Post by oilleaker1 on Aug 28, 2023 6:15:51 GMT -5
Time is ticking down for Jeeping and I decided to go for a drive with my Carol . The Camp Five Road here in the northern Black hills got washed out in the June 1972 flood. It has 14 crossings through the creek until you reach camp Five, a old CCC location of the past. With a stock non lifted and 600-16 tired Jeep, there just wasn't enough clearance to get over the rocks. The Forest Service has made it part of their management scheme to never re-build many of the canyon roads that got washed out. Little Elk creek Road, Iron creek Lake Road, and this Camp Five Road are three examples. The first two mentioned are now hiking trails. Camp Five is a designated rock crawler trail. They literally drive the creek bed while sections of the original road still exist. The crossings are now challenging. The road also had a hillside slide that dumped boulders into the road. A few years back I tried getting through, but one boulder was headlight high. I had to turn around. Driving around the slide in the creekbed was not a option for a stock M38.
Fast forward: I decided to try my luck with my CJ2A that has 1 inch lift springs and taller NDCC tires. Lockers front and back with low 18's in the transfercase. It's rained allot since my last try and yep, the erosion was evident. Even worse tall rocks and holes. You had to put your tires on top of rocks and pick your line through or you would high center on things. I have installed angle iron "skis" to help protect your u-bolt nuts from being bent. I found they work. I did high center once and backed off the rock and picked a new line.
I met a very polite fellow in a new JK Rubicon wrangler Jeep that had sliders and no doors etc. He was a bit nervous and was doing recon for his friends with JK's that wanted to do this trail. He said he would like to follow me if he could, so we ended up as a team and slowly worked our way through it all. He was a very good driver . Careful to not damage his new rig. His rig was much longer and wider that the old 2A. His automatic transmission was a big help easing over the rocks. My narrowness was a big plus for me. We got to the slide area and someone had moved the headlight high boulder off to the side. That was the deal maker. We made it through. Not easily, but there have been so many ATV's through that they have beat a path over things that helped.
Surprise!!!!! 3 old Willys showed up just as we made it to the end of the section . They were camped at the beginning of the trail and had seen me drive by. They made a crack about seeing my military tread tracks and had followed them. One thing led to another and one said "Jpet had mentioned my name to him". Small world. I ended up driving out with them to Galena and had lunch with them at Wild Bill's Campground.
A fun day.
Fast forward: I decided to try my luck with my CJ2A that has 1 inch lift springs and taller NDCC tires. Lockers front and back with low 18's in the transfercase. It's rained allot since my last try and yep, the erosion was evident. Even worse tall rocks and holes. You had to put your tires on top of rocks and pick your line through or you would high center on things. I have installed angle iron "skis" to help protect your u-bolt nuts from being bent. I found they work. I did high center once and backed off the rock and picked a new line.
I met a very polite fellow in a new JK Rubicon wrangler Jeep that had sliders and no doors etc. He was a bit nervous and was doing recon for his friends with JK's that wanted to do this trail. He said he would like to follow me if he could, so we ended up as a team and slowly worked our way through it all. He was a very good driver . Careful to not damage his new rig. His rig was much longer and wider that the old 2A. His automatic transmission was a big help easing over the rocks. My narrowness was a big plus for me. We got to the slide area and someone had moved the headlight high boulder off to the side. That was the deal maker. We made it through. Not easily, but there have been so many ATV's through that they have beat a path over things that helped.
Surprise!!!!! 3 old Willys showed up just as we made it to the end of the section . They were camped at the beginning of the trail and had seen me drive by. They made a crack about seeing my military tread tracks and had followed them. One thing led to another and one said "Jpet had mentioned my name to him". Small world. I ended up driving out with them to Galena and had lunch with them at Wild Bill's Campground.
A fun day.
