Sour Grass
Though this trail was once quite easy, I would say some off-road experience is a plus as there are a few tricky spots. Any 4wd vehicle can make it, just be prepared for some banging of rocks to the undercarrage at a few spots.

This will be a light wheeling trip with plenty of time at camp so bring your board games and cards.

Here's the itinery:

Sat (6/16)
------------------
9am--Pleasanton McDonalds
6800 SANTA RITA RD
PLEASANTON, CA 94588

10:30am Angels Camp (at Burger King)
290 South Main Street
Angels Camp, CA 95222

10:30-11:30pm I'm leaving this hour for time to shop for food for the weekend

We will then drive to the trail and head in, arriving at camp with plenty of time to make camp, have dinner, and hang out at the river.

*we might camp at the Sourgrass camp ground, but that is open right now.

Sun 6/17
This will be a leasurely day...pack up camp and head out. I'll be leading a side trip for those up for it to Slick Rock/Deer Valley (to check the snow level and hopfully wheel the trail).

** CB #8, FRS #12 **

Sign me up!

1. Huey
2.
3.
4.
5.

Sign me up!

1. Huey
2. XPLORx4 (Dean)
3.
4.
5.

Sign me up!

1. Huey
2. XPLORx4 (Dean)
3.Enjoi408 (Froggy) *requested off. Mostly likely going but very rare chance not.*
4.
5.

1. Huey
2. XPLORx4 (Dean)
3. Enjoi408 (Froggy) *requested off. Mostly likely going but very rare chance not.*
4. JoeBob (Jeff)
5.

Sounds like some real fun...can 4x2 make it on the trails?

Unfortunately, no. You may be able to ride shotgun with someone else, though.

Maybe if I replace my power steering by then.

Geoff

1. Huey
2. XPLORx4 (Dean)
3. Enjoi408 (Froggy) *requested off. Mostly likely going but very rare chance not.*
4. JoeBob (Jeff)
5. Ruski (Vitaliy) * will go if not on-call that weekend.

1. Huey
2. XPLORx4 (Dean)
3. Enjoi408 (Froggy) *requested off. Mostly likely going but very rare chance not.*
4. JoeBob (Jeff)
5. Ruski (Vitaliy) * will go if not on-call that weekend.
6. SLOMatt Definitly in for Saturday, not sure about Sunday yet.

1. Huey
2. XPLORx4 (Dean)
3. Enjoi408 (Froggy) *requested off. Mostly likely going but very rare chance not.*
4. JoeBob (Jeff)
5. Ruski (Vitaliy) * will go if not on-call that weekend.
6. SLOMatt Definitly in for Saturday, not sure about Sunday yet.
7. Zoojunkie (aka Matthew, co-worker of Dean; Isuzu Trooper)

I assume that the trip is going to be light and we do not need to pack extra axles, 3 spare tires and gallons of gas. Is this correct? Also, is anybody coming from the penninsula? I am going to leave San Mateo around 7:40 am.

Correct, no need to pack anything hardcore, but do pack some tools and extraction gear. slomatt might be leaving from SF.

See you at McDonalds.

so um.. ive got a problem.. my cv axel boot is torn.. and now in 4wd when i turn to the right it starts clicking and it slows down my car slowly.. its not too bad. I can still offroad and it doesnt limit me but im not sure how long thats gonna last.. i could replace it on thursday but i dont want to replace the axel till i lower the front end a bit.. i think its lifted too high and thats why it tore early.. what do you guys thing

JoeBob, you should be fine, but if I were you get it replaced if you can. I must warn you though...there is a sizeable water crossing on this trail and there's nothing worse then water getting into a torn boot. If you are replacing the entire CV then no worries, but if you are doing just the boots that would be bad. Although with the clicking noise it sounds like the CV is bad already.

When you are testing the CV in 4wd are you on dirt or pavement? Hopefully pavement, as your 4wd system won't like being engaged on dry pavement and will make turning hard + clicking noises.

BTW, lowering your truck shouldn't be too hard if you know how to adjust the t-bars.

"Hopefully pavement"

You mean dirt right? hehe yeah i was doing it on dirt.

and yeah im gonna replace the whole thing im sure lots of crap has gotten in there already

and yeah i know how to lower it but i dont have any time before this weekend to lower it.. get it aligned.. and replace CV axel.. since i have finals on wednesday and thursday eh heh

Oops, typing too fast last night and forgot the "Not"...You should be fine for this weekend. If you already bought the CV bring it along just incase and we can do a trail repair in the event of an extreme emergency.

