Shiloh Ridge - Jan 19, 2002

Southern Chapter

Shiloh Ridge
Jan 19, 2002

Shiloh Ridge -- Alto, TX

Updated Jan 30, 2002

Directions

If you are coming from Alto, TX, it is 1.6 miles from the red light turn Left (West). From Rusk it is about 9 miles turn Right (West).

Participants

Those attending our kick-off event included. . .

Rodger Short
John Brown
Jeff Hamrick
Warren Johnson
Mike Gerlach
Carolyn Silva

The Details . . .

Friday August 3 2000:

Friday

As we approached Alto, the rain began to come down. It was goin to be another sloppy weekend in Shiloh Ridge. I got to the campsite shorty after Rodger had arrived. We headed out into the misty, windy weather and to out some trails. Rodger's beast was now on 35s, so he got to tackle some stuff he was unable to before.

We returned and began to set up camp and get a fire going. It's not easy starting a fire with cheap ligher fluid and wet logs! Jeff was the next to show up and he helped us to get the fire going. An hour or so later, Warren showed up with his girlfriend. Once everyone had set up ther camp, we headed out for a "quick night run." And then the fun began...

The four of us headed down past the Rock Garden, and into the mud fields. Jeff promptly buried his 33in. SSRs in some thick goo. It took both Warren and Rodger pulling to get him unstuck. Jeff then had mud all over the Bronco and even some inside :) Next we headed over to a little ravine that looked to be pretty challenging. Jeff began to head down, but then wisely decided to back out. While backing, a loud "POP" came from the frontend. Turned out it was the drivers side MileMarker hub. With only 2wd, he decided to head back to camp, while the three of us took on a few more trails on our way back. Minutes later, we got a garbled call on the CB that sounded like Jeff. He said he was stuck and needed our help. Where you ask? Next to the tree of course. After he shined his big spotlight into the dark night sky, we found him on a mud drenched trail with his drivers side buried and high centered on everything! This was not going to be an easy pull. We first tried hooking Warren and Rodger together to pull straight back while my Bronco held him on the side, stopping him from going over. No luck there. I tried to manuever around to get in a better position and I got stuck pretty good. Warren came around and attempted to pull but got even more stuck in mud over his rear tires, after breaking his front axle shaft. Three stuck trucks in the middle of the woods, nearing midnight. I decided to Hi-Lift winch myself out using the tree about 10ft. in front of me. This type of winching his not easy if using a strap, you really need chains. With Jeff and Rodger pulling the jack handle, I finally came out, to my surprise. Now with mine and Rodger's Broncos, we tried to get Warren out. But it wasn't budging. We hopelessly tried to Hi-Lift winch him, but to no avail. At around 2am, we decided to call it a night, leave the trucks there and get more help tomorrow.

Saturday

We returned the next morning with the landowner's big ole John Deere. He attempted Jeff's rig first. After lifting the rear of the Bronco a few inches, it began to go on its side. It was resting on the driver's door and mirror for a second...

The tractor moved around, pulled him from the side and finally back on four wheels. He pulled Warren out with ease and charged them $75 for the pulls. We headed back to camp, Jeff headed out to get a new hub and Warren started to pack up to head home.

Mike showed up in his Bronco around noon on Saturday. We headed out for a few trails as we waited for Jeff to come back. We soon realize that Mike's frontend is not engaging, thus he only has 2wd. After pulling him out a few times, we get back to camp to assess the problem. Tropical Storm Allison had taken its toll on his passenger side hub, water had destroyed it.

Jeff showed up with a new set of hubs and gave the one he didn't need to Mike. We got everything put back together and headed out for a few more trails.