Canadian Bush New Years Run trip report!

We ended up with 8 people which was cool for the long weekend.

The weather was insane!

My wife and I were the first ones into the bush on the logging trail and
the camp we normally use was already occupied by snowmobilers so we only
had a couple other options depending on snow level. The side trails had
about 2'-3' or more of snow on them so our options were limited.

We had to follow the active logging trail and got to the second camp so
I tried to blow my way in the trail to it. The snow was soft under with
about 3" of hard crust on it that we could 'almost' walk on. I made it
until the bumper started trying to plow the crust and that was it, about
half way to the camp from the serviced trail I got up on top.

Ok, so we broke trail by foot into the camp to check it out and it was
functional so now we need to let the rest of the folks know where we
are...

My wife and I both got pretty bruised up on our shins breaking trail for
everyone....

Ok, like I am going anywhere in reverse with all 4 wheels spinning in
the air. LOL! Winch time! Why do they put winches on the front
anyway? It seems I am 'never' stuck arse first into anything!

So my wife and I go to pull the cable out and it is frozen so it won't
free spool, I had to power it all the way out first. Then we dig down
under the front and run the cable down and under both axles and out the
back to a tree. The snow in the woods was more like 3' so it took me a
bit to crunch through to a tree. Well the winch got us going back and
half turned so I gave her good back and forward and managed to get all
the way around without having to hook the winch up again. Felt like one
of them 30 point turns.... Got right to the serviced trail again and
hit glass ice bottom with a heavy snowbank. Winch time again.

Got out and left my traditional paper plate trail markers for folks with
a note on each one saying 'not' to follow me in the last part, to walk
the last bit.

When we came back I put her into 3rd in 4 low and told my wife to hang
on. I did pretty good, I blasted to within about 30 feet of the camp
before I was stopped again. We packed the stuff in from there.

So do you think any of them read the damn note? LOL! I see lights
coming and just like a pack of lemmings they follow the only one with a
winch in to the 'stuck' point.

So they packed their stuff in and we settled in for the night. Next day
was New Years Eve and it went up to +44F! It was really warm and later
rainy.

The folks stuck behind me spent a pile of the day digging out. They
even offered to dig me out, but I said naw, I'll wait for mother nature
to do her thing and then see. We hung out at camp and I cooked up a
glazed ham dinner for everyone.

It flash froze New Years Day and the beaver ponds were wicked. Some
folks actually believed me when I said to bring skates so the kids got a
chance to have some fun. Steve and I checked out the ice and it held us
so the rest came out. We were doing fine until the pond snapped in
half! CRACK! Shudder, looks of panic all around, whew it was just a
pressure crack....

There was an otter living at the beaver dam. The kids and I got a kick
out of him and following his tracks in the ice. We ate good that day
too, home made pea soup with the ham and Jo brought some venison so I
made up a big pot of spaghetti sauce with it and some frozen 'from my
garden' cooked down tomatoes I brought for sauce.

A couple folks had to work Sunday so they headed out Sat. evening. They
were lucky because it had gotten warmer again and was thawing so they
had a bit of bite when they hit the snowbank to keep on moving. The
trail was glass ice. My buddy said it wasn't too bad, there were only a
couple places where he needed to clean out the underwear after 'just'
hanging onto the ditch snowbank. There are some really steep and worse
wet bottoms to the road side in places.

It turned real cold, down to +10F again then rained like crazy for
Sunday. It put down about 3" of 'rain' in mini ball bearings down, then
blasted up to +32F in about a half hour and rained. Then it went nice
enough for some fun tobogganing.

Come Monday it was still cold and the loggers came in all chained up
with a sand truck so our drive out was easy. I just drove my previously
stuck CJ7 down off the 4 piles of snow under my tires and drove away.

So no wheeling to speak of, just a really nice get together of friends
for New Years.

For the first time my CJ7 had insane heat inside! I finally got the
hard top and hard doors on my fiberglass body and not only did I 'not'
need boots and gloves on the highway, I didn't need a coat either. Same
for my wife!

Too nice, that big GM heater blower and a clean heater core sure work
well.

We only took some beaver pond and skating and tobogganing photos. They
are located he http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2132336104

And at alt.binaries.pictures.autos.4x4

I have high resolution copies of the photos if anyone wants them.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Man, just reading that made me cold... better go outside in my shorts and
flip flops and get warm. I'll be complaining about the heat here in florida
though soon.

Is the snow the reason you run such narrow tires? Down here there's only
mud n sand and everyone says to run the widest tire you can to float on top
of it.

Yes, the tall skinny tires are the best for snow and work really well on
the dirt and mud. The big trick is they don't spin easy so don't dig
holes to make me stuck, but if I want or need to find 'bottom' to go, a
quick spin and I am at bottom.

Mike

Troy wrote:
>
> Man, just reading that made me cold... better go outside in my shorts and
> flip flops and get warm. I'll be complaining about the heat here in florida
> though soon.
>
> Is the snow the reason you run such narrow tires? Down here there's only
> mud n sand and everyone says to run the widest tire you can to float on top
> of it.

Ah now I remember what I was wanting to know! You mentioned running in 4 lo
in 3rd gear? How does that work out? I've only used 4lo here to pull
people out or to climb up root strewn inclines, and just crawl in 1st gear.
Sometimes if I'm in what they call sugar sand, and stop, if you try to go
again in 4hi and 1st gear you'll just dig yourself in a hole. I'll creep
out in 4lo to a more firm spot and then switch back to hi.

"Troy" > wrote in message

> I'll be complaining about the heat here in florida though soon.

Yep, forest fire season is right around the corner.
-Brian

I have 3.31 gears and my preferred off road gear is 3rd low. I can purr
along or up a sand pit wall at 400 rpm without a stall and it keeps me
limited to about 10-12 mph so I don't get caught on a blind corner or
hill going to fast.

It is a really torque strong gear for me. If I get into slop, I have
power fast without having to shift. Shifting once into deep do do can
be fatal to clutches and forward motion if the shift works and you spin.

I almost got into big crap by being in 1st 4x4 high when crossing a
beaver washed out trail last summer. It was 100' + long and at the top
of my 33's and I slipped the arse end off so had to give it. I was only
doing something like 375 rpm or so and my wife was saying 'more gas,
more gas' when I told her it was to the floor. It chugged through, but
we both had visions of getting very wet.

3rd low has the reduction torque and would have felt stronger at the
pedal with a chance at more rpm.

Mike

Troy wrote:
>
> Ah now I remember what I was wanting to know! You mentioned running in 4 lo
> in 3rd gear? How does that work out? I've only used 4lo here to pull
> people out or to climb up root strewn inclines, and just crawl in 1st gear.
> Sometimes if I'm in what they call sugar sand, and stop, if you try to go
> again in 4hi and 1st gear you'll just dig yourself in a hole. I'll creep
> out in 4lo to a more firm spot and then switch back to hi.