The amazing part was that I set this trip up for Steve Harwood and the Vegas Bronco club to come down, and none of them showed. Steve wanted to come out and play around the Florance junction area at the next Stampede, he missed the 2003 Stampede. When I told him the Stampede was moved to the Table Mesa area for 2004, we picked a weekend in December for Steve Harwood and the Vegas Broncos to come down. When I was talking to Steve Harwood back in November about the SEMA show, we arranged this time. Late enough to make plans, soon enough to avoid the holiday rush. I did my best to plan a trip that started scenic and progressed to the harder stuff. A couple of days before the run, Steve Harwood sent me a message that he had to work and couldn't make it. So for Steve Harwood and Vegas Broncos, this is what you missed (again).
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Saturday the 13th started out with a little frost as I left for the meeting spot. The classic meeting spot of the Florance junction Texaco closed the day prior. There was a slow gathering between the 8:30 meeting time and the 9:00 departure time. We were surprised to see a bronco roll in on a trailer with out of state plates on it. For some reason, they were not from Nevada, but from Colorado. The hard top was no longer attached to the bronco and was lashed to the front of the trailer. Apparently during the all nighter drive, the top (secured by 1 bolt) blew off. No one was hurt and the highway patrol was glad that someone came and got it. Good to have someone from out of state make it, even if it wasn't who we were expecting. When we left there were 6 Broncos. Tim Bowsher, Tadd Jansen, Brad Jones with Gale, Tom and Denis Alexander, Brian Glenn and Colton Marty from Durango Colorado, Robert Charboneau in a full size, Jason Hansen with kids Sammy and Derrick.
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I had pre-ran Martinez the day after Thanksgiving with some people from work. It was a time to remember how rough that mineral mountain road is. So I took it easy. 15 miles of highway and a left turn down Price Road. Stopped and aired down and lock a few hubs. We came across a bunch of IH Scouts that looked to be going the same direction, so we quickly got out in front of them. Probably a good thing, we made good time on this scenic road. The Thursday night ran did a great job of keeping the dust down. We turned in Box Canyon and picked up Jason Hansen to make Bronco #7. Jason spent the night out in the area and meet up with us about halfway through the canyon. We continued the scenic 2WD trail up to the cabins.
We spent a little time hanging around the cabins, enjoying the place. The area had the very non-Arizona feel to it. With the large cottonwoods and the recent rain, the cool crisp air, it felt much more like a Midwest autumn day. There was the distinctive small of wet leaves that I haven't smelled in years.
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We parked the big bronco and took the 6 Early Broncos back where we could have some fun. The mill is still standing, but is showing more aging. I noticed the stairs that were extremely unstable a few years ago had fallen down. This is probably a good thing for the upper structure as it keeps people out of that area. While driving past the mill I had a little slip up and left a little crunch mark on the rear quarter panel. When leaving the mill I found I had parked just perfectly with the rear diff sitting on a boulder and required more work to get me going again.
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A little bit up the trail there is a waterfall that has 3 routes. Chicken on the right, good up the middle, and a challenge to the left. I took the middle line up the crack. There are some ledges on the top of the waterfall that get to be a little pain as you have to make a sharp left turn as you transverse them. The Colorado boys were trying to find their center of gravity at this point. A careful multipoint got us through this area. Except for Tom and Denis Alexander who dropped into the crack. Turned into a nasty spot as the fender was against the rock and the front pumpkin was resting in a pocket on the rocks. Some winch work and body english finally got him out.
Shortly after, Tom's bronco was in a no start condition. After some poking and prodding, we had a jumper wire going to the fuel pump. It looks like the fuel pump relay or some of the wiring in between went bad. Brad Jones came up with a spare toggle switch to turn the fuel pump on and off from the passenger seat.
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After a while in the rocks, we made it up to the mines. Stopped and had lunch. I finally remember to bring a couple of good flashlights with me and checked out the mines. Robert in the big bronco and Brad Jones had plans for the afternoon and left ahead of us. Brad took Robert back to his bronco we left at the cabins.
A couple of Quads came up and were amazed to find that full sized vehicles could make it up this far. Couldn't figure out how we got up there. Turns out that
they also own a Jeep. I didn't tell them that I had a bone stock '93 Pathfinder up to this same spot when I was pre-running it. After lunch it was a short trip
down the mountain and back to the cabins. On the way out, we stopped at the entrance to Jackhandle. 3 of us Tim, Jason Hansen, Brian Glenn and Colton Marty,
went in and the 2 remaining went home. With 3 good trucks, the trail was quick. About 30 minutes entrance to exit. Stopping twice. Once was for the slot at
the beginning, the other was for the really nasty spot that we all bypassed. From Jackhandle to the artillery range where Brian, Colton and Jason were camping,
we played a little baja race. Not exactly the nicest on the machinery, but it was fun. I wound up hanging around camp until after dark and went home about
25 miles away to my nice warm bed and hot shower. A little surging loss of power on the way home gave me concerns until I switched fuel tanks and it went away.
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Sunday:
Same meeting time and location as Saturday. Only a lot less people. Just Tadd and I were at the Former Texaco. In the 24 hours since we were there on Saturday, all the fuel nozzles and trashcans had been removed. Tadd was Broncoless as he had lost an alternator circuit breaker on the way home Saturday night and didn't have time to fix it. I was limping with a continuing drivability problem that wasn't fixed by filling the tanks. No one else showed on Sunday morning.
Tadd and I made it to the camp and parked. After a little while and looking at the U-joint from Colorado that had about 500 yards left on it and was replaced before we got there, we took off in the 2 remaining vehicles. I wasn't taking mine out knowing I had a problem and was guessing what it was.
I got a ride with Brian and Colton in the Colorado Bronco with the dogs in the back seat; Tadd caught a ride with Jason Hansen and his kids. Started with Woodpecker. Jason snapped the right axle U-joint at the top of Firehole. So with a little winching we had him out. We also picked up a few Jeeps that were following us. We proceeded to run the rest of woodpecker with Jason running in 2WD. Didn't take long and we had lunch at the entrance to Highway to Hell.
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The jeeps played in Highway to Hell and we went off and ran Ajax. That's right, going into Ajax with a 2WD Bronco. Did an amazing job, took several of the hard lines and only needed the winch 2 times. The Brian and Colton started leaking fluid out the steering box. After a few minutes we retightened the jam nut on top, topped it off with 20W50 engine oil. Didn't have any power steering or automatic trans fluid with us. Figured it was nicer on the seals then using brake fluid. Not too much excitement for 2 trucks. On a calmer Baja race back to camp, the top front shock mount on the Colorado bronco snapped off, so we slowed down. Looks like we all had a good time. Back at camp, I got in my bronco and went home. Another wonderful weekend over and back to work on Monday.
- Tim Bowsher
