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Dusy Ershim 4x4 Trail 2019

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Elherbinator
Elherbinator

Im planning on making it. Can’t pass on the opportunity.     Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

DHappel
DHappel

Michele seldom does hard core trails with me so there's a pretty good chance I'll have an open seat.  You will have to scale down the packing from your normal fully-kitted RR to fit in my rig though!

Andrew Wood
Andrew Wood

I can't wait for this trip. I think about it every day. I am going to be so prepared by the time we leave!! Thinking about getting bigger tiers for this trip!!

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lutz Community Regular

lutz

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Why is it every time we plan for the Dusy this happens?

 

Maybe this would be a good time to switch up and hit Fordyce instead?  Shorter, but we haven't done it all the way through yet as a club.  It's on the must-do list.

maybe do both since its a long drive. It will be interesting to see what the flow rate at the creek crossings will be

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DHappel Mentor

DHappel

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maybe do both since its a long drive. It will be interesting to see what the flow rate at the creek crossings will be

Fordicon!

 

 

Actually just keeping a group of Rovers running through either trail alone seems like enough of a challenge to me.   :P

 

I haven't followed the water flows for that time of year historically so can't say what to expect.  I know even at 'low' flows that first crossing is fairly deep, having killed a fan doing it.  3' is about as low as it gets from what I can tell.   But now I've got my fancy 'lectric fans so hopefully I won't be fragging any more fan blades.

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Mr.BlueSky Mentor

Mr.BlueSky

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Fordicon!

 

 

Actually just keeping a group of Rovers running through either trail alone seems like enough of a challenge to me.   :P

 

I haven't followed the water flows for that time of year historically so can't say what to expect.  I know even at 'low' flows that first crossing is fairly deep, having killed a fan doing it.  3' is about as low as it gets from what I can tell.   But now I've got my fancy 'lectric fans so hopefully I won't be fragging any more fan blades.

 

3' of water! Oh man... Snowflake is going to throw a hissy rod or something. Guess I better get moving on the snorkel.

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lutz Community Regular

lutz

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looks  like the trail will be open .Need to get a head count . If we have more then 5 trucks might need to stagger groups to keep from slowing down .

 

 

Update

 

Sierra National Forest - The Swamp OHV trail opened on Sunday, 8/18/19, we are down to just one more trail to open.
 
Our crew of Forest Service and 4wd Clubs will start working on Dusy-Ershim this Thursday 8/22.
 
The work is expected to be completed (Tentative) by Monday 8/26/2019 and the Dusy-Ershim will be open for the season.
 
Enjoy this very unique OHV trail that passes between two wilderness areas and practice Tread Lightly.
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DHappel Mentor

DHappel

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Good trip.  For some reason I just realized my photos/videos never backed up so I can't post them but I'll create a google folder and share it once they are uploaded.

 

 

Final count was Lutz in his 110 HCPU, Me in my D1, Miles and Teresa in an RRC, Tammy in a P38, and Danial in a D90.

 

I ended up having some problems when I left and had to turn back home to sort them out (turned out to be an intermittent crank position sensor) so I didn't arrive at camp until almost 9pm.  

 

The next morning we rolled out fairly early , perhaps 9am, and got to the top of Chicken Rock where we stopped to take pics when we heard Danial over the radio.  He was just approaching the lake as he'd also had some things to work through and hadn't made it up the night before.  We waited about an hour for him to join us then headed on with Lutz leading.  We made fairly decent time to Walker Hill which is a long climb of loose rock.  Here we ran into our first problem.  Miles had broken a motor mount and his fan was hitting the shroud.  With a bit of sorting we eventually secured it with a ratchet strap and he was able to continue.  But the hill was proving really tough for him as he was on the smallest tires of the group (32" I believe?) and his rear Detroit/front True Track didn't seem to be performing as expected.  We paused had to resort to some winching but eventually got him though.  Tammy in the P38 actually found a bypass the rest of us hadn't noticed and used it, though I think she could have gotten through with a bit of help.  This was also the only time on the first day where we ran into any other trail users (an FJ40 had passes us while we were waiting for Danial) and we let a group of Jeep/Toyota guys pass ahead of us though all but one of them had to work pretty hard to get through the last bit at the top of the hill.

