From John Bull to Horsethief Flats

[Mike]

Great. I think we are going to take 3N14 to 3N16 then 3N83 to the trail head. Try to stay off the hard stuff till we hook up. See you around 10:15.

Sounds good. I'll be on channel 3 on the CB.

[ECV Jeep]

Sounds good. I'll be on channel 3 on the CB.

Amazing............Mike has a pre-determined CB channel. I'll be on 146.520 and channel 3.

[RAT]

I'll be up there later in the day. Maybe I'll try to hook with you at Horsethief; I haven't run that since the RAT was stock.

[Mike]

Right On! You have my cell so ring me when you get close.

[Mike]

Trail Report: 6-10-07

It was a good day of Wheelin' and John Bull definitely has some more bite than it did when I last ran it in December 2006!

We met at the Fawnskin Fire Station before 9:30am. We had Jake (Cherokee People), Maxwell (Max7) and his friend Scott, Brian (ECV Jeep) in "Penny", and Sharon and I in "Mr. Green". We waited a little while just to ensure that no one else was coming. Brian noticed a fluid leak so we checked it out. Turned out to be that the valve cover needed to be tightened since he had recently replaced the gasket.

We headed up Polique Canyon Road (2N09) to 3N16 and then up 3N10 to the junction of 3N83 where we were supposed to meet Chuck (Dirtman13) and some friends.
After waiting 30 minutes and still no show, we decided to move on. We played on the moguls at the junction of 3N43 and 3N10B before heading up the John Bull Trail (3N10).

John Bull Trail (3N10)
At the first serious obstacle, Jake made easy work of it without a spotter:


Next Maxwell tried the same line but the loose boulders caused him not to fair so well:


After some rock stacking, Maxwell was able to clear the obstacle:


We removed the stacked rocks before Mr. Green made the attempt, but we probably should have left them! After a couple of tries, I got high-centered to the point of needing a tug from Penny to get back off the rocks:


The next tries were more successful, but still left me sitting on my front diff. After some shifting with a high lift, a bent tie rod, and a tug from Maxwell, I finally got Mr. Green over the obstacle:


Brian made easy work of obstacle:


We had lunch at a high point along the trail before moving on:


The Tree Squeeze:



On the down hill run, we ran into Chuck (Dirtman13) and his friends coming up from the East:


They had had a U-Joint problem on one of their rigs and were not able to meet us. They came in the opposite way in hopes of crossing paths just to let us know. (So Dirtman13, how'd your run turn out?).

The downhill run was crowded with lots of folks headed uphill. Eventually, we all made it down:


Great pics here, please see the PhotoBucket Link for all of them.

The best poser shot goes to Maxwell (as usual!). This time he wasn't even trying! He got a round boulder caught and literally rolled it until he came off of it:


The next best poser shot would have to go to Jake. He didn't realize where he parked until he got out to see Maxwell stuck on the boulder!:


Gold Mountain (3N69)
Next, we headed over to Gold Mountain since Brian had never been on it. I like the uphill climb better, but the downhill run had its challenges. We made it to the talus slope where the Rock Garden was explored by everyone. All but Brian seemed to have trouble with this boulder:


While playing, I caught a rock that caused a leak in my headers. The rest of the trip had Mr. Green sounding like a race buggy! We had some fun making our way down to the pavement:



3N07Y and Horsethief Flats Road (3N03A)
At Hwy 38, Everyone made plans to head separate ways. Kurt (Rat Patrol) had called and wanted to join in on the Horsethief Flats run. Everyone else needed to make their way towards home. Sharon and I hooked up with Kurt and took 3N07Y down to the Cactus Flats staging area, then went over to Horsethief Flats Road (3N03A).

The trail starts out easy, but soon becomes rough and off-camber:


It drops into a flat valley surrounded by steep hills. The views going into and out of the valley are wonderful. Once in the Flats, Kurt showed us one how to properly park:


After exploring the creek and lower area of the flats, we headed back up the trail. Sharon took over driving as we climbed the steep and tilty road back to Hwy 18:


At times, the sun was blinding:


But Sharon made easy work of the climb. Again, the views were excellent:



Thanks to everyone for making this a great day!

All the pics can be seen at this link:
http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q...ief%206-10-07/

[FishPOET]

As always great pics and trail report Mike!

There is a little known, little used route from Horsethief Flat down into JV on BLM land. One of these days we will have to go exploring and look for the trail.

[Materdaddy]

Wow, great report Mike! One of the best I've seen in a while! It made me feel like I was there, then, when I realized I wasn't I became insanely depressed.... insanely depressed, Mike...

Haha, thanks for the writeup! I hope to be out soon!

[Mike]

There is a little known, little used route from Horsethief Flat down into JV on BLM land. One of these days we will have to go exploring and look for the trail.

I'm up for it. Rat Patrol says that he knows one way, but he thinks that Mr. Green might not be able to get through one of the obstacles on the trail that he knows.

[FishPOET]

http://picasaweb.google.com/hody1a/B...66819944636722

These are some pics from a group that ran the trail from Horsethief Flat to JV in March of this year. Maybe Kurt could elaborate on his experiences.

[Mike]

http://picasaweb.google.com/hody1a/B...66819944636722

These are some pics from a group that ran the trail from Horsethief Flat to JV in March of this year. Maybe Kurt could elaborate on his experiences.

Cool hill trail! We definitely need to check it out.

Hey Rat, does this look like the trail that you were thinking of?

[dirtman13]

They had had a U-Joint problem on one of their rigs and were not able to meet us. They came in the opposite way in hopes of crossing paths just to let us know. (So Dirtman13, how'd your run turn out?).

Mike, again sorry we missed you guys. Great pics and report. Our run turned out great after the u-joint debacle. We ended up going into Fawnskin for a late lunch. After we hit the pavement I realized that my rear locker wasn’t releasing so we headed back down.
Hope those Broncos made it ok we followed a trail of tranny fluid the whole way up John Bull.

[ECV Jeep]

I sure had a great time on the run, and look forward to the next one. Penny will give Mr Green a tug any time.

[Max7]

Late Update!

Here's some more pic's from that day:















Let Jake know about it Mike!
Maxwell-

[steelman]

Great pics all! :thumbs_up

[Mtbikbob]

Wow Max, great pictures.....fun to reread this reports....if you can't be there, it almost makes it feel like you are. Thanks again Mike and Max