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It's been an interesting weekend.
I had to work Saturday in Redlands. I took the Jeep to work thinking that after work I might go exploring. As I got to work, I heard some disturbing noises coming from the transfer case. After work, I caught a ride home, got the truck and flat towed the Jeep home.
My TeraLow T/C pretty much ate itself into pieces. Thank goodness this happened at home and not last week in DV.
Rat Patrol called and offered to help. I had the old/original T-Case housing so we retro-fitted the T-Case to stock condition.
Sunday morning we finished it up and, of course, we HAD to test it. We headed south to Anza-Borrego. Kurt hasn't wheeled in the area before so this was a great opportunity to show him some of the cool stuff in the area.
We had a REALLY late start, but we got to the Pinyon Mtn Trailhead by NOON-ish:
I found that I had a small leak around the front output yoke in the T/Case. We re-used the seal because I was hoping to wait until I talk to TeraLow before I invest any money into the T/C change. It leaked, but not too badly to bail on the trip.
Pinyon Mtn is a long trail with 4 notable obstacles. The Squeeze is the first one encountered:
The Rock Garden follows, but I didn't get any photos because I was fighting with my 4WLow. The Jeep wouldn't stay in 4 Wheel Low without holding the shift lever. In a manual Jeep, this ain't going to work for long.
We soon found ourselves at Heart Attack Hill. Kurt went first:
I wasn't excited about going down the Hill without 4WLow. I spent a little time under the Jeep adjusting the linkage. I happened to look up and notice that I had a great view from under the Jeep for such a cloudy day:
I got the linkage to work better, but it still wasn't quite right, so I headed down in 4WHigh:
I made it with no issues. In fact, the Hill was much easier than I remembered.
We worked our way across the remainder of Pinyon Mtn towards Fish Creek Wash:
Once we got to the wash, we faced our last real obstacle before reaching the smoother and flater path towards Ocotillo Wells:
At this obstacle, I couldn't make the climb in 4WHigh. Mr. Green just kept bogging down. So, I held the shifter in 4WLow while climbing the falls. I noticed that the shifter 'clicked' into place halfway up and stayed there without issue afterwards.
After getting to the easier trek down Fish Creek Wash, we made good time towards Sandstone Canyon. The cloudy sky and the sun setting made for some great views:
I've always heard the Sandstone Canyon was an easy trail with some great scenery. even though it was late in the day, I wanted to go take a look. The trail didn't disappoint:
The walls of the canyon are massive!:
Far before the expected end of the trail, we found a major rock fall blocking most of the trail. This fall probably is a result of all the earthquakes in the area recently. Kurt saw tracks going across the far right side of the fall and decided to give it a try:
It is a seriously high chance for body damage obstacle:
I wasn't going to be left behind, so I was next to tackle the boulders. Unfortunately, my camera had issues with the fading light:
At this point, my main worry was damaging my hard doors:
We went a ways further and found another rock fall. It was not so severe, but it had no tracks, light was fading, and the sky was starting to open up with some rain. At this point, we decided that we definitely need to plan a return trip!:
The rain started falling harder and the light faded fast as we made our way back across the tough rock fall:
Regardless of the rain and darkness, we made our way to the exit of the Diablo Drop Off. We climbed to the top of the Drop Off with rain falling lightly. At the top of the hill, the last fading light accented the storm rolling through. Too bad the camera could not capture the low light views!
We dropped back down to Fish Creek Wash and drove out through Split Mountain to the pavement. After catching a great dinner in Borrego Springs, we headed back home late in the evening.
It was a long day on the trail, but it was well worth it. I have forgotten how much I really enjoy wheeling in the Anza-Borrego area.
A BIG thank you to Rat Patrol for the help with the transfer Case!
I had to work Saturday in Redlands. I took the Jeep to work thinking that after work I might go exploring. As I got to work, I heard some disturbing noises coming from the transfer case. After work, I caught a ride home, got the truck and flat towed the Jeep home.
My TeraLow T/C pretty much ate itself into pieces. Thank goodness this happened at home and not last week in DV.
Rat Patrol called and offered to help. I had the old/original T-Case housing so we retro-fitted the T-Case to stock condition.
Sunday morning we finished it up and, of course, we HAD to test it. We headed south to Anza-Borrego. Kurt hasn't wheeled in the area before so this was a great opportunity to show him some of the cool stuff in the area.
We had a REALLY late start, but we got to the Pinyon Mtn Trailhead by NOON-ish:
I found that I had a small leak around the front output yoke in the T/Case. We re-used the seal because I was hoping to wait until I talk to TeraLow before I invest any money into the T/C change. It leaked, but not too badly to bail on the trip.
Pinyon Mtn is a long trail with 4 notable obstacles. The Squeeze is the first one encountered:
The Rock Garden follows, but I didn't get any photos because I was fighting with my 4WLow. The Jeep wouldn't stay in 4 Wheel Low without holding the shift lever. In a manual Jeep, this ain't going to work for long.
We soon found ourselves at Heart Attack Hill. Kurt went first:
I wasn't excited about going down the Hill without 4WLow. I spent a little time under the Jeep adjusting the linkage. I happened to look up and notice that I had a great view from under the Jeep for such a cloudy day:
I got the linkage to work better, but it still wasn't quite right, so I headed down in 4WHigh:
I made it with no issues. In fact, the Hill was much easier than I remembered.
We worked our way across the remainder of Pinyon Mtn towards Fish Creek Wash:
Once we got to the wash, we faced our last real obstacle before reaching the smoother and flater path towards Ocotillo Wells:
At this obstacle, I couldn't make the climb in 4WHigh. Mr. Green just kept bogging down. So, I held the shifter in 4WLow while climbing the falls. I noticed that the shifter 'clicked' into place halfway up and stayed there without issue afterwards.
After getting to the easier trek down Fish Creek Wash, we made good time towards Sandstone Canyon. The cloudy sky and the sun setting made for some great views:
I've always heard the Sandstone Canyon was an easy trail with some great scenery. even though it was late in the day, I wanted to go take a look. The trail didn't disappoint:
The walls of the canyon are massive!:
Far before the expected end of the trail, we found a major rock fall blocking most of the trail. This fall probably is a result of all the earthquakes in the area recently. Kurt saw tracks going across the far right side of the fall and decided to give it a try:
It is a seriously high chance for body damage obstacle:
I wasn't going to be left behind, so I was next to tackle the boulders. Unfortunately, my camera had issues with the fading light:
At this point, my main worry was damaging my hard doors:
We went a ways further and found another rock fall. It was not so severe, but it had no tracks, light was fading, and the sky was starting to open up with some rain. At this point, we decided that we definitely need to plan a return trip!:
The rain started falling harder and the light faded fast as we made our way back across the tough rock fall:
Regardless of the rain and darkness, we made our way to the exit of the Diablo Drop Off. We climbed to the top of the Drop Off with rain falling lightly. At the top of the hill, the last fading light accented the storm rolling through. Too bad the camera could not capture the low light views!
We dropped back down to Fish Creek Wash and drove out through Split Mountain to the pavement. After catching a great dinner in Borrego Springs, we headed back home late in the evening.
It was a long day on the trail, but it was well worth it. I have forgotten how much I really enjoy wheeling in the Anza-Borrego area.
A BIG thank you to Rat Patrol for the help with the transfer Case!
There were some old tracks past the rock fall but they were pretty old. We're going to go back and explore further back; you should come with us.
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