Originally Posted by ian408 You should have gotten a rental

I thought about it, but couldn't bring myself to "cheat" on my jeep.

went here (forgot to take pics of the hairry spots to get there)



to get these.....



Photography is a sickness ;)

Originally Posted by Tango went here (forgot to take pics of the hairry spots to get there) to get these.....

It's nice to take time to stop and smell the daisies.

I finally got back out on the trails yesterday.

Here's couple shots of me. I gave my camera to one of my wheeling buddies so there would be some shots of me...lol.







Here are a few shots I took of the guys I wheeled with:















I don't know the last guy, but he joined us for a bit.

We had a great day, of course any day wheeling is a great day.

Looks like a fine day for a drive in the woods! One more week tlll Sierra Trek!

Originally Posted by ian408 Looks like a fine day for a drive in the woods! One more week tlll Sierra Trek!

Wheeling around these parts is nothing like the trails I had to drive by on vacation. Oh how I wish I lived out west.

Out West is a pretty big place

Originally Posted by ian408 Out West is a pretty big place

I know....west of Nebraska would work. If I had to narrow it down, Oury, Durango, Silverton Colorado area, or Moab Utah...any of those. Retirement is about 7 years away, until then, it's boring Illinois.

I might look for west. Like maybe the NV/UT/AZ border area. That puts you near enough everything

Originally Posted by ian408 Challenging rock to climb. If you don't mind getting water in the bed.

That's pretty awesome I have to say! Great shots, looks like a nice trip

And I'm getting ready to do it again And Again the weekend after. And now it looks like we're heading yet again...oh boy.

You don't always have to be off roading, or on some mountain pass, to have a good time in a Jeep.



The wife wanted to go for a ride tonight, so of course we went. We stuck to the back roads, and just cruised along.

I made it back from the Sierras!



This year, we hit up the train tunnels and talked about the history of the railroads in Donner Pass.
In 1867-1868, the summit tunnel was completed. It remained in use for over a hundred years. For a short time,
they were covered with wooden snow sheds. These sheds allowed snow to avalanche over the track allowing trains
to continue over the pass. Slight problem though, they caught fire. They were later replaced with concrete sheds.

You can see remnants of the wooden sheds along the outsides of the newer sheds.


The old track bed is now a road and takes you through the tunnels. One end is fairly near Donner Ski Ranch. The other
end requires a bit of effort and takes you past a lot of the old home sites as well as a water tank or two (hidden in the
bushes these days).







In the last one, you can see the roof structure used to protect the riveted steel tank below. If you're not
sure why they did this, those tanks were often crushed under the massive amounts of wet snow-often
called Sierra Cement by skiers-if they weren't protected.

When you arrive at the tunnels, the first thing you notice is the view. It's gorgeous-this is Donner Lake.


Where the tunnel walls are lit, there is art. Some would argue whether it's art or not. Never the less, it's
there.


Over time, age and nature are taking a toll on the columns of the tunnels. More than likely, this column
has some kind of issue with the concrete and it's erosion has accelerated.


Another shot showing the tunnel construction.


The outside of the sheds are covered in graffiti too.


We spent the night along the river enjoying a delicious taco bar.


The next day, our travels took us along a part of the active railroad. No driving in the tunnels


After our exploration, we headed out for a lunch stop unlike any other. It sat high above Fordyce Lake
and it was railroad related. We passed a large avalanche...



...and arrived here...



But the best part about Signal Peak isn't the radio towers or the view. It's the Signalman's hut. This is a
spot that offers a view of both sides of the track and allowed the signalman, who lived on the peak by himself
for months at a time, to signal trains as to when it was safe to pass. This was done with lanterns. No electricity
or modern conveniences.



The road to all of these places isn't terribly challenging. We had a VW Toureg along for all but the Signal Peak
part of the run. Here's a view of the descent stage.



After descending from the Peak, we hit Truckee, picked up some badly needed ice and a few things before
heading back out to Meadow Lake and dinner. I camped overnight and said goodbye the following morning.
It was a great trip and if you've the chance to go to Sierra Trek, I urge you to. You won't be disappointed.

Sunrise on Meadow Lake.


Hope you enjoyed!

Very cool. I need an adventure.

