Solihull SocietyLand Rover Club of Colorado - Volume 3, 2003

Importing a Land Rover - Part 1Adventure Team Challenge Results

Hole in the RockBattlement Mesa

Lockhart Basin - Elephant HillThe Rubicon

Bill Burke’s 4-Wheeling America

970-858-3468 bb4wa@bb4wa.comwww.bb4wa.com____________________________________________________________

”If you are looking for a trail guide and/or four-wheelinginstructor, you can do no better than 4-Wheeling America.”

(John Lee, Expedition Exchange, CA)

On The Road…Moab September 9 & 10 On The Road…Floridawww.bb4wa.com/training/group.htm Coming in November!Sign up for our email list to be notified!

Hole-in-the-Rock TripSeptember 25-19 Trail Leader Training Learn responsible trail leading skills.www.bb4wa.com/trips03.htm www.bb4wa.com/training/trailleader.htm

Private Instruction Industrial, Government& Military Trainingwww.bb4wa.com/training/privatetraining.htm

Modifications We can build-up and customize your Rover with trail-ready accessories!

Premier Training and Guided Back Country Trips

“The training that you provided the [Solihull Society Land Rover] Club is invaluable …. Thanks again for theexperience and allowing me to gain the confidence necessary to tackle the more interesting challenges.”

(Mark Stolte, CO. 3/03)

We sell ARB, OME, Pull-Pal, Power Tank Onboard Air,RUD Chains, and D-90 Rock Sliders…custom-made by Bill.

www.bb4wa.com/products/products.htm

We hold BLM & USFS permits to operate on public lands.Bill Burke’s 4-Wheeling Americawww.bb4wa.com … 970-858-3469

____________________________________________________________

PO Box 480864Denver, CO80248–0864

The Solihull Society is a Land Rover club (LandRover, Range Rover, Defender, Discovery)serving Colorado and the USA. Membership isopen to all Rover enthusiasts.Annual Dues are $60 and include 4 issues of thenewsletter

Solihull Society MagazineCopyright 2003 by Solihull Society

President – Pat Bickfordpbickford@ai–colorado.comVice President – Mark Stoltemarks@alliancecp.comVice President – Larry Grubbslwgrubbs@us.ibm.comEvents Coordinator I – Ali Valiavali@mho.comEvents Coordinator II – Jim Halljimfoo@purplemountain.netEvents Coordinator III – Ralph Brandtrnbrandt@earthlink.net

Treasurer – Pam Haighchaigh@boulder.netSecretary – John AldenJAlden@SpaceImaging.comMembership – Tim & Colleen Clairtclair@gowebway.comNewsletter Editor – Norman Hallnorman_p_hall@hotmail.comWebmaster – David Nowakowskidavid@davidandheidi.com

3

Solihull Society News

THE EDITORS REPORT FROM THE FRONT SEAT OF AN’88 RANGIE

1. NATIONAL RALLY – As previously advised TheNational Rally will be again be held in Moab this year. It willbe run in a similar format to last year. Fees for Non-Member driver and vehicle is $150.00; fees for Memberdriver and vehicle is $125.00, passengers will pay $75.00each. The club website now holds a preliminary schedule ofevents for the Rally, a copy of which appears on the nextpage. Please check it out and commit early to the event.Deadline for registration is mid August so get your forms inquickly.

2. Club consolidation. Representatives form both the RoverRider club and our own have been chosen to meet to thrashout the details for a possible merger prior to it being placedbefore the membership for ratification.

3. Members are becoming more literary with many moresubmissions of trip reports being submitted for the magazine.You will note that this months edition is larger than usual. Itcould have easily been almost twice the size due to thevolumes of contributions. Hanz Shultze and Lurlie Bickfordnote special mention this month for their generouscontributions. Please keep those submissions coming in,there have been plenty of trips run with no trip reportssubmitted..

4. A video is going to be prepared for this years NationalRally. Contact Terry Mitchell for details.

5. James Shackleford and his wife Naomi are now proudparents of a very healthy new baby boy Please join me incongratulating them. By the time you get this David andHeidi Nowakowski have probably already had their babyas well. Please also congratulate them.

I look forward to seeing everyone on the trails both easy and hard.Good Wheeling Norman Hall

NB You will note a picture of me on page 8 of this issue. Call it editor’sperogative to get his ugly mug shot up in lights.

2003 National Land Rover Rally

Preliminary Schedule:-

Wednesday, September 10th - Drivers Registration and Welcoming PartyThursday, September 11th - Day: Trails; Evening: Navigation Trials Event

See page 11 for more detailsFriday, September 12th - Day: Trails; Evening: Vendor Display NightSaturday, September 13th - Day: Trails; Evening: Awards Banquet

For those planning to attend:4-Wheeling America will hold a 2-day driver training event, On the Road...Moab,September 9 and 10 for those who will be attending the Rally and want to takedriver training with Bill Burke before the Rally. For details, go to http://www.bb4wa.com/training/group.htm

Colorado’s Premier Land Rover ClubPO Box 480864, Denver Co 80248-0864

Application For MembershipNames: _______________________________________________________Address: ______________________________________________________City,, State, Zip Code: ___________________________________________Phone Number: _________________________________________________Email Address: _________________________________________________Land Rovers owned: _____________________________________________Occupation: ____________________________________________________What can you do for the club?: _____________________________________

________________________________ __________________________Signature Date

Please photocopy and then completely fill out the above information and mail the form along withmembership dues [$60 per year] to the above mentioned address.

Accepted by:

Importing a Land Rover.by Todd Vess. Part 1 of 4 parts

[Editors note. Todd did such a great job that I had to includethis. His whole sorty takes 20 pages so unfortuantely I have tosplit it up int 4 parts, a veritable Land Rover “War andPeace”.]

After taking a chance and purchasing a 1990 Range Rover toreplace our VW Golf, and then a few months later buying a1971 Mini from a friend, my wife, Lisa, and I realized we werestricken. Forget Mad Cow Disease, we had Old British CarDisease. I’m not sure how it all came about, but the topic of anowning a Series Land Rover surfaced. It was likely partiallydue to the fact Lisa saw I could repair the cars myself. Afterpaying VW’s prices for repair on the EuroVan, I think Lisa wasready to stop throwing money at vehicle labor and parts.

Thus began my quest for a Series Land Rover.

I began by posting a query on various Land Rover forums. Ifound several leads, and quickly discovered that Series Roversin keen shape command a premium price here in the US. Itwas especially hard to find a 5-door wagon that we could useas a daily driver for under $15,000. As I was flipping throughLand Rover Owner International one afternoon, I showed Lisaa couple of examples of what I had in mind from theclassifieds.

Seeing the prices and a much better selection than we couldfind here, Lisa suggested what I’d been thinking. “Why don’twe just import one from England?”

Indeed.

I began to search the internet for vehicles and as things with theinternet go, one site built on another and pretty soon I wasspending several hours a day scouring the net for vehicles.When I wasn’t hunting through virtual classified ads, I waschecking out US Customs regulations and trying to figure outshipping.

To my dismay, the number of good vintage Landies in the UKwas not as plentiful as I’d first thought. Of the vehicles I foundthat would work for us, most were younger than 25 years,which meant I couldn’t import them due to US regulations.Most of the rest suffered from rotted frames or bulkheads;projects I didn’t want to undertake.

