Windrock 5-3-19... From grip to slip

McCracken

Logan Can't See This
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Location
With your mom at a nice seafood dinner
So we just got back from Windrock. A well thought out plan to go and conquer some tough trails while meeting some new friends and revisiting times past. We had a pretty good group of vehicles this time around. More than usual really. I'm a firm believer in any group over five and you're asking for trouble but what the heck. Let's see what happens.

We all rolled in Friday afternoon at various times. My old friends from Chattanooga showed up around noon and secured our cabin, which btw are quite nice. I was next followed by the Haywood County crew and then the Raleigh folks. After some how-do-you-do's we set off.

I had been wanting to hit Atomic Ridge for a while. Years ago I ran it...well, part of it.... and I wanted to see if I could do it again. The plan was to roll out Trail #2, then #16 and up to G1. From there you head over to #23 and have fun.

The weather was nice. Friday was going to be the best wheeling wise. No rain, trails were pretty dusty. Good stuff. We headed over to the pay station where I met @ramjo . Nice guy and from the looks of it had a pretty good group.

We set out for #16. The first obstacle was a ledge on the left hand side of the trail. I figured this would be the best place for a mini-shakedown.

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After some denials we moved on.
 
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I've never been a fan of #16. I hate the length of it and I don't like how it beats you to death. I liken it to Hotel California. The only redeeming qualities in my opinion are that they have some nice offshoots like Poison Ivy (rock garden) and the Waterfall. Other than that I could do without it.

Once we made it through the hell that is #16, we popped back up on G1 and headed towards our destination. Before that though, let's get us one of those "before pictures". The kind you take when you're all still smiling and excited.

Let's meet the players....

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Left to right we have Jason @DirkaDirka875 , Daniel and Robby (not on NC4x4), Mike (also not on here), Trent @Trent , My buddy Mike and Me, Brad (not on board) and Aaron @Stuntman Autoworks . @shagy9888 was my co-pilot and took the picture :cool:

Some from here we set out towards Atomic Ridge... It was easy going until a tree found it's way into the middle of the trail :rolleyes: A quick tow strap pull and the tree was laid down on the ground. We proceeded on but what we found was not what I expected...

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Unfortunately no one got a picture of the entrance to Atomic. Needless to say it's changed.... A....LOT. Back in the day, it was tough. Steep entrance we a huge boulder at the first turn you had to get around. Here's the pics from back in 2009...

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Now... it's real damn tough. My apologies but when I drove to the entrance I couldn't believe that it was it. So I went to the next trail, which used to be the bypass :eek: It, although difficult, could be managed. I really don't have any good pics of it (I do now but I'll add them later) but here are a couple that do it no justice.

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You can see the ledge below in the last pic. It was wet, slick as glass and to top it off muddy. Far muddier than I imagined (you can see my tires slicked over). I'll get the videos up later. I ended up winching up the entrance just to get a look at the rest of the trail. Aaron worked the entrance over but I don't think anyone got pictures of that either :rolleyes: Regardless, I looked around the corner and made an attempt. I got denied by a very small, 2' ledge. Once the ground was broken, the mud seeped in and it was game over. Even with sticky tires :(

At this point, I turned back. The rest of the group agreed today / tonight was not the night to be winching seven rigs through the woods so we turned back. I had to reverse winch back down the entrance. A first for me. Ole George once said, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Up yours, George. Here's what I mean:

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So at this point, with my spirit broken, and feeling like I've wasted everyone's time we headed back to camp. It was at this point something happened that didn't happen last time.

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Unfortunately no one got a picture of the entrance to Atomic. Needless to say it's changed.... A....LOT. Back in the day, it was tough. Steep entrance we a huge boulder at the first turn you had to get around. Now... it's real damn tough. My apologies but when I drove to the entrance I couldn't believe that it was it. So I went to the next trail, which used to be the bypass :eek: It, although difficult, could be managed. I really don't have any good pics of it either but here are a couple that do it no justice.

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You can see the ledge below in the last pic. It was wet, slick as glass and to top it off muddy. Far muddier than I imagined (you can see my tires slicked over). I'll get the videos up later. I ended up winching up the entrance just to get a look at the rest of the trail. Aaron worked the entrance over but I don't think anyone got pictures of that either :rolleyes: Regardless, I looked around the corner and made an attempt. I got denied by a very small, 2' ledge. Once the ground was broken, the mud seeped in and it was game over. Even with sticky tires :(

At this point, I turned back. The rest of the group agreed today / tonight was not the night to be winching seven rigs through the woods so we turned back. I had to reverse winch back down the entrance. A first for me. Ole George once said, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Up yours, George. Here's what I mean:

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So at this point, with my spirit broken, and feeling like I've wasted everyone's time we headed back to camp. It was at this point something happened that didn't happen last time.

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He trained his rig to do a split!!! Thats awesome lol :D

Looks like a fun trip!
 
