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Miller Jeep Trail Day Run - Saturday 8/6/16

4K views 42 replies 10 participants last post by  yomondo 
#1 · (Edited)
Miller Jeep Trail Day Run - Saturday 8/6/16

Miller Jeep Trail is rated difficult, but is really moderate for a Jeep. I was there a couple weeks ago and the trail was more rutted out than other times I've been there, making it a wee bit more challenging.

If interested, please read everything in this post, then post up if you'd like to join us.

Requirements:
- NO DRINKING ALCOHOL ON THE TRAIL!
- CB Radio (we'll be on channel 12)
- 4 LO
- Minimum 31" tires
- Spare tire
- Rock rails
- Skid plates
- Front and rear tow points
- Do not hesitate to ask for spotting if you need it or if it just makes you feel more comfortable.
- A fun attitude

Recommendations:
- A lift
- Minimum 33" tires
- At least a rear locker
- A little experience

Things to be aware of:
- We will be brushing up against small tree branches in a few places. You will get light pinstriping.
- There's a chance you will use your skid plates and rock rails.
- There's a chance your wheels will get scuffed up.
- If you're running street tires, there's an increased chance of sidewall damage.
- Much of the trail sits near the edge of a cliff. Slow careful crawling and good line selection is needed in some of these areas.
- There are one or two rutted out spots where a flop is potentially possible with short wheelbase (2-door) Wranglers if a bad line is taken and too much gas is applied. Slow careful crawling and good line selection is needed here as well.
- We'll do everything we can to help everyone out, provide spotting, and get everyone through without incident, however there are inherent risks to your rig and yourself in this sport, and you are ultimately responsible for yourself and your rig.

Here's the plan:

Pack a lunch to eat on the trail. Bring plenty of water, and maybe some snacks to munch on before or after lunch.

Eat breakfast and gas up before meeting up at the Flying J. There's a gas station right there at the Flying J, as well as a couple other gas stations right in that area after getting off the freeway.

9:00am Be at the Flying J in Lebec, breakfast in the belly, gas in the tank, and ready to roll.
42810 Frazier Mountain Rd, Lebec, CA 93243

From the Flying J, we'll head out to the trailhead turnoff, 12 miles down the road
34.759633,-119.049783

Another 2 miles down the dirt road will bring us to the staging area, where we'll air down and disconnect then have a quick drivers meeting before hitting the trail
34.734317,-119.039400

We'll break for lunch along the trail at Sunset Camp
34.699967,-119.000383

At the end of the trail is Dutchman Camp, where we'll take a little break before hitting the service road back down the mountain.
34.675950,-118.978267

If all goes well, we should be aired up and back on the highway by around 4:00pm.

Going:
1. yomondo
2. superduty
3. Knuckledragger5
4. goos
5. Pattle - camping at Hungry Valley Circle Canyon Campground (34.761667,-118.869583) Fri/Sat
6. Mmtt

Maybe:
1. brightsidememe
 
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#2 ·
Looking forward to this run. Thanks for doing this. :punk:
From my dirt bike days, I know that is about 50 to 55 minutes from the Valley to the Flying J, exit the 5 fwy North on Frazier Mountain Park Road (exit 205). The Flying J is just to the west on the south side.
I know the general area from dirt bike riding. I see you are entering from off Lockwood Valley Road, to Lockwood Creek Road (8N12), assuming the next route is to 20W06, to 127, which turns into 129 (Miller Jeep Trail). At the end is Dutchman Camp Ground, and from there to Gold Hill Road (8N01), back down.

Here is a nice map from the forest service:

 
#9 · (Edited)
If you're wanting to park a motorhome in the vicinity of this trail, look into doing so at Hungry Valley (a.k.a. Gorman). I don't know what the max size is but the campgrounds/campsites are pretty wide open areas, so you should probably be fine there. We start this trail a few miles north from there, but the service road that we take to come back down the mountain drops you off right at Hungry Valley. And there's fun stuff to do at Hungry Valley as well.
 
#23 ·
I've decided we will camp at Chuchupate on Fri/Sat. I like having all that space at Gorman, but the temps will be a lot more pleasant higher up. So we'll just flat tow the Jeep, and leave the trailer and bike at home.

We'll see you all at the Flying J on Saturday morning.
 
#25 ·
Yes, I'm still a go. For some reason I stopped getting notifications of any replies. So I missed all the discussion. Sorry about that!

Looking forward to it. It's been quite a few years since I've run Miller's.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
#28 ·
Well, i got some surprising unhappy face response from Joyce when I mentioned we would be camping at Chuchupate. Apparently she digs Gorman (Hungry Valley) despite the heat. So, we will camp at Circle Canyon in Hungry Valley on Fri/Sat. In which case, I'm bringing my trailer for the Jeep and the bike. I'll leave the bike at camp on Sat, though - that'll be for Sun.

I guess really the only heat issue at Gorman will be Sun midday. Nights will be real nice.

So, if anyone wants to goof around in the park on Sunday, I'll be playing follow the leader on the bike. We will probably hit most of the Jeep-able trails in the park. The nice thing about the bike is that I can scoot ahead and warn oncomers that a big ole Jeep is coming.
 
#33 ·
Indeed, was a fun time.

When I got home I saw a leak from my steering gear. Looks like I blew out the sector shaft seal. It's a constant drip, but there was still enough fluid that power steering was still present.

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#34 ·
Great run guys. We had a really good group, and even though the trail seemed more difficult than I ever remember it being, everybody did great and we made really good time getting through it. It was great meeting and wheeling with y'all. Hope to see you on the trails again soon.

Sorry about your steering issue, Jack.

Armand

 
#36 ·
Armand, great run. Good organization, good communication, and you made everyone feel comfortable and safe! Thanks.

I'll probably need to replace the steering gear. On the bright side power steering worked fine on trail and all the way home. I can't really complain.

I'm pretty sure I know exactly when the steering gear was damaged. I wasn't paying attention on the trail for a moment and passenger tire went into a rock and whipped the steering around. That's enough to blow out a steering gear.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
#43 ·
@superduty Hey Jack, I double checked my Deer Zone map overlay, and according to that, it does appear that the Dusy Ershim is in D7. My boys and I will be hunting in D7 this year.

Here it is zoomed out, showing where the border is between D7 and D8.



Zoomed in a little more, where you can start to recognize the GPS track.



And there's the GPS track for the Dusy Ershim trail.

 
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