However, after a few weeks, things began to fall into place. Ireceived an email from someone named Peter Coello, thesecretary of the Forward Control Club in England and a

member of the Series II Club. He pointed me toward a coupleof potential Landies on Difflock.com.

‘ANNIE’ THE PICKUP

Though my search for a good 5-door wasn’t looking good, Idid find a 1969 SIIA 1-ton pickup that piqued my interest. Ithad just completed a 2-1/2 year restoration, complete withnew chassis, and the owner was selling it because he’dpurchased a Discovery. The photo on the website lookedpromising, so I emailed him. The next day I had shots of everyangle. It was like I was looking at something on the factoryfloor. The vehicle was immaculate. You could eat off the floors.It had a new galvanized chassis and practically all themechanical bits had been replaced with genuine parts. Theowner, Glenn, emailed me a three-page description of thevehicle. It was obvious he had poured his heart and soul intothis truck and he wanted it to go to a good home. Sometimesyou can just feel something is right, and this was one of thosetimes. Lisa felt the same way, and we decided to put a depositon the truck. It wasn’t what we were looking for, but for somereason we felt as though we had to have it. It was too good topass up. We even purchased the set of five brand newDefender tyres and wheels Glenn’s neighbor had for sale.

The next day Lisa went to our little hometown bank and askedthem to wire the money to Glenn.

That night I booked my plane tickets to London. I was to leaveDenver on British Airways direct to London on the evening ofFeb. 8. I’d land at Heathrow a little after noon on the 9th.

My original plan was to take a train to Glenn’s house, which isin a little village just outside Stratford Upon Avon. He offered

the summer cottage to me for the night, and the next day I’ddrive the truck to Southampton for shipping.

‘EFFIE’ THE CSW

Though I was excited about the pick-up, I still didn’t have awagon, which is what we really wanted. I was ready to livewith this, until I looked on Difflock one morning after work. Anew posting was on the website under the Series III section.The description sounded promising: A 5-door, which had justreturned from a trip to Spain; new tires, 59,000 original miles. Iemailed the owner with my usual inquiry, which asked aboutsuch things as the condition of the chassis, mechanicals, interioretc.

The next night I checked my email and found a reply from theowner, Bob, who included several photos. It was love at firstsight. The frame had been Waxoiled from new and had no rust.The bulkhead was in perfect order and the 6-pot engine hadessentially had the entire top end rebuilt when Bob had an LPGconversion put on it. Now we were in a dilemma. We’d put thedeposit on the pickup, which we’d now named “Annie” due toher number plates, yet here in front of us was exactly what wewere looking for. (Never name a vehicle, as you’ll never beable to part with it – even if it’s not yours yet.)

After a long conversation Lisa and I decided that if I could sellone or two of our current cars to help pay for this, the wagonwould be mine. And, with that, I emailed Bob asking how he’dlike his deposit sent.

At this point I contracted with Phoenix-International Cargo tohaul Annie and Effie. The company came highly recommendedby several people on the Minimania forum, and shipping agentEmma Pittaway was as fellow Mini owner, so my trust factorwas high.

I then got out my map and began to figure out how I was goingto get two vintage Land Rovers, one three hours northwest andone three hours northeast of London, to Southampton in lessthan five days. And, I was going to have to remove an LPGsystem from the wagon, as the shipping company wouldn’t shipit with the LPG tank.

By now Peter and I were emailing each other on a daily basisand when I informed him of my latest find, he emailed back afull-blown plan on how he would pick me up at the airport withone of his 11 Land Rovers, we’d drive to Glenn’s house andput Annie on the trailer for the journey back to his place justoutside Heathrow. The next morning we’d get up, unloadAnnie and take the trailer to Attleborough to pick up thewagon that we’d now named “Effie.” I, of course, was to stayat his house, as he would not hear of me paying for a hotel.After getting the LPG system out, we’d trailer the vehicles tothe Southampton shipping yards.

Mind you, Peter and I had never met, but as I’ve found withmost Land Rover owners, there is a special trust that seems tobe among us. I’d not asked for his help with the Rovers, he’djust offered. My friends, co-workers and family memberswondered what he wanted, and when I explained “nothing,he’s just a Landie nut,” they didn’t get it.

For his help, I offered Peter the LPG system, which he coulduse on one of his Landies.

TAKEOFF

In the next few weeks, Peter and I finalized our plans forgetting the Rovers to Southampton and the next thing I knew Iwas sitting on a 747-400, flying over the Atlantic Ocean.

Ten hours later, we landed at Heathrow and I walked outsideand spotted Peter’s 110 Defender immediately. Hopping in, hegreeted me with a big smile and a pleasant British accent. Afterformally introducing ourselves, we were off. We drove the 10minutes or so to Peter’s house and I dropped off my bags. Hegave me a quick intro to three of his 11 Landies that wereparked on the street (or should I say the sidewalk) outside hishouse.

We immediately hopped back into the Defender and went toget the trailer, which was on a friends’ horse property about 15minutes away. We got there, and his friend was working on thestalls. They were talking English, but I didn’t understand aword they said.

Though it was in the 40s, I was freezing due to the highhumidity and no sun. We rolled Peter’s prize possession, thevery first Land Rover Forward Control manufactured,(appropriately known as #1) off the trailer and were off, kindof.

The tail lights on the trailer wouldn’t work, so we had to stopat a “parts shop” which was kind of a mixture of a 7-Eleven,bike ship, Soundtrack and NAPA all rolled into one tiny store.There we purchased a light bar, which we hung on the back ofthe trailer. After nearly two hours of getting the trailer ready, wewere on the M5 heading north. Though the scenery wasbeautiful, I found myself in awe of the different types ofvehicles on the road.

Our maximum speed with the trailer was 40 mph, so we werein for a long drive. After about an hour-and-a-half we pulledinto a “Break Station” where we got some coffee, a Danishand diesel which cost over six dollars a gallon.

At this point I’d been awake for about 36 hours and it wasquite refreshing to be able to stop. I’d been nodding off as wedrove along. I felt bad, as Peter was kind enough to pick meup and drive me all over the country and here I was fallingasleep!

About two hours later, we turned off the M25 and headed forGaydon, home of the British Heritage Motor Trust. Our planwas to go through the museum before continuing to Glenn’s butwe were about 15 minutes too late for the last entry, which wasrather disappointing.

So, onward toward Glenn’s we pressed. It was getting darknow and we were winding up and down the tiny country roadsand countless roundabouts toward Glenn’s house. At this pointI was really glad that I had Peter along, as I’d come to theconclusion that I’d have been hopelessly lost hours ago. I thinkthere is a law against any road being straight for more than aneighth of a mile in the UK. And, every half mile or so there hasto be a roundabout.

Finally, following the detailed directions Glenn had emailed me,we pulled up to his house. Peter decided to turn the rig aroundwhilst I went inside. As I was walking into the garden (yard), Ihad to walk past Annie, and my heart skipped. There she was,my first Series Land Rover, sitting there in the English Gardenfor the last time. The spotlight from Glenn’s house shone in onher and even in the incredible darkness (there are nostreetlights near Glenn’s House, just the lights from the pubacross the street), she looked every bit as nice as I’d imagined.

