Swamp Lake Trail: July 26-28
Posted: July 29th, 2013, 10:05 amThe Rogers family got off to a late start on Friday, so we did a night run into camp. Let me tell you, this trail is way more fun at night. I lost the trail a few times and took some nasty blind-lines down the drop-offs. It was a blast running in! We had the typical IOR shit talking on the CB on the ride in, which was broadcasted in the main camp at Grouse Lake - and not very well received by some of the "sensitive" off-roaders in camp 
. Of course, some in camp were very happy to see me because I had a welder 
The Rogers family had 3 jeeps representing IOR, which turned out to be 60% of the IOR rigs. In typical IOR tradition, 80% of the original people who committed to going did not go . Fortunately for those that didn't go, there probably wouldn't have been any space for you to camp comfortably anyway.
This run was a huge turnout in total, way bigger than expected and too much for my tastes. Every camp site was full, so we had to camp away from the lake and the main group. The camp site sucked, but at least our late-night hell-raising didn't disturb other campers. The trail was crowded BIG TIME, like Rubicon Trail crowded. On Saturday, passersby were complaining to us that every campsite on the trail was taken. Several groups gave up on camping on the trail and decided to run out and camp at one of the developed campgrounds instead. It was so crowded on Saturday, that we went exploring and had to wait for 20 minutes to go up the grade North of Grouse Lake because of traffic; our Jeeps had to back down 3 times!
The only mechanical problems we had were Bigfoot's TJ 4-banger overheated at the top of the grade on the 168 and Bigfoot lost his spare tire on the trail. The spare tire was found on the trail and delivered to camp by an awesome dude in a Toyota. He was super-cool for doing that!
One of the Trailblazers broke the pin for a lock-rite in his D35. I broke out my Welder and die grinder, made some shims, then Whitesnake welded his gears together with my Readywelder. We got him going in a couple hours and it seemed to be working fine when we left. I also heard that another D35 was having issues and that one of the NAXJA rigs was having problems. Matt & Becka and the Rogers Family left early on Sunday so I can't report on any breakage on the run out.
The weather was great, but it did rain late on Friday night for about 1/2 hour.
It was a really fun trip with some great wheeling, but I think next year we should do a smaller IOR run rather than go with a huge NAXJA / Trailblazers / IOR / 4x4him / facebook / the whole world is invited Group. The IOR run we did last year with 6 rigs was super awesome and everyone got a primo camp spot without crowding tents next to each other.
. Of course, some in camp were very happy to see me because I had a welder The Rogers family had 3 jeeps representing IOR, which turned out to be 60% of the IOR rigs. In typical IOR tradition, 80% of the original people who committed to going did not go
. Fortunately for those that didn't go, there probably wouldn't have been any space for you to camp comfortably anyway. This run was a huge turnout in total, way bigger than expected and too much for my tastes. Every camp site was full, so we had to camp away from the lake and the main group. The camp site sucked, but at least our late-night hell-raising didn't disturb other campers. The trail was crowded BIG TIME, like Rubicon Trail crowded. On Saturday, passersby were complaining to us that every campsite on the trail was taken. Several groups gave up on camping on the trail and decided to run out and camp at one of the developed campgrounds instead. It was so crowded on Saturday, that we went exploring and had to wait for 20 minutes to go up the grade North of Grouse Lake because of traffic; our Jeeps had to back down 3 times!
The only mechanical problems we had were Bigfoot's TJ 4-banger overheated at the top of the grade on the 168 and Bigfoot lost his spare tire on the trail. The spare tire was found on the trail and delivered to camp by an awesome dude in a Toyota. He was super-cool for doing that!
One of the Trailblazers broke the pin for a lock-rite in his D35. I broke out my Welder and die grinder, made some shims, then Whitesnake welded his gears together with my Readywelder. We got him going in a couple hours and it seemed to be working fine when we left. I also heard that another D35 was having issues and that one of the NAXJA rigs was having problems. Matt & Becka and the Rogers Family left early on Sunday so I can't report on any breakage on the run out.
The weather was great, but it did rain late on Friday night for about 1/2 hour.
It was a really fun trip with some great wheeling, but I think next year we should do a smaller IOR run rather than go with a huge NAXJA / Trailblazers / IOR / 4x4him / facebook / the whole world is invited Group. The IOR run we did last year with 6 rigs was super awesome and everyone got a primo camp spot without crowding tents next to each other.
. We were just camped too far from the group to hang out much other than for a few hours while playing in the lake and when I trolled through campsites a few times to BS with people. We got pretty drunk in our camp Sat night, so we chilled close to the supplies and where our antics wouldn't offend anyone.
