high_desert_crawlers
Member
Very nice! Have an idea of what runs you’re gonna do?
***Panamint Valley Days 2025***
- Thread starter high_desert_crawlers
- Start date
Kellyex1450
Well-known member
I dont, its a relatively fresh build, we are figuring each other out still. I like challenging rock gardens like John Bull in BB or Dusy Ershim but am less interested in trails where you hang of the side of a cliff, that being said im open to suggestions. body damage I try and avoid but it happens.
high_desert_crawlers
Member
I would recommend Defense Mine. Maybe Cummins Cutoff if you want a little more of a challenge.
I’ll probably run that one on Friday.
https://cal4wheel.com/panamint-valley-days-run-descriptions
Motiracer38
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2022
- Messages
- 454
Jail Canyon sounds like the promise of a good time. I wish I had this weekend free.
high_desert_crawlers
Member
Ya, I’m looking forward to that one on Sunday, if my junk is still together
Kellyex1450
Well-known member
What are you bringing out?Ya, I’m looking forward to that one on Sunday, if my junk is still together
What's the ratio of jeeps, Toyotas and everything else at these events?
high_desert_crawlers
Member
I’ve got a Suzuki Samurai.
From what I’ve seen, it’s a good amount of jeeps, with some crawled out yotas, then a strew of more mild overland rigs, like Lexus, broncos, and everything in between.
I think there’s a “sunset cruise” that takes place Friday afternoon/evening that takes you by Defense mine.
Mild run, but takes you by some obstacles on Defense Mine, that can make for a good show.
I’m gonna try and get a few guys to go that evening and see what trouble we can get into on the Bath tub and the first water fall.
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high_desert_crawlers
Member
PVD is this weekend
I’ll be headed out Thursday afternoon.
Plan to run Defense/Cummins Cut Off Friday, hang around “Bath Tub/waterfall” Friday evening, then probably Isham on Saturday, then I think they have a “trail breaker” run on Jail Canyon Sunday.
If you’re out there and see me, come say what’s up
I’ll be headed out Thursday afternoon.
Plan to run Defense/Cummins Cut Off Friday, hang around “Bath Tub/waterfall” Friday evening, then probably Isham on Saturday, then I think they have a “trail breaker” run on Jail Canyon Sunday.
If you’re out there and see me, come say what’s up
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Kellyex1450
Well-known member
see you out there, that's a rad little rig! got a build thread on it?
high_desert_crawlers
Member
No, unfortunately not.
Did most the build before I joined forum.
Sadly this may be the last trip I have it before I put her for sale :/
badlinesgoodtimes
Administrator
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2022
- Messages
- 1,214
Have fun out there guys. I expect some photos and trip report!
high_desert_crawlers
Member
ShinyTravisto
New member
Unfortunately life got in the way and I didn't get my Jeep prepped in time. Looking forward to hearing about it.
high_desert_crawlers
Member
Rough weekend so far. Sammy is down. Tires don’t want to hold air after I aired down and was headed to first trail.
Took 6 tire plugs to get them to hold air to get back to camp.
Passenger princess for the weekend. Headed to Isham.
Took 6 tire plugs to get them to hold air to get back to camp.
Passenger princess for the weekend. Headed to Isham.
4xFoorOffroad
Active member
So many plugs eh?
high_desert_crawlers
Member
Welp. As mentioned before putting those 35”s on my Sammy for this trip was a mistake
I got out there around sunset on Thursday. Weather was perfect all weekend
Unfortunately, about a 1/4 mile from airing down to catch up with the Defense Mine Run, some weather cracks decided to start pissing air. I DID test these tires on a local trail and aired them down for it, and they showed no problems, so I thought they’d be good, but I was wrong.
Plugged them, got it back to camp and parked it.
Luckily some buddies in my club, had open seats for the Sunset we were to lead. And we planned to wheel some of the hard obstacles afterward.
But again, bad luck struck
two of our rigs were tail gunners for the run, one of which was a brand new ZJ build, with radiator mounted out back. He also tested it on a local trail, but found out pretty quick that it wouldn’t stay cool driving the road to the trail head. So us in my buddies 4runner stayed back with him and after trying a few things to help it cool better, (removing rear door, reversing fans…) temp still kept climbing. So had to tow the ZJ with the 4Runner to the dirt road for the trail head.
Once there, buddy with the ZJ told us to go ahead, he’s just gonna let it cool down and would catch up. We drove the runner maybe 30ft and noticed the front tires weren’t tracking right. We had lost a nut for the tie rod on the passenger side
So now with the two tail gunner rigs down, and as we’re looking for the missing nut in the path we drove, we hear over the radio, that our buddy who was leading the run, lost a fan belt on his Jeepster. Which he usually carries an extra, but of course it’s missing from his bag.
So he limps his rig back down to us, pushing his temps, and we now have 3 rigs that were suppose to be guiding the run down.