End of Part 1

Each year Land Rover Clubs in the United States andCanada are invited to compete in the 5 day long,Adventure Team Challenge, the winning team becoming theNorth American Land Rover Club Rally Champions.

Norman Hall with Lion Cub in Caney Oklahoma

This year saw a team from Colorado enter the event.Norman Hall teamed up Larry Grubbs to enter this event ina 1990 Range Rover as Team Colorado. They wererepresenting the Solihull Society, our local Denver LandRover Club and the State of Colorado. The week-longcompetition rally is designed to give Land Rover clubs theopportunity to have a representative team test their driving,navigation, and endurance skills against other Land RoverClubs in North America. Participants were initially only toldthe start point for the event, this year being MedicineLodge Kansas; from there they were at the mercy of event

organizer, James Merriam, a former USA team alternatefor the Camel trophy.The teams were scored in Special Task events that fellinto a number of different categories. Individual tasksincluded the following disciplines:

• Driving skills

• Driving Maneuverability (gymkhana courses,trials courses, maneuverability exercises, etc.)

• Navigation/route finding (locating or followingWaypoint locations using GPS coordinates, toreach the task finish line)

• Orienteering (map and compass work)

• Use of vehicle equipment (winches, snatchblocks, tools, etc.)

• Physical Challenges (this is where fast, sometimescreative thinking came into play for building suchthings as rafts from barrels and rowing down theriver and similar such activities).

In usual fashion organizers decided to start the competitionoff at 1 minute past midnight on Sunday night by waking allteams and sending then out on an orienteering task. Thiswas compounded by the fact that teams were suppliedwith Map Grid points, and no maps, being forced to relysolely on GPS guidance. Team’s finally got back to sleeparound 2.30 am to start a mere 3 ½ hours sleep.

Team Colorado

All teams were then given GPS co-ordinates to navigate tothe day’s base camp of operations. This was to be the firstof many such exercises whereby tasks and information wasto be sort by teams as they found their way to the nextdesignated location. The first driving event of thecompetition, a Gymkhana Course, was then attempted byall teams. This event required each team to navigate 2 laps

around a gated course as quickly as possible. TeamColorado got off to a good start by winning this event. Tothen confuse teams the second driving event requiredteams to navigate the course in reverse direction with theaim of matching the average time taken driving in the initialdirection. Again Team Colorado was able to win this eventand get off to a great start.

The next event was to see teams follow a gated coursethrough a muddy wooded area basically following a creekbed. Unfortunately Team Colorado was up first. Despiterunning 35 inch Simex Extreme Trekkers that had beenbought over with the assistance of Chris Hummerspecifically for the event, the Range Rover started to diginto the bottomless mud down to the axles in less than onecar length. Disaster then struck as the front Ring and PinionGears decided to explode. Despite an extremelysuccessful extended winching period with the new Husky10 winch supplied by Superwinch, organisers decided toremove the Range Rover from the course and allow thenext entry to start. Team 4 from Ottawa Canada in their1972 Series III SWB Land Rover was up. Unfortunatelytheir winch failed less than 1/3 rd the distance that TeamColorado had gone and organizers promptly cancelled thestage to attempt recovery of the two vehicles [a task thattook some 4 hours].

Team 4 from Canada being recovered - Photo by ScottMonico

Whilst the recovery took place other teams were sent outon a special navigation and water hunt task. This was to bethe first stage Team Colorado could not attempt due totheir break down. Following the recovery Larry andNorman set about removing the front driveline, includingaxles, C/V’s and drive shaft to allow the range Rover to

continue in rear wheel drive only. Then off to start navigatea GPS co-ordinate course to the Little Sahara Off RoadPark in Waynoka, Oklahoma.

This Little Sahara sand dune off road park is frequentlyvisited by ATV’s and Dune Buggies, Four Wheel Drivesnormally being banned from the Park. Fortunatelyorganizers had gained special permission from Parkauthorities to allow access for the first time ever to LandRover vehicles. Driving a heavy Range Rover in RearWheel Drive only across very soft sand dunes is not arecipe for success. As a result Team Colorado placed lastin the first navigation exercise across the Dunes andrequiring their withdrawal from the day’s events followingthe failure of their Bilstein 7100 series front racing shock.

The next exercise was to involve teams winching theirvehicles up a 15 meter high Sand Dune using only theirwinch, shovel and spare tyre. Team Colorado was not ableto get their vehicle out to the start point and hence wasplaced last with a “Did Not Start” result. Team Minnesotaexcelled at this event in their 1994 Defender 90.

A strange event was then conducted. All were in themiddle of sand dune country, strange in itself given that wewere in Oklahoma. Teams were required to construct raftsfrom rope, barrels and planks and paddle their craft acrossa pond, located at an oasis in the middle of the sand dunes,to retrieve atoken. This was an exhausting and very time consumingtask.

It was then off to Kaw City, Oklahoma. Most teamsarrived in camp between 5.30 am the next morning andabout 7.00 am. All were awake by 9.00 am to finishvehicle repairs and prepare for the next day of events.Unfortunately the group had suffered some mechanicalproblems including broken shocks, electrical failures, winchfailures and the like. When it was discovered that our filmcrew’s Range Rover was also undriveable we all packedup and headed for Wichita Kansas to get things back ontrack.

Most vehicles were repaired, however Team Coloradowere not able to secure a replacement front diff as 4.10geared differentials are not overly common in the Mid WestUSA. They therefore remained in 2WD.

Following a solid 3 ½ hours sleep teams awoke to thennavigate via GPS Waypoints to Caney Bend,Kansas. Where more physical and mental tasks awaited.Prior to again navigating to our final destination of Disney

Oklahoma. Unfortunately Team Minnesota broke down ina small town called Nowata Oklahoma due to fuel andelectrical problems. Team Colorado elected to remain withthem and try to keep them in the competition. By 2.30 amthe problems had still not been found and both teamscamped where they were only to find the next morning thatthey had camped in a used car lot in the middle of town.

The Canadians Get some air – Photo by Terry King

Success arrived after only a little more work on theDefender and both teams raced off to Disney to attemptthe last day’s events. Luckily both teams arrived just priorto any tasks starting.

Event 1 for the day was called the V-wire challenge. Awinch cable was strung between three trees to make theshape of an elongated triangle. The teams started from agate 40 feet away, Navigator and Driver then ran to oneend of the wire and stepped on a barrel top. With thedriver and navigator each standing on separate barrel topsthey climbed on the cable and were to traverse the ever-expanding cable using a provided long pole. (The wire gotwider than arms length in the middle so they need to usethe pole to steady each other) If a member of the teamtouched the ground after stepping on the barrel tops or ifthe provided pole touched the ground or the cable wire,the team had to run through the start/finish gate and beginagain. Larry and Norman of Team Colorado are both largeblokes and the wire was not friendly to their combinedweights. As a result they straddled the ropes hands oneside, feet the other and prompting cleared the obstacle.Most other teams seeing this success followed theirexample although Team Colorado won the event.

Hole-in-the-Rock: A BackcountryAdventureBy Lurlie Bickford April 2003

“There is simply no way of describing the country orunderstanding the nature of the obstacles to be overcome…itwould be foolhardy indeed for anyone not well acquainted withthat wild country to try to drive a jeep [sic] into the region.Without the help of experienced guides we would never havereached our destination, but would have become hopelesslylost in the maze of canyons, gulches, and buttes with which thatcountry is so generously blessed.”

