Trail Run: Idtt 2014

[Russ Chung]

I'll start the IDTT 2014 Report:



I couldn't leave Los Angeles early enough on Friday to avoid the evening traffic, so I drove to Peggy Sue's on Saturday morning. The original plan was to hold the drivers' meeting at Peggy Sue's but some of the campers skipped breakfast, so we returned to camp for the drivers meeting. Everyone except Mike White (Deepwater) and I wanted to run Odessa and Doran. They formed about four or five groups and left for the Doran and Odessa trailheads while Deepwater and I went to Kramer Arch:





After Kramer Arch, we headed up West Phillips to the ridgeline overlooking Odessa Canyon:



We had expected to see some of the MJR group in the canyon, but they hadn't arrived. We crossed to the other side of the canyon and explored some of the mines on the west side of the canyon:











We heard then saw the group led by Mike Anderson (Mike). I don't know the exact number of vehicles in the group, but there were more than a dozen of them. Here's Mike's green TJ followed by Chuck's (Dirtman13) CJ-7. I believe the third Jeep might be Jonathan, but I'm not sure. I think the fourth Jeep was Cliff's (CVD) green TJ:



Here are a few more Jeeps I don't recognize:







I don't recognize the first two Jeeps in this photo; the third Jeep is Doug's (FishPOET) black ZJ followed by Ryan's (Hook&Ladder) TJ:



(continued)

[Russ Chung]

While Mike's group continued up Odessa Canyon, Deepwater and I headed over to Bismarck Mine and ate lunch:







After lunch, we explored the mine and found Rick, Sarah, Erik (Nailer341), Tam (JeepGal), Chris (Dukes69) finishing their lunch on the other side of the mine.



After lunch, Deepwater and I headed to Wall St. Canyon Overlook while Rick and Sarah's group continued to Odessa Canyon.









We explored some of the trails around the St. Louis Mine and the head of Wall St. Canyon, then went to the Silver Bow Mine:







It was windy at the Silver Bow Mine, so we didn't stay long. We left the mine and reached pavement at the Fort Irwin Road. We aired up and headed back to camp.

[daniel_buck]

It was a great weekend! Glad I could make it :-)

As far as I know the only damage other than scrapes and dents was a motor mount that came loose on a white YJ, I forget the driver's name, sorry! It was bolted back up again and he finished the trail.

[clg82]

It was a great weekend! Glad I could make it :-)

As far as I know the only damage other than scrapes and dents was a motor mount that came loose on a white YJ, I forget the driver's name, sorry! It was bolted back up again and he finished the trail.

A CJ5 that was owned by GP4play spit out a hub on the trail I believe Friday night.....another jeeper found it on the trail and brought it back to him....he was ecstatic!

[Deepwater]

Like Russ I arrived Saturday morning at Peggy Sues to see a mass of Jeeps parked out front. Back at camp Russ and I decided to take the scenic route and see if we could locate the group down in Odessa.

We found this likely vantage point and climbed all over it looking for the best view of the trail below



Soon the Iron Serpent made it's appearance.


And then it started to slither toward us.

A couple stragglers chased down its tail.


One of the best chroniclers, I never got so much coverage of myself before. Thanks Russ, I can prove to my wife now that I didn't spend the day down in the Calico bordello.


My first IDTT. Very enjoyable meeting up with old friends and meeting new ones. An epic gathering of really nice people.

[Russ Chung]

We heard then saw the group led by Mike Anderson (Mike). I don't know the exact number of vehicles in the group, but there were more than a dozen of them. Here's Mike's green TJ followed by Chuck's (Dirtman13) CJ-7. I believe the third Jeep might be Jonathan, but I'm not sure. I think the fourth Jeep was Cliff's (CVD) green TJ:

After reviewing Deepwater's picture of the "Iron serpant" and his video in the previous post, I believe that the third Jeep was Kurt's (RAT) maroon TJ, and the fourth was Jason's green YJ, followed by Dr. Dirty's JKU, and Curtis' white TJ. I thought that Zoobi told me that he was following Curtis, but it looks like a white YJ behind Curtis, and I know that Zoobi drives a white TJ. I can't identify the rest of the group.