Unfortunately no one got a picture of the entrance to Atomic. Needless to say it's changed.... A....LOT. Back in the day, it was tough. Steep entrance we a huge boulder at the first turn you had to get around. Now... it's real damn tough. My apologies but when I drove to the entrance I couldn't believe that it was it. So I went to the next trail, which used to be the bypass :eek: It, although difficult, could be managed. I really don't have any good pics of it either but here are a couple that do it no justice.

View attachment 292884

View attachment 292885

You can see the ledge below in the last pic. It was wet, slick as glass and to top it off muddy. Far muddier than I imagined (you can see my tires slicked over). I'll get the videos up later. I ended up winching up the entrance just to get a look at the rest of the trail. Aaron worked the entrance over but I don't think anyone got pictures of that either :rolleyes: Regardless, I looked around the corner and made an attempt. I got denied by a very small, 2' ledge. Once the ground was broken, the mud seeped in and it was game over. Even with sticky tires :(

At this point, I turned back. The rest of the group agreed today / tonight was not the night to be winching seven rigs through the woods so we turned back. I had to reverse winch back down the entrance. A first for me. Ole George once said, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Up yours, George. Here's what I mean:

View attachment 292886

So at this point, with my spirit broken, and feeling like I've wasted everyone's time we headed back to camp. It was at this point something happened that didn't happen last time.

View attachment 292887
Did you really make a spreadsheet about it? That brings a tear to my engineer eye.
 
Definitely built Ford tough. My good friend said he hit a "rock", drove 20' and then this happened. I was in the back but they say he hit so hard the rear wheels came off the ground. Whatever actually happened is all up for debate but here is the carnage.

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So he stripped all the nuts off the studs for the passenger side knuckle. Without having a handy supply of 5/8" fine thread nuts we robbed two off of the driver side and got the passenger side back together. From there we headed back to the cabin. I think we got back around 11:30 pm or midnight. Having not eaten it was time for a trip to the Waffle House. I must say, the day isn't so bad when you can at least count on one of the staples of college culinary delights. However, on this evening Eydie, or whatever weird ass way she spelled her, name let us all down. No ham in the hash brown's? WTF!? No waffle when it was ordered!? Just let this day end.
 
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So it didn't rain all night. Not a drop. With 6 hours of sleep (at best) under our belts, we made some bacon that would make even @Loganwayne proud and some tasty eggs. We decided to hit the usual loop and see how that treated us. I was pleasantly surprised to see my new water pump allowed me to make it all the way to #15 without overheating....much. For those who don't ride #15, I suggest you do. It's a short trail with lots of options and lines.

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We even had time up top for selfies with new friends :huggy:

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Moving on we headed down Little Mule. Steep stuff but has an excellent climb out the right side in the end.

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and the climb

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So after felling pretty god about Little Mule we cruised on past Rattlerock and headed up Little School Bus. This trail seems to get better with time. I know eventually it'll get ridiculous at the top but for now it's still manageable. At the bottom of the incline is a nice rock ledge at the creek. This one is another deceptive obstacle. It doesn't look bad but the break over angle kills it. Aaron, of course, made short work of it.

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On up ahead, I went ahead and let the big dog stretch its legs for the last successful time. Behind me, someone else met with this...

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which then required some of this...

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if you can't tell by this point, it's not raining. We're dry and the sun is shining. Actually, in the last pic you can see some rain sprinkles. My amateur weatherman friend continued to let us know that rain was immanent. Then we heard the rumble in the distance. Then these two assholes showed up from the weather channel. Complete with Bob Barker microphone.


At this point, it was decided to make a run for town. Trent and I loaded up in the only rig that was free (mine) and make a break for it. By this point, it's raining... a lot. We blast down to the cabin and into Oak Ridge. We hit the parts stores only to find out that no one carries a '96 Land Cruiser TRE. So we hit the hardware store to grab some Grade 8 hardware. After purchasing the goods, we load up and start to roll. At this point Trent says, "you know, I forgot about it but I think I have a spare I took off in the back"... or something to that effect :shaking: SOoooooooo, we head back up the mountain and sure enough he did. We slapped it back together and started contemplating our next move.


Everybody was soaked at this point and so were the trails. Where would you go if you had freshly soaked trails and a prime candidate for swamp ass? Good call. Let's go to the Stairs.
 
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Heading up to the stairs is always fun. It always seems to have a crowd and if they're not there as soon as you roll up it's like some beacon is illuminated and they start rolling in. I took the lead by embarrassing our group with a denial. I guess it was because I wasn't wearing my Send It headband. We tried a few different lines though as a group and discovered that the right line was shut down city. The left line was the more palatable of the three.

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I gotta stop being so bitter about Windrock. I spent a whole weekend there and only ran Walden’s Ridge and Stair Step. The rest of the time was spent riding the longest most boring trails of my life and I didn’t see anything nearly as cool as your pics! I’m gonna have to give it another shot one day, for now I’ve sworn it off and vowed not to go back but I’m gonna have to get over that.
 