Sales pitch by Bill Burke? No. It’s actually a quote fromDavid E. Miller, author of Hole in the Rock, a history of theSan Juan Expedition of Mormon pioneers who were “called”to settle the southeast corner of Utah and who built the Hole-in-the-Rock trail to carry out their mission. Mr. Miller’scomment was made after completing a research trip duringwhich he drove from Blanding to the base of Grey Mesa andhiked to Cheese Camp in 1954. The book, published by The

Day 5, Event 2, the last for the competition, encompassedorienteering, driving and navigation skills. The teams left astart/finish gate and drove up a trail in a narrow ravine.Along the way there were four compass bearings left forthem on trees. At those locations they got out of theirvehicles, took the compass bearing and ran to locate a treewith one piece of a four-part picture. Once the picture wascomplete, the teams drove back to the start/finish asquickly as possible. Team Colorado suffered a major injuryafter starting when Norman Hall tore his right leg calftendon. Fearing a possible major injury the team returnedto the start point for paramedic assistance. Given thecircumstances organizers allowed them to restart the stage.This time Norman was driving with an ice pack strapped tohis leg whilst Larry had now become Navigator. Despitethis handicap [is that leg cap] Team Colorado blitzed theevent and won the stage.

The event saw all competitors stretched to their limitsthrough mental and physical fatigue. Vehicles were pushedand sometimes broken but through it all a level ofcamaraderie developed between those who participated.In the end team Minnesota won the event [team Coloradohelping keep them on the road], Team Colorado with ouradventurous Australian came second and Team Ottawafrom Canada came in third.

Our sincere thanks go to all of our sponsors who includethe following whom we recommend you support:

Motorcars Ltd, Superwinch, 4 – Wheeling America, HighCountry Performance 4x4, Lightforce, Start AccountingSolutions, Simex Tyres and Land Rover Flatirons

2003 National Rally Videos

Terry Mitchell of Cross roads Media productions will becompiling a video to record the 2003 National Rally. Ordersfor the video can be placed with terry by emailing him attmitchell@aol.com The price will be $25

National Rally - Night NavigationCompetition

This year we are proposing to hold a friendly night navigationcompetition. All those coming to the Rally will need the follow-ing items:

- An understanding of navigation using UTM coordinates- GPS. Computers will not be allowed.- USGS 1:100,000 scale metric topographic maps of La Saland Moab. Other area maps may be helpful but are notmandatory- Compass- Pens Pencils, markers, ruler, clip board etc- Spot light and / or flashlights

This will be a fun event but will test you ability to navigate usinga map and co-ordinates and see how you can cope in thedark. The event will be designed for stock standard vehicleshowever some optional challenges may be thrown in to satisfythe masicistic tendacies of some of our participants. There willalso be general knowledge questions about Four WheelDriving and Four Wheel Driving destinations. These questionswill help determine the winners. Just a hint, remember one ofthe organizers is not an American so possibly questions fromoverseas may be thrown in to satisfy his sadistic nature.

University of Utah Press 1959 (5th printing 1998), is availableat the Moab Visitors’ Center. The San Juan Mission started onor about Oct 22, 1879, gathering pioneers from variouscommunities in Utah, crossed the Kaiparowitz plateau throughEscalante, built a road through the “Hole-in-the-Rock” in a cliffabove the Colorado, crossed the Colorado Jan 26, 1880, andfinished at Bluff on April 6, 1880. Once completed, the Hole-in-the-Rock trail served as a 2-way wagon road for almost ayear.

Our Hole-in-the-Rock experience was one of Bill Burke’sbackcountry adventures. Pat went along on the trip last yearand had so much fun that he wanted to do it again. And, eventhough I do not camp, I was intrigued enough by Pat’senthusiasm and the history of the trail to try something new.Hearing us get ready for this trip piqued the interest of NormanHall (esteemed editor of the Solihull Society Newsletter) whothen more or less blackmailed/extorted me into writing anarticle. I planned to take notes along the way, but soon foundthat reading my books, looking out the windows at all thewonderful scenery, and bouncing merrily along trails consistingalmost entirely of one degree of obstacle or another made itvirtually impossible to note where one obstacle ends andanother begins, or to record times or odometer readings.Therefore, my account of this adventure incorporates some ofthe history I learned from Miller’s book with my account of thetrip, making it more of a color commentary than a CharlesWells play-by-play. And the writing part wasn’t as easy as Ihad thought it would be, either, so I must thank Rachel Burke,my family, and Brian Lofurno (fellow traveler, photographerand new Solihull member) for their comments and suggestions.With the preface out of the way, let’s start the story:

A map of Utah shows “Hole-in-the-Rock” roads marked onboth east and west sides of the Colorado River. Our trip wason the east side, and officially began Monday morning atCalvin Black Airport on Hwy 276. We, however, chose tostart Sunday night at Fry Canyon Lodge, where we enjoyed agourmet dinner before facing the week of camping. We aroseMonday morning, drove to the airport, and met up with ourgroup. Where the Mormon pioneers carried approximately250 people in about 83 wagons (with 3 births along the way),our trip was a little less grandiose (Bill limits the number ofvehicles) with 11 people in 6 vehicles: Bill’s Classic, a stockDisco, a Rubicon, and 3 Defenders. We spent the better partof the first day getting in position for the “cherry stem” trail outto the Hole-in-the- Rock overlook. We drove along countyroads and parts of the old trail, onto slick rock, throughcanyons, and set up camp by some slick rock and cliffs on theeast side of Grey Mesa. This was a very scenic area withsecluded camping spots, and a great selection of pea- to golfball-sized Moqui marbles.

Tuesday was spent following the trail out to the CottonwoodHill viewpoint and back to camp. From Cottonwood Hill youcan see the actual Hole-in-the-Rock on the other side of theColorado River, as well as distant views of Lake Powell,which was noticeably low due to the drought conditions in thewest. This point is as far as motorized vehicles can go, butthere is a trail if you want to hike to the river.

Wednesday morning, after breaking camp, we returned pastthe airport and went over to Hall’s Crossing Marina forreprovisioning and lunch on the floating dock. From Halls’Crossing, our trip took a different route than Bill’s previoustrips due to snow in the Abajo Mountains. Instead of going upto Bears Ears, then into Needles through Beef Basin and RuinPark, our route was over to Comb Wash off Hwy 95, wherewe set up our next camp.

Thursday found us exploring the canyon/wash, its creek withmany water crossings, Cliff Dwelling ruins, and arches. Itabuts the Ute Indian Reservation and a Ute woman arrived bypick-up truck one evening trying to sell us her jewelry.

Friday was busy. After breaking camp, we headed out to theNeedles District, stopped to see Newspaper Rock and theVisitor Center, went up and over Elephant Hill, out toConfluence Overlook and back over Elephant Hill into Moab.The “Elephant Hill” trip alone, with its variety of terrain andviews, is worth more than casual mention but is beyond thescope of this article. It is doable as a one-day turn-aroundfrom Moab and definitely worth the effort.

