Got Propane? We do now. About a month ago I scored a great deal on two sets of propane mixers and vaporizers for both of our jeeps. So over the last few weekends, Joe and I converted both of our jeeps over to propane instead of gasoline.

We decided to test the jeeps out by heading up to Hull Mountain (our local stomping grounds) for a test run. There was supposed to be fresh snow from a recent storm, and probably pretty muddy at lower elevations. Either way, we were going to have some fun.

Up on Hull Mountain, there is a rut so deep that it will literally swallow your rig if your not having a good day. It's called "Grannies Crack" I have no idea why it's called that, and until last night I had doubts that it was even called that for sure. That is until I found this video on youtube by a guy that goes by 4wheeldrivebronco and he too calls it Granny Crack so it must be the real name.

Before we could attempt to climb the crack, we had to move a large tree that had fallen across the trail, knocked over by the last storm we had. After that Joe wanted to drive down the crack before attempting to climb back up. As you can see the rut is deep, and nearly causes hum to roll as he slides into the deep rut. Had his sliding not been as favorable he would have gone upside down on his lid as so many others have in the past.

so mark and i just got back from taking the jeeps to Hull mt for some snow wheeling. we went up the day before, he in his landcruiser, i in my jeep. Half way up the mt, the jeep just wasnt feeling right so i told mark that i was going to go ahead and go back down. John and i stopped at one point to realize the jeep wouldnt start, battery is dead or something. so we bump start it. We got it home, and mark and i began diagnosing it so we could go up for todays trip. We replaced the starter, and the solenoid thinking that was the problem. well we were able to get it running, so we loaded them up for todays trip.

got up this morning at around 730, got to the mt. at around 10, who knows where the time went inbetween. started cruising up the mt in the jeep to find about 3 inches of snow at the lower level. this was a good sign that the storn had dropped fresh powder. A few miles up the road we passed 2 jeeps and a big landcruiser. pressing on, the snow began to get deeper till we were about 6inches deep at the Hang gliders launch. thats where the previous tracks ended, it was our turn to push fresh powder. As we made the first turn on fresh powder, the view was amazing. The clouds opened up and we could see the top of the mountain, covered in a sheet of bright white, with a pretty blue sky to act as a backdrop. We pressed on, the jeeps tearing through the fresh powder effortlessly. The first difficult section began as we made the shart turn at the top of the ridge that leads to Covelo. The turn going up had approx. 10inches of powder. The jeeps did as they were made to, and kept on going. as we  neared the top we decided to take the road around the back of the summit. This road proved to be a bit difficult as the snow reached approx 18 inches deep. After a few attempts at a stuck location, i resorted to 2nd gear and the skinny pedel. A few more turns, and a few more inches of powder we were able to reach the top. the fog had rolled in so the view was obstructed, but mark and i both felt a great deal of self accomplisment. We were able to push the jeeps through heavy snow and reach the top of the mountain as we had planned. At the top i stalled my motor, only to discover that it wouldnt start again. Apparently the starter and solenoid wasnt the only problems, my alternator is fouled up as well. But were Aplets, and we fixed the situation with what we had. we had to sacrafice my winch power cable, and use it as a jumpercable to marks battery and got it started. drove it back to the trailer without shutting it off :D

Was a great trip. perfect weather, nice fresh soft powder snow, reaching the summit. Couldnt have asked for a better day.

Here is some footage from our first ever nigh wheeling trip. The footage is not very clear of course, but hopefully you can see enough. In the first scene, I took Traver for a ride up a rocky trail, trying to scare him a little bit (noob) Then Joe took a shot and had very little problems with it. In the last scene starting when the jeep comes into focus from between the trees, this is when Joe spun the caps off his u-joint trying to get un-wedged from between some rocks. Fortunatly we were able to find both caps and all the berrings in the dirt. Something that is nearly impossible to do even in the daylight let alone at night. I put the caps back in place and winched him out from between the rocks and away we went. Pretty fun adventure for one night.

Back In August, we got together with a few friends and took the Jeeps and the Exploder up to Cow Mountain for a weekend camping trip. We wheeled for two full days, and even tried our hand at night wheeling. Talk about different… Try rockcrawling at night. It's a lot of fun and changes the way you look at the terrain completely.

Being that it is now 4 months since that trip, I feel that I should finally get my act together and start cutting together a video. Due to current time constraints this video is from the first day only. I will recut a final version with all the video at a later time.

As some of you may know, Mark and I went to Oroville, Ca to watch the W.E. Rock Western Finals. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is World Extreme Rock Crawling. Four classes of vehicles, and multiple courses that are difficult to walk over. The Sun was out in full force, raining 120degrees of sunshine on us. Sweat coated our bodies, but the smell of raw fuel burning, and rubber flying kept our minds off the fact that it was extremely hot.

Saturday, Mark and I showed up early to check the course out. The contest started at 10am on saturday and it was already in the high 80s. Most people flocked to an area that was refered to as "the bowl". the bowl included 4 courses, the Cannon, Agent orange, The mine Field, and I don't recall the 4th having a name. Saturday had a lot of carnage, rigs rolling, flipping, flying through the air. the day ended a little early, around 3pm But it was time to check into the hotel.

The next day started off at 10am again and it was even hotter yet. some of the excitement seemed to disapear as they changed a couple of the courses a little bit, eliminating an obstacle that was sure to have some good carnage. Now don't get me wrong, I am not here just to watch these guys destroy there very expensive rigs, but roll overs are one of the most exciting aspects of rock crawling. The second day of events kind of seemed to go on, without a whole lot to stick in your head. There were a few memorable moments of course, not the same as the first. At the end of the event, they had whats called a Shootout, which is 6 of the top scoring vehicles in 2 classes, 12 vehicles in total. There was a course set up for each competitor to attempt in the 10 minute mark. However the course to me was too difficult and too long for any competitor to finish. After the first 3 vehicles got stuck in the first section of the course, and required the "Crane of Shame" to be extracted, we decided we had seen enough for the day and decided to head home.

The Event was awesome, even with the heat. To see these rigs do things a stock vehicle couldnt even fathom was amazing. These vehicles truely make our trail rigs look like Jalopies. It gave is great ideas for our own vehicles, and things we need to reconsider in building in order to make us more capable, safe, and over all more enjoyable. I hope Mark can get photos and video of the event posted soon so everyone can see what we got to.

Joe

UPDATE: Photos have been added here: WE Rock Oroville. Here is the video from day tywo. Video can be played ih High Deffinition If you have the bandwidth.