We went out and hit some crazy trails in Cali on Saturday after the nissan commercial thing on Friday.

We went and ran Cleghorn Pass and Big Bear. We had 2 breaks (mark GRENADED a hub, Rich broke/lost his steering shaft on an insane hillclimb after he nearly rolled his truck)

The trails we ran were rated from around 3.0 (Cleghorn Pass) to 3.5-4.0 (Big Bear). Big Bear had a couple of absolutely insane boulder fields. Most of the trucks got some new custom sheet metal. Brian folded his rocker panel and part of the door on a rock (looks sweet!!!). Andy got both of his rockers hard. I would have had MAJOR damage without the rock sliders on my truck. The sliders and bumper took about 8-10 HARD hits. They got used a lot that day.

We had lots of stucks. I high-centered my truck.. lol. Tried to climb over a really tall hump on a hillclimb, and my wheelbase was just a bit too long. It must of looked really funny to see my truck with all 4 wheels off the ground. Rich was kind enough to get out of his truck and give me a shove backwards to get me off the hill. haha. Mark got his frame hung up on the last boulder field on Big Bear. One of Joel's friends tried to snatch strap him up over using a shackle on mark's ARB bumper. On the 3rd yank, the ARB eyelet gave out and sent the shackle flying.. noone was hurt, but it was a little scary. We ended up getting his truck over with brute muscle (lots of pushing) and some careful placement of rocks under the wheels.

I'm sure some other stuff happened that I missed, so everyone will have to post their stories.. This was one of the wildest wheeling trips I've ever been on. It had everything.

I'll post pics as soon as I get them up.

Yes, Joel picked a beauty of a trail. We left at 8 am and got back to Joel's at 1 am. That made for a LONG day, but it was fun.

A couple things I noted. Mark(wheelohio) and Brian(an1malch1n) are a couple of the best spotters I've had the pleasure to watch. (I was only spotted on one obstacle and that was after I hung up my rocker panel on the boulder. Made some neat sounds!)

I will likely do a writeup on spotter etiquette, as there were several examples (not by Brian or Mark) of everything NOT to do when spotting someone through a difficult obstacle.

The highlight? The hopelessly stuck grand cherokee on the boulder field that Mark spotted the guy off, and a Wrangler that had all kinds of trouble taking the line I took. A dude in a built Range Rover also ran into Nissan Mike's TJM and broke his mirror on it. THAT was pretty funny too.

All in all, a great ride on a fun trail. Hopefully Richard reads this and realizes we all NEED his video footage!!!!! (Richard, if you're out there, email me. I would like a copy of your tape)


1998 Frontier 4x4 seriously built
2002 Xterra 4x4 still stock

Wait till the pics start showing up!


1998 Frontier 4x4 seriously built
2002 Xterra 4x4 still stock

I have Richards phone number, will give him a call. Also, there was the baddest CJ I have ever seen at the boulder field. It was taking some insane lines, and making them look easy. That was hilarious when the Rover with an attitude slid into Mikes fender guards!

I am sure the grocery getter (stock Grand Cherokee) enjoyed us making the much harder lines without a problem.

Ok.. my cox.net webspace isnt working to host pics right now, so I'll just give you the URL for the trail pics.. (has ALL the carnage pics in there)

Cleghorn Pass & Willow Creek Jeep Trail

Check it out.. the pics dont do any of the obstacles justice. I'll post pics up here when my pic hosting site comes back online.

Great pics. Looks like you guys had some fun

The Carnage:

Fixing Marks truck after hub grenaded:


The Grenaded Milemarker manual hub:


Rich's near roll.. just before this pic, he had that tire over 3ft off the ground!!! Scary stuff:


Rich dropped his steering shaft:


Fixing Rich's truck on the steep hill:


The boulder field..


Bryan customizing his rockers:


The big Rover hits Mike's truck:


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My Photo Albums

Another view of Bryan's rocker panel:


and the other side:


Andy's new rocker damage:



Mark gets some help over a BIG rock after snatch strap broke:


Mark's Broken ARB bumper from the snatch strap attempt:


My rock sliders saved my truck about 10 times that day:


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My Photo Albums

Stellar shots!!!!!

Gota love that rocker damage on Brians truck and on mine. Sliders? We don't need no stinking sliders! LOL


1998 Frontier 4x4 seriously built
2002 Xterra 4x4 still stock

I really gotta tell all of you, that this was probably one of the funnest trips I have ever been on. Not to mention some of the best company I've ever had the privilage to wheel with. With out a doubt, I'd drive from Maine just to do that again!

As usual John, great pics. To bad you don't have more of yourself, so that you can show off your fine truck and your wheeling skills!

Joel and his friend Tyson picked an excellent trail. One that I know that I will frequent quite often now !!

The only bummer was.....I F'N DIDN'T LOAD ANY FILM IN MY CAMMERA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man I'm an idiot!!!!!!! Other than that I couldn't have had a better trip.

slap my ass and call me susan!

Not to fear. I got some shots of John in the boulder field. It'll take a couple weeks to get them back, but when I do, they'll be posted.


1998 Frontier 4x4 seriously built
2002 Xterra 4x4 still stock

Crazy stuff. Looks like fun was had by all. I wish we could have tagged along for the fun but our weekend was full.

Did everyone enjoy the Southern California Trails?


'00 Nissan Xterra 4x4

Oh yeah.. those trails kicked ass. We all had a blast and unanimously agreed that Saturday was one of the best wheeling days any of us have had.

I found that I also got some body damage. Found out why my tire was rubbing on the front fender.. looks like I customized the front valence on a boulder! Need to take a pic of it to add it to the carnage photos. I bent it back and now it doesnt rub anymore. Looks cool though.

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Ah, just grind it a bit and beat it flat with a hammer

Yes, the SoCal trails are real nice. John and I were commenting how much the trail we ran resembled a local trail here (FR42). Nice country. Too bad about all the fires.


1998 Frontier 4x4 seriously built
2002 Xterra 4x4 still stock

Yep. It really did look and feel a lot like FR42. Big difference was that FR42 doesnt have a bypass road. I really enjoyed the run though.

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