| A small
group planned a last minute trip to Hollister Hills SVRA to
break in a couple new owners. We met up at the Ranger
Station and headed up to the obstacle course. The park
was pretty tore up since the Top Truck Challenge had just
ended the day before. But the good news was that we
had the park almost to ourselves. We started to air
down the tires and plan which obstacles to take on first.
The first thing we notice
is that the Frametwister is a complete disaster. As a
matter of fact, there was a highly modified Toyota pickup
already stuck in it. So that was out. We headed
over to the stairsteps and each took couple runs up.
From there we headed over to the Mini-Rubicon. We
guided everybody through with no problems.
We then headed over to the
creek at the bottom of Five Fingers. We ran up the
creek towards the Jungle trail. Unfortunately, the
Jungle trail was too rutted up and we just didn't have the
clearance to make it up. So we turned around and tried
to run the trail above that. It was pretty tore up
also. There was one big hole that was just too much to
get everybody past. The thing was, I was already past
it and there was nowhere to turn around. We agreed to
meet at the ravine and while the other trucks backed down
the trail, I took the long way around.
I met up with the other
trucks at the ravine and we stopped to have some lunch.
After eating and chatting for a bit we headed through the
ravine. We led each truck through and posed for some
great wheelie and off-camber shots. Even though the
park was fairly empty, we still managed to attract a bit of
crowd. Everybody was getting a kick out of the Hummers
catching some air.
After we all ran the
ravine I decided I was going to give Truck Hill a go.
It was really dusty with all the dry weather but it didn't
look too dug up, only a couple ruts about a third of the way
up. If I stayed to the left I should be fine.
Well I headed up and sure enough I ran right into those ruts
and the truck pitched sideways. I stopped with the
truck pointed at a 45 degree angle across the slope.
Not good! I was able to straighten out and back down
to the bottom of the hill. Looking up at the hill I
could see where I missed the line and figured I could still
make it up. So I kept way to the left and made it up
to the top. Now I know why that hill has such a
reputation.
I took the return trail
back down to gather everybody up. We then took the
return trail back up to McCray Road and then headed up
Fremontia Road to Hector Heights. We took in the view
and chatted with a couple Jeepers up there before deciding
to call it a day. We headed back the West Trail,
through the quarry and down to the obstacle course. We
took one final detour down Foothill Road and past the Tank
Traps before heading back to the Ranger Station to air up
and head home.
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