[Zoobi]

I got there Thursday afternoon and set up camp with the few early birds.
Friday I rode with Jason to Pumpkin Eater. With us was Cliff (CVD), Chris (elusive), Curtis (Curtis) and Flatout (Fred).

Flat out


Elusive



Cliff


Curtis


Jason


Jason proving you don't have to take the line everyone else does.


It was great meeting everyone, had a great time and cant wait until next year.

Scott

[sarah]

Wow! I love those pics Russ - such a neat view!

All the pics look great! I have a few to get from my phone... still trying to get going this morning. We got in at about 2am after passing through several snowstorms. Sorry we missed you guys at breakfast, you know we're usually late anyway LOL, but we were exhausted from the drive. And then Erik and Chris, etc. gave a fellow jeeper a welding job at camp so we were a bit delayed at getting on the trail.

We had a great time seeing everyone and getting my jeep on the trail. Thanks to everyone for making the effort to attend - we love you all! But above all else... Chuck's drone. And inappropriately-named whiskey that I tasted.

And the HAM radio talk around the fire on Saturday was great! It's so awesome to see more interest in hams, maybe we can get an MJR testing session going this summer.

I have some pics and panos on my phone that I need to download... bbiab.

[daniel_buck]

Next time for IDTT Sarah, I'll have to send you some money ahead of time and have you pick up a case of Stranahan's Colorado Whisky. That stuff is soo good, but you can't buy it outside of Colorado anymore, or at least I've not seen it anywhere.

[Materdaddy]

Sarah can be our booze mule from CO. Need More Beer.

[sarah]

Sweet! I'll have to check out that whiskey! Woohoo!

Hopefully you guys can meet us in Moab or Colorado for a jeep trail this year so you don't have a wait a whole year for your booze delivery.

[Mike]

Friday afternoon, 8 rigs went to find the Chimney Rocks:


Then went to the Surprise Canyon Borax Mine:


On the way back, Roger and I stopped at the old cemetery on the hill by the Ag Stop:


Then back to camp for dinner and meeting up with everyone. I like the new shirts:


Here are some pics from our run up Odessa and down Duran. We had 17 rigs in the iron serpent:




At the end of Odessa, 4 of us tried the line up the wall, but only 2 made it up:








The rest took the very narrow shelf road:


We stopped at the Bismarck Mine to poke around:




Going back down Duran, we had one Jeep lose the bolts on a motor mount. While that was getting repaired, Sharon snapped this pic of part of the crew in the canyon:


After we got back to camp, My friend with a Tacoma went for a spin around Phillips Loop to let him stretch his new truck's legs a bit:


We even got it through Kramer's Arch:


Back at camp, we had dinner and chatted:


The night run was a romp up the Gatekeeper by Chuck, Kurt, and Richard. The rest of us just went along to watch and provide the peanut gallery:




We settled into camp and enjoyed great company into the evening:




It was a heck of a lot of fun. Great weekend with a great group of people!

[GP4Play]

A CJ[COLOR="#0000FF"]7[/COLOR] that was owned by GP4play spit out a hub on the trail I believe Friday night.....another jeeper found it on the trail and brought it back to him....he was ecstatic!

Tammy and I had great time getting to see all our MJR friends again and meeting a great bunch a new ones. We started out with Scotty, Roger, and Kevin but had to turn back after losing a hub, which found by one of the group by Butch and Richard. That made my night so IDTThem the rest of the night and ate a great dinner Tammy cooked for us.

[daniel_buck]

Sweet! I'll have to check out that whiskey! Woohoo!

Hopefully you guys can meet us in Moab or Colorado for a jeep trail this year so you don't have a wait a whole year for your booze delivery.

Yea, it's good whiskey

Moab would be fun!



Chuck, where's that video from the chopper!!

[curtis]

So was the gatekeeper harder this year?