Rocky Mountain Trail

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Mud Dog
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Real Name: Andy
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Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by Mud Dog »

This from Simon .........

On the 26th and 27th April 2014, The Queenstown 4x4 Off-Road Club is holding
their yearly 4x4 weekend here in Queenstown, we have invited The Amatola
Off-Road Club from East London to join us as well on this weekend.

The 4x4 trail that we will be driving is called The Rocky Mountain 4x4
Trail, basically this 4x4 trail starts at The Old Red Railway Bridge, out
past the old Railway Quarry that a person can see in the far distance as you
drive out towards Lesseyton.

This 4x4 trail has some serious 4x4 sections where low range as well as diff locks in the vehicles are required; otherwise the drivers have to by-pass the difficult sections and take the escape route instead.
The trail will start at The Red Bridge and then it winds itself in and out of The Lesseyton River, we actually also drive under the N2 bridge and then the trail takes us up towards the start of The Rocky Mountain 4x4 trail, which is in fact an old wagon trail that was once used by farmers that used to farm in the mountains beyond.

The Rocky Mountain 4x4 Trail is rated from a 2 to a 5 with 5 rating been harsh and wild, this trail consists of brief water crossings, driving up and through rock formations as well as some serious cross axle sections, where most vehicle's end up with their front wheels in the air as they drive through.

Another reason for this letter to you is to ask you to please consider sponsoring us any of your products from your company, no matter how big or small, even if you get given an item from your visiting Reps anything will be appreciated, these gifts from you will be given out to our visitors as Lucky Draw Prizes and all that I request is that you give us some of your
business cards to go with the items so that you get some advertising in return. If you are able to assist us, please contact us, we will not bug you again about this.

We will also be camping out in the bush for the Saturday evening with a nice huge bonfire.

Thanking You
Chairman of the Queenstown 4X4 Off-Road Club cell 083 703 6430 or 0716712590
Simon Morris

..... Some pics from previous excursions ......
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When your road comes to an end ...... you need a HILUX!.

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Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers ... what you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
Don't take life too seriously ..... no-one gets out alive.
It's not about waiting for storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.
And be yourself ..... everyone else is taken!
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Real Name: Andy
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Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by Mud Dog »

This also received from Simon ...............


Date 26th April and the 27th April 2014

You and your friends are invited to join us for two days of 4x4ing. This is out along The Lesseyton river about 15 km from Queenstown.
The Amatola Off-road Club from East London will be joining us as well. They are leaving East London at 7am on Saturday morning the 26th April and then they will meet us at The Shell Ultra City at about 10am, I cannot confirm at this stage what time they will arrive in Queenstown. We all will then proceed out in convoy towards the old Railway Quarry, depending on the time we might tackle the hill climb up and over the Quarry and then venture down into the river and at The Red Bridge we will start the mud sections.
If you have a 4x4 that has low range and at least one diff lock, but this also depends on what vehicle you are driving, some have centre diff locks; you are welcome to attend this event. If you come in a 4x4 that does not have low range, then this will be at your own risk.
We will then tackle the Rocky Mountain 4x4 Trail as well; some new exciting sections have been opened up. We will all then be camping out at the end of The Rocky Mountain 4x4 Trail like we did two years ago alongside a small stream. There will be a bonfire going and a lekker bring & Braai.

What to bring:
1. Camping things or roof top tent, chairs, table, torch, lights etc.
2. Picnic basket for Saturday lunch.
3. Meat and dop for Saturday night.
4. Whatever you eat for breakfast etc.
5. Bring along your small braai grid.
6. I am taking a load of wood out so at least there will be wood available.
7. Bring your 4x4 and tell your friends.

It has been a long time since I have organized such an event, from East London we are hoping on at least 10 vehicles.
There will be a small entry fee of R100.00 per vehicle. This is to help cover the cost of the two guys that have been helping me cut back the trees. Ronny Rengers as well as Aiden from The Mowtique have loaned us their chainsaws.

There will be lucky draw prizes to be won; this will take place Saturday evening.
We have been busy the last few Saturdays cutting back the thorn tree branches as best as we can, if you do have a branch cutter bring it along just in case.

