Wheeler Lake 8/14/11

It's been a few weeks since Wheeler Lake was finally clear of snow, so it was time to check it out. The bottom section of the trail is pretty much the same every year as the granite slabs never change. The top half however is different every year. This is expected as bowling ball hill is just a steep incline of lose boulders. You might drive this section one year and have a 2 foot boulder you need to crawl over or around, and the next year, that boulder is gone.

This day we had 6 rigs with us: Ryan, Chuck, Brett, Chad, Vince, an old Land Crusier, and another new XJ friend from Washington State.

All went well in the bottom half, with Chad attempting some hard lines and getting a pretty good wheel stand. As we arrived at the V notch, Ryan took the first attempt and ended up sliding a rear tire into the V and getting high centered on the diff. We attempted to raise the back end and get a rock under the fallen tire as to rais the diff off the rocks, but there was no luck there. So we pulled out the winch, and as soon as the diff was un stuck, Ryan drove right up. Chuck followed and so did Chad. Vince and the land crusier took the easy middle line, while Brett and the XJ truggy took the far left side that has some really big holes. Both made it up just fine after some traction trouble at the start.

When we reached bowling ball hill, it was not nearly as wet as we expected with the high winter snow fall. No problems up this section... So we thought. As were within 100 yards of the lake, the rain started pouring down, and a few of us pulled over to throw our tops (or tarps) on. At this same time Brett noticed something hanging down off Chuck's Jeep. Somehow Chuck had snapped a rear lowercontrol arm. The weld at the bushing had completely failed. We waited out the rain for 20 mins before attempting a trail fix. No one had an on boarder welder so our only option was to use ratched straps to hold the axles as close to center as possible. It did the trick, and we slug paced it down the mountain.

At the V notch, we all took the easy center section except the 2 XJs. Chad took the V down, and the truggy took the far left again (far right looking downhill). The truggy dropped a front tire into a hole and did the biggest wheel stand I have ever seen. Although the Jeep stopped and didn't flop over, we all jumped in to pull the rig down as he continued his decent. We made it back to the main road and Ryan followed Chuck into Breck where they would be waiting for his father in law to arrive with the trailer.

Check out all the photos HERE