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 Post subject: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 6:31 pm 
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KJs: Khaki- Mine Blue- Colin Black- Bob
My son is in the blue shirt in a few, Bob in the orange. Can't remember what I was in, I think orange too but in shorts. Bob was in the orange shirt/jeans.
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Too hard to get in between every pic, but I'll narrate the day! So the first few pics are just next to a stock KJ that my son took. Then we gassed up the Jeep, stopped at the store to buy lunch and got to Winrock a few minutes before 9. Then at 9 Bob and Dan showed up...we bs'd a bit (and listened to some ATV'ers revving up... :dizzy: ) and Colin came by after he cleaning out his radiator (clogged from some intense off roading). We planned out a route to go up to see some old radar installments and some NWS stuff. We started driving up the mountain, and Colin's tranny overheated about halfway up (no wonder with all the dust). We took some pics and Colin told us to keep going. So we led the way while Bob and Dan followed behind (which seemed seemed strange, as we didn't know where we were going). r:-) Then we found a weather tower and found a field where we presumed the old radar stuff had been. After being there for a while, Bob went to go find Colin and we discovered that we found a tower....not THE tower. :BANANA:

We made it to the actual site and enjoyed speculating on what the old structures were. Then we hit some real trails and right off the bat we had some spotting to do. Got Colin over it, then me, then Dan in Bob's KJ over it. My son got a vid of ours and Bob's KJ on it. (to come later). That was the only part I drove all day...my 5 minutes of glory. My son drove the rest of it.

At about 1, Bob and Dan decide to head back to the camp to get on the road home by 3. Blue Bunny (Colin's KJ) and us continued on, we took till 3 or 4, can't remember. But we encountered some cool washouts and some watercrossings. And rocks of course. When we finished that trail, we parted ways and wished each other safe travels. Then we took our KJ back a bit to snap some poser shots.

Some memorable quotes:
Me: "Should we have been in 4LO"
Colin: "Not sure, I've been in 2WD so far" :-)r

When on the "Big One"
Dan: Do you value your muffler?
Me: Kinda!

I'll think of some more!

My son (Ross) and I (Jerry) had a great time time...we really enjoyed every minute. Want to have a repeat event next year. Colin really helped us newbs get the most from our Jeeps. Ross remarked on the way home, "It feels weird to not have Bob in the rearview mirror and not to be following Colin's KJ" (We did see Bob back out on the highway though) :mrgreen:

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 Post subject: Re: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:39 pm 
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Great stuff, Jerry! So awesome you and Ross got to enjoy the weekend wheeling and hitting the highways. Ross got some serious trail time - you needed to wrestle the wheel away from him!

You got some good pics of the dust we had to go through. I appreciate that you said my KJ was black - funny how the hood looked gray after just a couple hours on the trail :SOMBRERO:

I'll add some more Saturday pics and commentary/narrative:

Saturday morning, Colin, Jenny, Dan and me met up at the trailhead to start up the mountain to run Trails 2 and 16. Trail 2 was the feeder trail (rated "easy") to get us to Trail 16 ("moderate.") While we waited the ATV's started showing up along with some vehicles that would be bored with anything but diamond-rated trails:

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Meanwhile, we waited till there was a break in the action before we headed out. The mud and dust is already starting to cake up:
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So we get started on Trail 16, a 4.4 mile trail that we found out had a little bit of water - that Colin took full advantage of. There's more to that story that affected Colin on Sunday. Hint: Mud gets into the tiniest crevices! :wink:

