Some photos provided by Shannon Cupper

For my last day at RC00, I opted for some trails closer to camp to lessen the chances of me getting stuck out in the bush and missing the last ferry back to the mainland. I signed up for the Leechtown run...or what used to be the Leechtown run. I don't think that trail run has ever actually reached Leechtown during a Rock Crawl event. It's long and the groups are usually large. On the last day of RC, I guess the organizers accepted this fact and re-named it, thereby avoiding any suggestion that we would actually reach Leechtown. This suited me just fine. I had been to Leechtown about half a dozen times so I knew that the fun bits occurred on the first half the of trip.

Our trail leaders were Rob McFayden and Jonathan (Jo-Jo) Poole. Jo-Jo was driving a stock Suzuki Samurai (it had larger than stock tires and a 1" shackle lift). It looked very out of place in the company it was keeping. That company was mostly lifted Jeeps running 33" or taller tires. Another vehicle that stuck out because of its near-stock nature was Dave Hope's white Jeep YJ. He had skinny 33" AT tires, a shackle lift and not much else. Both Jo-Jo and Dave provided excellent examples of how far you can go with a near-stock vehicle if you know how to drive off-road.

Our route began on the Harbourview Road. Since it was the last day of RC, there were scads of other 'wheelers who wanted to stick close to camp besides us. It took a while to get past the expected congestion but once we got by, we made good time to the turn-off towards Hill 35. On the way there, Dave Hope took every opportunity to plunge into deep puddles. With no top or windshield, his passengers were screaming like kids on a roller coaster. The turn-off to Hill 35 took us onto a dry run-off bed flanked on both sides by steep banks and dense tree cover. About 20 metres in, was a diagonal rock face that began on the right side that gradually cut across to the left, and was approximately level with the top of the bank. If the trail was dry, this wouldn't be a problem, even for unlocked vehicles. But the trail wasn't try. In fact, it was very, very wet. The clouds that had been threatening us all weekend with rain had decided give us a drenching that day. Consequently, the trucks that had just a single rear locker had a bit of difficulty surmounting the rock. In an impressive display of driving skill, Dave made it up very easily in his open-diff YJ. Only one vehicle needed to be snatch strapped through this section.

Dave and crew seemed to enjoy 'wheeling in the rain with no top or windshield. It's all in the attitude, man!

Shannon Cupper finished a whole bunch of mods on his Toyota a day or two before the Rock Crawl. He did pretty well on the trail.

This was Dean's first Rock Crawl and he really enjoyed the trails.

Jo-jo gets a bit of help from Dave. I was amazed by the places Jo-jo was able to drive his stock Samurai.

Bill pilots Project YJ out of the rock gully near the trailhead to Hill 35.

Dave's high-centred on the culvert.

Shortly after that, we came to a large steel culvert cutting across the trail like a huge, overgrown root. The obvious solution was to drive around it. That worked well for most of us but as always, someone had to try the difficult line. Dave Lippmann picked a perfect line, taking a diagonal aim at the culvert and inched his way over. His dad, Armin, followed suit but was a bit off on his approach and nailed his undercarriage. Dave Hope tried next and put on a great show but his YJ was doomed to high center on the pipe as well, no matter what line he took.

That classic photo opportunity, Tire Change Rock, was our next notable section. We reached it about half an hour later and stopped to watch each vehicle come down the rock. It's a relatively steep descent down an exposed rock in the middle of a downhill slope. It's a straightforward obstacle for anyone who has done a moderate amount of fourwheeling but a real thrill for those who are just discovering the full potential of their 4x4. One side of the rock's base is much lower than the other so your line will either result in an uneventful crossing or an "oooh-aaaah" moment when your passenger-side rear wheel gets pulled into the air and your front driver's side wheel gets sucked into the hole. The spectators always hope for "oooh-aaah" but the drivers' preferences vary. We had a bit of each in our group.

Tire Change Rock doesn't live up to its name when you're driving a vehicle with good articulation, as Jonathan Yim so aptly demonstrates.

Shanon Cupper's 3/4 elliptical prevented him from lifting a tire as well.

Running skinny tires let Dave stuff them right into his fenderwells without incurring the damage he would've taken from wider tires. By retaining the stock YJ springs, Dave's Jeep was able to flex very well.

Next up was U-Joint Hill. As you might infer, its name is a reflection of its tendency to eat u-joints. This point was reinforced just the day before when Greg Wcislo's Jeep YJ lost one of its driveshaft u-joints to the hill.

By this time, it was raining quite hard so the hill was particularly slippery. We all made it up with varying amounts of difficulty, the fully-locked trucks having no problem at all. The optional bit on this section was The Crack which, of course, was a large crack slightly longer than a small pickup. The goal was to straddle it and drive along its length. The problem was that it was quite wide. Too wide, I think, for Suzukis. Jeeps and Toyotas can just barely do it. I decided to give it a shot. The key to doing it safely is to get yourself a good spotter and follow his instructions to the letter. That's the easiest and safest way. It is actually more of a test for the spotter than the driver. The driver just has to be willing to pay for the damage if either of them screw up. I chose Jo-Jo as my spotter because he damned good at it. Even in the pouring rain, the traction was quite good. 4:1 transfer case gears and the automatic transmission made it easy to go as slow as I needed. With my eyes glued to Jo-Jo's hands, I slowly inched my way along The Crack under his direction. It was a piece of cake.

