COMPLETED: Santa Rosa, Coyote Canyon Trip

[DirtyBacon04]

Took a couple of my buddies out of the Labor day weekend. Had a good 3 day trip covering grounds from Santa Rosa Mountain, N Divide Palomar Rd, and Coyote Canyon. (if only I had paid more attn to Bill's book, I would've noticed that the main part of Coyote Canyon is closed till Oct. The vehicles included 04 Trailblazer (me), 2 Jeep YJs, and a early 90s Chevy Z71 pickup. Certainly a learning experience for all of us. Just wanted to throw it out there, that my TB was the only vehicle to NOT have any mechanical issues. Victory!!

The 3 trucks at the Santa Rosa campsite. (before the Z71 joined us)


My TB playin in the mud... and by playin, i mean stuck. Very surprised to see mud up here this time of year.


Goin down a creek, we found a waterfall!


Sunset behind Palomar Observatory


Okay... so maybe i'm ready to install that Rad Skid plate from bill...


The 3 surviving vehicles in front of Borrego Springs (never got any action shots of Z71)

[NC_IslandRunner]

Not fair, you guys have the best areas to ride out west... cool pics and You need that rad skid bad!

[bartonmd]

Okay... so maybe i'm ready to install that Rad Skid plate from bill...

Holy. Crap.

That was obviously mostly done even before the oil pan skid, right? How did you even mount the thing?

Mike

[Trail X]

I think you need to take obstacles a bit more judiciously. That's some serious frame carnage!

Also, moved this to "Pacific"

[The Roadie]

Michael wheeled for a couple of YEARS with no lift before meeting me. The aluminum oil pan skid plate was already abused, and I had to drive on it a couple of times to mash it flat enough to remount.

Coyote Canyon (wish you had called first, Michael - I could have told you its restrictions) is really not safe without the radiator skid plate or some really good spotting. It's the one trail that I got obsessed with six years ago that cost me the most $$ to conquer. And then a couple of years ago the state took a rock grinder to it and defanged it from a 6 out of 10 down to a 4. I still wouldn't do it without 32's. 31's if you don't air down.

[MrSmithsTB]

Holy guacamole!

[DirtyBacon04]

I would've called you if I even knew we were going there. The first night one of the dudes was like "we should go to coyote canyon, its not that far!" so away we went, with no plan or timeline.

[The Roadie]

...its not that far!...

One of the all time classic bad-shit-is-about-to-happen-phrases. Like :"Hey, lookit THIS!" or "Wonder what will happen if I do THIS!!?!?!" or "I saw somebody do this sometime with something similar!!!!"

You guys need a trail guide to plan your stuff if you want to see it all in the next 6 months. There are so much better trails to spend your time on than the boring run to the start of the Coyote Canyon bypass road. I'll work on a list for ya.

[gotspeed1]

Looks like Mike will be getting another customer soon. My underside looks quite similar to yours after the last weekend. Nice pics!!!

[fishsticks]

If I were you I'd weld some angle steel to that crossmember and shore it up a bit. That area sees a good amount of stress from the LCAs.

[DirtyBacon04]

If I were you I'd weld some angle steel to that crossmember and shore it up a bit. That area sees a good amount of stress from the LCAs.

Already had plans to take it to a welder this weekend to do just that. My only concern is whether or not it will interfere with the mounting of the rad skd.

[DirtyBacon04]

I think you need to take obstacles a bit more judiciously.

Now dont you go using all your big words on me...

[bartonmd]

If I were you I'd weld some angle steel to that crossmember and shore it up a bit. That area sees a good amount of stress from the LCAs.

Already had plans to take it to a welder this weekend to do just that. My only concern is whether or not it will interfere with the mounting of the rad skd.

Why not mount the rad skid, and see where it hits, so you know how far you can go?

Mike

[DirtyBacon04]

I'll do that as soon as I get the rad skid back. Just took it to get Rhino lined.

The guy workin there was like "what the hell is this?" I replied a skid plate for my Trailblazer. And I got the typical response. "I didnt know you could even take those off road"

Chevy TB pride!