2nd Annual
Toyota Land Cruiser
Surf N Turf 2003
November 7-9Pismo Beach, CA
Sunday we bagged the beach and headed to the boondocks.
Yeah man, it was sick, lots of water crossings, tight bushes, nasty drops and an Oldsmobile Alero that was really gettin worked.
The Big Falls trails, aka Upper Lopez Canyon.
photo credit: Daryl Chymko
Agent Orange heads into the bush.
photo credit: Daryl Chymko
Charla's BJ42 "Agent Orange" gettin it!
photo credit: Dave Beckett
Silver 60 clawing up a muddy bank.
photo credit: Daryl Chymko
Sunday we put the "Turf" in "Surf N Turf". The group packed up and headed inland for some Central Coast style wheeling. Some folks left the beach early while others lingered in the dunes before heading East into the Coastal Mountains for the Big Falls/Hi Mountain/Garcia Ridge/Pozo trail runs. Overall it's about 30 miles from the beach to Pozo, about half is single lane dirt road. The plan was to get a little wheeling in along the way before gathering at the historical Pozo Saloon.
Miklos aka Mickey Rubicon and the trail proven Oldsmobile Alero
photo credit: Kemasa
Yeah, that Alero was a hoot!! I think the "Brass Balls" award should
go to her, (along with the "dumbest blond award") because she would
just roar through the stream crossings. "To hell with the engine,
full speed ahead!!" The last one she had a bow wave that cleaned off
her entire hood. It's amazing the thing still ran after what she did
to it yesterday. The airbox was full of water, and she must have
ingested about a gallon of water into the engine because the oil was
complete milkshake. We had to disconnect the air intake in order to
get the engine to run at all.
- Dana
The Alero was actually running with all the water in the intake, although I am
not sure how. It was not running very well. When we took off the hose to the
air box a lot of water came out. In looking in, we had to take the other end
of the hose off and dump out about .5l of water and mud, all of this got past
the air filter.
She did have a sense of humor about it though, when Miklos drove the car
across one stream and then a rock section on the other side, she said that
she felt sorry for the owner of the car. I asked her if it was a rental car
and she said no, I then asked if it was someone else's car and she said no,
that it was her's.
It should be mentioned that Miklos really did a lot of work getting her out
and is really the person responsible for managing to get the car out,
especially being willing to crawl under the car and managing to find a place
to hook the strap when everyone else said there was no place to hook it too
and then pulling it up the hill. He also was very impressive when he did the
stream crossing and the rock ledge on the other side. I should have taken
more pictures, but I was so shocked at what I was seeing I could not believe
it!!! If it was not for him and his willingness to do anything, I am not sure
that the car would have gotten out.
- Kemasa
Dave Beckett climbing a steep muddy hill.
photo credit: Kemasa
Dave takes a STEEP drop between the trees.
photo credit: Dave Beckett
The Canadian Turbo diesel climbs.
photo credit: Kemasa
The large turnout this year prompted us to break into smaller groups before hitting the inland trails. A few folks, skipped these side trails and simply drove the scenic back country dirt road directly to Pozo. Either way, the scenery was awesome and provided an interesting contrast to the beach and barren sand dunes.
Miklos aka "Mickey Rubicon"
photo credit: Daryl Chymko
The Big Falls trail literally follows a creek through the lush canyon.
photo credit: Daryl Chymko