Quote:
Originally Posted by 1976gmc20
Hah! A little far to go for Matt's Off Road Recovery 
I can't figure why they would keep going ???? Coming up the west side it gets worse and worse and they could turn around anytime they want. Those poor "kids" in the 69 Impala really did get a shock. They drove up the east side no problem at all and by the time they started down the west side they couldn't get back up again and just had to keep going. We met them somewhere above the switchback. Their car was all beat up and she was just about in tears. They were much relieved when I told them they were past the bad part and would be fine the rest of the way down. I think we have a picture somewhere of their car parked down by the store later that evening.
BTW, at that time we actually had a 4wd pickup with a camper but it was parked as part of our summer accommodations (or maybe just storage). So I thought nothing of taking the short stepside C/10 with the family for an evening drive up to the top of Tincup Pass and back.
The ridge between West and Middle Willow Creeks is just a maze of jeep trails, some just a woodsy 2-track and others more "interesting." Now I guess everybody just calls them "ATV trails" 
One time before I went to Alaska, I went out for a drive up there with a couple friends in my K/20 pickup. He was native to the area and used to take me and others all sorts of places in his CJ5. We were up there somewhere and he said that we could take a turn and go down to the creek and back down to the valley. So that was cool since I had never been down that way yet. We get about halfway down and there is this really tight switchback! "Oh, I forgot about this one," he says It was in the timber and not a long fall down but it was all on an angle, not mostly flat like the turns on Black Bear. Also it was almost dark by then. I backed up five or six times and we made it just fine  |
The Mazda was far to beat to continue. All four tires were flat, wheels hammered on the rocks. The rocker panels were beaten to the point they were hitting the doors and making it hard to open. My buddy poked his head underneath and the entire underbelly was tore up, exhaust, fuel tank and engine cradle. It physically was done.
ATV's are the only thing I don't like about the area now. On any summer weekend it's crawling with side by sides and quads. The county made it legal to drive the ATV's on the roads/trails above St. Elmo. So one can park the trailer on the side of the road at St. Elmo and link up Hancock pass, Cumberland pass and Tincup for a complete loop of the area. Plus all the smaller trails outside of Taylor and Tincup. I'd be ok with it if most of them had even the slightest amount of trail etiquette. Sadly most of them don't, they come in from out of state and drive like maniacs because they can carry way more speed and get pissed when a bunch of full size trucks and Jeeps are taking it slow in the rough stuff.