livetorun
Mammary Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2008
- Location
- Louisburg, NC
A couple weeks ago, 3 of us headed out to CA to wheel the hammer trails in Johnson Valley. It was myself, @Black Bear and 1 other guy that I'm not if he's on here or not. Here is a trip report and some videos. I'll be posting more as I get time to go through all of them.
We arrived on the lake bed around 3 or 4 pm Monday (April 20th) afternoon. When we got there, there was only 1 other camp setup and it was some guys on ATVs. We set up camp and got everything situated before nightfall. We didn't do any riding that first day but I did unload and drive to the top of Chocolate Thunder in the dark.
Tuesday morning we got up ready to ride. The plan was to go to Aftershock and run several trails on that side. About 10 minutes out of camp while going through some desert whoops, Ronnie pinched his fuel line and had to be towed back. We got back, pulled the stock line off and luckily had a roll of spare fuel line. It wasn't the right size but it worked with some hose clamps. We probably spent 2 hours fixing that then headed back out. The search for Aftershock was a failure as we ended up riding around in circles for about an hour not being able to find it. We weren't sure how close we were to the marine base and saw a helicopter flying over so decided to head back toward the lake bed and do a trail we were somewhat familiar with. We went up Jackhammer and then up Jackhammer North. Jackhammer has a pretty good ledge in it where the race got held up this past year. It took me 4 or 5 tries to get up it, I think John struggled just as much, then Ronnie crawled right over it. The shorter wheelbase definitely helped there. Jackhammer North is not a difficult trail but runs up the spine of a mountain with drop offs on both sides. Its the trail that's in a lot of the race DVDs where you can see Hammertown in the background. Its intimidating when you cant see the ground on either side of you and you're climbing a loose rocky hill at about a 35 to 40 degree angle. This was it for day 1 as we got off to a slow start.
Wednesday we headed over to Chocolate Thunder and followed the race course around to Wrecking Ball. The ledge is not there at the bottom of Chocolate Thunder anymore and the trail is overall pretty tame. There was 1 small ledge at the top and Ronnie broke his hub trying to get up it. Without a spare, this was the end of his trip as a driver. Wrecking Ball was a long rocky trail that was nonstop crawling. Imagine Rock Creek, with a slight uphill, some ledges and a big waterfall at the end. The big waterfall on Wrecking Ball is where I flopped. Its been in several of the DVDs where a guy would be stuck on the climb and others would shoot up the rock face beside it. That side line is crazy and I give guys credit for even trying it. So anyway, I flopped and my transmission fluid starting spilling out of the dipstick. I had brought extra but didn't have the foresight to pack it in the Jeep. We got it righted with the winch then John and I headed down the trail and back to camp to get the fluids. It took us 30 minutes to get off the trail and 15 minutes back to camp, then the same in reverse so we left Ronnie for dead in the canyon for about an hour and a half. We got back, pulled the plugs, and winched it up the rest of the way. John then preceded to pull up and one shot the climb (son of a...). By this time it was pretty late so we headed back to camp.
Thursday was the big day where we covered a lot of ground. We left camp and headed NE through the desert. We jumped on the race course around race mile 53 then followed it around to Spooners and Outer Limits. Spooners is another uphill, nonstop rock climb that is out in the middle of nowhere. We went up Spooners, through some single track mountainous trails, looped back around and went down Outer Limits. We continued to follow the race course around to Emerson Lake and down by the marine base. We were worried about the boundaries but there are signs about every 50' telling you to stay out so it would be hard to accidentally cross the line. There was another very steep, single track loose rocky climb coming off of Emerson Lake. It took us right by an old abandoned mine shaft that was 10' off the trail and you couldn't see the bottom. We stayed on the course and went around to Aftershock. Aftershock is a cool trail in a 10' or 15' deep canyon that mostly isn't difficult until you get to one climb that you have to wedge through a V notch with a drop off on the left side. I believe it is where Shannon Campbell drove over Will Carter a few years back. This was a funny moment as John was spotting me through it and kept saying "more driver" and I kept saying "I cant go more driver" for fear of the drop off. He spotted me through without issue though and then give it a shot himself. His new longer wheelbase along with tire size hurt again here as he bottomed out on his belly pan several times and had to pull cable. We completed Aftershock and did HWY 19 and HWY 20, which are nothing more than sections of trail with no real significance. This took us to Fissure Mountain, about 4 miles of scenic mountain trail with lots of climbs up one side then drop offs on the other. Several times I got out to look because I would crest the hill and couldn't see what was on the other side. This trail had a several great scenic views from the various peaks. Then we finished off the day going down Sledgehammer which dropped us right back at the head of Jackhammer. We followed the race course for about 20 miles that day.
Friday was the grand finale. We went out to Melville Lake and did a few high speed (for us) passes in the flat parts. I think John got up to 52, I hit 60, and Ronnie hit 65 while playing around. With that over, it was time for Backdoor. We headed over and I pulled up to it first. It is really dugout at the bottom and you drop in about 2' before starting the climb. My first couple attempts were unsuccessful and I threw it in reverse twice feeling like I was going to go end over end. After looking at the video, it didn't seem that bad but it always feels worse inside. On my 4th or 5th try I power braked it with about a 3' run-up at the bottom. It hit and started to climb then fell back 2' or 3'. I stayed in it and it started to climb again and made it up. It was a huge rush. John then pulled up and give it several tries. It also took him 4 or 5 tries and he finally made it, driving up and over the big rock on the left with his rear tire. Thinking this was pretty much it, Ronnie walked back to his Jeep (he parked at the bottom with the broken hub) and drove back to camp. We completed Resolution but not without some difficulty. There is the second smaller ledge after the big climb that gave me fits, then another 4' vertical ledge further up that we both decided to winch up. Probably could have gave it hell and bumped over but at that point, we both were just happy to have made it that far without breaking and didn't want to tempt the gods on the last small obstacle of the trip.
