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Kel and I, Joe and Bob( Kel and Joe's dad) drove up Wednesday morning from Sierra Madre, CA and spent the night at the Best Western Placerville. We all woke up early and went to the store to stock up before our 3 days on the trail. After the store we headed for Loon Lake and the trail head where we met up with everybody for Thursdays 9:00AM run. We went through the tech inspection, sign in, and drivers meeting.
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There were about 25 vehicles on our run as we headed for the first obstacle, some large rocks in the center of the trail, then onto the granite slab. The granite slab was huge, lots of small ledges to crawl up. Next was Walker Hill where Klondike put his ride on it's side, he was right behind me. I didn't get to see the roll over but Kel did (real slow) no real damage. Everybody helped right Klondike's ride and we were on our way to the Little Sluice. We watched a cruiser go through, it took about 45 min to go150 feet. I was next and a little worried.
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My little Toy truck went through no problem. Joe walked right through but caught a rock on the way out and dented some diamond plating. Next up was Paul from Colorado and Dave from Oregon both whom we met on the trail. Paul had a bad line and had to bail, Dave got a little high on the side but made it through (with a little help). We forged on form there and after I took a small group of us on a little detour (got lost) we arrived at Buck Island Reservoir, bypassing the Old Sluice, where we spent the first night. I can't say enough about how beautiful it was, lots of water and trees everywhere.
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We broke camp at 9 O'clock lined up for our group photo and headed off to the Big Sluice. I went down the trial to go watch some of the others in our group run through when Kel brings the truck down the Big Sluice like a pro. Down to the bridge and into Rubicon Springs where we set up camp. The next day we found some trial damage on Paul's truck and had to straightened Paul's tie rod. Around 3:00 PM we went to the main camp where the horse shoes and volleyball tournament where held. We hung out for TLCA's dinner (which was really good) and the raffle (Joe won a burfield) which started around 7:00 PM . They started the huge bon fire with a bang and the Nor-Cal Marauder's Bar opened (free drinks). After a couple of drinks we called it a night. Some people left right after the raffle and others where leaving all night long.
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The next morning we replaced Joe's bent tie rod (thanks Marlin) and checked both rigs for road worthiness before we packed for the trip up Cadillac Hill and home. We headed out of camp and over to Cadillac Hill where there was a long line of 4x4s waiting to traverse up the hill and out to Lake Tahoe. Kel and I dropped Joe and Bob off back at the hotel in Placerville and headed home.
I had no body damage, slightly bent tie rod and front drive shaft, Joe bent tie rod, dented
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