we had a fantastic trip up to Mt Disappointment last weekend. It was eventful and fun.
In short:
After meeting Gary and friends at No. 1 Camp, we went to the falls where there was plenty of water for a change. And was a sign of things to come.
Next was Strath Crossing Tk. A nice easy warm-up track.
Then things got interesting on Turners and Burnt Break Tks. Numerous deep bog holes had us in and out of the vehicles checking the depth. Most, although deep, had firm bases and didn't present to much difficulty. A couple though had about 200mm of silt on the bottom and were only tackled by Mina in the Landcruiser. Mina got through one very well but the next massive bog stopped him in the first few meters.
I nearly made it through one deep bog but got hung up in the front diff. With water seeping in the rear door seals Mina attempted a snatch recover only to have his tie down point fail and sling shot into my bull bar. Luckily no one was hurt and the only damage was the broken recovery point and dented bulbar. The lesson is to only use rated recovery points - especially for snatch recoveries. Eventually Gary snatched me out and I opened the doors to let the water out.
Lunch was sandwiches at a road side picnic area. But the day ended here for Gary. A noise had started toward the end of the mornings drive. So before heading off for the afternoon Gary had a look around only to find his drivers side CV joint flapping loose on his lower wish bone and a couple of bearings lying on the ground. Thanks to Adam, the drive shaft and broken CV were quickly removed. But Gary now only had 2 wheel drive so he headed home - for the Pub!
Mina and I headed for 'the ladder'. A track that Gary had done in the dry for his 4x4 training with the Pajero club. Shown on my map as Drag Hill Tk, the track is flat at the beginning while it follows a creek line. However, the final 100 or so meters climbs the valley steeply to a ridge. The track has been badly eroded with only sharp rock and shale left as the track surface. The track is a technical drive in the dry but today was wet and very slippery as well - it was barely possible to walk/climb up. I headed up first and with the front locker engaged made it to the top without too much drama - the driver side slider coped a heavy fit and has partly crushed the tube.
Mina on the other hand was struggling without lockers. Many of the rock ledges tested the full extent of suspension travel and had opposing wheels spinning on the slippery rocks. To compound this the passenger rear tyre was slowly deflating and the starter motor was playing up. Out came the winch for a slow recovery up the hill. But with the motor unable to start because of the starter the motor the battery soon died. So I backed down the hill - as far as I could and still be on solid ground - for a reverse winch pull. Motor bikes were now banking up behind Mina - the loss of momentum on the slippery rocks meant that they couldn't move any further either. I managed to winch Mina 15 or so meters up the hill - enough to let the bikes get on stable ground and get past. Minas rear tyre was now completely flat and we still had three rock ledges to winch up. Bit by bit we reverse winched Mina a further 25m up the hill to the Patrol. With the landcruiser on stable ground we towed him up the remainder of the hill - the cruiser motor finally jump starting under tow - where we were able to change the tyre.
It was now nearly 5pm so we headed down to Wandong to air up and head home.
I'm looking forward to seeing some photos of Ladder track - unfortunately my camera batteries were flat by this stage. I was too busy for photos anyway.
My pics are at:
4WD Photos @ 4WD Links :: Mt Disappointment August 08
I'll add others as they come through to me.
regards
Michael
