Pickle Gulch and more - May 1, 2022

[open_circuit]

A huge group assembled at the Pickle Gulch trailhead today to join the run. In addition to the folks on the meetup list, I think we picked up 4 extra rigs. Regular forum lurker Nick brought his 4x4 van. 2 4runners and a Tacoma saw our group airing down and decided to join.

I think we had 14 rigs in total, so we split into two groups. Shane and Jayson led the first group and set out to bash any snow. I led the second group a little after the first set out.

Just as in 2019 we were turned back by snow just above the cabin. Despite Shane's best effort he was not able to blaze a trail and we had to cut the run short. Many in the first group decided to check out additional trails near Gamble Gulch (hopefully they will post with correct details). I took the 3 Toyotas up to Switzerland trail to try cliffhanger 2.0.

Switzerland was nearly entirely free of snow. Cliffhanger 2.0 had one small patch of snow that gave me trouble but is easily overcome with a locking rear diff. The 4 runners made the climb successfully while the Tacoma driver rode along with the rest of us. While we were descending cliffhanger the remaining members of the lead group met up with us.

We ran all of Switzerland trail from gold hill Rd to sawmill Rd without issue.


Great day on the trail and glad to meet many of the new members and random folks we picked up today.

[RockyMtRebel]

Great to get out and follow Shane’s beast

https://youtu.be/cyupSHrDTqE

[jayson44]

great day out there, guys! and we didn't do too bad for having to turn around with a million rigs on PG, haha.

J.

[RockyMtRebel]

After turning around and descending Pickle Gulch due to snow, a group of 8 of us headed north on Missouri gulch road, which turns into Gamble gulch road. There was probably a mile and a half to two miles of snow covered trail that Shane was able to crawl over creating tracks for the rest of us to follow him up the road. We were the first group to break thru this year! After airing up we headed north on Peak to peak to do the northern most section of Switzerland trail and Cliffhanger 2.0, where we again joined Trent and a few others for the climb and then run the rest of Switzerland trail to Sawmill road!
good times we’re had by all 😎

[speedkills]

I was having so much fun I didn't take many pictures and most of what I did ended up not turning out, but my favorite of the day was seeing this example of a rando camper who was going to do whatever it took to find a good camping spot.

#VANLIFE

https://i.imgur.com/NGMsbvr.jpg

[speedkills]

Every time I go on that trail I love seeing this truck, somebody tell me what it is. Looks like it's straight out of Mad Max.

https://i.imgur.com/MYUXjpV.jpg

[speedkills]

And I got one good short video of commitment phobic honorary member LurkerNick (yep Nick, that is your official handle until you sign up) bashing through the snow until it finally got too deep. He only has limited slip in the back but it was working pretty great in the snow.


https://i.imgur.com/V5oQ5p4.mp4

[speedkills]

Found one more, GearWhine made it through the second attempt after Matt winched him back a few feet to get a better run at it.


https://i.imgur.com/LcSGM5a.mp4

[FINOCJ]

Every time I go on that trail I love seeing this truck, somebody tell me what it is. Looks like it's straight out of Mad Max.

https://i.imgur.com/MYUXjpV.jpg

Korean war vintage GMC M211 deuce and a half: https://www.militarytrader.com/mv-101/m211-the-cadillac-deuce

[JDMYETI]

Agree, that it was generally a good day in the woods. Surprisingly warm for under 50f and mostly cloudy.

A couple lil bumper scrapes was the worst damage I saw. The 5th gen 4R's all lifted wheels, mine was only on the downhill bypass of the "main challenge hill climb" Bypass has a hole on the driver side that ate my whole tire and left my truck teetering on 2 wheels for a second or two. 1st pucker of 2022!

Even though I did not join in any of the fun after Pickle there were still lots of smiling faces and general wheeling discussions that were great to be a part of.

[a1gemmel]

That run was a lot of fun, always good to get out. Was nice meeting the bunch of you! Now I just need to figure out this profile picture business...

[Gearwhine]

Great day for sure! Beautiful weather and great people yet again. Thanks to all the big trucks for breaking trail for my little snowplow on Missouri Gulch...and you're welcome, Matt, for giving your winch a little pre-season warm up.

I was 2 back from LurkerNick's van tire lift and immediately said "holy sh!t." I've seen lots of tire lifts, but that was an abrupt and tall one from my point of view.

Thanks for planning this even with your lack of time, Trent. It was much appreciated.

-Nick

[TDash]

that van is bad ass

[Max]

Yeah, it was fun even though we didn't go very far. It was nice seeing some familiar faces too. Today's rain should wash off some of the mud spray everyone got!

[The StRanger]

14 rigs is a good size group...
glad a good time was had by all.