 

Once through we continued on, occasionally needing to spot or assist Miles or Tammy but generally making slow but steady progress.  I was happy to find my new Taurus fan kept the truck below 190 the whole time on the trail, though it wasn't more than maybe 80* out so not a serious test.  The real challenge on this trail is the trees.  It's super tight which constant lock-to-lock turning trying to squeeze through without body damage.  With my limited steering angle and rear Detroit locker I had the worst turning circle aside possibly from Lutz in his longer 110, though he didn't have an upper body to worry about thanks to the pickup configuration.  Still, several times I wondered how he actually made it through some areas and all of us did multiple 3-point turns and had minor to not-so-minor brushes with the trees or rocks.

 

Late in the afternoon somebody called out on the radio that they were seeing a large oil trail.  This let Lutz to check and find he'd actually torn the drain plug out of his Salsbury rear end.  Luckily the magnet on it had caught and he found it stuck to the outside of the housing.  He was able to halfway stab it back in and add a quart of oil to continue toward camp.

 

Also throughout the day my passenger door got continually harder to shut.  It was rubbing slightly on the slider but simply wouldn't latch.  I'm sure this had nothing to do with having been flopped on that side earlier this year on the Rubicon, but it did make things annoying as Robert D. was riding shotgun with me.

 

We pushed on slowly, with darkness falling before we made our first night's camp near Thompson Lake.  We experienced some very light intermittent rain along the way but nothing of note.  We actually missed our camp site at first and had to back-track a few hundred yards as it's set well off the trail but there was a nice outhouse there and plenty of room for a dozen vehicles.   Getting in as  late as we did nobody had a lot of energy but we pitched tents, made dinner, and Lutz was able to better sort his dif drain plug and fill it with oil.  We were again up early and packing away very wet tents due to the extremely heavy dew and were under way at a reasonable hour around 9:30a.  

 

We made pretty decent time to East Lake where we had lunch.  Along the way Miles had found his driver's rear control arm bushing had given up and torn, however he had a spare with him and we changed it out.  After we pushed on still dodging the super tight trees and occasionally providing a brief winch or spotting for the smaller trucks, and arrived at Ersham Lake about 5pm.  Though the tight trees and rocks were still the major issue of the trail, we encountered a new menace - bees.  I managed to get stung twice before lunch while Danial got one after.  (Tammy would get a sting the next day as well)  We considered stopping here as it's a nice camp site but the group we had let through on Thompson Hill was already camped there and we knew it would mean a very long Sunday to get out the rest of the way then make the drives back to our respective homes so despite being tired we pushed on to LakeCamp Lake.  This put us into some fairly technical climbs that made for some slow going but again everybody got through with some work.  I believe Miles lost a taillight on this section but he continued to demonstrate that a relatively stock RRC (small lift, 32" tires, still with the BW transfer case and not fully locked) is surprisingly capable.  Tammy in the P38 also impressed.  The truck is locked f/r and is on 33" tires but had a tighter turning circle than any of the older truck in the group with the possible exception of Danny's D90.  You don't see many P38s on the trail but they are capable rigs with some mods.

 

We arrived at Lake Camp just after sunset and quickly got to setting up our fire as it was chillier than the previous nights.  Likely due to our near 10,000' elevation.  The scenery had also changed after the climb out of Ersham Lake, passing through several meadows.  That night got down below freezing as we found our water crusted over with a thin layer of ice and our tents covered with ice beads from the heavy dew - that actually made packing the tent away easier since it didn't stick to itself as it did when wet.  But it also made for a slower start to the morning as everybody was a little slow to get moving in the cold.  Lutz did briefly try his hand at fishing but found the lake level was low and getting near the water required wading through more mud than he was interested in.

 

We got underway a bit later, around 10am, with me leading this time.  Not 100 yards onto the trail I came to a small rock garden that drug a diff a bit but I didn't think much of it and just continued on.  However Miles with his smaller tires managed to get hung pretty good and we ended up using Danial's "Jack" (the new ARB hydraulic hi-lift type jack) to lift him enough to get some rocks under his tires.  This wasn't the first or last time we'd deploy it and though expensive it is a nice unit, easier and safer to use than a traditional hi-lift.  We also had to do some stacking to get the P38 through this section. 

