Lockwood/ Miller

[Drewminator]

Charles, what happen to your rig? Sorry im a little behind on reading trail write ups.

[RAT]

If you make that run i want to go again! broken finger, nettels and all!!!
And yes I did brake my finger.....frog killler

Dan the Bush man! Anytime you want to go wheelin give ma a call. I'll be glad to carry your HIGH LIFT JACK, The one that ain't worth a crap and noone should have them... @#$%)*&!!

But that's just my opinion...

Hope your finger heals straight, although, if it heals crooked it makes a better booger hook!
Rat

[freewaydan]

I'll never leave home with out my HI-Lift. EVER!!! (mother F@#in nettels)
And the finger is swolled up about the size of my thumb. I had a wounderful fime with everyone on Sunday and at least i was not the first one to get stuck (jeremy). Btw i did find that gas can if you still want/need it.

[Chucks XJ]

I Broke my lower control arm and the spring came off. Mind you this happened about 100 yards from the end of the Miller Trail. So we got the xj up on leveled land and grinding off some parts and put the spring back on. Pouring rain coming down on us luckily Russ Had a Tarp that we riged up to keep us dry. We Tied up the front axle to my D-Ring up front and cruised it home with my brother law JeepThing. All in all it was a awesome trip. Hope to be up and running so I can go Wheeling this weekend with you guys.

[Drewminator]

I Broke my lower control arm and the spring came off. Mind you this happened about 100 yards from the end of the Miller Trail. So we got the xj up on leveled land and grinding off some parts and put the spring back on. Pouring rain coming down on us luckily Russ Had a Tarp that we riged up to keep us dry. We Tied up the front axle to my D-Ring up front and cruised it home with my brother law JeepThing. All in all it was a awesome trip. Hope to be up and running so I can go Wheeling this weekend with you guys.

Glad you made it out ok. Hope you can make it to the HDR this Memorial weekend and camp out like we did for TDS.

[Russ Chung]

An unusual late spring rainstorm was headed for Southern California on Sunday, May 21, 2006, when a group of MJR members ran the Lockwood, Yellowjacket and Miller trails in the Mt. Pinos District of the Los Padres National Forest. The rain would keep the dust down, but it would also make the trails more slippery.

When we arrived at the trailhead to begin airing down, we could see – and hear – a Land Rover and Jeep starting up the trail. They seemed to be having trouble getting enough traction to climb the hill. With plenty of rain forecast that day, I wondered how they would do on the trail (more on that later)

Our group consisted of Kurt (rat patrol) in a brown TJ:



Jeremy (jermy01) in a green CJ-7, shown here airing down:



Danny (FreewayDan) in a red YJ, shown here checking out his rig at the trailhead:



Andrew in his white Rubicon Unlimited:



Brian (CJBrian) in his black CJ-7:



And my khaki TJ:

[Russ Chung]

After airing down, CJBrian and Jermy01 are crossing Lockwood Creek at the start of the Lockwood Trail:



Followed by rat patrol, Andrew and FreewayDan:



The first obstacle on the trail is the large “gatekeeper” rock on the side of the trail as you climb up from Lockwood Creek. This is Brian (CJ Brian):



Jeremy (Jermy01):



Kurt (rat patrol):



Andrew:



Danny (FreewayDan):



As we headed up the hill, the Capo Valley 4WD club pulled into the trailhead parking area. We had seen them at the Flying J Truck Stop in Frazier Park. A few MJR members are also members of the Capo Valley club; Supe (TJSupe), Bob (Steelman) and Dan (FuelRod) were in that group. We purposely stayed on the same CB channel so we could come to each other’s aid if necessary.

[Russ Chung]

The first “extra credit” section of the trail is a rock garden about a mile from the trailhead. Despite the rain-slickened rock, CJBrian made it through:



However, Jermy01 got high-centered on the rocks:



We used the Hi-Lift for the first of many times that day:



While we were working to get Jermy01 unstuck, the Capo Valley Club caught up and passed us. We soon caught up to them; they were stuck behind the Land Rover:



We encountered an occasional sprinkle of rain, and we could see more storm clouds gathering:





We followed the Capo Valley club for awhile, and listened to everyone grumble about the !@#$% Land Rover:

[Russ Chung]

We took a break at the intersection of the Lockwood and Yellowjacket trails:





The Yellowjacket trail is a dead-end side trail that runs for about a mile and ends at Lockwood Creek. The trail is rated “difficult” and was adopted by the Aftershocks 4WD Club. We decided to run the trail to increase the distance between the Capo Valley club and ourselves.





