dusy ershim trail

[john]

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thought some might be interested in this trip we took last week. normally this trail is only done in rock crawler type vehicles. I decided to try this trail in my 98 trooper 3 in. lift terralow gear case rear ARB locker and 33 in. tires and my xj cherokee with 4.5 lift 31 tires rear ARB locker along with a freinds toyota truck. my vehicles are more set up for expedition type travel so I new I was in for an adventure. The trail is 33 miles long. We had 6 days to do it in. Out of the 6 days we only took 1 day to relax at Ershim lake. The other 5 days were 8 to 9 hour trail days. I think the worst section took 4 hours to go 1 mile. The first day the toyota was having clutch slipping problems. The owner just put a new clutch in and realized he must have put the disc in backwards. We set up camp and dropped the tranny and reversed the disc. After that no more clutch problems. the trooper did recieve some minor body damage because I was to lazy to weld up some rock sliders


pictures at
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnuhe/DusyTrail809#

 

[Rallyroo]

I like the log raft you guys made. My friends and I did something similar and made a log raft so that we could get further away from the shore for fishing. It worked cause we ended up with trout for dinner.

 

[zukrider]

Great pics! number 41 looks awesome. i love your troop, its very similar to my future end result!

what size km2's are you running?


joe

 

[john]

285-75-R16 old man emu springs 912s with 1 inch spacers

 

[slosurfer]

Cool pics, thanks for sharing! I may be going up there to do the trail in Sept. need to get some work going first. LOL

 

[ZooJunkie]

Nice Trooper! You did that w/o sliders? Impressive. Very impressive.

Who made that gas tank and propane mount? I like it. Got any fab pics of it?

 

[Rexsname]

Thanks for posting up those pictures, John. That trail is a butt-kicker for sure. We did 12 miles in 12 hours last year before breakage forced us to turn around. I would love to try again with a better prepared truck and group.

REX

 

[Incusus]

wow, great looking trip! Based on photo #61, I'm trying to figure out the strange gravitational forces at work here...:victory:

 

[Redline]

Some of the best (most telling) photos of the actual trail & obstacles... maybe I should stop thinking about taking my still 'straight' 4Runner up there :sombrero:

Thanks for sharing.

 

[craig333]

Been a few years since I did the dusy. Went with a group of five. I had the only Jeep. My Jeep is a little underpowered. Took two tries to get that first piece of steep granite. We lost two motor mounts, one steering component (bring a pickle fork), one tire, and one huge dent. Not bad for that trail. Oh and of course a few parts that tried to just fall off. Good thing I checked the bolts on my hubs.

Best part was we took three days and never saw another vehicle. Even the dog was tired by the end of that trip.

 

[john]

I cant imagine breaking something that you couldnt fix there on the trail. We took it very slow to avoid any breakage. Worst case would be to leave a broken vehicle behind. Take 2 days to get back to the trail head. Drive to fresno to find parts. drive back to trail and take 2 more days to reach your vehicle. Hopefully you didnt forget anything and take 2 more days to get off the trail. It really could take you a week to recover a vehicle.

Zoojunkie

I fabed the tank holders myself I will look to see if I can find any better shots of it

 

[nwoods]

That looks like a fantastic trip. Great photos. The people in them look like they are all having a great time working through the obstacles.

This photo here is terrific, would not be out of place on the front page of ExPo. So many times images of the trail make it look easier than it really is. But not this photo.

 

[dbreid]

I am headed up in my trail rig mid september. VERY much looking forward to it. My main concern is how tight the trees are. Not because of body damage (my truck already looks like it was barrel rolled down an embankment) but because my rig is just a hair under 7' wide.

But I liked your pics, and will hopefully post some of my own when I return!

-Dan

 

[Rexsname]

I was suprised at how narrow the tial was and how wide my Tacoma was. I would love to try this trail again but knowing what I know now I would be better prepared. 32" tires, no winch and only a single locker was NOT the way to go. I have heard folks say the Rubicon is much easier.


REX