Truckhaven 2000

by Rick Horwitz

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26 Explorers and 1 Ranger make for the largest "Serious Exploration" yet

"Getting 30 Explorers together in one place is no big deal, you see them everyday in shopping malls around the country. Getting 30 Explorers together for a weekend of offroading is a different story!"

Truckhaven is a fourwheelers paradise. There are thousands of acres of steep hills, narrow gullies and dry water falls, all of it is open for our off-road enjoyment. Paul Bredehoft and Bill Collins (RangerX) were very familiar with this spectacular off highway vehicle area. Being Southern California residents, Truckhaven is right in their "backyard". 

I met up with Paul Friday afternoon to help do some scouting for the upcoming weekend. When I arrived I saw Matt Adams and Paul setting up the 16' x 4' "Serious Explorations" banner on the side of Hwy. 86. Matt having driven all the way from Littlton, Colorado easily won our farthest distance traveled award. Getting that sign set up wasn't an easy task Under a soft layer of flour like dust was a rock hard base. Paul used his electric drill to bore holes for the rebar stakes that he had brought to anchor the large sign. Once the sign was completed we went to the campsite to wait for Paul's mechanic, Darien Gagnon. 

Darien had just finished installing an Advanced Adapters Atlas II 3.8:1 transfer case in Paul's truck the day before the run. Darien's wife drove Paul's truck to the event while Darien drove a rented 35' motorhome. It turned out that Darien didn't make it to camp until about 3:00pm so our scouting trip ended up being a very short one. We roamed the hills close to camp for a short time before heading back to meet the others who had arrived at the staging area. By the time we got back about 15 people had gathered.

On Saturday morning my wife and I went for breakfeast at the our hotel. That's where I ran into Rick Haas from Ford. Rick invited us upstairs to the hotels banquet area. That's where Rick first  introduced me to the crew from Ford, and what a crew it was! 20 people representing just about every aspect of Ford Explorer planning, marketing and manufacturing were on hand for this event. I just hoped that we could meet their expectations with this run. 

After breakfast we hit the road to meet with the folks who had camped at the Truckhaven site. We arrived at about 8:30am. It was a great relief to see the large group of Explorers which had gathered during the evening and that morning. It's one thing for people to commit on "paper", but it's another thing for them to actually show up. Besides having 23 Explorers from our website, there were 3 Explorers from Ford including the 2001 Sport and 2001 Sport Trac, Trailmaster's lifted '99 Explorer, and Explorer Express's supercharged '99 Explorer. This had become one very  impressive display of vehicles!

 8:30 -9:00am was spent airing down tires, disconnecting swaybars and, of course, introducing ourselves to one another. We also used this time to check out each other's vehicles looking at all of the mods both under the truck and under the hood. The Explorer Express "Explorer X" looked a bit out of place at the event as it had a lowered sport suspension and rides on wide Pirelli tires. It was definitely a fine looking rig though! The 5.0 litre engine with the X-charger blower looked and sounded great!. The installation looked like it came straight  from the factory. I offered to let the owner of Explorer Express, Dave Vanek, and his wife ride with us, but they opted to do some sight seeing on their own and meet with us later at the Ford sponsored buffet.

9:00am, time for introductions and drivers orientation. First I introduced Rick Haas from Ford who in turn introduced us to the Ford crew who would be driving with us. I spoke to the group about safety and the importance of staying together. Paul Bredehoft spoke a bit about the area and possible hazards which we should be aware of. Michael Rudd, Feature Editor and Photographer for Fourwheeler magazine, also spoke to the group and informed us that he would be riding along with us in his Jeep.

9:30am, once we were through with the drivers meeting we hit the trail. Our first obstacle of the day was to climb a hill which probably had half a dozen trails leading to the top. Everyone was able to find a good trail to the top; stockers took the easier paths and the modified rigs took the steeper, looser trails. Ford took their unlocked  2001 Sport and Sport Trac up some of the looser more rutted trails. It took several attempts, but with speed and determination they got their trucks up to the top putting on a good show with dirt flying, tires spinning, and wheels bouncing! Their trucks held up great. They made it no worse for wear, at least, from this encounter.