The Mormon experience along this trail was decidedlydifferent. Following Cliff Dweller or animal trails and usingreports from various scouting parties, the Mormons hadproblems divining which route to take, and even questioned thefeasibility of crossing this part of the country at all. In fact atone point, they saw a mountain sheep, thought it was a “llama,”and followed it because they figured it must know more thanthey did. We, on the other hand, had the benefit of cairns, tiretracks, GPS — and Bill Burke when all that failed. TheMormons were saved from being lost in a snowstorm bysighting a landmark from a place henceforth called SalvationKnoll. Navajo Mountain, another splendid landmark of thearea, which sometimes has “smoke signals” rising from itsslopes, to us signaled viable cell phone service. Our modernday tracking systems did not solve all problems, however, asone of our group had an issue with right vs. left, and as a resulthad a harrowing experience bouncing over a 10-foot slick rocksection (your OTHER left).

Unlike the San Juan Mission pioneers, we did not need todynamite the road as we went along, but were able to takeadvantage of the fruits of their labor. The trail still features the“dugways” blasted by the pioneers, experienced withexplosives from their time working in Welsh coal mines. Nothaving to dynamite was a real time saver: It took the Mormonsabout 2 months one way (8 days on the return, without thetrailblazing), where we did a 9 hour round trip, including stopsfor sightseeing, viewpoints, spotting over obstacles, andmunching.

“It’s the roughest country your or anybody else ever seen; it’snothing in the world but rocks and holes, hills and hollows.The mountains are just one solid rock as smooth as an apple,”pioneer Elizabeth Morris Decker wrote in a letter home. TheMormon pioneers expected the trip to take 6 weeks, butbecause the country is so harsh, it instead took 6 months,which caused many problems, not the least of which wasshortages in food and water supplies. Several pioneersreported grinding their seed corn in coffee mills to make breadand one scout reported being without food for a week.“Cheese Camp” was so named when receiving a shipment ofcheese became cause for a celebration. Our group wasfortunate to have coolers, ice and a couple of ARB ‘fridges.Also, where the pioneers had to find grazing for the severalhundred horses and 1,000 head of cattle intended to help theirsettlement, today even family pets are not allowed on the trail.

Another difference between our two trips was evidencedaround our campfires. The Mormons would be renewing theirdetermination at prayer meetings, whereas amid tales of theday’s adventures we were shaking Jiffy-Pop and roastingbunny-shaped marshmallow Peeps (where would you“skewer” a Peep?)

I took particular interest in the changes in the landscape sincethe pioneers made their journey in early 1880. Platte D.Lyman, a member of the San Juan Expedition, recorded in hisJournal, “On a point of rock jutting into the lake is the remainsof an old stone fortification, built probably several hundredyears ago.” The natural earthen dam that held this lake,Pagahrit, was washed away in 1915, so when we saw thesebuilding remnants we were overlooking a tree-filled canyon.The trail off Grey Mesa shown to the scouts by their “llama,”while not part of today’s trail, is plainly and awesomely visible.

The members of the San Juan Mission planned their trail fromCheese Camp to meet up with the Chute – a “natural U-shaped notch that extends about a quarter of a mile up fromthe floor of Wilson Canyon to some relatively flat slick rockcountry 50 feet above…a few fills had to be made in thebottom of the U to make it wide enough for wagons to scrape

through.” These fills saved “several additional weeks ofback-breaking labor to cut a road over or through this mostdifficult rock formation.” The pioneers liked this part of thetrail because the wagons were in “no danger of tipping orrolling,” but there is no guarantee of this today as the “fills” atthe bottom have worn or washed away, leaving a couple ofholes that require careful spotting and careful driving.

The area has a lot of Anasazi ruins that are great for exploringbecause they lack the rangers and masses of tourists one findsat Mesa Verde. In addition to those in Comb Wash are theCastle Ruins, right off Highway 276 in Castle Wash, where onecan climb into and around the ruins. George B. Hobbs of theMormon scouting party reported seeing one ruin here, “inwhich there were 7 rooms, the bake oven being in such aperfect state of preservation that by cleaning out the dust itwould be ready to bake bread in at this late day.” Thescouting party also reported spending a night in some ruinsbetween Salvation Knoll and Comb Wash, possibly referringto a site called Mule Canyon along Highway 95. Only atButler Wash is access more restricted; you must view the ruinsfrom a distance.

Returning from his scouting party, Lyman recounted, “Thecountry here is almost entirely solid sand rock, high hills andmountains cut all to pieces by deep gulches which are in manyplaces altogether impassable. It is certainly the worst county Iever saw…” From my viewpoint, the trail is a peer to all butthe deadliest of Moab trails and a whole lot of fun. Whereasthe Mormons reported “seven span of horses were used” topull the wagons up parts of the trail,” we were fine with lowgear, and no obstacle really required lockers.

Had we continued to follow the Mormon road, we would haveseen the San Juan Hill trail, built to cross up and over CombRidge, described by Mr. Miller as “one of the most fantastic ofall sections constructed…it angles up the face of that cliff.”After the pioneers cut this road, they couldn’t make the last 20miles to their goal, which had been Montezuma, and most ofthem settled in the area on the other side of Comb Ridge,today’s Bluff. One woman said, “I was so tired and sore that Ihad no desire to be any place except where I was.” And this ishow some of us felt at Fat City BBQ on Friday night inMoab!! All in all, a great trip, a great adventure, and enrichedby the story of the Mormons’ expedition.

Battlement Mesa June 28-29, 2003

Participants:

1. Ali Vali in his 1993 Rangie, recently upgraded with4.10 gears and a locker in the front to complement hisrear locker.

2. Craig Davis in his 1996 Disco, upgraded with hishomemade, combination, bolt on, rock slider, frameslider and trailing arm connection protector. Reallyneat.

3. Hans Schulze in his 1995 D-90.

4. Shadow the only female on the trip, in Craig’s Disco.

We met at the Morrison exit of I70 on time and hit the highwayjust a little after 8am. With hardly a cloud in the sky, it was aday of convertibles, motorcycles, bicyclists, rafters, kayakers,joggers, and hikers. Also good for blaring the CD player soyou can’t hear the other’s CB.

We arrived at the Battlement Mesa/Parachute exit atapproximately 11am for gas and ice. Following the directionsto the trail head, four cattle crossings and then the parking lot,we arrived at 11:45 for the air down.

From the parking lot, the Rock Garden is only 0.7 miles up thetrail where several j**ps were playing. We decided to watch

and grab lunch. After several tries, one headed down hill forthe bypass.

When it was our turn, Craig headed up the bypass so that hecould get some good pictures. By the time he got to the top ofthe Rock Garden, Hans was up, and Ali was in the process ofclimbing the rocks. Since his protection was sparse, Ali wantedto make sure that every inch of the crawl was clear ofobstruction.

The rest of the trip was uneventful except for the scenery whichincluded a ½ mile of the trail bordered by a mysterious rockfield.

The other possible obstacle is a loose, rocky, steep hill that thej**pers weren’t sure we could climb on the way out.

The mud holes were dry enough to take established bypasses.But it didn’t’ take much to imagine the trail after, or during a

rain. Mud caked vehicles would be normal and some of thehills, up and down, would be an adventure.

We reached the lake at 2pm and hunted for a camping site. Allthree sites inspected were inundated with swarming May fliesand the last camp site had a pile of sickly food on a tree stump,a tempting feast for a beast. The site furthest down the trailwas our choice and then we discovered the true nature of theswarming creatures, not May flies but mosquitoes. Two of thesites had stagnant ponds behind them, a perfect home. Thedecision was made to stay, spray and smoke. [Campfire]

Activities included a hike to the upper lake, which issurrounded on one side by rocks.