The first major obstacle is this ledge after crossing Yellowjacket Creek. CJBrian and rat patrol have already made it over the obstacle. FreewayDan is climbing it:



This is Andrew climbing up the ledge in his Rubi Unlimited:



Andrew showed some unusual "flex" (him, not the Jeep) while checking out the clearance under his Jeep’s belly:



The trail crosses Yellowjacket Creek several times:

[CJBrian]

Had fun wheelin with everyone. Cant wait to do it again. Hey Russ I tryed to upload my pics but couldnt can I email them to you and you give it a try.

[Russ Chung]

FreewayDan slipped off a rock, and needed assistance:



So we took out the Hi-Lift Jack again:



Then a few yards later, we used the Hi-Lift to help Jermy01 get off some rocks:



Although the trail was adopted by the Aftershocks 4WD Club, it doesn’t look like there has been much work done to it lately:





The last 200 yards of the trail were very rocky, so we left the Jeeps and walked to the end of the trail:



Then we turned the Jeeps around and headed back to the Lockwood trail:













This was my first time on the Yellowjacket trail; it is much more difficult than the Miller trail. I could barely make it through on my 31” tires; and we didn’t even try to make it through the last 200 yards. I did Miller three times last year in my stock Jeep; I know I could not make it through Yellowjacket in a stock Jeep.

[Russ Chung]

We spent about two hours on the Yellowjacket trail; we could still hear the Capo Valley Club complaining on the CB about the Land Rover that was holding them up. We continued along the Lockwood Trail, and it was pretty uneventful until FreewayDan got a flat tire just as we entered Sunset Campground:



CJBrian helped him plug the tire (good thing Danny owns a tire and auto repair shop). Yep, we used the Hi-Lift again to change the tire and to break the tire bead so Danny could get some dirt out.



We crossed Piru Creek and continued up the Miller Jeep Trail while the Capo Valley 4 Wheelers continued to complain about the Land Rover in front of them. My favorite complaint was that the Land Rover shouldn’t be on this trail because “this is the Miller JEEP Trail, not the Miller Land Rover Trail”.











The rain intensified, and CJBrian slipped off a rock and got high-centered. Andrew pulled him off the rock and we continued up the trail:





When we neared the end of the trail, we met MJR members Fernando (JeepThing) and Chuck (Chucks XJ). Chuck bent his lower control arm and his coil spring popped out just 100 yards from the end of the trail:



He tried to reinstall the spring on the trail, but he finally decided to drive his rig to level ground to work on it. When he got his rig to the end of the trail, the rain and the wind began with a vengeance, so we rigged up a tarp to work under. I didn’t get any pictures because my camera battery had died. After using the Hi-Lift for the umpteenth time that day, we got his rig repaired just before dark, and headed home.

[stegmst]

Great trail report. Thanks guys. Looks like a good time.

[Double AA]

AA, Did you make it Sunday? I didn't see you or your rig, but there were a lot of vehicles up there. If you made it, hope the ride and company was good. Mine sure was. Have you done Yellow Jacket yet? The dead end side is way cool. Let's hook up for a ride sometime soon. I'll bring the PS fluid, you bring the BEER! ~
Rat

Well, we woke up at 5am and the rain was coming down pretty good. We then debated wether anyone else would show up, and because we ran the trail last weekend alone, running it again by ourselves didn't sound like a lot of fun.

Boy was I wrong! It looks like everyone but us show up and had a great time. I blew it. The truth is Shari kept saying, lets go, lets go. So i'm the wuss. I promise next time i'll show rain or shine.

It looks like a good group of rig's made it and the weather wasn't an issue. Great write-up Russ. Oh well, next time. And Rat, the beers on me!

[jermy01]

great trail report russ.....by the way guys.....heres a lot of good reasons why hi lifts are usless, next time we'll leave them at home.....

http://jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253009


hahaha....had fun! cant wait for the next one