Short Notice - Hollister Hills Sunday Feb 15?

OK, so this one's kind of a longshot... since it's on short notice and because it's a three day weekend and because tomorrow's Valentine's day and most guys are going to have plans for a hot date tomorrow night followed by sleeping in on Sunday...

But - I'm going to go do some of the tougher trails in HH on Sunday. And I need to get back to San Jose reasonably early, so I'll be clearing out by say 3:30PM. So... I'm planning on being there when they open at 8AM.

I'm planning on seeking out some of the tougher terrain, so 4x4 required, lift and sliders recommended, rear locker recommended.

We can call it the "Old married guys and broken hearts club post valentine's day run."

 

Tempting. Had fun out there at the January run, but I don't realistically think my truck is up to the task for the triple black diamond trails you are looking to do. Sliders are on order...

Have fun out there!

 

Darn, I'll be soaking in hot springs near Bishop for my "broken hearts club" / holiday weekend.

Also, I don't have sliders yet, but plan to soon (worst case on the NorCal work day at the BAMF shop).

I still need to get a HAM setup too.

 

Darn, doing a photoshoot with my other car on sunday >.<

 

I'm talking about single black stuff - not the triple.

Lost hills, Fremontia, Five Fingers...

EDIT - it's called the "Lost Hollow" trail - but see below if you want to try and run it...

 

Quick bump in case anyone's free tomorrow on short notice.

 

Wish I could go man but procrastinated on stuff today

What about next weekend?

 

I'd love to hit some tougher stuff out there again...

 

Personally I can't go next weekend - but that doesn't stop you from starting a different thread to scare up support for a "short notice" trip.

I'm leaving San Jose later than planned. If anyone wants to find me out there I'll be monitoring 2m on 146.52 and the san benito hollister repeater 147.315 (pl 94.8)

-SteveH
KJ6LMK

 

Wish i could of joined. Ill be out there next saturday!

 

The one pic I took:



I pretty much stuck to the extreme west end of the park, except for going in on Garner Lake Rd and going out by way of Lupine Loop.

Lots of wildflowers out - especially on Lupine Loop trail.

Past the quarry on West Trail, I ran into a guy named Jeremy running a nearly stock TRD OffRoad Speedway Blue Tacoma with his son Joey and we shot the breeze for a bit. I referred him to TacomaWorld so maybe he'll find this post.

Alas the "Lost Hollow" (not "Lost Hills" like I typed above) trail has eroded to the point where it's basically impassable to Tacomas. I suppose a SAS'ed on 37s could do the job. But I have fond memories of that trail - the first time I took my Tacoma wheeling was with the Norcal FJs on a Trail cleanup day, and the group went off and did that trail. Open/open I had trouble getting through one spot (Pretty much ALL FJs have rear locker and ATRAC) and Alvin helped find a line that I could take.

There was a tree up there that had accumulated quite a collection of broken tail lamps.

I ran Fremontia trail in it's entirety on the way up and most of the way down. No way an open/open Tacoma is doing that. By the end, I was locked rear AND front, and I put a nice memorial ding in my Pelfreybilt 3/16" thick transfer case skid plate.

In sketch slippery conditions (getting back down out of Lost Hollow which was still damp and slippery from last week's rains) I discovered that locking both front and back diffs can be useful in keeping wheels moving and avoiding wheel lock up -- basically as long as one wheel's got enough traction to roll without locking up, the others MUST keep rolling when you've got both diffs locked.

When you're wheeling by yourself - always bring a cautious outlook and consider walking an unknown stretch of trail through to the next spot where it would be safe to stop and turn around, then proceed only if you're confident you can get through. That'll save having to reverse down a sketch spot without a spotter.

 

hey steve this is jeremy. it was nice to meet you bud.

 

Nice meeting you too.

If you follow the northern california section of TW, you'll see when folks are getting together as a group to go wheeling. We've had groups as large as 25 or so descend on Hollister Hills, and go camping and wheeling on various trails in the Sierras and around here.

-SteveH

 

Sounds like you had a good time Steve! Thanks for sharing the trail report

 

Trees + taillights...my favorite >.< hahaha

Sounds like you had a good time though.

 

I will start to follow the northern california. Just not sure
how much my stock tacoma can go up. Still learning it's
capabilities.

 

Nice! Upper Fremontia trail has gotten worse and worse over the last few years and I haven't been able to run it in a long time. I haven't tested it out my my MTs and rear locker that all got put on in the last year or so. But it sounds like maybe my rig couldn't make it up anyways since you had to use your front lockers (plus your wheel base is a lot shorter than mine).

Oh and good job recruiting

 

I bet the right line could make it up with rear locker only.

But travelling by myself, I wasn't gonna mess around backing up and trying different lines when I could get more traction by just flipping another switch.

 

Also, at the very top, (last 40 or 50 feet) the trail's been widened a bit so it's not quite such a radical attack at the very final step.

 

Lots of TW members are running stock TRD offroad trucks (many with ambitions to do suspension lift, and maybe other mods), so you'll fit right in.