70dustpan said

Ok so heres the plan. Meet up at the Wal-Mart in Jackson at 10355 Wicklow Way at noon on Saturday. Head up to slick rock from there, set up camp, then do what ever we want. For those not camping overnight. Meet us at camp by 8:30 am on Sunday.

Sounds good, where will camp be specifically?

You are right, it appears that a few of the campgrounds in the area have already closed for winter. Contact the rangers for sure.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recmain.....recreation

We will be bringing a propane BBQ, pork ribs, and a dessert for sunday lunch. If only a few are going then maybe we can upgrade the quality of the meat and I can get a Bison or elk tri-tip from the local butcher. Looks like the count is somewhere between 3 and 10 people total.

Can everyone confirm they will be there sunday so I can get a better count?

Pictures are uploading as I type this. Really good trip all-in-all. No breakage, to winching or strapping, and no necessary rock stacking. Only damage I can recall is a lost balancing weight from a front driveshaft, some hurt pride from not being able to make the hard line up the last stair-step, and some worrisome noise caused by a rock in a brake caliper.

The trail is a few hours out from the Sacramento area but does have the benefit of having campgrounds by both ends of the trail and many flat camp sites along the trail. We met at the campground about 8:30, aired down, and headed the half mile down the dirt road to reach the formal trail head by about 9am. Running from north to south, the trail parallels a creek from alpine lake down to Utica (spelling?) reservoir. The first obstacles encountered were some tight spots caused by downed trees. It had rained the night before so the puddles were all full and the trail would have been mud if the soil wasn't mostly decomposed granite. About a mile in the trail reaches a big slab section with a creek running very shallow and wide across single pieces of granite. We hiked around a little bit an brought out a big mess of rusty barbed-wire someone appeared to have left out there a number of years back. (Dale's truck was on garbage duty)

Not long after the slab area, we hit the first major obstacle which is a wedge section that falls over a few hundred feet. It was tight for the LJ, but somehow the dodges made it through without touching sheet metal. After the notch about 50 ft down the trail was a large rock on the passenger side that looked like it was asking for the dodges passenger drop diffs. Both made use of their rock sliders and kept the diffs out of trouble.

The next obstacle involved a couple of tall rocks splitting the trail not 20 ft from eachother. We all took the high, off camber approach and the right side wedge. Brent's truck even teetered on the approach.

The trial then runs smooth along some rock ridges on one side before descending down a slab section with a stair drop at the bottom. We avoided the bypass and made it without dragging, as far as I could hear. After the slab was a short section of clear trail followed by some rocks. Again they seemed aimed at passenger drop differentials so some spotting was used and only a drive shaft weight was lost.

The next obstacle was the main stair-climb of the trail. The trail turns and crosses the creek to get your tires wet before trying to climb some significant slabs. I went up first and after 4 or 5 attempts on the hard final section and a few rocks stacked, I backed off and went around to set up for lunch. I lit the BBQ about noon and tossed the tri-tip on the BBQ as the dodges mede their way up. We had tri-tip sandwiches, chips, and Jessica even made some mini-cupcake size cheesecake bites with dark chocolate.

After a relaxing lunch and watching a super flexy 4-runner on 37s go down the obstacle, we headed out about 1pm. Two minor obstacles remain before exiting the trail, a turing rock section after a bridge that was a little tight and getting off a large slab. I took the expert line off the slap making good use of my rear bumper and gas tank skid. The dodges took the preferred route for more controlled dissents.

We aired up at the pavement and headed back to highway 4. We ended up getting off the trail about 2 or 3pm and headed out after about a half hour of airing up. I had a shorter drive than the others but I was home well before dark, probably some time just before 5pm.