06 H3
a.k.a. "The Jackal"
- Messages
- 9,504
- Location
- Meridian, ID
Big bear is a fun place to go wheeling and in the winter they are one of the few spots that get snow in So Cal. The so called "El Nino" winter that weather reporters cant stop talking about finally showed up and dumped 3 feet of snow on the little town. That is the most snow that got dumped in a 2 day period in quite a few years so everyone and their brother, no pun intended, went to big bear. Traffic was horrific but the fun we had made it worthwhile. It normally takes me 2 to 2 1/2 hours to get there but this weekend took me 5 hours. Next time I will take the back side to get up to big bear to cut the drive time down a considerable amount.
The original group was going to be Me in squeaky, my brother in his JK, Zach in his H2 and Torres in his H3. Zach's H2 needed some parts and wasnt ready in time and Torres got caught up at work so it ended up just being my brother, his friend, my old co worker and myself. They went as passengers so it was just the jeep and Hummer. When we got up there we ran into expendable and the H1 psycho squad. After speaking with them we were going to tag along but they were done wheeling for the day and were going to get some food. They said they stuck to fire roads(3N14) and still managed to pull cable, it was that deep.
So we hit the backside of big bear, which started out by the dump. We hit 3N16 and immediately ran into 4 jeeps who said they made it about a mile up the fire road and couldnt go further. Perfect sounds like just the challenge! We ended up going about 4 miles in and turned around. At that point, it was getting dark and we were snow bashing every 5 feet, Basically go until you stop, back up, then full throttle assault till you get stopped again. Usually would get 5-10 feet further then we did before. So we turned around, ran into some local jeep guys at one of the lookouts of the valley about 1/2 mile in. Talked with them and then went out to get some dinner. We ended up heading back to the lookout because it was a badass spot and it had enough people cross it to minimize the snow depth. So we set up camp there.
This road was touched with a 3-4inches on it but after that no one else...
At this point it was time for me to turn around and it was tough, not a ton of room and I slid off the trail a tad, dropped into a little hole. Here you see my tire almost vanishing, whats crazy is after I got out we noticed I wasnt even close to the bottom, my frame was basically preventing me from going lower, so with the 37 almost gone thats about 3 feet and it was another 6-8in we had to dig to see the bottom so it was just under 4 feet here.
With some creative winching I got out.
Camping in the snow was cool and the next morning we packed up and hit Gold mtn. It was deep! Not a single soul had touched it more then a few hundred feet up the trail. They all turned around.
So we had to continue!
Another super deep spot!
My brother on 40s revving up the motor would get a few feet and then stop eventually we did make it to the top where the first obstacle and major obstacle was. We made it up that and turned around.
I learned alot, I noticed on day 1 I would hold 1st gear but on day 2 I would start 1st then go to 2nd and with the 4:1 1st gear is too low and 2nd got me MUCH further and left impressive results compared to 1st.
The views were awesome!
Here is the major obstacle. Its crazy! The rocks on the left are undercut and about 3-4 feet tall.
It was fun revving up the motor and plowing through here
Overall it was a blast! Snow varied, snow spots it wasnt deep at all, less then a foot, other spots over 3 feet. It was a great 2 days and I cant wait till next time.
The original group was going to be Me in squeaky, my brother in his JK, Zach in his H2 and Torres in his H3. Zach's H2 needed some parts and wasnt ready in time and Torres got caught up at work so it ended up just being my brother, his friend, my old co worker and myself. They went as passengers so it was just the jeep and Hummer. When we got up there we ran into expendable and the H1 psycho squad. After speaking with them we were going to tag along but they were done wheeling for the day and were going to get some food. They said they stuck to fire roads(3N14) and still managed to pull cable, it was that deep.
So we hit the backside of big bear, which started out by the dump. We hit 3N16 and immediately ran into 4 jeeps who said they made it about a mile up the fire road and couldnt go further. Perfect sounds like just the challenge! We ended up going about 4 miles in and turned around. At that point, it was getting dark and we were snow bashing every 5 feet, Basically go until you stop, back up, then full throttle assault till you get stopped again. Usually would get 5-10 feet further then we did before. So we turned around, ran into some local jeep guys at one of the lookouts of the valley about 1/2 mile in. Talked with them and then went out to get some dinner. We ended up heading back to the lookout because it was a badass spot and it had enough people cross it to minimize the snow depth. So we set up camp there.
This road was touched with a 3-4inches on it but after that no one else...
At this point it was time for me to turn around and it was tough, not a ton of room and I slid off the trail a tad, dropped into a little hole. Here you see my tire almost vanishing, whats crazy is after I got out we noticed I wasnt even close to the bottom, my frame was basically preventing me from going lower, so with the 37 almost gone thats about 3 feet and it was another 6-8in we had to dig to see the bottom so it was just under 4 feet here.
With some creative winching I got out.
Camping in the snow was cool and the next morning we packed up and hit Gold mtn. It was deep! Not a single soul had touched it more then a few hundred feet up the trail. They all turned around.
So we had to continue!
Another super deep spot!
My brother on 40s revving up the motor would get a few feet and then stop eventually we did make it to the top where the first obstacle and major obstacle was. We made it up that and turned around.
I learned alot, I noticed on day 1 I would hold 1st gear but on day 2 I would start 1st then go to 2nd and with the 4:1 1st gear is too low and 2nd got me MUCH further and left impressive results compared to 1st.
The views were awesome!
Here is the major obstacle. Its crazy! The rocks on the left are undercut and about 3-4 feet tall.
It was fun revving up the motor and plowing through here
Overall it was a blast! Snow varied, snow spots it wasnt deep at all, less then a foot, other spots over 3 feet. It was a great 2 days and I cant wait till next time.
