2015-06-14 (Sunday) Bunce / Ironclads - well, mostly Ironclads

[Jim]

Nick and I met at Sandstone Park in Lyons. It was busy on a nice Sunday.

Heading up the canyon there were several sets of bicyclists - fortunately they were doing a decent job of keeping right-of-the-white. There were two state patrol cars on the side, coming down, with a pickup pulled over. Odd to see police in the canyon. There was one Lyons local officer with radar looking at people (us) heading out of Lyons in the 25mph zone.

We had discussed running Bunce north to south as I had thoughts to "finish up" Park Creek. In the end, that didn't happen. We came to the Ironclads turn off and decided to run the 3/4 mile to the first obstacle. With it easily dispatched we again decided to change plans and decided to complete the loop - looking for a more difficult counterclockwise route. At the first intersection we went to the ledge and each did and up/down. Around the loop, the "back side" uphill posed a small bit of difficulty, which was enjoyed. At the top we made the trek to the top for some views. On the way back to the trucks the rain started. It continued a decent rain, with some sleet / small pea hail down to the ledge. An easy down, we headed out the side exit of Bunce.

[Jim]

2

[Chris]

Thanks for the report Jim, nice to see that Nick didn't blow a cv on his 4Runner. :D

[Jim]

Yes, (his wouldn't have been under warranty... ;) )

There was one spot, perhaps one of the tries up the ledge where he had it "hopp'n" - on the gas, vehicle loading / rising / unloading / falling. After two hops I yelled to STOP. (two hops was two too much, imo, but nothing broke)

[Java]

Thanks for the pics and report! That's a good looking 4runner, glad it made it out intact! :lmao:

[Chris]

The agreement on my break was a defective part, my originals lasted 185K miles so I don't think he has any worries.

[The StRanger]

Yes. It was a nice day to get out ..

[Diamond_D]

Jim was a great spotter on the two ledges, definitely the biggest obstacles I've tried yet. Had to back up and do a 2nd attack on each, but made it up! The trail was a nice mix of good climbs, lots of rocks, and some smooth sand to break up the really bumpy parts. Very glad I had sliders and skid plates for this one. I only took two photos on the trail, one on the way up in the loose rocks, and one on the way down in an unexpected rain/hail storm. Some nice views out toward the surrounding area if you walk a bit, too. First up though is a video of Jim coming down off the big ledge on the loop, making it look easy.

http://diamondd.smugmug.com/photos/i-xkDN9vJ/0/M/i-xkDN9vJ-M.jpg (http://diamondd.smugmug.com/Other/4x4/n-TrdFc/i-xkDN9vJ/A)