Brian
in the silver CJ-8 wished to get his Jeep out for a shakedown run after
some changes. I was able to get mine on the road a couple of days prior
but I still had a belt squeal / tension issue. I was good enough for
highway running so I jumped in. We were a group of five vehicles on a
wonderful weather Saturday. Moving on the trail at 10:30am we followed a counter-clockwise loop. Due to low moisture, fire bans are in effect. This is keeping the area closed at night to keep camp fires out. The area was fairly void of people for much of the day. Near the end of the trail, at the shelter where tents were assembled, we were flagged down for a ride to town as the campers' truck was broken. The three fit into my jeep and not but a bit down the trail we came upon their buddy's truck - in the middle of the trail. Back to the buddy for the keys he didn't wish to move it - but it's a weekend and it's sitting in the middle of the trail - it would be best to be moved off of the trail to keep others from having to go around. In the end, we pulled it off of the main trail and set it next to a tree, in the shade, of a side track. Kids dropped at the hot springs parking lot in town. Overall, the CJ-8 faired decently. One broken (sheared) bumper bolt and some leaking coolant to tend. Trail Stats
Length 7.1 miles Area 0.6 square miles Start 10:33am End 12:50pm Elapsed 2h 18m Average Speed 3 mph Max Speed 13 mph |
In
about ten feet the ?unscratched? silver paint of this 1984? CJ-8 almost
became scratch-n-dent on the right side. He's heading to the
"wheelstand" spot where the right rear dips into a hole while the right
front and left rear are high. The left front hangs a couple feet in the
air. I kept watch at the left rear as the suspension started to unload
but fortunately it wasn't leaned over far enough to come off of the
ground for a right side flop - close though. |
We
missed a turn and ended up on a track that kept getting tighter. A
motorcyclist worked through our group where we were turning around. We
chatted later in the day and I asked if he was able to make it up and
out to the end of the track - no - he said it kept getting smaller and
more overgrown. With the uphill direction and slow speed he had to turn
around due to overheating to the air cooled engine. |
At the meadow about ready to pick up the folks looking for a ride back to town as the buddy's truck was broken. |
Between Central City and Nederland |