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| Dave Arieno makes the trip after diagnosing ignition problems early in the day. |
A group of current and potential AK Extremer's all met up at the McDonald's in Wasilla for a planned run to Hatcher's Pass. There was a strong showing as 9 vehicles made the trip. Nate was unfortunately not able to make it due to a power steering pump going bad on the way up. Additionally, our esteemed leader and President, Dave was running late as he was having ignition problems with his CJ. We all waited at the McDonald's until around 11 and decided to make the call to press without him (sorry Dave!) Since it was already 11, the decision was made not to make the trek up to Hatcher's Pass and instead do a run a bit closer. Church Road it is!! The 9 vehicles present were: Me (Topgun in the ol' TJ), Dave (CJ-7), Nate (Cherokee), Kris (CJ-7), Bill (TJ), Todd (TJ), Jeff (TJ), Gary (YJ), and Wes (Toyota Pickup) (Paco, you would have been proud!)
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Nate attempts the cross the hole which was deep on this trip. |
We pressed on to the trailhead were Dave finally got his ignition figured out and met up with us. I gave a quick reminder to keep the guy in back of you in sight, and to position those without winches in-between the guys who do. Away we went with Nate leading the way! We made good time all the up to the big mud pit in the middle. The trail was wet and slimy all the way up to the pit. The infamous "S-Turn Hill" proved no match as everyone made it up with no problems, even Wes with his BFG All-Terrains and open diffs. Those stock Toyotas do pretty good! The first real obstacle of the day was the big mud pit. Someone was nice enough to winch out the pickup carcass out of the middle and to one side. The hole was the deepest I have seen since I have run the trail the past 2 years. After some "convincing" Nate was the first to give it a try. He made a valiant attempt and made it about half way through before getting stuck and water entering his Jeep through the door sills. With his 34" swampers and about 6" of lift should tell you how deep the hole was. We winched him back and next up was Todd in his TJ. He made it a bit further before burying his 35" Swampers in the muck. He decided to winch forward and turned into himself into a 4000 lb plow, pushing an unbelievable amount of mud with him. After getting him out, the Swampers were now slicks and Todd was unable to get up the steep hill after the bog. A bit of weaving him through the trees and we were on our way again.
The next challenge proved to be the toughest one of the day, the long steep hill to the top. After a quick brief with everyone about how we were going to tackle the hill, I gave it the first go. One by one we made it up to the flat spot where you can take a by-pass or continue up. Once everyone was there, I attempted "Bronco Hill", named after the yahoo who rolled down it. It was quite slick, taking a lot of rpm's and wheel spin to get up it. I made it as did Nate. Dave was next and ran out of RPM's at about the worst/steepest place you could. We pulled Dave's cable and hooked it up to my Jeep. Additionally, we hooked up my TJ to Nate's Cherokee for extra leverage. With the 3 of us on top (barely) the others decided to take the bypass. The bypass was slick with some large holes and Todd was unable to get his TJ through the steep sections. The decision was made to press back down as it would have been dangerous to try to keep pressing to the top.
The trip back was fairly uneventful except for the long, slick, steep hills bringing you back down. Dave tried his best to leave his Jeep in a deep growth of trees but we were able to winch him back out. Way to go, Mr. Pres!
All in all, a fun trip with a lot of new faces. No breakage to speak of and we all made it home in one piece!
More pictures can be found in the photo gallery for this trip, or by clicking here.