As we’re trying to make a belt out of zip ties and duct tape (America!) and get the 4runners steering together enough to drive back to camp, we hear that a sweet 2nd gen Yota pickup with a 3rz, quit running.
The ZJ had cooled down enough, so went up the trail, to go help.
Our makeshift belt broke immediately after starting the motor, so we put a pair of vice grips on the 4runner’s tie rod end bolt and used it to tow the Jeepster back to camp.
Luckily, at camp, we found a belt for the jeepster, and found a guy who had a 7/8” nut for the 4runner’s tie rod.
By this time it was dark, and we shot back out to the trail, to see how the ZJ and Yota were doing getting off the trail.
ZJ was able to get Yota off the trail, and was over heating as it towed the Yota down the dirt road.
We towed both those rigs back to camp.
Trouble shooting on the Yota, we found it had broken a timing chain. Cams were not turning when we’d crank it.
So needless to say first day was rough.
I’ll give a break down of Day 2 soon.
I got out there around sunset on Thursday. Weather was perfect all weekend
Unfortunately, about a 1/4 mile from airing down to catch up with the Defense Mine Run, some weather cracks decided to start pissing air. I DID test these tires on a local trail and aired them down for it, and they showed no problems, so I thought they’d be good, but I was wrong.
Plugged them, got it back to camp and parked it.
Luckily some buddies in my club, had open seats for the Sunset we were to lead. And we planned to wheel some of the hard obstacles afterward.
But again, bad luck struck
two of our rigs were tail gunners for the run, one of which was a brand new ZJ build, with radiator mounted out back. He also tested it on a local trail, but found out pretty quick that it wouldn’t stay cool driving the road to the trail head. So us in my buddies 4runner stayed back with him and after trying a few things to help it cool better, (removing rear door, reversing fans…) temp still kept climbing. So had to tow the ZJ with the 4Runner to the dirt road for the trail head.
Once there, buddy with the ZJ told us to go ahead, he’s just gonna let it cool down and would catch up. We drove the runner maybe 30ft and noticed the front tires weren’t tracking right. We had lost a nut for the tie rod on the passenger side
So now with the two tail gunner rigs down, and as we’re looking for the missing nut in the path we drove, we hear over the radio, that our buddy who was leading the run, lost a fan belt on his Jeepster. Which he usually carries an extra, but of course it’s missing from his bag.
So he limps his rig back down to us, pushing his temps, and we now have 3 rigs that were suppose to be guiding the run down.
As we’re trying to make a belt out of zip ties and duct tape (America!
) and get the 4runners steering together enough to drive back to camp, we hear that a sweet 2nd gen Yota pickup with a 3rz, quit running.The ZJ had cooled down enough, so went up the trail, to go help.
Our makeshift belt broke immediately after starting the motor, so we put a pair of vice grips on the 4runner’s tie rod end bolt and used it to tow the Jeepster back to camp.
Luckily, at camp, we found a belt for the jeepster, and found a guy who had a 7/8” nut for the 4runner’s tie rod.
By this time it was dark, and we shot back out to the trail, to see how the ZJ and Yota were doing getting off the trail.
ZJ was able to get Yota off the trail, and was over heating as it towed the Yota down the dirt road.
We towed both those rigs back to camp.
Trouble shooting on the Yota, we found it had broken a timing chain. Cams were not turning when we’d crank it.
So needless to say first day was rough.
I’ll give a break down of Day 2 soon.
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high_desert_crawlers
Member
Day two, Saturday.
Got our rigs together to lead the Isham trail run, which was the toughest trail of the weekend.
Left Sammy at camp with bad tires, and also the Yota with a broken timing chain.
Had maybe 10 rigs on the run, minus a classic Bronco that had a blow out on way out to trail head. Which was too bad, I wanted to see that thing on the trail.
Started up the trail, when after the second obstacle, a sweet YJ with an LS3 broke the main and second leafs on the rear passenger spring. Dude had everything to weld it though. So we winched his axle back into place, welded the springs and added a wrench handle to help. Once it was together, we guided him back down the first obstacles and he headed back to camp, and made sure he would check in with head quarters so we knew he made it back ok.
Next big obstacle would be “the pinch” or what ever dudes call this part of the trail. Apart from the big waterfall, it’s the part this trail is probably most know for. Right line likes to put your rear passenger into a rock, left line tilts your driver roof into another big rock.
It is doable without body damage, but you’ve gotta hit it just right and make sure your rear driver climbs, rather than pushes your rig to the right. We had a jeep driver who found that out the hard way and shattered his right rear window and ruined his top. He had a real good attitude about it though. Everyone was warned that body damage was likely on this trail.
Our newly built ZJ, found rocks with its belly pretty good on the left line and had to get winched back, then walked the right line.
Everyone else made it through this part pretty well, with good spotting and taking their time.
Next obstacle of note was an optional left line, that has changed a bit from storms. Our jeepster on 42”s walked it pretty well, but everyone else who gave it a go, got bellied out and had to get winched or back down and take the bypass.
