This ride had great weather. No dust, it had rained the day before. Our group did Coyote Canyon in the morning. A quarter of the way in on this very busy, rocky narrow canyon trail, Cathy caught her front driver tire sidewall on a sharp pointy rock. This resulted in a flat tire. Several folks helped her change the tire, Tyrone, her passenger, made short work of this task. Thanks, Tyrone and everyone. We did a lot of spotting for everyone through this area.
Took several hours to go 2 miles. Everyone enjoyed the challenge. Had lunch with a view. After lunch Cathy and Tyrone headed back home, as it would not be safe to do more trails with no spare tire. She drove her Xterra very well with some good spotting.
We drove to Hidden Valley for the afternoon ride. The first stepped waterfall climb was done one at a time, to get good pictures and to see what worked for each driver and their 4x4. We all made it, some easier than others. Toward the end of this trail is an area the tests the flex of each 4x4. Unfortunately, for Peter and Ian, their Hummer popped the driver's side rear leaf spring off it's front mount, shifting the rear axle to the rear, out of place, to be able to drive it any further.. Several jacks, a ratchet strap, a winch to the axle, and another winch to the rear of to the wounded Hummer , a chain, and some wire were used to get this axle and leaf spring somewhat back into place. Thanks to Grant, a guest, and Jack, the tail gunner, for their knowledge of leaf spring repair!!!! Everyone had a hand in getting this job done. Leaving no one or 4x4, left behind.
It was getting late. Jeff attached a Kinetic, "Bungee" strap to the Hummer's front bumper to assist Peter in getting back to a good dirt road and back to the Truck Stop, before dark. This assistance helped keep the repair job in place even up a very steep , rocky , loose two track climb. The Kinetic strap rope cushions the pulling and still helps the Hummer from bouncing too much and breaking again. We made it to the truck stop and everyone headed home. Everyone had a great time on these challenging, for our rigs, trails. Thanks for everyone's assistance. Update on how the Hummer got home in the article forth coming in a future Trail Tales.
