Big
Bear - |
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Land Rover
Club of San Diego, 28 Oct. 2000
We
took this trip seriously. After having to chicken out on the previous LRCSD
run to Los Coyotes, I was anxious to get steel wheels for the Disco and
wrap'em up with some taller and preferrably teethy rubber. After some frantic
search (it's a treat to find 5x6.5" bolt pattern wheels - wherever you
look, you will end up in some place specializing in Rover parts), a set
of black steel wheels was sent to be by Rover Accessories, and Pep Boys
produced four Futura Enforcer tires (a shameless clone of BFG mudders).
Late at night I got the wheels bolted on the Rover, test drove it over
some curbs, and went to sleep.
Early
in the morning, got my folks kicked out of beds, filled with coffee, mad
at me, and running towards the gathering place. The very first speed bump
clearly indicated that the tires don't fit. Before we even left the concrete,
I bummed a hacksaw from Larry Samons and trimmed the rear bottom corners
of rear wheelwells. My ladies were screaming bloody murder in process.
A sledgehammer helped to round off the sharp corners.
Up
at Big Bear, we took the North Shore drive, and turned off to Polique Canyon
Rd. towards Holcomb Valley campground. On our way, I found that more trimming
is required, and informed my passengers in advance. At the campground,
fired up the little Coleman stove to make some coffee, and went on with
the hacksaw. A little banging was also required - in the corners and up
on top, where the rear doors meet rear quarter panels. After coffee and
chat, we hit the trail.
San
Bernardino Mountains are a maze of trails ranging from graded dirt or even
gravel roads to some gnarly stuff hungry for sheetmetal, axleshafts, and
tie rods. The trails - except for a few that are named - are numbered;
there must be some system in it, but its ultimate wisdom still escapes
me.
The
trail we took branched off 3N16, climbed up to elevation of 8220 ft (according
to Garmin GPS III+), and then sharply turned south and down - towards Baldwin
Lake. The trail is not technical by any means, just slightly decorated
with a tree laying right across the path. Since Forest Service took care
of this tree, the approach and departure were generoulsy paved with rocks,
so a Disco with only 2" taller tires than stock didn't even scrape the
rockers. The views from this trail were awesome (that is, breathtaking
in resort advertizing lingo).
We
didn't waste any time on Baldwin Lake, went down to the trailhead of 2N02
(which is a graded dirt road for all of its length). Larry and Carol Samons
who led the gang seemed to be preparing for the Nevada Trophy, so we went
down 2N02 in a hurry. I might have a right rear Bilstein give a ghost,
for for the rest of the run the right rear tire kept rubbing against the
body, producing a steady trickle of screams from ladies in the back seat).
Mind it, I was quite happy of having aired down to 18psi front/24 psi rear
- definitely not the rock crawling pressures, but still much easier on
the hardware and software (people inside, that is).
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