Was surprised how much this obstacle changed. My Sammy did it last year on 33”s, but it was definitely rougher this year.
On to the “big” water fall. All of the shorter wheel base rigs had to winch up the waterfall, except one YJ who hit the line perfect and bumped it up second try. Was cool to see a short wheelbase get up it.
Then a few people got a little twisted up in the up and left crack immediately after the water fall, but with a back up and line adjustment, everyone made it up without a tug or winch.
Lastly, the final hill climb out of the canyon.
If you’ve run this trail before, you know there’s a rough loose climb to get out. It’s not optional. You have to climb this hill to get out and it’s the only path with deep ruts consisting of loose boulders and powder sand.
I’d say you probably need 37”s to stand a chance of getting up it unassisted.
I think we had 3 or 4 make it up, with the rest of the rigs needing a winch.
Once at the top, it’s dirt roads that loop you around and back down to where you access the trail.
Most the group took the dirt roads around while we jumped in the ZJ, 4runner and Jeepster to run the trail backwards to get down.
With just 3 rigs, we made it down in probably 20min. Then at the bottom, our buddy put his ZJ on its lid while trying to crawl a tire on the roof of our 4runner.
Run wouldn’t be complete without one of the Godde boys putting it on its lid. lol.
We winched him back over and headed back to camp. For some tacos and the event raffle that night. There were some good prizes, but other than a Midland GMRS radio our buddy got, we didn’t win a whole lot.
I did win an ice cream maker and blow torch, along with some swag though. (Better than nothing I guess
)
Was a good day as a passenger princess. I was dead after a long day of stacking rock and pulling winch line.
Sunday, would be the last day, and me and my dad were signed up to run Pleasant Canyon in his TJ.
Got our rigs together to lead the Isham trail run, which was the toughest trail of the weekend.
Left Sammy at camp with bad tires, and also the Yota with a broken timing chain.
Had maybe 10 rigs on the run, minus a classic Bronco that had a blow out on way out to trail head. Which was too bad, I wanted to see that thing on the trail.
Started up the trail, when after the second obstacle, a sweet YJ with an LS3 broke the main and second leafs on the rear passenger spring. Dude had everything to weld it though. So we winched his axle back into place, welded the springs and added a wrench handle to help. Once it was together, we guided him back down the first obstacles and he headed back to camp, and made sure he would check in with head quarters so we knew he made it back ok.
Next big obstacle would be “the pinch” or what ever dudes call this part of the trail. Apart from the big waterfall, it’s the part this trail is probably most know for. Right line likes to put your rear passenger into a rock, left line tilts your driver roof into another big rock.
It is doable without body damage, but you’ve gotta hit it just right and make sure your rear driver climbs, rather than pushes your rig to the right. We had a jeep driver who found that out the hard way and shattered his right rear window and ruined his top. He had a real good attitude about it though. Everyone was warned that body damage was likely on this trail.
Our newly built ZJ, found rocks with its belly pretty good on the left line and had to get winched back, then walked the right line.
Everyone else made it through this part pretty well, with good spotting and taking their time.
Next obstacle of note was an optional left line, that has changed a bit from storms. Our jeepster on 42”s walked it pretty well, but everyone else who gave it a go, got bellied out and had to get winched or back down and take the bypass.
Was surprised how much this obstacle changed. My Sammy did it last year on 33”s, but it was definitely rougher this year.
On to the “big” water fall. All of the shorter wheel base rigs had to winch up the waterfall, except one YJ who hit the line perfect and bumped it up second try. Was cool to see a short wheelbase get up it.
Then a few people got a little twisted up in the up and left crack immediately after the water fall, but with a back up and line adjustment, everyone made it up without a tug or winch.
Lastly, the final hill climb out of the canyon.
If you’ve run this trail before, you know there’s a rough loose climb to get out. It’s not optional. You have to climb this hill to get out and it’s the only path with deep ruts consisting of loose boulders and powder sand.
I’d say you probably need 37”s to stand a chance of getting up it unassisted.
I think we had 3 or 4 make it up, with the rest of the rigs needing a winch.
Once at the top, it’s dirt roads that loop you around and back down to where you access the trail.
Most the group took the dirt roads around while we jumped in the ZJ, 4runner and Jeepster to run the trail backwards to get down.
With just 3 rigs, we made it down in probably 20min. Then at the bottom, our buddy put his ZJ on its lid while trying to crawl a tire on the roof of our 4runner.
Run wouldn’t be complete without one of the Godde boys putting it on its lid. lol.
We winched him back over and headed back to camp. For some tacos and the event raffle that night. There were some good prizes, but other than a Midland GMRS radio our buddy got, we didn’t win a whole lot.
I did win an ice cream maker and blow torch, along with some swag though. (Better than nothing I guess
) Was a good day as a passenger princess. I was dead after a long day of stacking rock and pulling winch line.
Sunday, would be the last day, and me and my dad were signed up to run Pleasant Canyon in his TJ.
