Story and photos by Robert Bryce

Rock Crawl is big. Rock Crawl is fun. Rock Crawl is intense. And it also likes to break trucks. Some people survive the whole weekend; others only a day or two. Even so, most everyone leaves Rock Crawl satisfied, their thirst for offroading quenched for at least a few days. This means that a campground that was bustling with hundreds of 4x4's is virtually empty on Monday, the day after Rock Crawl. Some club members are out cleaning up the grounds and a few participants opt to camp out Sunday night before beginning the trek home on Monday.

But there are a few who just don't know when is enough is enough. One of these people is Scott Shannon from Washington state. He has attended EVERY Rock Crawl event, including the first, informal one.. He just keeps coming back every year. And then there were some of the Sea to Sky 4-Wheelers. They wanted another day of 4x4 abuse and hey, who was I to deny them their pleasure?

Since I didn't trail guide on Saturday (my truck broke on Friday), I was up for another day of playing, as were Andy and Dave of the IRC. Since my Comanche broke the previous day, I opted to ride with Yolanta of the Sea to Sky 4-Wheelers.

The day started off slowly. Matt, also of the Sea to Sky 4-Wheelers, was having problems the entire weekend with his Unimog bouncing. Everyone was telling him it was time for new shocks but he kept muttering something like "weight, must have more weight". Chris Borton, another 'Mog owner, has some 500+ pounds of lead in the back of his 'Mog to keep it balanced the way he likes it. Matt's experience was that some weight helped, so more must be better. Most 'wheelers want to reduce their vehicle's weight but these 'Mog guys just wanna go heavier.

Matt playing on "Pressure Tester" rock.

Matt's additional weight came in the form of rocks. Lots of rocks. While Matt was loading up the back of his 'Mog with heavy rocks, some people did a parts run into town, while the rest of us finished eating breakfast. Once we were all back at camp and ready to go, we headed off to the trails.

We arrived at "Pressure Tester" Rock, on Harbourview Road, in time to see that more isn't always better. The additional weight still didn't hold the 'Mog down. Somewhat discouraged, Matt returned the 'Mog to camp and, like me, rode passenger for the rest of the day.

By this time, the day was half over so we had to choose something fairly close to Sooke. We decided to check out the end of the Doomicon and play on Gas-it Hill. In order to speed up our day we chose to get to the end of the Doomicon via the short cut. It's called a short cut because it's supposed to be just that. You get to the end of the Doom icon trail a lot quicker, because the trail is easier and a lot shorter than any other route. My mistake was forgetting that we had full-size trucks in our group. The little obstacle at the start of the short cut that never posed a problem for short wheelbase 4x4s was a major source of aggravation for the full-size trucks.

Yolanta getting hung up entering into the short-cut into Doom icon.	Rod entering the short-cut.	Doh! Rod got hung-up almost exactly the same way as Yolanta.
When big trucks get stuck, it's REALLY difficult to unstick them.	The Schoolbus sustained some peeled sheet metal.	Cory entering the short-cut.

Yolanta, with her big Heavy Chevy, was the first to enter what I thought was a non-obstacle. It didn't take long to get it high-centered and it the process of getting it un-high-centered was very illuminating. In the IRC, we have a habit of "okay, nothing is gonna be damaged, just tug/winch it and let's go". That's all well and good...as long as you're not trying to tug a full-size truck. They're just too heavy. In order to save some of the exposed undercarriage, we resorted to piling lots of rocks. This wasn't a big deal but since my experience has been small 4x4s, it was an eye-opener to see how much more difficult it can be to un-stick a heavier 4x4.

The other full-size truck, another Heavy Chevy running 40's (instead of Yo's 37's) had similar difficulties. We weren't saving a lot of time on this "short cut" but at least we were having fun.

On to the Doomicon!

Andy has a very modified Nissan pick-up with a solid front axle. His truck was working well all weekend and he was very familiar with the trail. So, like anyone else in that situation, he started choosing the fun lines around the exit of the Doomicon. These were difficult lines that really worked his suspension. It wasn't long before the others wanted to play, too. The blue full-size Chevy, nicknamed "The Schoolbus," because it runs on propane, went next. Some "interesting" spotting (mostly by myself) put this truck into a predicament. The truck just wouldn't climb out of the rut. Rod's efforts were rewarded with a flat tire. The passenger rear rim lost its valve stem. At about the same time, Dave got his YJ wedged up against a tree. So while two teams formed to extract the two vehicles, Scott Shannon left our group to visit the Sooke Potholes (a local natural attraction).

Andy James playing at the Doomicon exit.	The School Bus getting caught in a rut.	Raising the School Bus to replace a valve stem.
Finally getting through the exit.	This passenger was pressed into service to save some sheet metal.	Andy James' flexy Nissan.

The detour around the rotten bridge.

After replacing the tire and getting Dave unwedged, it was time to head to Gas-it Hill. The drive there is uneventful, save for one spot where you detour around a rotten bridge by driving/dropping into a creek. We had to convince Rod that, yes, his full-size Chevy would definitely collapse the bridge.

Gas-it Hill changes a lot. In the right conditions, you can idle up at virtually any speed. With the wrong conditions, the hill will confound almost any truck. So when Andy was having lots of troubles getting up the hill, the rest of us figured that this was going to be a tough climb. But then Dave showed everyone how it's done by driving his near-stock YJ to the top on his first attempt! I doubt Dave will let Andy forget about that for some time to come!

Next up was Rod and "The Schoolbus." He tried a few times, then got a bit sideways on the hill, powered into it again, and then SNAP! The sound echoed through the trees. A quick diagnosis pointed to something amiss in the rear axle. So what do you do with a heavy full-size Chevy half-way up Gas-it Hill, kind of sideways on the hill? I'm sure a few people were thinking "push it off!" but saner minds prevailed. Yolanta's truck was enlisted to help with the extraction. You need a big winch to move a big truck, and her winch was up to the task.

Once the truck was anchored, we did a bit more diagnosing and discovered that a broken rear axle shaft was the culprit. Rather than perform a trail fix, it was decided that Rod would probably drive out with the broken shaft in place. The truck was winched into a straightened position on the hill but before he could start his motor, his battery died. Dave had to turn around, come half-way down Gas-it Hill, and hook up battery cables to start the big Chevy. With a hurt truck already having difficulty climbing Gas-it Hill, we opted to take an alternate route out. That was enough fun for one day.

Yolanta provides some winching help for Rod.	Rod and his broken D61 full-floater axle shaft. No, I don't know why he's smiling.
Winching the back end sideways to line up with the trail.	Andy James on the Gollege Crk trail.

The drive out was uneventful (save for Andy playing some more, and Dave really bending a front leaf pack), and we were back in camp at a reasonable hour. New friends were made, stories were told, and numbers exchanged, marking the end to another post-Rock-Crawl trail ride.