This 4x4 trail has some rough and tough sections, some have escape routes for the feint hearted. There are some beautiful cross axle sections as well where the front wheels of your 4x4 will end up in the air. It just depends on the articulation of your vehicle's suspension and where you drive your vehicle.

So friends please make an effort and join us for a fun filled day or two days of 4x4ing, let us show the guys from East London that we know how to drive a 4x4 as well.

If you have any questions then please contact me at 083 703 6430 or by email bigballs@vodamail.co.za

Thanking You
Simon Morris
When your road comes to an end ...... you need a HILUX!.

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Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers ... what you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
Don't take life too seriously ..... no-one gets out alive.
It's not about waiting for storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.
And be yourself ..... everyone else is taken!
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Real Name: Andy
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Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by Mud Dog »

Another update from Simon ............

The final preparation of The Rocky Mountain 4x4 Trail

Gents please remember to make sure that your radios are in a working condition either hand held or in your vehicles, make sure that your vehicles have the suitable tow points front and rear and that your tow straps are ready available, because you will be needing them on this trip.

As you are aware we are here to assist each other and if you have driven through a difficult section of the trail, make sure that you give suitable distance behind you for the vehicle behind you, to come through as well.

I have put some special sections into this trail as options only, this is to test you the driver and how well your vehicle performs over various terrains. These sections are optional.

For example:

1. Through water and silt in a river section. (I drove down this very narrow river section with water in it, maybe only 450mm deep and the Hilux did not want to carry on through, ........

2. Up a steep hill climb

3. Through a water mud / silt hole.

4. Over a nice black rocky section marked with yellow arrows.

The rest of the trail has short shallow water crossings, nice uneven axle twisters and I am sure that you will get awesome photo's and action films made.

We cleaned the camping area as best as we could, there are thorns around thus shoes should be worn.


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When your road comes to an end ...... you need a HILUX!.

Image
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Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers ... what you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
Don't take life too seriously ..... no-one gets out alive.
It's not about waiting for storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.
And be yourself ..... everyone else is taken!
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Mud Dog
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Real Name: Andy
Club VHF Licence: HC103

Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by Mud Dog »

From Simon ..........


The last time that you guys were here, we had some good Lucky Draw Prizes, this time round my suppliers have supported us even better in these difficult business times and I can say that we have some excellent prizes to share with you all.

Remember there will be a special Lucky Draw prize for all the drivers of the vehicles, this prize is R1 000.00 cash, this means that even if you have already won another prize, you have the chance of taking this cash home and at least your fuel would be covered.

We have some other special prizes for various optional obstacles that you can drive through as well if you can?

Anyway we are looking forward to seeing you next weekend the 26th and 27th April 2014, if anybody wishes to come up on the Friday instead, they can stay at our home? Just contact me at 083 703 6430.

Good see you all soon.

Regards

Simon & Miche’le


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When your road comes to an end ...... you need a HILUX!.

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Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers ... what you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
Don't take life too seriously ..... no-one gets out alive.
It's not about waiting for storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.
And be yourself ..... everyone else is taken!
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Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by Omo »

Dit lyk baie lekker. :thumbup:
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Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by Froll »

Very nice pics, thanks for sharing. :thumbup: :thumbup:
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Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by Huismoeles »

Nice fotos
En dit kyk lekker
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Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by SYRON CONVERSIONS »

We have been experiencing some nice rain the last two days and thus if it does not rain this weekend, the 4x4 trails will be very exciting indeed, Andy thank's for posting the info, it is most appreciated.
1992 Slightly Modified Hilux, 2008 VW Caddy panelvan work, 2010 Isuzu 2.5 td bakkie for work, a pair of big 'balloons' as well hanging at the rear of my Hilux

simoan
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Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by Mud Dog »

Pleasure. We've had some very heavy downpours here today and last night ... still raining steadily. Hope you don't get it as bad otherwise those streams will become raging torrents - camping will also become a bit messy. Enjoy it all the same. ;-)
When your road comes to an end ...... you need a HILUX!.