There were a lot of ATV's on this trail - a beautiful run up the mountain with a wide variety of terrain. We had to let the ATV convoys pass us and while we waited we got some pics. Here is Dan, Colin and me:
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And Colin, Jenny and Dan:
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We got to our first significant obstacle - a ledge with a hard left hand turn. I have to be honest here - the pucker factor for yours truly was getting pretty high as I walked up the trail to get a look. It didn't help that one of the ATV's that we let pass had a tough time getting up the ledge:
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Once he was out of the way, Dan got out of my KJ to spot for Colin. Now Colin is locked front and rear and made it up the ledge with no problem.
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My KJ is unlocked on both axles so I had my doubts (and the tow strap within reach.) Dan and Colin assured me that momentum is my friend and to trust them and the KJ's ability. Jenny took pics - first with Dan getting the front positioned...
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Then Up and Over:
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The next section was the Rock Garden - and it required Dan to spot us up the hill. Colin first (I didn't get any pics of me going up - too focused on the correct line :lol: )
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Like I said above, Trail 16 has a lot of variety - not long after the Rock Garden we came up to a big, deep mud trough. Colin couldn't resist - Jenny got out to take some pics, Dan grabbed his camera for some video, and I was laughing so hard I didn't get a single shot. Colin did a half-pike into the mud, went up past the grill in the front and 1/3 of the way up the doors and made it out to the other side with no apparent problems (important word is "apparent.") Some shots after the splash:
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Jenny documenting the evidence:
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The winch was fully immersed:
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And the engine bay got a fresh coat of paint, errr, mud:
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There was a smaller trough just down the trail and so Colin took another bath for the cameras:
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At the top of Trail 16 we met up with BlackwidowKJ06 (Sarah) and her friend Lewis driving his JKU. We let the KJ's cool down and got some more pics of the Trail 16 mud and dust:
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Quick story: While we were coming up Trail 16 a family of four was in their Razor 4-door ATV with their two young sons in the back seat. They had a cooler strapped to the back shelf and had stopped for lunch at an area called The Waterfall, which was at the top of the Rock Garden. She saw us in our KJ's coming up the Rock Garden and said to us, "Ya'll are crazy to be driving those cars up here! Aren'tchya 'fraid of gettin' stuck?" We saw this family two more times and each time she told us we were crazy. On the connector trail between the campground and the trailhead they were coming back for the night as we were going up to the windmills and I asked her if she still thought we were crazy. "Yep, ya'll are just NUTS for driving them cars on those trails..." There's nothing else she could have said that would have made me prouder of our KJ's :BANANA:

On the way down to meet up with Jerry and Ross after lunch we came across some beautiful scenic overlooks looking south and west toward the Smokey Mountains:
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I'll post shots of our evening ride to the windmills at the top of Patterson Mountain and our night ride coming back down in another post.

Bob

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 Post subject: Re: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 10:04 pm 
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Cool- we didn't get many pics of the night ride. :lol:

Oh and if next year happens- I don't forsee getting anymore drive time. Might have to bring my own Jeep. :? :ROTFL:

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 Post subject: Re: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 10:52 pm 
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Nice pictures! Looks like you had a blast.

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 Post subject: Re: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 4:03 am 
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Thanks for sharing these! :D

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 Post subject: Re: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 3:48 pm 
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Jerry and Bob have posted pics that are generally better than mine, so I don't have anything to add there. Do have an interesting narrative addition though.

On Sunday, we went up to the North end of "Windrock OHV Park" (apparently they are not using the term "Coal Creek" as much -- reason below). This adventure served three purposes: 1) To see what the trails were like in this previously "ATV-Only" portion of the "Park" that no ECS participant had explored; 2) to see how long it took to get up there (previous experience at Windrock had shown us that it was a 1 hr drive along G1 to get from P1 to Little Atomic Ridge -- Trail 11); and 3) hoping that these trails would have less traffic on them than the ones in the Southern part of the Park (a supposition that proved accurate).

Bob asked for the best way to get to Briceville, TN from the main trailhead. We were sent down Hoskins Gap to Hwy 330 to Hwy 116. The drive up to Briceville took us about an hour, but is doable in about 30 min once you know the route. We stopped so that Bob could get gas at Ginger's Market (deli/gas station) half way between Laurel Grove and Briceville. This is the primary location to buy Windrock trail passes for those not wanting to go as far South as the main trailhead or Windrock Campground.