Shadow seemed hyper, diving into the lakes, fetching anythingCraig threw in, and playing at the campsite with any onewilling.

And then there was watching Ali’s theory of stoking a fire.

The menu was meat for Ali and Hans, brats and sausages. Ofcourse the opinion of Ali’s “brats” was that of a glorified hotdog. That was good for 30 minutes of critique. Hans wasaccused of eating raw Italian sausage. Ali and Craig waited forHans to throw up or …you know, the other end. That wasgood for another 30 minutes of jibes. Craig had tuna salad andsome other yuppie food.

A decision was made that we would leave early Sundaymorning before the mosquitoes woke up. At 7am Sunday, witha few mosquitoes flying about, we hit the trail and arrived at thetrail head at 8:30, even with Hans heading down the RockGarden.

Craig renamed the trail Mosquitoville or Mosquito Mesa.

Don’t air up at the Conoco. It cost Hans $3 to air two tires to30lbs and two at 28lbs. He refused to put in another 75 cents.

This report is submitted by the Three Mosquitoes

Lockhart Basin and Elephant HillApril 25th – 26th, 2003By Heidi Nowakowski

We started out around 9:30 Friday morning from City Marketwith the following 9 participants in 8 vehicles:Charlie Haigh – 1986 110 MilitaryTim Clair – 2002 Discovery IIRalph Bradt – 1970 Series IIAAli Vali – 1993 Range Rover ClassicJim Hall – 1966 Series IIACraig Davis – 1996 Discovery IJacquelyne Davis – 1996 Discovery IDavid and Heidi Nowakowski – 1997 Discovery I

It’s about 21 miles to the beginning of the Lockhart Basin trail,and we soon discovered that most of this was washboard dirtroad. We, therefore, decided to air down before we went veryfar. While we were airing down, Craig decided to take a lookat a problem he had been having with an oxygen sensor. Thedecision was made to disconnect it and see what happened.Luckily, like all good Rovers, his truck decided to heal itselfafter we drove a while longer. We encountered lots of hikers,bikers, and motorcycles along the way to Hoorah Pass. Oneparticularly pesky group of motorcycles decided they couldn’twait to get around us, so they passed us on the left splitting upa group of cyclists that were coming at us head on. Very rude!To make matters worse, as they went by their bikes kicked uprocks and took out one of Charlie’s headlights. Not a greatstart.

As we approached Hoorah Pass, we caught up with Hans whowas out sightseeing. He helped keep us on the right path to theLockhart Basin trail. As we started to get into the slightly morechallenging section of the trail, we came over a hill and found amotorcyclist who had injured his ankle. Imagine that, ridingaround in shorts, tank top and tennis shoes. To his credit he didhave a helmet. Being the generous souls that we are, we cameup with an ace bandage for his foot, a bag of ice for theswelling, and some ibuprofen. We offered to have someoneride his bike back to his campsite, while someone else gavehim a ride, but he seemed uncomfortable with that idea. So, wehad lunch there to give him time to see if he could ride out.After lunch, he felt like he could ride, so Hans volunteered tofollow him back to his campsite and make sure he got thereok. Thanks, Hans.

After lunch, we started right in on the most challenging coupleof miles of the trail. Mostly some steep, narrow climbing, butnothing too difficult. Nevertheless, we managed to come outwith some body damage. David and I managed to put a verynasty gouge on the rear passenger door. Hmmm, I thought thatwas the sound of the tires rubbing in the wheel well. I guessnot! Jim decided to beat up on some innocent rock with hisbumper and turn signal. The Elephant Chaser won, but notwithout leaving some glass behind. Don’t worry, we treadlightly and Jacquelyne very generously did clean up duty.Speaking of Jacquelyne, she came through this section withflying colors thanks to some nice spotting by Ali. I think thehighlight of the trip, for me, was the look on her face when sherealized that she made it through without any problems. Shewas all smiles. That’s what it’s all about!

After we got through the difficult section, we took a look at themaps to see how far we had come and how far we had to go,and realized that we were a little farther behind than weanticipated. Time to pick up the pace since this trail is about 37miles long and we had only gone a few miles. As the trail gotmuch easier (think dirt road), we made good time. While thetrail was not very difficult, the scenery was just stunning. Weeven had time for a short side trip into Canyonlands to let thedogs play in the river. Jacquelyne and Craig brought their dogsShadow and Mo with them, and they appreciated theopportunity to go for a swim.

After that it was out of the park to find a camping spot.Luckily, Charlie had spotted the ideal location on our way in. Itwas a nice meadow that backed up to some cliffs. There wasplenty of room for everyone and the ground was nice and levelfor our tents. We all relaxed in the shade and shared food.While we were sitting around the campfire, Charlie came upwith a great idea for a gourmet camping trip. Everyone brings

something different to cook in a Dutch oven and then we allshare. I hope to be able to participate in that camping trip. Jim,Ralph, and I were the first to cave in to sleep, so I don’t knowwhen everyone else finally called it a night. We had a leisurelystart to the next day. Bacon and eggs for breakfast, then webroke camp and continued our adventure.

DAY TWO – Elephant Hill

Day two would prove to be an exercise in field repair. About½ an hour into the drive, Jim noticed that he had an antifreezeleak. In less than 30 minutes, Jim, Charlie, David, and Craigpulled the radiator and fan and plugged the leak in the radiatorwith Quick Steel. Jim decided to replace his fan while he wasin there, since the fan was what caused the hole in the radiatorto begin with. They were all very patient with my 101 questionsand requests to take pictures. I was just amazed that theycould fix the whole thing and have us back underway soquickly. Such teamwork! Bill Burke would be so proud.

We finished the remainder of the Lockhart Basin trail in shortorder and everyone was still in the mood for more wheeling, sowe took off for Elephant Hill. Jacquelyne and Craig had to getback, so we parted ways. Then there were 6 vehicles.

Elephant Hill is within the Canyonlands boundaries, so it isnecessary to stop at the gate and pay the National Park fee of$10/vehicle. What I didn’t know at the time was that it wasgoing to be worth every penny. This is my new favorite trail. Ithas a little bit of everything; scenery, challenging climbs, steepdescents, etc. What a great trail!

Elephant Hill starts right out of a picnic area in the park. Youbegin by climbing a fairly steep, rocky hill with steps. At thefirst turn, there is an area for making a three-point turn, beforecontinuing on up to the right. It’s definitely one vehicle at a timethrough this section. After a couple of us had made it to the

top, Charlie came on the CB and announced that he was prettysure he had broken something, but that he was still moving aslong as he kept it locked. When everyone got to the top, wehad lunch and decided to leave Charlie’s truck and come backfor it on our way out, since you have to go out the way youcame in.

Going down the other side of Elephant Hill proved to be toomuch for my nerves, so I volunteered to get out and takepictures and hike down. This turned out to be a wise decision,as it turned out that there are sections of this hill where youhave to back down. I am not fond of backing down any trail.I’m all for going forward, but get extremely uncomfortablebacking up. I was quite happy to be on the outside where Icould see all the angles.