 

While working to extract the RRC a couple in a 2-door JK on 40s came up behind.  We spoke with them a bit; they were up from AZ and had run the trail many times, traveling solo and driving out the 12+ hours.  Say what you will about Jeeps, but they really do work well both on and off the trail.  We let them pass by and I found I had no problem moving at their pace until we needed to stop to spot or assist one of the smaller trucks which let them pull away from us.  At one point we were stopped again after a climb and the group we'd let past on Thompson Hill caught up so we again let them by.  They had left Ersham lake at 6:30am to get that far and were asking how much further.  Luckily not that far, though some of the tougher obstacles were still to come in the form of the northern gatekeeper and the climb up to the observation point.

 

We did have to break out the winch again on that climb but only briefly.  There was a fair bit of spotting and generally slow moving but everybody made it through for pictures at the overlook with a great view of the area.  Again, this is at approximately 10,000' and this end of the trail feels quite different than the southern end with more open views.  Though don't be fooled - the tight trees never stop coming at you!

 

We eventually rolled out to paved road approx 2pm where we all aired up and had a bite to eat while assessing any repairs needed before getting on the highway for home.  This mostly seemed to consist of tightening some loose bolts and Miles changing one tire that had damaged a valve stem.  This was also where Robert shifted his gear from my truck back to Miles' for the trip back to the bay area.  We rolled down hill toward Shaver lake with Danial in the lead doing the time-honored tradition of listening for new noises and feeling for new vibrations after a long trail ride.  Luckily other than some slight steering issues due to one happy and one sad tie rod (Tammy and Miles, respectively) everything seemed OK though tat was nearly not the case.  As we rounded the first tight right hand turn I was following Miles and saw his swing out come free and swing fully open.  Luckily the stop caught it before it came around to smash the side of the truck.  No harm done, he re-secured it and we were able to continue down the hill without problems, slowly parting ways as we each made our separate stops for fuel or food on the way back home.  

 

I managed to arrive home in Walnut Grove approx 8:30 and had time to watch the F1 race at Monza - so all good!

 

Over all I'd rate the Dusy as somewhat easier than the Rubicon but really it's just different.  It lacks the Rubicon's major rock obstetrical like shelves and steps but makes up for it in loose rocks and tight, tight trees.  It's also a marathon.  If I were to run it again in a mixed group of vehicles I think I'd like to set aside 4 days to make a more relaxed trip.  While I could run the entire Rubicon in a day given an early start and no major traffic or mechanical issues, I wouldn't even try that here.  3 days is a minimum I'd say and again, 4 wouldn't be bad at all if you can spare the time.  I would also strongly recommend anybody trying the trail be prepared for at least minor body damage.   All of us touched at some point, with damage ranging from minor (I tore another small hole in my vinyl roof; Danial got some scrapes on his aluminum 'crusher' corner) to moderate such as loosing a mirror and/or a taillight to the trees and rocks.  While none of this is over the top, it does mean you need to be able to accept such things.  The views aren't as often since the trail is more wooded but particularly at the north end they were quite spectacular.  There are plenty of challenges to keep the bigger trucks working and in a very un-Rubicon-like manner, it's possible to go all day without seeing anybody else.  Other than our first night at Voyager Rock camp we never camped within sight/hearing of anybody else and only rarely saw anybody on the trail, mainly just the one group who we leap-frogged a couple times and the husband/wife in the JK on our last day.  It's definitely a trail worth doing for anybody with a moderately built truck and I'm glad I finally checked it off the list!  That makes 2.5 of the big three down (Rubicon, Dusy Ersham, and Fordyce).  Now we just have to do a thru-trip on Fordyce to cap off the last of the great epic Northern California rock crawling trails!  That may not happen this year, but it will happen.  Oh yes, it will happen.

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Mr.BlueSky Mentor

Mr.BlueSky

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Here is another album of photos de Robert, Daniel, Theresa, Lutz, and myself.

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/FFxJ5L1FhVD47vWS6

 

If anyone wants uncompressed, edited versions of the photos I took let me know which ones and I can get them out.

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DHappel Mentor

DHappel

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Here is another album of photos de Robert, Daniel, Theresa, Lutz, and myself.

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/FFxJ5L1FhVD47vWS6

 

If anyone wants uncompressed, edited versions of the photos I took let me know which ones and I can get them out.

I've moved my photos to this album as some of the other guys already had stuff there - lots of pics!

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