On arriving in Briceville (site of the 1891-93 Coal Creek War apparently), we navigated through and found the proper gravel road ("Trail G53" on our map but no trail marker), and found that there were restricted area signs for another mining company (not Coal Creek) with a small "Windrock Park" sign above (on further study of the Windrock Park trail map, I am of the opinion that the unlabelled black line cutting across the map North of Trail 11 is the dividing line between this other company and the Coal Creek Mining Company).

After having completed our adventure up at the Radar Station (including getting separated and having to find each other due to Bunny's overheating issue), we tackled Trail 53. We only saw one ATV rider on this entire segment (a young man with a crossbow and quiver mounted on the front of his 4-wheeler). After splitting up with Bob and Dan at the place where Trail 52 turned off Jerry/Ross and Jennie/me continued down Trail 53 until Trail G55 branched off.

Here we were met by the same young local fella on the ATV whom I had a chance to talk. Turns out that the Northern end of "Windrock Park" is actually private property owned by a guy who leases out the mining rights to this other coal mining company, who in turn has leased out the trail rights to Windrock Park (hence the reason for that discontinuation of the use "Coal Creek" since not all of the property is actually owned/manged by that company). He told me that he and his friends have been riding up there for years (at that end) before Windrock started putting in trail signs, never once bought a permit, and Windrock could "kiss his @ss" if they thought he was going to now...! :lol:

I discussed our continuing options with him and he said that our choices were limited since Trail 54a (difficult) blocked our ability to continue North on Trail 54 (moderate), but we could do Trail G55 to Trail 61 (easy) to Trail 63 (moderate) to connect back with Trails 54 & 55 (both moderate) farther North if we wanted to. We discussed these options and decided calling it a day and head back out Trail G55 to Beech Grove, and then onto Lake City and Oak Ridge.

Next year I am definitely interested in going back up there to explore either going back in on Trail G55 and exploring Trails 54, 55, 56, 63, 68, 70, and 70a and/or going back in on Trail G53 and exploring Trails 50, 51, 59, 60, 64, and 65.

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 Post subject: Re: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 4:57 pm 
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Hey Colin, could you ask Jenny about a certain video? I think she either got pics or a vid of us after Bob left, it was going up a rocky hill...it was before we hit the easier section. Just thought if she did capture something it would've been cool. No biggie if not though!

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 Post subject: Re: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 7:32 pm 
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So here is more of our Sunday wheeling after we stopped at the old radar installation at the top of Crown Mountain - which is the tallest peak in the OHV area at 3543 feet.

As Jerry and Colin said above, we came back down the mountain using Gravel Road 53 till we came to Trail 53. So far on this Sunday morning the driving has been very smooth, but as soon as we dropped into 4Lo after turning onto 53 we encountered a steep downhill and then right back uphill on a rock-strewn stretch of trail. Colin was the leader so he got to find the line that would work for all of us; Dan, Ross and Jenny went ahead of him to spot. Two nice-sized boulders made it necessary to keep the KJ's on a specific line to keep from hitting the lower control arms in the front or the diff/axle and the shock mounts in the rear:
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Next up was Jerry - one of the few times he got to take the wheel! Setting up the approach:
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Turning into the rocks:
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The right front has cleared...now for the left front and right rear:
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Dan jumped into my KJ for this section. Here he comes...
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And then he was at the top - I've gotta be quicker on the camera trigger :?
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After that climb the trail flattened out and we enjoyed stretches of rocky trail with a few water fords thrown in. We came up to a clearing with the best view of the weekend of the Smokey Mountains off in the distance:
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And of course we had to get a poser shot with all three KJ's!
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After downing some snacks we got back on the trail. This was the section in which we saw the lone ATV rider with his crossbow whom Colin/Jenny and Jerry/Ross ran into later in the afternoon. Very quiet section that ran along a ridge line below the radar station - I'd guess we were still at around 3000 feet. Lots of coal strewn along the sides of the trail from years past which colored the water a dull gray. It cleaned the dust off our wheels but colored the undercarriage and fenders a nice gray.
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Jerry & Ross traverse a shallow pool:
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Looking out the window:
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Ross got back behind the wheel and Jerry grabbed the O **it! handle as they went through a pool with a nice rock ledge at the other end. Colin was there to spot for the HoosierJeepers and for Dan driving my KJ - and I got a video of that:
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Click the pic to play the video:
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We could tell we were getting toward the end of this trail by the more frequent views of the bottom of the mountain. We did come to a spot where it looked like there was a bypass for some reason - but the "bypass" was just a dead end.
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Right around the corner Trail 52 broke off and headed down the mountain. Dan and I needed to get back to camp to pack up and get on the road to our respective homes. I had an 8 hour drive and Dan wanted to get home in time to tuck his kids into bed back in Atlanta. Colin/Jenny and Jerry/Ross kept going on Trail 53 as he detailed in his post above.