Good luck on your finals!

Kelly and I are planning to leave Saturday evening to head back to the Bay Area. We'd really like to camp and explore Slickrock on Sunday, but have other commitments. (note: a way better idea would be to explore Slickrock on another trip so I can go )

So, if anybody was not planning on going on the trip because they aren't free on Sunday here's your chance to turn this into a 1 day trip. Sourgrass is a nice trail and an excellent shakedown or "intro to the Sierras" run. We'd be happy to lead a 1 day group back out, though if you are already commited for 2 days then you're stuck with that since I don't want to detract from the camping experience.

- Matt

Huey,

Pardon for stupid questions (I am somewhat new to this field). With a completely stock X we won't need any water proofing for that water crossing that you're talking about right?

Ciao,
v

Nope no water proofing at all. I should have been more specific, the water may come up to the mid point of your wheels so no need to worry unless you have torn CV boots.

Here's a picture of the water crossing on Sourgrass:


Oops, wrong photo, sorry. Here it is:


- Matt

good one

The first pic seems more doable than the second. You be nuts to cross the second pic!

Especially with that darn Xterra in the way, I'm not sure I can make it over another truck.

- Matt

Ramming speed!

Especially if it's that ugly white truck in the background. If you try to mount it with your jeep, it might catch on fire with all those stray wires going everywhere.

Hey! The Jalopy wouldn't even consider trying to mount a Toyota, it has way better taste than that! Especially a Toyota with non-matching tires.

- Matt

Funny, I didn't even see that POS back there, it's stealthy.

Is said POS running currently? Going to make it this weekend?

Said POS needs a radiator re-installed, the power steering re-filled and misc details.

I am tempted to do a ride along just to go up to the mountains for day. Are you heading back to the East Bay on Saturday still?

Hi,

I am still debating on when to come back. I am not as hard core as some of you guys and I did not get any good recovery equipment(no sliders, no mounts for my Hi-Lift, no winch), so if Sunday is going to be really hard core, then I don't want to be a burden in case if I get stuck.

I am really thinking of taking my car to Calmini's shop and telling them what I need and then picking it up later on. Otherwise, I am not going to have any time to mod it...

If they end up running Slickrock you'd probably want sliders, but there is always the option of leaving your truck somewhere and riding along in another rig.

- Matt

What about the WJ? It can't sit in the driveway forever. We need more Jeep power!

Kelly and I can give you a ride back on Saturday, no problem if you want to ride along.

- Matt

ps. I want to have a cool sign also! I started farther forward though.

968/D30/Open/3.73/302/42RE/2.7/3.73/Open/D44A/33s

Hahaha! Hmmm. What does that make mine?

R200A/ARB/4.636/VG33E/RE4R01A/TX10/3.7/H233B/ARB/4.636/321150R15

LOL!

I think I'll be heading back home on Saturday too if the rest of the crew heads to Slickrock.

He can't even keep the WJ running. See what happens, as soon as I leave all his vehicles fall apart. :rolleyes:

He can't smog the jeep because of other problems...I told him to green sticker it.

Slickrock is the trail that hooked Geoff and I into 4wheeling. It's a good trail to see what kind of terrain lightly modified vehicles can do, even if just riding along with somebody else.

Oh,

Do not get me wrong -- I got hooked the first time I had to drive a rental Jeep on Saline Valley road in Death Valley. I am going to pack for 2 days, but then we'll see.

Cya tomorrow.

Howdy!

First of all, thank you for helping me out during the run. Without encouragement from Huey, Jeff, Dean and the others I would have hard times making it.

Jeff and I got back fine. We stopped at the Snowshoe Brewery for some food; we reached Pleasanton at 10PM.

Here is the link to some of the pictures taken during the trip. This was one of those 'point-and-shoot' trips where the camera was in the Auto mode 99.9% of the time.

http://picasaweb.google.com/vmanphoto/SourGrassCamp062007/

Some of the pictures will be shown in the Pictures forum.

Did the overnight folks end up running Slickrock on Sunday?

Only Huey and I ran Slickrock, with Andrew (black Pathy) riding shotgun.

Hello!

Finally got approved to post.

Thanks for letting me tag along. That was a great weekend trip, too bad I couldn't stay for Slickrock. Does anyone have more pics of my Trooper?

Hi,

I assume that you have seen this one already:

Yup! There's no need to show my ugly mug!

Some pics of last weekend drive.






my other cars.