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Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers ... what you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
Don't take life too seriously ..... no-one gets out alive.
It's not about waiting for storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.
And be yourself ..... everyone else is taken!
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Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by SYRON CONVERSIONS »

Dear All

I am busy with my wife to sort out the various catogories for the prizes, we have various options along the trail where the drivers have the option of either trying to drive through the obstacle or taking the by-pass route instead, thus for the drivers that tackle the difficult section, if more than one driver makes it through, then their names will be placed in a bag on a piece of paper each and then one name will be drawn, we have difficult sections as follows.

Driving in a river with water and concrete sand as the base.
Driving up a steep hill climb
Driving up and over rocks
Driving through an axle twister
Unlucky prize
Damaging your vehicle prize
Getting stuck in the mud
Most helpful driver
Then the rest as lucky draw prizes

We also have a seperate lucky draw prize for only the drivers, but you have to be camping at the event to be able to entry your name for this prize, the prize is R1 000.00 cash.

Thus your input or ideas what we can also use or names for other prizes as well.

Thank's
1992 Slightly Modified Hilux, 2008 VW Caddy panelvan work, 2010 Isuzu 2.5 td bakkie for work, a pair of big 'balloons' as well hanging at the rear of my Hilux

simoan
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Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by Mud Dog »

Prizes ..............
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When your road comes to an end ...... you need a HILUX!.

Image
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Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers ... what you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
Don't take life too seriously ..... no-one gets out alive.
It's not about waiting for storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.
And be yourself ..... everyone else is taken!
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Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by 4x4BEES »

Well done guys :thumbup: :thumbup:
Hope no one gets the "Damaging your vehicle prize" :blink:
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Real Name: Andy
Club VHF Licence: HC103

Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by Mud Dog »

Posted on behalf of Simon .........

April 2014
On the 26th and the 27th April 2014, The Queenstown 4x4 Off-Road Club held a
weekend of 4x4ing near Queenstown mainly for the guys from The Amatola
Off-Road Club in East London, but other people and members from other clubs
were invited as well.

After last week's rain that we experienced, we were unsure if the 4x4 trails
could still be driven, thus I went out on the Friday the 25th April 2014 to
check things out, and a friend of mine Shafiek joined me as well.

There was still a lot of mud as well as water, around and the trails were
still very wet and slippery but ever thing seemed safe to drive.
Saturday morning the 26th of April 2014 finally arrived, it had been at
least two months of going out to the 4x4 trails to cut back the thorn tree
branches and to make the trails safe, I did take along Themba as well as
Innocence to assist me, their help was really appreciated, but I must
mention that Andre Bester in his little Landrover also came out as well a
few times and assisted me where he could.

I in fact went out five times onto this trail to cut back the tree branches,
move away huge rocks that had fallen down from higher slopes, I wrapped
chains around the rocks and with my Hilux just dragged them out of the way
and collected dry wood for the bonfire. Ronny Rengers loaned me his heavy
Stihl 038 chainsaw, without the saw, it would have been more difficult
(Thank's to Ronny clap clap...).
We had visitors from The Amatola Off-Road Club joining us on this 4x4
weekend, it was basically for them, but a few of our own members also joined
in the fun.

We all drove out towards Lesseyton and then branched off on the left towards
The Old Red Railway Bridge, making sure that the gate behind us was closed
and secure behind us, this is where the first section of the 4x4 Trails
began. The trail took up in and out of The Lesseyton River, it was very
exciting to be able to drive in this area, mainly because of the rain that
we had, had last week and because we were with other people and friends that
had the same interest as we do and they were very willing to assist when or
if we got stuck in the mud. The guys from East London had radios between
themselves which helped a lot

The 4x4 trail consisted of driving in the flowing river, up small hill
climbs, across some rocks as well as some uneven axle twisters.
Soon we had completed The Red Bridge 4x4 Trail and were soon on our way to
The Famous Rocky Mountain 4x4 Trail, as soon as all the vehicles had caught
up, (Andre in his short wheel base Landrover with a V8 Range Rover engine
was a bit slow due to the wide larger wheels and tyres on his Landy. He told
me that he is picking up a wheel balance problem when he drives over 50 km
per hour.

