Mary Ellen Gulch, 8/18

YotaDaniel

Member
Location
Bountiful
Since Im probably the first one home because me and Nicole left early I will start the trail report, but everyone else who was on the tail ride feel free to add your perspective and pics.

I stayed up until 2:30am the morning before the trip and I got up later than I wanted, so Nicole and I hurried and got dressed and threw some tools, the dog's bag, and a cooler with food in the XJ and took off to American Fork. We made good time and showed up right at 8 am, so we went to the bathroom, gased up, and got some food. By then some people had showed up and I went over to introduce myself. All I can say is what a great bunch of welcoming guys that were on this trail run today. I fit right in and felt like I had been long time friends with everyone. We waited till 8:40 ish before we started up the canyon.


Im just learning the names of all the places in AF Canyon, but here is were we stopped and aired down. I opted not to air down at this point or disconnect my sway bar. I regret that decision now. Lesson learned.

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Here is were I changed my mind and aired down and disconnected my sway bar.

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Stating up MEG. It was very beautiful and not the dirt road I was quite expecting, but I loved every bit of the learning experince.

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Almost half way up I get ready to go over a good sized rock and the XJ just dies. It was as if I had just truned it off. No sputter or knock at all. Nicole was not pleased to say the least and I was not ready to make my first trail run ever end with my truck being towed home. So Greg behind me radioed the rest of the group and told them I was stopped . Everyone came down and we started going through the basics as to why it would crank but not fire. We concluded it was in the ignition system and after some tests and brainstorming as to what it was exactly, TROKITA taped the distibutor cap with some pliers a few times and it fired right up.

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Im not going on the next trail run until I get the maintaince up to date a little bit. Next lesson learned.


The rest of the trip up to this point was pretty uneventful. We made it to MEG and stopped and had lunch and got to know each other a little more. I am gaining a love for the Utah back country and all its beauty and history.

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After exploring MEG a little bit after lunch the group decided to head back down and hit another trail I don't remember the name of. On our way down we ran into two Jeeps trying to get up. Anyone who knows MEG knows its tight for most of the trail. So the two Jeeps moved over as much as they could up against the mountain so we could pass. Well one of the guys was guiding zr2ee (Cory) past the Jeeps and his right front tire dropped in a hole. He couldnt go forward or back up. So zr2ee got a strap out and hooked it to TROKITA's truck and TROKITA pulled him out and they reguided zr2ee past the Jeep. Not a huge issue, but it was cool to experience and witness to a noob like me. His center cap for his wheel was his only casualty. I might be a little off on the details, but that's how I understood the story and what I saw.

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Once at the bottom of MEG the group helped me air my tires back up and get me on my way. I just want to give a huge THANKS to everyone who went and made this an awesome first trail ride. I will be back out there and I hope to see some of you guys out there again.

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Kevin B.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.
Moderator
Location
Vehicular limbo
I'm stoked you had a good time, man, and glad that you're not gonna let that little dirty distributor keep you off the trails. :)

Thanks to everybody that showed up, it was a great day and I'm worn out. The good kind of worn out. Pics tomorrow, I'm going to unload the truck, get a shower, and pass out watching some Discovery Channel.
 

Manlaan

Member
Thanks to everybody that showed up, it was a great day and I'm worn out. The good kind of worn out. Pics tomorrow, I'm going to unload the truck, get a shower, and pass out watching some Discovery Channel.

Yep. Great times. Thanks for putting this together Kevin. I'm about worn out as well. That drive back home sure is a killer.
 

Kevin B.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.
Moderator
Location
Vehicular limbo
Seven rigs met at the Chevron - Myself, Dutchman, Trokita, Manlaan, zr2ee, YotaDaniel, and Jentzschman. We pulled out just after 0830, gathered again at Tibble, and chatted with the nice ranger lady while airing down. It was probably 9:15 when we hit dirt. We headed straight to the trail and proceeded up... I was expecting at least a few rock gardens a la Forest Lake, but I didn't even drop into 4wd until we hit a repaired washout with some kinda jagged and very loose rocks that I didn't feel I wanted to spin my tires on too much. There were several more repaired washouts on the way up, all but one were in good condition and the one wasn't bad at all, although I expect it might be by next year if it doesn't get some love.

About 2/3rds of the way up, the convoy came to a halt when YotaDaniels Cherokee died on him. We all trooped back down the hill, and spent probably 15 minutes poking at his engine until Trokita got bored, smacked the distributor cap a couple times, and it fired up. Dutchman's wife wanted to know how many Toyota Geeks it takes to fix a Jeep, now we know :). YotaDaniel was a little embarrassed and we all gave him a little grief, but it was all in good fun, and a good learning experience for everybody.

We shortly made the fork in the trail, where we had lunch and chatted, enjoying the sunshine and gorgeous canyon, which is where two more Jeeps (who I think were gijohn40 and sswens1 but don't quote me on that) caught up with us. We poked around the tailings piles above the fork in the trail a little bit, and I got some pics of the old ore bucket, but a couple of guys needed to get back down and everybody else wanted to take a poke at the beginning section of Forest Lake, so down the hill we went (leaving behind sswens1, who wanted to explore more. It was good meeting you, hope to catch you and your very nice Jeep on another trail soon!). After a short delay while we negotiated our way past another pair of rigs coming up (and a minor rescue when zr2ee's rig slipped a front wheel off the soft shoulder), we made the trailhead without further difficulty. Here we aired up YotaDaniel and zr2ee, who had to make it back to town, and then trooped off to play a little on Forest Lake.

Everybody made it up and down the first couple of rock gardens with no trouble, including Dutchmans' wife and my own who got some wheel time. There was a bit of a shellshocked look on the faces of some of the newer drivers, and Trokita got a NICE wheelstand that I didn't tell him about because he was already nervous :D, but everybody made it out in good trim. Here we said goodbye to Trokita, washed some of the dust off in the creek, and the 5 of us remaining (myself, Dutchman, Jentzchman, gijiohn, and Manlaan) cruised out Pole Line Pass to Midway and then Kamas for some tasty grub at the Gateway Grill. Then we parted ways for home, and made it back to I40 and then down Parleys despite the wildfire raging on the shore of Jordanelle Res.

Total carnage was minimal - other than some pinstriping and bumper scuffing, z2ree's center cap and my LSPV bracket both gave their lives for the cause. Well worth it in my opinion. If the day wasn't epic, it was definitely satisfying, and I won't hesitate to wheel with any of these great guys again. Thanks for making it a wonderful day on the mountain, everybody!

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Kevin B.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.
Moderator
Location
Vehicular limbo
More pics.
 

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zr2ee

New Member
wow great pics, thanks for taking the time to write this up. Been a long time since i've done one of these but it was a lot of fun and although there were some casualties i now have an excuse to buy a new tire and mount the other one as my spare
 

sswens1

Active Member
Location
Millcreek
It was good to briefly meet you all. We never did catch back up after exploring further up MEG. We drove up to where the road was covered by a slide about 150 yards from the upper mine. There were tracks from 4wheelers but it was sloped with loose rock and a considerable exposure. We just walked the 150 yards. After hanging with you all we ran into some nice talkative folks from oakley(lj) and kanab(JK Unl) former members of heber jeepers. Sounds like some future wheeling in order for the kanab area. Hog canyon and toms canyon were mentioned has anyone been to these places?

Thanks for putting the trip together you guys got some great photos. I got some photo's also but mostly scenery. Here is a link if anybodys interested.

http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j166/sswens1/Hanging Tree 08192012/MEG 08182012/
 
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