Met Toyota Dad and Jeremy on 421 outside Lewisville and we hooked up with awspence in Wilkesboro. Made it on up to Callalantee without incident. Bigwoody rolled in just as we were unloading. Turned out to only be the four of us as Firetoy had to back out at the last minute. We started out on the Red/Yellow side of the mountain and rode most all the trails on that side. Lots of really steep hills over there but little problems other than the Toyota's brakes heating up. The rock garden between the red and yellow trails, at marker 10 on the Callalantee map, that was opened just before the SFWDA convention in June has really deteriorated from use. Although there are some big rocks there, the looseness of the soil allows them to be thrown out by wheel spin and the right side isn't nearly as challenging as it was at first. The left side remains quite difficult though. I've been there probably 6 times since we opened it up and have never seen anyone make it with out winching until BW made it this weekend. There are some LARGE rocks on the backside of this hill and this area shows promise of becoming on of the really good areas of the park with a little work. When we got back down to the creek we cooled Toyota Dad's brakes while BW went to change out his alternator before we headed over to Little Tellico/Pull Cable. Little Tellico has also eroded a lot in the last few years. Three or four years ago this was one of the tough spots at Callalantee but now it's almost passable in a stock rig. awspence almost made it, ground clerance issues held him back. He suffered a broken tail light housing and managed to push his O2 sensor up into the body requiring about a $100 fix in order to drive home. Pull Cable seems to be holding up pretty well to the abuse we dish out and hasn't changed much since we opened it up. Again BW was able to create enough wheel speed to make it to the top without assistance, suffering only a broken rear winch cable, but I was forced to pull cable a couple of times, thanks David and Jeremy for the help! Turned out my banging had sheared the driver side front leaf spring center pin and with aw's issues and the Toy's brake problems we decided to call it a day and save the Welder trail for the next time. When we got to the large sawmill clearing there were a few rigs trying the short, STEEP, hill climb that is there. It was still pretty slick from last week's snow but BW showed 'em how it's done taking a running start and making the top in a balls on blast that caused him to come off his seat several times I'm sure Never had seen anyone make that climb either so it was a day of firsts, congratualations to BW and his well built buggy! All in all it was a good trip. The weather was beautiful and a good group of guys made for a fun day. Thanks to David and Jeremy for the pics!
thanks for the pics, had a great time, even though little tellico ended up being just a little too much for my tires and miniscule amount of ground clearance
looks like you guys had a good time. wish i could of come. i did go out on sunday. i tried to get to know the map a little better. i was the only one there, other than four wheelers. i still had a good time. sorry i had to drop out, but its good to see you guys had fun. sweet pics.