Just to mention, we had Bradley and his two friends in his Toyota Raider
double cab 4x4, then Gary Bartlett in his Toyota Hilux, but Gary has carried
out the fitment of a solid front axle to replace the independent front
suspension of his 4x4, then there was Lee in his 1990 double cab Toyota
Hilux that has a Mazda 2.5 diesel engine fitted, this is a very capable 4x4
indeed, but Leigh's experience of driving a 4x4 goes back many years and
thus he is a very experienced driver indeed.

Then there was "Grumpy" this is what my wife calls me....I was in my 1992
Toyota Hilux single cab 4x4 with a few modifications also carried out on it.
My wife sometimes also calls me Simoan, must be due to me moaning about my
sore back, sore legs, elbows and she knows the rest.
There was Ronny Rengers and his Co-Driver Shafiek in the 2000 TJ Jeep
Wrangler; I must just mention that this TJ Wrangler has 35" Mickey Thompson
tyres fitted to it, as well as a few additional modifications as well.

There was Chris in his Toyota Land-cruiser station wagon, a very capable
machine indeed. He had a crocodile that followed him into the water when he
was driving into and through the water.
Don was in his Toyota Raider double cab 4x4 also very nicely kitted out
even with a roof top tent, Neville and Renee... (this is how Lee pronounces
her name) in their Jeep Cherokee, Gavin in his awesome "real ass kicker 4x4"
Mitsubishi Triton, Saturday night, Gavin could not stop telling us all.. how
much better his Triton is, to our Toyota's, he says that his Triton is
basically standard and he cannot understand how come we have had to modify
our Toyota's to be able to keep up with his Triton??

Leon and his friend came along in his modified Jeep Cherokee, There was
Johan Smuts in his farm hunting Toyota Hilux 4x4 with a Lexus V8 engine
fitted, Johann's Toyota performed very well.
Jakes from Ace Motors came along in his Kia 4x4 later in the afternoon, I am
sure that Jakes enjoyed the trails as well in more ways than one, I know
that Jakes prefers the sandy mud sections more than the bumping rocks.

The Rocky Mountain 4x4 Trail kicked us in the butts, it was real serious
stuff that it threw at us all, rating it as at least a 3 to a 5 but more 5,
but with helping and guiding each other through the difficult sections we
finally arrived at the place where we were going to spend the night camping.
It was alongside a small river with nice green natural grass on the banks,
my first job was to get the fire going, this was not successful, there was
fire, but soon there was smouldering smoke only and this is when Lee brought
out his gas starting thingy, he got the fire going (thank's Lee), this is
why I had collected all the wood the last few weeks while I was out there
sorting the trails out, but due to the rain we had the previous week the
wood must still have been slightly wet.
The guys and ladies soon had their tents up and for Don with his roof top
tent. I think he had his up first.

Soon we were all sitting around the fire, with it now been winter and we
were down in this valley with a huge mountain above us, the sun soon
disappeared behind this mountain and the cool shadow of a fast approaching
night was upon us, out came the gas lamps and with the warmth of the fire,
which was by now a bonfire, we all sat around the fire chatting and then
Gary B, brought out a bottle of some yellow liquid and we each had no option
but to have a tot of it, he did mention something about eggs....
Renee was kept busy with her small garden spade, removing coals from the
fire and spreading them under each of our camping chairs to keep us warm
from below.

Anyway we soon were braaing our meat for dinner and sharing a plate of nice
sausage and purple onion which just seemed to not run out, Neville and
Renee (Rene') are excellent cooks.
The time to hand out the Lucky Draw Prizes was carried out by myself but,
with the assistance of my wife Miche'le and Renee (Rene')who was pulling out
the numbers from the various bags, we had many prizes, the businesses in
Queenstown and East London that sponsored us in no special order were as
follows;

Image Panel Beaters, Queen Motors Spares, Border Fuel ADCO, Nashua in East
London / Queenstown, Interiors Carpetland, TS Express, Queenstown
Engineering, Eyethu Hardware, Morris Motors & Forklift Repairs, Zweledinga
suppliers of Coca Cola, Queenstown Auto Motolek, Stripp's Auto Electrical,
Autozone, Seating / Bidoffice Furniture Suppliers, Queenstown Forklift Hire,
Blue Marlin Fishing Rods and last but not least Louis and JP du Plessis
owners of Fire & Chubb fire extinguishers that supply and service fire
extinguishers in and around Queenstown, two very dedicated people indeed.
A huge Thank You goes out to all of our sponsors, because without you, this
weekend of 4x4ing would not have been possible thank you!!!!

