My stock Rubi is un-freaking stoppable. I went to Gold Mountain last year with my WJ, and needed a lot of spotting help and was scared $hitle$$ coming down. This time, I went up the hard way and never even had to turn on a locker.

Definitely not for greenhorns though - I had to use every inch of ground clearance and tires I had to get over some of the hard stuff.

Pics from Gold Mountain:

View from the top - Big Bear Lake/Erwin Lake



Rock garden - yes, the trail goes through it.




Pic pf my JK:



Some of the gnarlier stuff on the way up:




The previous day - Pilot Rock the "hard way"





Devil's Hole






If anyone is in the area, let me know! I'm up for group runs, but I like to *move*.

 

You did that ALONE?!??

you are braver than I am.
I wont go it alone.

nice pics, looks like a nice place for a dip.

 

Well I wasn't alone - had my g/f, but only 1 Jeep.

Compared to Dishpan Springs that I did a week ago (where I needed both lockers on to get through a couple of sections), this was a snap.

 

great pictures!! definitely brave to go it alone... never know what can happen in the wilderness

 

Nice Jeep.
Check out the Dirt Devils club. Great, supportive people. www.dirtdevils.org. I was in their club for 7 years and still ride along when I'm back in SoCal to visit the mother-in-law. Their adopt-a-trail is Dishpan Springs/Crab Flats. Quinn's a member of the club and owns All J Products (boulderbars.com) in Big Bear. He'll give you no-nonsense info, great custom fab work. Also great people. Tell 'em Kurt sent you. By the way, they just bought a JK too.

Word of caution:
If that was 2n17, you're taking a chance.
Going Dishpan alone you're definitely taking a chance. The waterfall section is in constant need of repair and is responsible for many, many rolls. If you go too far to the left on the steep section (going up), you're left rear tire will drop into a hole and over backwards you go. My old CJ-7 could easily put a tire on your hood and I still almost rolled on that spot once due to bad spotting.

Yes, Gold Mountain can be a cake walk as well as Holcomb Creek, but check the Holcomb thread - they rescued a lifted Toyota that was traveling alone.
I just hate to see a fellow Jeeper hurt. Besides, it's a whole lot more fun with a good club.

Thanks for the great pics. I'm home sick!!

 

I hope to join with a group for trips, but I hate eating dust the whole way while looking at someone's rear windshield, and stopping every time there is a rock in the road for 15 minutes while someone needs spotting because they are driving their stock Expedition with running boards and 22" chrome wheels on a black diamond run. Things that take me 30 minutes alone take 5 hours in a group. I get out and look when things get ugly, but then I pick a line and go...

Dishpan springs was quite adventurous, but I never saw/felt threatened about rolling over backwards...on the waterfall I started out on the left, cut across toward the middle, then jumped back to the left. The scariest part was having a boulder the size of the Jeep on my left side less than an inch away from some serious scraping, unable to get traction, 2 wheels in the air (front right and back left). I locked both axles and went right up.

 

I certainly respect your comment. You've got a great vehicle there. It is a challenge to wait for less-equipped vehicles to get past an obstacle. But, it's also part of the fun. At least you're not the one stuck!

If you remember, there's three ways to go up the waterfall on Dishpan. The far left was the bypass (but can get tough). The middle takes a little articulation at the top because of the deep cut in the rock there. Then there's the right. That's what looks like a rock wall. If you get far enough to the right you'll stay out of the rut, but you'll feel like you're on a mini Launching Pad! I have full width 3/4 ton axles on my CJ and the guy spotting me the first time I went up years ago wasn't used to wide axles. He put my right tires where the others would but that put my left tires right in the rut. I was almost to the top, then my left rear tire dipped down and the Jeep slid backwards. Once I stopped, my front tires came up off the ground!!! I almost went over backwards! The rangers have told us many have done just that in the same place. Some of the clubs wanted to blast the rock out of there and grade it to make it easier. Fortunately, the rangers were on our side.

Anyway. I used to take my old boxy Trooper all over Big Bear by myself. I just tried to stay within my limits. Good luck and be careful. If you get tired of your JK, give it to me!!

 

I'd actually be in favor of making that stretch easy - the trail on both sides is a widely used 2WD road, and that section bisects the forest in two - one nice "expressway" through the forest would be nice, as opposed to having to go up through Lake Arrpwhead and back down through Green Valley Lake to get to the other side.

 

sethdallob,
Sorry for this late reply - I had computer problems.
Unfortunately, the site's not allowing new posts to your San Bernardino Mountain thread because I use AOL and hadn't checked the right box. Problem solved now.

Many of the Big Bear/Arrowhead residents also want Dishpan Springs trail plowed and paved to offer another route between the two towns. While this is a constant threat to losing just one more 4x4 trail, keep in mind that we've already lost some of its best/hardest parts. Brief history:

A few years ago there was no bridge over Deep Creek. It was a natural crossing with a fairly tough (think John Bull) rock garden on the east side. The water level and rocks kept cars and 2wds from getting onto the trail. There were also several tougher ravines further up the trail (one was really tippy). The environmentalists became concerned that 4x4s and bike were kicking up enough silt in the stream to fill in the trout pools farther down stream (Devil's hole, etc.). Of course, this wasn't true. But, they had square cement tiles installed in the water to keep the tires off the bottom and still allow the trout to swim between the tiles. This wrecked alot of bike tires. Then, once they got their feet in the door, they decided to go one step more - the bridge. They covered the rock garden, and the kept us completely out o f the stream. Apparently they didn't mind heavy equipment kicking up silt in the stream during the months it took to build the bridge. Well two things happened, both mother nature. The bark beetles and drought killed hundreds of thousands of trees in the forest. Then the fire burned them and all the underbrush and even more trees. Then, the rains came and were able to wash thousands of tons of the dreaded silt down Deep Creek and across the trail. The once ten-foot deep pools around the creek crossing filled so much that they became only one foot deep. The silt actually spilled over the middle of the bridge leaving a foot of silt on the bridge roadway itself! It actually broke the bridge foundation and wash half the foundation down stream closing the trail for over a year. And, many of the ravines that were impassable by 2wd were filled in with silt. So, Dishpan Springs used to be much tougher (the toughest in Big Bear). Mother nature and the environmentalists have made it much easier than it was. Now, the Dirt Devils club is constantly filling in wash outs since the underbrush is gone. The creek crossing is gone, and so is that rock garden on the east side of the creek. My saddest moment was when we had to cut down the HUGE 300 year old Jeffery Pines at Dishpan Springs (below the big dry waterfall). I loved the majesty of those trees, but the bark beetles killed them making them a serious danger if they fell.
Here's a link to an old pic:
http://www.roughwheelers.com/montego...s/IMG_0518.JPG
Even better:
http://www.happyfunoffroad.com/image...eek%201994.jpg

Rick Russell's old Big Bear video covers this trail before the Dirt Devils took it over from Rim of the World club. It seems that the trail was a little milder that year...

Thanks for letting me ramble. Keep having fun!