Once we got to the bottom of the hill, the trail meanderedthrough some narrow canyons with lots of vegetation. It wasnice and cool in the shadows. This would prove to be a benefitas we were about to continue our field repairs seminar. Jim’svehicle seemed to be having some sort of fuel systemproblems. There was mention of the tank lining clogging thefuel system, but it turned out that he had a bad rotor in hisdistributor. It just so happened that Jim had an extra rotor. Yougotta love those Series guys. Unfortunately, the rotor wasn’t anexact fit, but never fear MacGyver was there. Jim just filed itdown and made it work. No problem for this group. Problemsolved. Onward!

Did I mention that Elephant Hill trail is one of my new favorites.It has some fun challenges and absolutely beautiful scenery.Our group was having so much fun that we decided to get themost bang for our buck and took the optional trip out to theConfluence Overlook. When you get to the end, there is a ½mile hike to the overlook, but it’s well worth the small trek(that’s saying a lot coming from a 6 month pregnant woman).The overlook is where the Colorado River and the GreenRiver come together. Great photo opportunity.

After that it was back out to pick up Charlie’s truck and seewhat we could do for it. Yippee, more field repair. I learned alot on this trip. After much speculation and some side betting, itturned out that he had broken the short axle in the front. Noworries, he just pulled it, put everything back together minusthe axle, and off we went.

Now we’re heading back to Moab when Ralph realizes that heis very low on fuel. We decide to stop at Newspaper Rockand siphon gas from Tim and Ali for Ralph, but alas the 4-Wheeling Gods are not smiling upon us. We manage to get thesiphon stuck in Tim’s gas tank without getting any gas from it.Eventually, they got it unstuck and tried without luck to getsome gas from Ali. We’ll just have to see how far Ralph can gobefore he runs out of gas. Not very far down the road we allpull over. David and I threw him a line and we towed him tothe intersection of Hwy. 191. Ali had the presence of mind to

get on CB 19 and ask the truckers where the nearest gasstation was. It was determined that Monticello (which is 14miles in the opposite direction of Moab) would be closest.David and I took Jim’s gas can and made a gas run.

Eventually, we all made it to the Moab Brewery, around 10:00pm on Saturday night. We were all half asleep and it was aquiet dinner. After dinner, Ali, Tim, and Charlie headed off toPat’s Palace to spend the night. Jim, Ralph, David and Idecided to get a jump on the next day’s drive by camping outat the Dewey Bridge area. Finding a camp site was easier saidthan done, but we finally settled on a great spot and slept likethe dead.

All-in-all it was a fantastic trip that I will not soon forget. Whata great group of people to spend a couple of days with on thetrail. Thanks everyone for making what will probably be my

last 4-wheeling trip (for a while anyway), so wonderful. Thatwas just what the doctor ordered.

The Rubicon 2003By Norman Hall

Most Australians have heard of only two Four Wheel DrivingAdventures in the USA, Moab and The Rubicon. Both haveinfamous reputations ranking up with the Canning Stock Route,Simpson Desert and Cape York. I had crossed off Moab frommy list of things to do and only had the Rubicon to go. TheSolihull Society had been trying to get a club trip going for thelast few years with some barriers always seeming to appear atthe last moment. I was determined that nothing would stop thistrip and through pure power of will it happened.

A brief History.

The Rubicon is located on the mid eastern border of Californiaas part of the Eldorado National Forest just west of LakeTahoe in Nevada. The area has been used by NativeAmericans for thousands of years being part of an East / Westtrade route for the Maidu Tribe which inhabited the NorthernSierras and the Washo tribe to their east on the Nevada side.

Europeans did not venture into the area until the mid 1840’swith a virtual invasion occurring following the discovery ofGold in 1848. The Western start of the Rubicon, Georgetown,was established in 1849, having expanded to a population ofnearly 5,000 within only one year.

As the Rubicon has one of the lowest passes in the Sierra’s atapproximately 7,100 feet and due to it’s relatively gradualtopography, the Rubicon was chosen to become a majortrading route for the non indigenous populous. By the 1870’sLoon Lake dam had been established by the California WaterCompany. The Rubicon then became a major Stock Route formoving all types of livestock, a practice that continued up untilthe 1940’s.

The Rubicon has enjoyed the status of being a public highwayfrom 1887 with its status being reconfirmed, albeit as an un-maintained county right of way, in 1991. Unfortunately due toover use and the environmental exclusionist efforts of manypreservations groups the Rubicon remains under threat ofclosure. Efforts need to continue to preserve access.

Roy Mills 1995 Discovery on one of the flatter sections

Trip Participants.

o Jeff Solomon [Reno Nevada] & Jim Molter[Breckenridge Colorado] - 1996 Discovery

o John Brown & Pat Dougherty [Los Angeles California]– 1994 Defender 90

o Roy Mills [San Antonio California] - 1995 Discoveryo Norman Hall [Castle Rock Colorado] – 1988 Range

Rover

All of the participants are members of the Solihull Societybased out of Denver Colorado. It may seem funny to have onlytwo people from Colorado attending and representing aColorado based Club; however it has to be remembered thatthe Rubicon is over 1,000 miles west of Denver and here it isnot easy to get large numbers of Four Wheel Drives to takesuch a long journey.

The route from Georgetown in the west to the WentworthSprings turnoff is now all sealed road. As a result of this mostoff roader’s only follow the last 18 miles of the Rubicon. Wealso chose this abridged route and our group met at the ForestService Office located on Ice House Road within the parkboundaries on the morning of Wednesday 9th July. We hadgiven ourselves 3 days to run the trail and had chosen a midweek timetable to minimize traffic delays with other groups. Wewere thankful of this given our experiences to come.

There are now basically 3 western entrances into the off roadpart of the Rubicon; the southern being the Loon Lake option;the northern being a seldom used Forestry Road and theoption we took being the Wentworth Springs entrance. Theturnoff to Wentworth Springs from the bitumen is ratherinnocuous and can easily be missed [N0 39 00.730 W 1200

24.424 at 5,856 feet]. Luckily we had Roy’s Mills along whois a member of the “Friends of The Rubicon” [http://www.delalbright.com/rubicon.htm] he had run the trail inexcess of 15 times previously.

Ruins near Wentworth Springs

During our drive in we saw evidence of the past occupation ofthe area with many derelict wood shingle buildings beingprevalent, in particular around Wentworth Springs. TheWentworth Springs area was used by Native Americans forthousands of years due to the mineral springs which are locatedclose by. This also attracted tourists to the area between 1880and 1940. The drive started off rather easily as we wove ourway parallel with Gerle Creek. This was to be the calm beforethe storm. The first well know driving obstacle we came acrossis known as the “Post Pile” [N0 39 00.850 W 1200 18.906 at6,300 feet]. This area is named after the basalt rockoutcropping on the southern side of the trail. As suggested inmost guide books, we missed the outcropping as we had otherthings on our minds, just getting through. Whilst some of ourgroup took the bypass, the lure was too enticing for my RangeRover so we took the hard option straight up and over thischallenge, just to get our feet wet mind you.

Our group near to Lookout towards Loon Lake

After Loon Lake, the trail option joins back with the Rubiconthe next obstacle is “Walkers Hill” [N0 39 01.379 W 1200

18.341 at 6,529 feet] and “Walker’s Rock” [N0 39 01.265 W1200 17.331]. This area starts after Ellis Creek, initially being avery rocky climb followed by about 30 meters of Very HardCore rock climbing. This section of sandstone strewn trail isknown as a “frame bender” and required careful spotting ofour Land Rovers to minimize potential damage.

