanigans Credo held (there isn’t actually specific wording but, essentially, whoever gets in a mess is in charge of if/ when you share what happened online. But... we’ll all totally talk about all trail secrets if we meet and drink at a campfire.)

 

Of all the ppl on this run, I was most impressed by Tony @fisherman951
Prior to this run the largest obstacle Tony ever encountered was a speed bump at the mall! Definitely out of your comfort zone but you handled it like a veteran. Great job Tony!

 

I don't think I understand - this trail isn't in Sedona, so it won't be at T2S next year. Unless you meant something else?

 

Yup I know that, just alluding to this being an overall challenging trail worthy of T2S! No worries!

 

I wanted to thank everyone that put this run together.

Last Friday afternoon my schedule unexpectedly cleared up, so I mounted my offroad wheels Friday night and made the early morning trek up to Green Valley Lake on Saturday morning (unannounced) Everyone was super friendly when I got there and accepted me right into the group. To date, most of my wheeling has been high speed open desert stuff, so as we rolled out and did 3N16, I was starting to think that the whole day would be easy (somewhat boring) smooth fire-road. How WRONG I was!!
Sunny mentioned that we would do an easy "crawling" trail followed by a HARD crawling option. Well as we started up 3N17, I began to think that they had forgotten to tell us that they were starting the HARD option. There were extended sections on 3N17 that I NEVER would have attempted if I were not part of this group. Also, having someone in an identical truck right ahead of you really helps calm the nerves since you know that "If they can do it, so can I..."

About 3/4 of the way to 3N11 (and shortly after Pinay's incident), we crested a hill to an awesome overlook of Johnson Valley and Lucerne. WooHoo!!! We made it!! Not so fast though... Some Polaris guys were there and they told us that it only got "worse" from there.


At the same time, I REALLY didn't want to head back the way we came since there was a lot of sketch and I seem to like the UP more than the DOWN since I can actually see where I'm going with the UP. So Sunnier and Paul talked to some jeep/landcriuser guys and we all decided to risk it and continue up to 3N11. DAMN I'm glad that we did. It really wasn't much worse than what we had done already and was much shorter than going back. Plus, now I can say I've done the loop!!

I will say that as soon as we made it to 2N11, I wanted to jump out of the truck and kiss the ground.

So again... BIG thanks to Pinay, Sunnier and Paul for setting this up and "tricking" all of us into running something we probably never would have done without your influence. I now have a MUCH better idea of what our trucks can do. If I had seen stuff like this before, I never would have attempted it.
Big for this group run and all the great people I met!!

 

I love White Mtn! That trail is awesome

https://youtu.be/3kyWdHgmvNQ

https://youtu.be/_aFLDULQAo0

 

Alex...



But now we all know what you know!! Make room for more rigs on your runs!

 

Thanks Paul, don’t be fooled some of the speed bumps I hit I get some major air lol.

 

Jeff it was great meeting you on Saturday. Hope to see you on another run here soon. Got a great looking truck too.

 

Thanks... Should be even better looking in a few weeks when I install the Camburg CTE front bumper I bought. Just need to re-paint the end caps which are color-matched to Smoked Mesquite right now.

 

I just want to say thank you to every one in the group for allowing me to even join. After I see every other truck out there with mid travel suspension and of course hulk with LT it ran thru my mind that I shouldn’t even be out there. Trying to even keep up on the flat parts was a challenge as I see your guys truck absorbed all the bumps and jumps and I’m over here taking hits jumping all over the place.

I’m not gonna lie I was scared at some of the sketchy stuff and maybe called out a couple times that I was stuck when in reality I wasn’t lol sorry for my noobnes. When those SxS told us that we shouldn’t continue all I wanted to do was go back down but realized that wasn’t as easy as it sounds. When we all made it up over the last uphill climb and Paul told me “u see that blue diamond? It’s easier now” I wasn’t sure wether to believe him or not but after seeing a couple of us felt relief I went with it.
A trip to remember non the less but would I let Paul lead me ever again HELL NO!! Hahah jkjk. My truck is all pinstriped now and I see ppl look at it and in my mind I’m like hell yeah I did that all proud of myself. @Sunnier just like every time I have gone out ur composure and advice is awesome can’t thank you enough for pushing us to the limits but being concerned for us as well.

@BestGen @nishibot @JDL17CM4x4 @JasonJK @DividedSky @Pinay @TacoPharm and @computeruser6 thank you very much it was a hell of time and seeing you guys push ur truck gave me the extra boost in my mind to push thru with you guys!

 

I love hearing stories like this! So pumped ya'll had such an awesome trip!

 

Right after my extrication we did that steep hill, I was right behind you Tony and I heard you call out you were possibly stuck. You stopped, backed up just a bit and put steady throttle on the engine and up you went!! Great learning experience for all! As steep and rocky as those hills were, we got thru it!

 

@BestGen did ya'll go up the steep climb or take the bypass?

(not suicide hill, the hill on the trail lol)

 

If you mean the steep run that goes straight up while the trail turns right, which @BestGen called “3 Wheel Hill”, @TacoPharm and I did that one. It was very fun!