The view from Signal Peak-this is a 360' pano.

Originally Posted by ian408 The view from Signal Peak-this is a 360' pano.

That's awesome.

Did some wheeling...here's the trail report I did over on the jeep forum I hang out on.

I had a four day weekend over Labor Day and thought it would be a good time to head out to The Cliffs for a day of wheeling on Saturday.

LeadDog and I planned to hit the park Saturday morning, but t-storms and rain were on the radar, and in the forecast. The rain I could have handled, but I didn't want to drive for an hour only to have it storming. I don't wheel in t-storms. So Saturday was a washout, no wheeling. Sunday...same kind of deal. Monday looked like it was going to be nice so LeadDog and I decided to hit the park Monday (Labor Day) morning. We knew it was going to be muddy, but didn't really care.


My Jeep, prior to the mud.

LeadDog got held up a bit and was running late, so I decided to take a look at the mud bog area, it was bone dry the last time out, just to see how muddy things were.

The trail to the bog was a mess, very muddy. The mud at the Cliffs has a lot of clay in it, and it's slippery, real slippery.

I met a TJ (99TJSahara) and an XJ (jeepinXJ01) up by the bog, who recognized me from Jeepforum, and asked if they could wheel with me. I said sure, but I was still waiting for LeadDog. 99TJSahara had a passenger, JeepinWJ86. 99TJSahara had already been stuck in Jimmy's Crack.

We went down to the lot and awaited the arrival of LeadDog...who did finally show up.

We headed off on Trail #1, to see how things were.


LeadDog

Things were muddy, that's for sure.


99TJSahara coming up Superman.



jeepinXJ01 on Superman.


99TJSahara had an over heating issue.


Mud from Jimmy's Crack was blocking the radiator.

Pouring some water on the radiator cleaned it off enough to get the air flowing again, and we off.


My Jeep.

We happened upon a Ford Ranger that was stuck and a UTV was trying to pull it out, which wasn't working very well.

Being the nice guy that I am, I decided to winch him back out of his stuckness, despite that fact he was in a Ford Ranger.


The Ranger I saved.

The Ranger only had rear wheel drive, as the front hubs seemed to no longer be locking. The lack of front tow points left him with one option, punch it and power through the mess he was in. It worked.


Some traffic on the trail.

We made our way on down the trail.








This guy came flying by, bouncing the the motor off the rev limiter. It smelled like the engine was about to give up the fight.

We would our way through some trees too.

We tested our break over angles.







No high centering.

We followed Trail #1 back to the parking lot, had a little lunch, then decided to do Trail #1 again, but in the opposite direction.

We stopped by Jimmy's Crack.


99TJSahara took a shot at the crack.

This wasn't the same spot in the crack where he had gotten stuck earlier...that spot was way nastier.


Traction was an issue.


He took a few runs at it.


Not quite enough traction.


And then it was over.


I heard a sound I remembered hearing before. It sounded like air coming out of a tire, really fast, or an air line bursting. I new from a previous trip that it was a clogged or bent exhaust.


Bent and slightly clogged exhaust.


The tail pipe is a lot tougher to bend than one might thing. We weren't able to get a pry par into the end of the pipe, so we could attempt to pull up on it, so we came up with another solution.


Don't laugh, it worked.

Being none the worse for the wear, we headed back down the trail.








Lori's Holler.

There was never a shortage of mud, but that didn't stop LeadDog from running topless all day.








Hey look, it's my jeep again.


jeepinXJ01 got stuck along the way.


LeadDog gave him a tug to freedom.

Before ending our day we decided to take a trip down the creek....well the rock bed that is supposed to be the creek.


There was water here and there, but nothing flowing.


I gave LeadDog my camera, so I could prove I was there.






This tree gave the XJ a fight, but the XJ did prevail.




My last look, as we headed back to the lot.

We had a great day. Once tail pipe was damaged, and possibly and tie rod on jeepinXJ01...it looked a little bent.

Aside from the creek we stuck to Trail #1 all day, no side shoots like we usually do, as the traction was pretty much gone, and besides we were having fun where we were.

It was nice to get back out in the jeep, it always give me a chance to shoot some photos too, so it's a win win.

Looks like a really awesome trip! Mud is fun until you need to clean it off