John Brown’s Defender 90 coming back down past WalkerRock

After this challenge we moved onto the Mud Lakes area. Thisis not one lake but a number of very small lakes of whichSpider Lake is the largest.

The first major obstacle in this area is know as “Little Sluice”[N0 39 01.232 W 1200 16.244 at 6,665 feet]. This obstacle isa short cut through granite rock like the bed of a dry creek. Itis strewn with large and small boulders alike causing significantclearance and traction difficulties. There is also a bypass to thenorthern side which rides over slab rock to a less rigorous

path. Our group was split in two; the two Discoveries took theeasier bypass whilst the Defender 90 and I took on LittleSluice. Whilst we came out unscathed we did bypass some ofthe hardest obstacles to preserve our rigs for the unknown thatlay ahead.

My 1988 Range Rover attempting Little Sluice

Our campsite was just after here once we negotiated a rathertricky descent. We later found out that the descent is known asone of the steepest sections on the whole trail yet the LandRovers over-came it with ease. 8 miles in 8 hours, not a badeffort for our first day.

John Brown’s Defender 90 going back up the infamoussteep rock

Unfortunately the next morning we took the wrong path andheaded down the mountain from Mud Lake. This was whenthings started to get interesting! Unfortunately just after turningaround, Jeff Solomon proceeded to destroy his rear differentialand turn a perfectly capable Discovery into a Front WheelDrive only vehicle. When we eventually got the vehicle back tocivilization we discovered that the center retaining pin hadbroken causing the spider gears to become useless pieces ofscrap metal. To recover the Discovery we required

approximately 8 different winching direction changes as thissection of the trail was particularly windy around some verylarge obstacles including a large tree, large boulders and an offcamper climb. Also during the recovery the Discovery’s winchdecided to also give up making things just a little moreinteresting for us all. After 5 hours we have returned to ourprevious night’s camp site ready for a well deserved break andsome lunch.

Jeff Solomon’s Discovery just before it broke

During our lunch time discussions we pondered the optionsbefore us, do we continue or do we return the way we hadcome. After considering the alternatives we chose to returnback the way we had come as the thought of towing a neardead vehicle through and up Big Sluice and Cadillac Hill wasnot appealing, particularly as I was to be the designated towvehicle.

My 1988 Range Rover having some fun on one smallobstacle

So we started off, Discovery in Tow and others following. Dueto the nature of the trail we took our time to insure that theDiscovery was not destroyed by our efforts. We also chose tohave John Brown’s Defender winch the Discovery up many ofthe climbs instead of towing to further reduce the potential fordamage to the wounded vehicle. By about 5.30 pm we had

Solihull Society 2003 EventsPlease visit www.4x4trails.net or Charles Wells Trail Books for info on trails and ratings.Please contact the trail leader before the trail ride dates to let them know you are going.If you are interested in leading trails that are TBD, contact Ali Vali at avali@mho.com

Date Description Contact Info. / Trail Leader08-02-03 Club BBQ and Swap Meet Tim Clair

More information TBA tclair@gowebway.com08-10-03 Trail Run, Jenny Creek near Rollinsville Doug Davis

Trail is rated Moderate and short. 96discovery@eazy.net08-08-03 to 08-10-03 Crested Butte to Aspen via Taylor Pass Ali Vali

Camping Friday and Saturday night nearReno Divide. Moderate 4-wheeling, scenic avali@mho.com

08-12-03 Club Meeting  - 7:30 PMZangs Brewery, Denver I-25 and 23RD Ave.

08-16-03 Summit County-Georgia Pass, Middle Fork Ali Valiof Swan, St. JohnsTrails are rated as easy to moderate avali@mho.com

08-30-03 Iron Chest Trail near Buena Vista Larry GrubbsTrail is rated difficult. Rock sliders andclearance is recommended. lwgrubbs@us.ibm.com

09-10-03- 09-14-03 National Rally Moab, UT Pat BickfordMore information will be posted. pbickford@ai-colorado.com

10-14-03 Club Meeting  - 7:30 PMZangs Brewery, Denver I-25 and 23RD Ave.

12-07-03 Holiday Party Mt. Vernon Country club

22

covered 2 ½ miles when another problem arose. As we weregetting the Discovery up a particularly nasty stretch one of thetyres gave way requiring another on the trail repair. Since thisoccurred on an upward slope and the trail was blocked wealso had to act as traffic police directing vehicles coming theopposite direction around a nasty bypass. People seemedamazed that we had four Land Rovers on the Rubicon. Wesaw Suzuki’s with dual wheels at each corner, Jeeps so tall youneeded a step ladder to get in and some very radical Jeepmodifications. After changing the tyre and winching theDiscovery up the hill we chose to stop for the night [N0 3901.284 W 1200 16.796 at 6,724 feet] near an obstacle knownas the “Soup Can”, a mere 3 miles from our previous nightsstop after a grueling 10 hours of work. Luckily one of the mudlakes was only a ¼ mile walk so we all headed off for a welldeserved swim in some pristinely clear waters.

Our last day, Friday 11th July, was to see the most amount oftraffic on the trail so far. Whilst the last few miles out of the trailwe not without difficulty, they did go with little further trouble.Well assuming you exclude the fact that my Range Rover benta front steering arm whilst towing the Discovery through adifficult section! We passed many vehicles that day including ahighly modified purpose built Bronco that was front and rearwheel steering and running 44 inch tyres. By that time Jeff wasfeeling a little depressed due to all the work involved inrecovery his vehicle, that was until we started coming acrossbroken down Jeeps, and lots of them. We came across anumber of jeeps who seemed to have every tool imaginable outfixing various breakages, these included welders, angle grindersand other heavy equipment. We took some solace in noticingthat many far more highly modified vehicles had failed to geteven half as far as our land Rover group had done.

Despite the trouble our group had a great time and werechallenged at every turn. We have already started planning ourreturn next year to finally conquer the trail. The Rubicon is trulyan adventure that people need to experience to understand.For those wishing to read more about the trail I can highlyrecommend “4 Wheeler’s Guide to the Rubicon Trail” byWilliam C. Tate.

THE END

Fear Makes A Traitor, by Solihull memberStephen M. Heredia. 2003

When we met up with Steve for the first time this season atCarnage Canyon, he told Pat he had just published his book. I

didn’t know he was writing one, but the descriptors - hinting atcontemporary mountain town vs. environmental terrorists –screamed, “read me.”The title could as easily have been, “Hawk’s Camp ForWayward Boys” as you’re taken along on an action adventurein an “exotic British truck” while the characters fish, visit amine, camp, hit brew pubs, and in general wheel throughmountain scenery so well described you’ll be trying to figureout if you’ve been there. In addition, Steve offers glimpses intosmall town life, the people, personalities and philosophies, andhow they interact. Steve’s town is named Gold Hill, but I willnever look at Breckinridge in quite the same way. Check it outat www.smhbooks.com

Lurlie Bickford

James and Naomi Shackleford with their newest family addi-tion -A Land Rover fan if ever I saw one!

The Solihull SocietyPO Box 480864Denver, CO 80248–0864www.SolihullSociety.org