We arrived on the lake bed around 3 or 4 pm Monday (April 20th) afternoon. When we got there, there was only 1 other camp setup and it was some guys on ATVs. We set up camp and got everything situated before nightfall. We didn't do any riding that first day but I did unload and drive to the top of Chocolate Thunder in the dark.
Tuesday morning we got up ready to ride. The plan was to go to Aftershock and run several trails on that side. About 10 minutes out of camp while going through some desert whoops, Ronnie pinched his fuel line and had to be towed back. We got back, pulled the stock line off and luckily had a roll of spare fuel line. It wasn't the right size but it worked with some hose clamps. We probably spent 2 hours fixing that then headed back out. The search for Aftershock was a failure as we ended up riding around in circles for about an hour not being able to find it. We weren't sure how close we were to the marine base and saw a helicopter flying over so decided to head back toward the lake bed and do a trail we were somewhat familiar with. We went up Jackhammer and then up Jackhammer North. Jackhammer has a pretty good ledge in it where the race got held up this past year. It took me 4 or 5 tries to get up it, I think John struggled just as much, then Ronnie crawled right over it. The shorter wheelbase definitely helped there. Jackhammer North is not a difficult trail but runs up the spine of a mountain with drop offs on both sides. Its the trail that's in a lot of the race DVDs where you can see Hammertown in the background. Its intimidating when you cant see the ground on either side of you and you're climbing a loose rocky hill at about a 35 to 40 degree angle. This was it for day 1 as we got off to a slow start.
Wednesday we headed over to Chocolate Thunder and followed the race course around to Wrecking Ball. The ledge is not there at the bottom of Chocolate Thunder anymore and the trail is overall pretty tame. There was 1 small ledge at the top and Ronnie broke his hub trying to get up it. Without a spare, this was the end of his trip as a driver. Wrecking Ball was a long rocky trail that was nonstop crawling. Imagine Rock Creek, with a slight uphill, some ledges and a big waterfall at the end. The big waterfall on Wrecking Ball is where I flopped. Its been in several of the DVDs where a guy would be stuck on the climb and others would shoot up the rock face beside it. That side line is crazy and I give guys credit for even trying it. So anyway, I flopped and my transmission fluid starting spilling out of the dipstick. I had brought extra but didn't have the foresight to pack it in the Jeep. We got it righted with the winch then John and I headed down the trail and back to camp to get the fluids. It took us 30 minutes to get off the trail and 15 minutes back to camp, then the same in reverse so we left Ronnie for dead in the canyon for about an hour and a half. We got back, pulled the plugs, and winched it up the rest of the way. John then preceded to pull up and one shot the climb (son of a...). By this time it was pretty late so we headed back to camp.
Thursday was the big day where we covered a lot of ground. We left camp and headed NE through the desert. We jumped on the race course around race mile 53 then followed it around to Spooners and Outer Limits. Spooners is another uphill, nonstop rock climb that is out in the middle of nowhere. We went up Spooners, through some single track mountainous trails, looped back around and went down Outer Limits. We continued to follow the race course around to Emerson Lake and down by the marine base. We were worried about the boundaries but there are signs about every 50' telling you to stay out so it would be hard to accidentally cross the line. There was another very steep, single track loose rocky climb coming off of Emerson Lake. It took us right by an old abandoned mine shaft that was 10' off the trail and you couldn't see the bottom. We stayed on the course and went around to Aftershock. Aftershock is a cool trail in a 10' or 15' deep canyon that mostly isn't difficult until you get to one climb that you have to wedge through a V notch with a drop off on the left side. I believe it is where Shannon Campbell drove over Will Carter a few years back. This was a funny moment as John was spotting me through it and kept saying "more driver" and I kept saying "I cant go more driver" for fear of the drop off. He spotted me through without issue though and then give it a shot himself. His new longer wheelbase along with tire size hurt again here as he bottomed out on his belly pan several times and had to pull cable. We completed Aftershock and did HWY 19 and HWY 20, which are nothing more than sections of trail with no real significance. This took us to Fissure Mountain, about 4 miles of scenic mountain trail with lots of climbs up one side then drop offs on the other. Several times I got out to look because I would crest the hill and couldn't see what was on the other side. This trail had a several great scenic views from the various peaks. Then we finished off the day going down Sledgehammer which dropped us right back at the head of Jackhammer. We followed the race course for about 20 miles that day.
Friday was the grand finale. We went out to Melville Lake and did a few high speed (for us) passes in the flat parts. I think John got up to 52, I hit 60, and Ronnie hit 65 while playing around. With that over, it was time for Backdoor. We headed over and I pulled up to it first. It is really dugout at the bottom and you drop in about 2' before starting the climb. My first couple attempts were unsuccessful and I threw it in reverse twice feeling like I was going to go end over end. After looking at the video, it didn't seem that bad but it always feels worse inside. On my 4th or 5th try I power braked it with about a 3' run-up at the bottom. It hit and started to climb then fell back 2' or 3'. I stayed in it and it started to climb again and made it up. It was a huge rush. John then pulled up and give it several tries. It also took him 4 or 5 tries and he finally made it, driving up and over the big rock on the left with his rear tire. Thinking this was pretty much it, Ronnie walked back to his Jeep (he parked at the bottom with the broken hub) and drove back to camp. We completed Resolution but not without some difficulty. There is the second smaller ledge after the big climb that gave me fits, then another 4' vertical ledge further up that we both decided to winch up. Probably could have gave it hell and bumped over but at that point, we both were just happy to have made it that far without breaking and didn't want to tempt the gods on the last small obstacle of the trip.
