Jimmyspy
Shadetree Mechanic
Joined: Fri Oct 27th, 2017
Posts: 114
Name: Jimmy ... Occupation: Engineering Student ... Interests: Truck Stuff ...
Reputation Points: 114
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Well, It was another busy weekend for the danger ranger. I made a day trip down/over to Rush Off-road Park in Rush, Ky (about a 2.5 hr drive from where I go to school). Originally we were gonna have 3 rigs of varying capabilities, but after some last minute bailouts, it ended up just being myself, the ranger, and a copilot. Since we only had one vehicle, we stuck mainly to green trails and haul roads. It was more of a fact finding mission than a wheeling trip, although we did have to break out the winch a few times.
Rush is a massive park situated in north east Kentucky. It features over 7000 acres of property and 100+ miles of trail. The trails are pretty well marked, and the trail map is better than most. The terrain varies, but features a lot of nice hill climbs, rock outcroppings, woods trails and a surprising amount of clay (more on the clay later).
We arrived at the park around 11:00am and checked in at the office and bought our park pass (and a few stickers). Day passes are $28 per vehicle. Then we followed the gravel haul road up to the expansive parking area/campground to air down before heading out on the trails.
Almost immediately I realized it was going to be an interesting day. They had gotten rain all week and the local clay had turned into a greasy mess that had a peanut butter like consistency. Not 30 minutes into the day we had to break out the winch after sliding too close to the edge of a substantial drop off. It was quite thee entrance exam for the green trail we were on haha
Once we fought through the clay and made it up to the top of a ridge line, things mellowed out a lot. We even stopped for a pictures. The local fall colors were in full swing.
Then we headed up to a look out point the office worker had told us about that looked out over one of the pipeline access trails.
Majestic ranger photos
Shortly after that, while we were playing around on an adjacent ridge line, my Harbor Freight winch controller gave up on me...
So, we're driving along, and hear a loud "pop", followed by a sound that sounded eerily like a starter motor free spinning. Turned out, that when the controller died, the winch motor started turning. Since the clutch was engaged and the cable already reeled in, it pulled the hook against the fair lead until the cable snapped (which was fairly impressive by itself for a 6000lb winch). A freak accident that disabled our safety net.
After figuring out what happened, we continued on our way. Albeit with a little more cation, as we no longer had the winch to rely on.
We played around on a few more ridge lines before winding up on a green trail that descended down and followed a creek bed. That's where things got interesting. From the start, the trail was a greasy mess of clay. But, about 300 yards in, we came across a low spot in the trail that had 18" or so of spongy clay on it. It looked fairly solid at first glance, but the truck immediately sank in to the axles when we made a run at it. This left us in a bit of a pickle, since the winch was incapacitated at the time. After a failed attempt to dig the truck out, it became clear that patching the winch back together was our only option. Thankfully, I had a spare winch controller with me, but we still had to deal with the broken cable. We ended up putting the cable back through the hook and daisy chaining it back on itself, and then securing the tail with hose clamps (VERY NOT SAFE, DO NOT ATTEMPT AT HOME). Its was quite sketchy, but held together enough for us to winch the truck out.
It took us almost two hours to cover 50 yards or so of muck. After the truck was mobile again, we elected to continue down the trail rather than fight back through the hole we had just made and then back up 300 yards of greasy hill climb. The decision worked out well, and we only had to us the winch one more time. We didn't get many pictures though, as we were under the gun to get out of the woods before dusk.
After making it back to the parking area, we aired up and cleaned some of the mud off the windows.
All in all, it was a goo trip. A little more excitement than I bargained for, but that's all part of the fun. I definitely plan on making a return trip to Rush (hopefully it will be a little drier next time haha).
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2002 XLT 4x4, 4.0l V6, Silver Frost Metalic, Superlifted and stuff
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