yokrieger

This was prob one of the more memorable MORG for me. Fantastic company, fun trails and explored trails and the area on a relaxing pace. 
Thanks to Sacha & Mike for leading the trails for this trip. 
Special thanks to all the doggies for keeping the bears 🐻 away while we slept! 
We spent part of Saturday running Signal Peak in reverse. The Saturday afternoon was spent exploring near by trails. We came across a really nice campsite right on a slow moving river (water temp was 55°F). It has 2 big fire pits and a big serving/prep table! We hung out there for prob an hour. Eric, Mike, Sacha and the doggies went a dig and a swim in the river. We also had no less than 3 water crossings. 
On Sunday morning, we relaxed by the camp fire and didn’t leave camp until about 11. We worked our way through a trail toward I-80, As we were airing up at a pull off, a person rolled up in an ATV and asked if we’re ok and that we’re on private property. It was only then did we noticed the private property- no trespassing sign on a telephone pole in front of where we stopped. Evidently,  we unknowingly drove through some private property. The property wasn’t marked (as far as i can tell) on the trial and none of us noticed it on the various maps we were using. At least not until the guy on the atv showed it to Mike. Now we know, and knowing is half the battle! 

Participants: 
- Eric, Merlyn, Sierra & Toby in their overlanding RRC with RRC trailer
- Sacha & Belka in their LR3
- Leigh Ann & Mike in their Defender 110
- Gabriel in his RRC 
- Cris (me) in a Defender 90 


 











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Spotted in Honokaa, Hawaii

Alright I'll be coming as well

Alright I'll be coming as well

Picked up some block hugging headers and they are looking good and seem like they are going to do the job.

Next up is figure out my project list and timing.







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Just came back from offroading/camping trip at Monache Meadows. Trail was fun especially for me as a newbie. On the way back from camp site (along the river by the way) to ranger station, it took as 2 hours to get through the trail. 



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The club has purchased out the tenting area at the back of the campground. No need to reserve a spot if you are tenting, rooftop tenting, etc. However, if you want a cabin or AirBNB you will need to book this on your own as per the first post.

We should have a detailed Annual Thread coming in a few days.

Back in 2011 2012 Era on some trail that I couldn't tell you, probably gold lake or fordyce mabey. This poor d1 got beat to death and is now on parts truck duty. 

Scrap wire from the rover harness

Getting the engine fully seated and bell housing torqued today. 
Anyone have a way to help make the exhaust or have a mig welder around? 

Safeway parking lot in Campbell
 

Safeway parking lot in Campbell
 

Sorry I've been a ghost lately! Been busy with an RV headgasket, and the swap at the same time! 
 
Honestly it's going smooth as can be. Couple of snapped off studs in the cheap marketplace block, little bit of rounding out some of the holes on the bell housing, but it's basic wrenching otherwise. 
 
Couple of tips. Go ahead and buy the LS crank puller and installer. Only place to find an 8" metric bolt around here is ordering through Fastenal. Loan a tools don't have any bigger tools available, even to buy. 
 
Friends thinning out the wiring harness, says it's as easy as can be after laying it all out. Plan for new loom though. 
 

Alrighty, so 3 questions were asked on the trip that haven't been answered yet - but I have the information now!
1) Who / What is Baby's Grave?
I copied a pdf that was scanned for us by the Forest Service offices. While it is allegedly a gravesite, it is now mostly used as a locational landmark when describing where one is at in the National Forest 2) How was Winter Ridge / Summer Lake Formed?
Winter Ridge is a Fault Block Mountain - there is a good image below. The Great Tetons in Wyoming are also fault block mountains, though much much higher. Winter Ridge is a long fault block mountain that is found along the western margin of the Chewaucan-Summer Lake Basin which has its steep slopes facing east. The high escarpments were formed by down-shifting of the basin floor. The east-facing slopes drop approximately 3000' from the highest point at scenic Fremont Point (7135') to Summer Lake (~4150'). The ridge runs approximately north to south about 30 miles or so from where FS Road 2901 joins Oregon Highway 31 near Picture Rock Pass. 3) What was total trip mileage? 
I estimate for the folks living in the South Bay we completed a roughly 1771.9mi trip. 37497.pdf

I will likely turn off the TPMS in the truck and use Roberts solution. Knowing what the PSI is vs an idiot light saying that’s it’s low… on the L322 the light overrides the time display and having to hit ‘OK’ every time I start the truck is an annoyance. 

In the matching the L322 SC with 32: MT tires, I had no problems with the trail. Well, except for the sidewall. I attribute the puncture to a few factors:
1. Didn't air down enough. The trail up to that point was mostly hard pack dirt and gravel trails through forests. When we entered the rocky section, it was much hotter than when we started the first two days. This would have increased tire pressure. 
2. Fatigue from the difficulty of the trail and late in the very hot day. 
3. Too fast for the conditions. Again, late in the day, likely traveling too fast, and I think we all just wanted to get to camp and out of the rocks. 
4. The setting sun - mostly heading South and West on the trail and the amount of dust reduced visibility on the trail. Felt that you really needed to pay attention with your line for the smoothest path through the obstacles. 
Sum: I take the blame for mine. I was in control and should have made the necessary adjustments for the conditions. Learning moment, albeit an expensive one. The tire only had about 4K miles on it. 
The issues with Air Suspensions were the more severe problems that we encountered. I started a thread in Technical Talk about some trail fixes and potential modifications to the trucks to make those fixes a bit easier. Knowing what the GAPTool can do and how to use those features would have gotten us further along more quickly with potentially reducing the secondary damage and additional work required to get off the trail (clearing rocks off the trail to get the L405 on bump stops). 
I think we all learned a bunch, and I suspect that there will be more than one Air Suspension trail fix parts kit on the next adventure. 
Future mods for the L322 will include suspension spacers and possibly 33" Tires. Mods higher in the list will be a valve in the air system so that an external air compressor can inflate the system, laminated copy of the GAPTool Instructions on how to force the other 3 air bags in case of one failure, sliders, and underbody protection - replace the stock plastic skid plate with metal and extend back the to the transfer case/transmission and ideally, the fuel tank.
The L322 makes a great Overland Platform, but it needs a bit more protection. It was comfortable, handled well and with the SC, plenty of power. There was more than one discussion of Modern vs Old after those few days. Each with Pros and Cons. Older models without the fancy electronics are certainly easier to fix on the trail while the newer models will make getting to the trail much more pleasant. Barreling down smooth fire roads with the L322SC was no worse that 101 in the Bay Area... 

Looks like another epic run! Hate to have missed it. Given the time commitment of these trips along with many of us that want to join have younger families, hopefully for the ‘24 Roverland, the dates can be locked in sooner? Just a hint for the Overland Subcommittee. Longer range planning could help us all out as the miles and remoteness is a whole different experience than rock crawling for a day or two. 

Mile's needs a day in his honor for planning such an epic journey. I can't wait for the write up and hopefully pod cast.

We got home around 7:30PM. 
So many shenanigans have ensued. I'll start working on a full writeup - for now I'll let the folks settle with a google photos album.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GRv1Hmg3wnbJ2qC67

So bummed...! Promise me this: first night on the trail, have someone play Funk #49 and raise a glass for me...!?!
--Paul

You got it!

The way you guys are talking with all the spare parts you'd think Land Rovers are unreliable.

NOBODY in the Land Rover community ever needs an onboard welder like the Jeep boys do though lol!