We awarded prizes to the drivers that were able to drive their awesome 4x4's
through more difficult sections of the trails, for example if they could
follow me through the water section (yes I did get stuck in this section a
few weeks back when checking out the trails) where I had driven in my Hilux,
up and over some rocks, through the axle twister and a few other places as
well, there were by-pass routes as well, so some of the drivers received
more than one prize, because we also had a lucky draw with everybody's names
in the bag and at the end of the evening everybody received a prize. There
were also some cash prizes that were sponsored to us that were won.

We also had an unlucky draw prize, this was given out to Ronny Rengers that
broke his one rear locking hub on this TJ Jeep Wrangler, too much power and
torque delivered from the fuel injection 4 litre engine through the Atlas 11
transfer case out through the 35" Mickey Thomson Baja claw tyres is just too
much for the small Warn locking hubs. And yes I even won a prize as well.
Some of the "guys" went to bed early, or should I say they tried to go to
bed early, but with Gavin telling us how great his Triton is and Lee, Andre
and a few of the other chaps arguing about this subject, soon they were
revving their vehicle's engines to see which one made the most noise and had
the best grunt. The Triton just made a funny wheezing sort of noise due to
some special exhaust that it has fitted, it sounded like a Blesbuck, and
Andre's Landy with the V8 I think made the most noise, surely this must have
been upsetting the guys trying to go to sleep? The Baboons in the
surrounding mountains surely must have been thinking that there was another
new troop of baboons down near the river in their territory? It was a good
thing that the closest farmer was a few kilo's down the track.

Round about 1am and due to the cold really creeping into our backs, we all
soon also "hit the hay", however my wife started to complain to me that the
air matrass had lost all the air, it must have leaked out through a small
hole and we were soon lying on the hard ground, I must just mention that I
was warm, in my "old army brown sleeping bag" my wife also had one of her
own..."She never was in the army". But the ground was hard and it was a good
thing that we had in fact gone to bed at 1am, because soon it was 6h30am and
already the guys that had gone to bed early were up, but they were revving
their 4x4 engines as well, just trying to get back at us for the night
before....and making hot water for coffee.

The bonfire from the night before was in fact still hot, even after the rain
that we had during the night as well, when I eventually dragged myself from
our tent at round about 8am, we then started to break camp, I made sure that
the fire coals were dead with lots of water from the river and we departed
back onto the trail, but took the by-pass route out instead, but we still
had to attempt, to drive through some of the difficult sections and with the
added rain during the early hours of the morning, some sections were in fact
more difficult for the vehicle's that did not have the name starting with
Toy.

We had to assist them with the tow straps and this took extra time, but soon
we were back on the N6 heading back towards Queenstown.
If anybody would like to join us on our next 4x4 trail to Hangklip Mountain
in 2014, please contact me and I will send you the details, I must just
mention that you have to be driving a 4x4 that has at least low range and at
least one diff lock, driving The Hangklip Mountain 4x4 Trail there are very
limited trees, it is mostly grass lands with small streams and there are mud
sections as well, but it is very beautiful and most winters this vast area
gets snow as well. The small streams ice up and even the small water falls
as well. There are no internal fences and in fact no actual track or trail
to follow, you just follow me in my Hilux if you can?

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When your road comes to an end ...... you need a HILUX!.

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Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers ... what you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
Don't take life too seriously ..... no-one gets out alive.
It's not about waiting for storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.
And be yourself ..... everyone else is taken!
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mcw
LR 4WD Full Lockers
LR 4WD Full Lockers
Posts: 805
Joined: Sat May 18, 2013 12:20 am
Town: krugersdorp
Vehicle: Prado 90 V6 3.4 Auto
Real Name: Martin
Club VHF Licence: X100

Re: Rocky Mountain Trail

Post by mcw »

Awesome trip maybe us for up here can join in one day


Martin
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