Sadly, I didn't take a single pic of Trail 52. It was a very narrow trail that looked like it had only been used by ATV's, though the map legend said it was also for Jeeps. There was one "intersection" where there we no trail markers so Dan and I walked a couple of different directions until we found the correct trail. Lots of washouts, ruts and brambles to move away from the KJ as we headed down.

The trail literally ended up in someone's side yard - no kidding - and the trail turned from gravel to a paved road. Lots of severe switchbacks with homes perched on the side of the mountain. We came upon a turnout with historical markers detailing the Coal Creek War, in the early 1890's if I remember correctly - instigated when the Tennessee governor allowed mining companies to "lease" convicts for work in the mines. The 2500 miners employed by The Coal Creek Company got wind of it and met a train at Briceville carrying convicts and proceeded to kill and/or capture the convicts and guards. The site of the markers was on a bluff where a fort was built by the state to house the convicts and guards, which was subsequently destroyed by the miners. Very interesting history...

So once Dan and I got packed up we headed out. I went to the self-service car wash in Oliver Springs and spent 10 bucks on the high-pressure hose cleaning as much mud and dust off the KJ as I could. The inside is still (as I write this) a dusty mess, but I'll get it cleaned up before my wife and I take it out on a date Saturday night :SOMBRERO:

Again a great trip that I'm planning on doing again next year. If you've never taken your KJ on a trip like this I highly recommend it, especially since the Windrock "veterans" are so helpful in guiding and spotting us newbies.

My next post will have pics of the Saturday night run to the TVA windmills and our night ride...

Bob

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- 3.7L V6, NP242 SelecTrac Transfer Case
- OME 927/948's, Bilsteins, JBA Gen 4.5 A-arms, JBA 1/4" top plate, 3-ring clevis, 2 extra rear isos
- Rubicon Moabs
- 4.10's, 265/70-16 Goodyear Duratracs
- 4X Guard Trans Skid, Modded BoulderBars, Mopar Engine, T-Case, Tank Skids, ARB bumper, Smittybilt 9500XRC winch


Last edited by TwoBobsKJ on Fri Oct 18, 2013 12:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 12:03 am 
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Great pictures, Bob. I especially like the video. :D

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 Post subject: Re: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 1:55 am 
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yellocoyote wrote:
Loving the pics, guys. Way to make me feel bad about not being able to make it this year. :goink: :wink:

I'm glad you both got to go, and hopefully we'll all get back there again next fall!


DITTO! I've gotten myself healed and fixed and intend on continuing to modify the KJ and get it ready for a killer run next year. Like you, Jamie, I hate I missed this run and I don't intend on missing ECS-14. I really missed being with you guys and I hope you and Aaron can make it next year.

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 Post subject: Re: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 10:54 pm 
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Nice pictures! Hopefully I can go next year, my son will be well over a year old by then, and the Kj should be lifted too..and paid off!

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 Post subject: Re: Sunday Pics
PostPosted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 7:33 am 
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Looks like fun TN and KY has some good wheeling. I miss those area's :(

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