Trip Report Santiago Peak/Main Divide Truck Trail

[capnkurt]

Thanks, Scott - sounds good.

capn

[MountainBikeRoamer]

Originally Posted by REDOVAL

capn,

We should look into doing the run before the heavy fire season comes as they are likely to shut the area down if it gets too dry. I will have a look at the calendar and propose some dates.

Scott

Way cool Redoval ----

I've been chatting with capnkurt, we're both stoked on meeting up with ya and doing a run if that works out soon!

I'm still digesting your trail route --- did you start at Blue Jay campground? And work your way through such that you eventually exited through Maple Springs/Silverado? About 8 months ago, I attempted that climb up and into the main divide via Blue Jay. (Girlfriend and I were heading up top to watch the meteor shower, we were going to meet up with some guys from The Path bike shop that were MTB'ing up Joplin to the same rendezvous point.)

I was definitely making my way / trucking along just fine until I got to a really gnarly set of moon-dust-filled heavy whoops on a steep/gravelly stretch of trail. At the time, this was before the lift kit (and before the locking diff)....the van started getting loose under throttle pretty fast. I got spooked and backed down and turned around. Proceeded to camp out just below it for a while, with a couple other people that had decided it was too hairy for their rig to go any further too....and we watched a number of guys with 4WD rigs on their way up hit that same loose/whoop-filled stretch. They'd all start losing traction....and then pause.....engage their 4WD.....and then continue. Apparently a guy in a 4WD Tacoma got stuck there for 1/2 an hour earlier that night.

So yeah! Haha. It was too gnarly for my van before. But with a proper locker now, I'm curious to see what's up. (And if this is the same through-direction to the route that you guys traversed.)

[REDOVAL]

Originally Posted by MountainBikeRoamer

Way cool Redoval ----

I've been chatting with capnkurt, we're both stoked on meeting up with ya and doing a run if that works out soon!

I'm still digesting your trail route --- did you start at Blue Jay campground? And work your way through such that you eventually exited through Maple Springs/Silverado? About 8 months ago, I attempted that climb up and into the main divide via Blue Jay. (Girlfriend and I were heading up top to watch the meteor shower, we were going to meet up with some guys from The Path bike shop that were MTB'ing up Joplin to the same rendezvous point.)

I was definitely making my way / trucking along just fine until I got to a really gnarly set of moon-dust-filled heavy whoops on a steep/gravelly stretch of trail. At the time, this was before the lift kit (and before the locking diff)....the van started getting loose under throttle pretty fast. I got spooked and backed down and turned around. Proceeded to camp out just below it for a while, with a couple other people that had decided it was too hairy for their rig to go any further too....and we watched a number of guys with 4WD rigs on their way up hit that same loose/whoop-filled stretch. They'd all start loosing traction....and then pause.....engage their 4WD.....and then continue. Apparently a guy in a 4WD Tacoma got stuck their for 1/2 an hour earlier that night.

So yeah! Haha. It was too gnarly for my van before. But with a proper locker now, I'm curious to see what's up. (And if this is the same through-direction to the route that you guys traversed.)

Correct, we went from the Blue Jay/Ortega Hwy side to the Silverado side. There are a couple of spots that "could" be tricky, but we didn't have any issues at all on the last time out. My father has an 09 Dodge 2500 CTD that actually needed 4x4 to make it up.....I was behind him and wasn't even spinning the wheels (just chugging along with comfort). I credit that capability to the 48/52 weight distribution of my rig and lockers/tires. I would argue the trail was much easier last time out compared to one year ago. Proper driving fixes 99% of offroad woes!

Scott