Colin Ignacio

After the group made a few passes up the first set of hills we departed for some more fun obstacles. The 2001 Sport Trac was really showing the disadvantage of a long wheel base and low nerf bars. Although it never got stuck; we could hear the bars scrapping regularly. By lunch they were angled upwards instead of sitting level. To Ford's credit these bars are easily removable and once removed they won't leave any gaps or holes in the body. Many people commented how good the Sport Trac would look with Trailmaster's 4" lift kit. I have to agree it would be a great looking rig and the improvement in ground clearance due to increased tire diameter would make it even more offroad worthy.

Speaking of  Trailmaster...we found a nice hill climb with a rock ledge thrown in for good measure. Even some of the locked rigs were spinning their tires getting up the hill. Trailmaster's rig was unlocked so they decided not to go for it...until my wife intervened that is. Charlotte "coerced" Trailmaster into trying their rig on the trail. Pierre, one of Ford's crew, was behind the wheel. He had never driven offroad before and this was his first real obstacle. Anyway, Pierre guided the Trailmaster Explorer up the hill and over the ledge with no problem at all. Although the wheels were spinning he made it look pretty easy.

 Kevin Kocher climbing into the sun

Another good photo op was to be found after lunch. Everyone was getting some air under at least on tire as they made their way down the narrow chute. My favorite shot is of the 2001 Sport Trac coming down the gully. It looks like it's nearly vertical with a tire off the ground to boot.
 

We only had one bad stuck on Saturday. Jose Soto dug himself into a bad spot attempting to climb a steep trail. I set up my winch to try and pull him backwards but, large boulders weren't going to let us pull from the rear. Finally, Matt Adams gave him a winch line from the front and pulled his rig up the hill. I captured a spectacular shot of Jose kicking some dirt about 20 feet into the air as he tried to free his rig.

After Jose was pulled free we headed back to camp. One more long hill climb only proved difficult for the stockers. A ledge near the top with narrow walls thrown in made it exciting for the non-locked rigs. Once on top of the ridge we could see our base camp in the distance. We made our way back, in short order, in anticipation of the nights activities.

Several companies donated door prizes for the event. Matt Adams got PIAA Lighting to donate two pairs of their ultra bright headlights. Trailmaster Suspension donated a set of 4 - SSV shock absorbers, Explorer Express donated a wall clock and a jacket, KKM donated 4 - $25.00 gift certificates, the Chart House Restaurants donated 2 - $50.00 gift certificates, FLY-N-HI Offroad Centers donated 2 pairs of KC lights and a receiver hitch cover and I donated 5 - www.explorer4x4.com windshield banners. There weren't quite enough prizes for everyone to win something, but Ford made up for that when they gave all of the drivers an Explorer Sport Trac jacket. So no one left empty handed or with an empty stomach!

Sunday a few folks had to head back home. Trailmaster, Explorer Express and Michael Rudd from Fourwheeler all went their own ways as did a few from our group. We did pick up one new traveler though. Tom Wilson from Super Ford Magazine road rode with us most of the day.

We started Sunday's run as one large group and found an area that was riddled with trails of every caliber. A few of us drove up a narrow crevice until we reached the top of a ridge. RangerX then led us on a white knuckle trail. It may not have been quite as bad if it hadn't started to drizzle, all I could think of was slipping off the edge of this ultra narrow trail which joined two plateaus. The trail was loose, barely wider than the Explorer, lasted over 100 yards, was off camber,  and to make matters worse, we had to take the same trail to get back. A few of the folks who climbed up to the ridge with us declined this side trip.

We regrouped with the others on top of the ridge. Matt Adams found a great way down practically STRAIGHT. With a little guidance Matt positioned his Explorer on the edge and dropped the front tires over the side. I took this same trail after Matt, and I can tell you it seemed like an eternity before I could actually see the trail in front of my Explorer. All I could see was sky. Once the nose did start pointing down hill it wasn't so bad. A bit loose, but no problem.

Just as we reached the bottom we heard a call on the CB that José's Explorer was stuck on the trail. It turned out that his starter was D.O.A.. This may not have been a big problem if his truck had a manual tranny, but it didn't; he had an automatic. This is where a close family comes into play. José's cousin, Alfonso, was also along for the trip. Alfonso started his Explorer, removed the starter while the engine was running, and placed it in his cousin's truck! This worked great, both were once again trail ready. By now everyone else had gathered for lunch. We met up with them just in time to get a quick bite before we were ready to head back to the staging area. A few of the group needed to leave around noon so we headed back to camp running the wide wash like it was a super highway. There was one slight problem with this tactic. Somehow Wendy Crawford made a wrong turn when she entered the wash and got split up from the group. We didn't realize it until about 15 minutes later when someone asked, "Where is Vivian?" Vivian was one of the Ford crew and she and Wendy were no where to be found. 