I gotta stop being so bitter about Windrock. I spent a whole weekend there and only ran Walden’s Ridge and Stair Step. The rest of the time was spent riding the longest most boring trails of my life and I didn’t see anything nearly as cool as your pics! I’m gonna have to give it another shot one day, for now I’ve sworn it off and vowed not to go back but I’m gonna have to get over that.

Go with me one weekend. Just bring plenty of sack.
We hit the hard stuff pretty much all weekend. Plus, they're all like 10 minutes from the parking lot (Rail Trail and Atomic aside)
 
My buddy was disappointed when I told him that your mullet was attached to your headband. Our trails looked nothing like that :lol: We just ran easyish stuff since we are all open diffed,newbies, and 35" or less....still had a blast though!

Sorry to disappoint :lol:
 
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Go with me one weekend. Just bring plenty of sack.
We hit the hard stuff pretty much all weekend. Plus, they're all like 10 minutes from the parking lot (Rail Trail and Atomic aside)
It had been years since I ran 21. I'm going back sooner rather than later. Good trail pretty close by.
 
It had been years since I ran 21. I'm going back sooner rather than later. Good trail pretty close by.
21 and 22 are great once you get through the first good gulley where the sign says "Beware of treacherous trail"
Lemme know when you wanna go back. You and I have broken many hearts in East TN
 
To my surprise, the boys from Chattanooga bowed out at this point. The rain and swamp ass proved too much for them. With the remaining rigs, we forged ahead. On to Trail 3...

This is a nice drive around to it. Gravel 3 gives you a good look at the Windmills on top of the mountain. Under sunny conditions, they look pretty cool. However, on this run they still were neat to see with the fog around them. Once we got to #3 Trent ran into some more bad luck. He started leaking air out of the back driver tire. It had been patched but evidently it quit holding. At this point, the best thing to do was limp him out. Aaron, Jason and myself went on up the trail. This section used to be fairly easy to access. Now, unless you're narrow, it's difficult. I tried the only line I thought I had and ended up crushing more of the passenger fender in.

Once we made it past the first section there were a section of ledges that you had to clear.

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The first video is just showing you the conditions. The second video is the successful climb.
 
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After heading back to the cabin we went out to a gourmet meal of Hibachi Pizza. Beats me. It had good reviews on Yelp!

So the next day we get up and clear out of the cabin. Trent swapped over to a blue label for the leaking tire in the back. I swapped in some fresh propane and off we went. The original idea was to take #15 again, then Little Mule. After that we would clear out Rattlerock and call it a day. However, I had a genius idea :rolleyes: and decided to take 22 to the end. Then we would roll down and do Rattlerock. #22 used to be pretty plain Jane but the rains and years had done a number on it. Not that we couldn't handle it but I definitely would recommend it to the 35" crowd. Once we got about halfway there was the entrance to #21. It had been years since I did this one as well. Once we saw the "Treacherous trail" language on the sign I figured, why not? It's Sunday and we all need to get home. Might as well ride that one :lol:

It wasn't too awful IMO. It definitely could have been worse. The first hill climb was a bit sloppy.


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Midway up the trail you'll encounter a set of ledges. Being first had advantages and disadvantages. The pro is that you get the fresh ledge without mud. The con is that you don't get to see the others take different lines so you can adjust accordingly. My dumbass headed left. There I met a good buddy of mine.

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So with another pull from the golden winch I was on my way. Next up was Trent.

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Jason was next. I don't believe he had been denied all weekend. I guess he was due. It's really hard to tell by the ground was gooey. Almost like peanut butter.
 
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Aaron did what he did all weekend. Have a total disregard for safety and make obstacles look stupid. I think we all wollered on these ledges for a while and all ended up pulling cable. Aaron did it in like two minutes :flipoff:

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If you want to see Jason's attempt I can upload it to YouTube later.
 
The last thing for us to do was the exit to the trail. It splits into three climbs. With my impeccable judgment I chose the line that I thought I could clear :shaking: After much hammering and wheel spinning I used my winch for the last time this weekend :( All I know is that I'm glad I'm taking mine down for a while. Much needs to change.

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And lastly, here's another climb made to look easy by Aaron :huggy:



After this we all decided we needed to make a run for home. We had a good weekend. The weather started out great but then turned on us midday on Saturday. We forged ahead and separated the men from the boys. I was really happy to see some old friends and meet a new one ;) Hopefully, with some much needed upgrades I'll be back to make a better showing next time around. I might even ask Aaron to show up again :flipoff2:

Thanks again to everyone that took pics and videos. They make for some great memories to look back on.
 
Being first had advantages and disadvantages. The pro is that you get the fresh ledge without mud. The con is that you don't get to see the others take different lines so you can adjust accordingly.

I've learned that in both the con and pro ways this year. Trail 22 I picked a dumb line and popped a bead, had to winch. Everyone else walked it. I won't give any pro example as to not impend on my luck because I know it isn't driver skill making the Jeep do things. Looks like yall had a great trip and itching to go back to Windrock, just hope it's dry when we go.
 
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