We said our farewells to those who needed to leave and the rest of the group quickly saddled up to find Wendy and Vivian. Ray Hutchinson, AA6H and I both tried Wendy, KG6CG, on the ham radio and the CB. At first we heard nothing, but once we got to higher ground we could faintly hear her on the CB. Ray ran his truck to the top of a hill where he was able to spot Wendy in the wash. He talked her in to us and the situation was quickly resolved.

After rejoining with Wendy we formed two separate groups of vehicles. One group was led by Paul Bredehoft and consisted of the locked up rigs and the other was led by myself and consisted of unlocked rigs and stockers. I can't tell you what happened with Paul's group, but I can share with you the fun that we had. Our group found a narrow twisty trail to climb. After most of the group made it to the top Juan Felsmann decided to try and climb a steep loose hill, which I guess had his name on it! We all cheered when Juan crested the top of this hill. He did a great job climbing it. Little did we know what was happening on the other side...After we got the last of the vehicles up to our vantage point we started around the hill that Juan had climbed only to find him stuck in the middle of two trails leaning precariously to his left. Once Juan started down the other side of the hill he couldn't decide which of two trails to descend. So instead of making a decision he got stuck between the two. In order to keep Juan's truck from rolling I drove up the hill towards him. We then anchored the back of his truck with my winch cable. He was then able to point down hill and towards his right. The rear end slid, but the winch cable kept him safe.

By the time we got Juan free we only had about 20 minutes left before we were supposed to meet back at camp. I found some high ground with a few trails leading away and told the group to just have some fun on their own for the little time we had left. Once again a call came through on the radio, this time it was Tom's turn. Tom had slid off the trail in his Navajo and trying to get back on the trail put him at a pretty extreme angle. Juan came to the rescue as well as Rick Gamboa. Rick had only recently arrived on the scene. He missed most of the days activities, but was just in time to help extricate Tom. When I got to the scene Juan had a pull strap on one side of Toms rear and Rick had a strap on the other. It was decided that I would take Rick's place, so I backed up towards Tom, they attached the strap to my clevis and I pulled him out while Juan's truck stabilized him on the hill.

That was it for Sunday; 2 pulls, rain, one broken starter, and one lost Explorer. That was enough for me for one day!

We ate lunch near a small cave in a pretty cool looking secluded area. Some of the group climbed up the side of the hill looking at a dry water fall.

Just before returning to camp Paul tried a cool trail that was nothing more than a deep rut in the ground. It's like these things were put there just for us offroaders to play in. Paul worked the obstacle very well with the help of Darien's spotting. I was up next and initially declined. I was afraid I would damage my truck again and I didn't want to break it since my new Dana 44 is waiting in the shop for a transplant. Anyway my wife coerced me into trying the trail. What else can you do when you WIFE calls you a wimp?? I told her that if I broke she would have to pay to get it fixed, since she agreed, I went for it! Anyway, nothing broke and it wasn't really that tough. I did have one problem though, I hit the button to disengage my front Airlocker and started to turn to the right. All of a sudden the ARB disengaged and the truck jolted straight ahead in one swift move. For the first time ever I made the stupid mistake of sticking my arm out the window, as if I was going to stop the 5500lb Explorer! Luckily I pulled my arm back in as quick as I stuck it out. 

I can't remember the exact details, but there were a couple of minor high centers on Monday and I think one of them required a tug to get through. You see Paul and I were in a deep gully and couldn't see the guys who were helping the stuck Explorer get out. 

At about 1:00pm we headed back to camp to air our tires up, reconnect the sway bars and say our good byes. It had been a GREAT weekend. What a fantastic group of people to go wheelin' with, it's like we knew each other for years. Everyone was friendly, helpful and considerate of others. The people who attend the "Serious Explorations" trail runs are among the best four wheelers I have ever encountered. The fact that Ford enjoys our company and joins us for these runs is just icing on the cake! We learn from them and they learn form us, that's what it's all about. I'm looking forward to the future when Ford starts to incorporate some of our ideas into their new products. 

For even more pictures on this story visit Off The Beaten Trail at: http://www.explorer4x4.com/thaven_report.html

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