Shannon Cupper decided to try it next. Unfortunately, he didn't have the benefit of extra low gearing or the automatic transmission so he couldn't get the fine control he needed to navigate The Crack. He fell in hard on his passenger-side and that marked the end of his attempt.

That left Dave as the final contestant. Having watched Dave for most of the trail, we all knew he would try it and continue to try it until he either made it or completely destroyed both sides of his Jeep. The fact that he had open diffs and stock gearing was not a deterrent. As expected, the Jeep slipped into The Crack, first on its left side, and then on its right, and then left and right again...or was that right, right, and then left? Well, you get the idea. I was impressed at how close he came to getting through but he just couldn't overcome his lack of low gears and lockers. On a dry day, I'm certain he could have done it. In fact, I think someone mentioned that he had done it before. Oh, the other thing to keep in mind is that he wasn't using a spotter for most of his attempt. Hardcore.

Our trail leader, Rob McFayden, easily made it up U-Joint Hill in his super-clean, fibreglass tubbed CJ7.

Doh! Shannon's Toyota just couldn't hold onto the line and it slipped into The Crack.

Dave didn't fare any better, slipping into it several times and on both sides.

Not long after U-Joint Hill, we took a turn-off that headed us back towards Harbourview Road. We had driven the interesting bits of the trail to Leechtown and it was time to head back for some fun on Hill 35, which we bypassed on the way here.

Hill 35 was christened as such because of the two Jeep YJ's that snapped their Dana 35 axle shafts here a couple of years ago. Both Jeeps were crippled within a couple of hours of each other, both at approximately the same spot. As you might imagine, Hill 35 is a bit of a tough climb. It's basically the downhill side of a shelf road that has been eroded away to half its width. The bottom of the hill begins its angle slowly but it grows exponentially steeper as it reaches up to the shelf road. At its crest, it is almost vertical and adorned with sharp rock fins. They are like large dragons teeth and they are spaced apart just wide enough for a Jeep-width vehicle to fit between them but narrow enough to scrape the paint off the wheel rims (or slice chunks out of your mag wheels). They are also known to unseat Swampers if you're careless with your air pressure. Hill 35 is one of those hills where I always have to have a mental conversation with myself, deciding whether or not I should try my luck. The Larry with the horns and cloven hooves always wins out. I guess Dave Lippmann's little devil guy also won out because Dave headed up first.

He almost made it, too. As soon as his front end climbed onto the shelf road, he cranked hard right. Had he not, he would have ended up climbing the opposite bank by the time his rear end got onto the shelf. But turning right caused the front end to crab sideways as well. The end result being that he was now off his line and his rear tire caught on one of the big rock fins. His big Swampers dug for traction but there was no more to be had. Armin took the bypass and winched him up.

I was up next. The bottom half was pretty easy and I thought I was doing pretty well. That is, until I drove my passenger-side front tire up one of the fins. Besides slowing down my forward progress, it also brought my driver-side front tire nice and high off the hill. Normally it would've been interesting but since I was very close to the top of the climb, my Jeep was already at a steep angle. Lifting a tire here was something I would call "bad." I slowly backed down a few feet to try it again but each time I went forward, the tire started coming of the ground. After everyone got the requisite photos of my plight, I elected to be winched up.

After me came Dave in the white YJ. He threw everything he had into the effort but came up short. AT tires on this hill were a definite disadvantage.

Dave Lippmann came very, very close to beating Hill 35.

Shannon and I provide moral support (snicker) while Dave ponders his next move.

For me, this was the worst part of Rock Crawl 2000 ...someone managed to photograph me wearing a toque! (Lars is looking care-free in his nylon windbreaker by Al of 4Offroad and his naughty gumboots from the Canadian Tire spring collection)

The fun wasn't over yet. The rest of the group took the bypass which led to a switch back and another climb. This one's slope was much easier than Hill 35's but it was covered in loose dirt and rock. Half way up, there was a step formed by a root going across the trail. On its left was the stump from which it originated. If you weren't locked front and back, the loose surface required

Jonathan's having a bit of trouble on the hill just past Hill 35.

momentum to reach the top of this hill. That momentum was killed the second you reached the root. The faster you went, the harder you stopped when you hit it. Rob McFayden had already made it up in his CJ7 by the time I got there. I saw an opportunity to keep my right side off the step by staying to the right. It wasn't an obvious line because it actually looked more difficult. On the other hand, it kept the tires more even so they all had better traction. The line worked marvelously well and I sailed through without missing a beat. The next little while was spent watching the others come up the trail. As I said before, front and rear lockers were a major advantage. But even so, some of them had problems. Jonathan's TJ with its single rear locker had a lot of difficulty and eventually had to winch past the stump. A large part of his problem were his rims. For some reason, his 33x12.5 Swampers had a tendency to peel off these rims so he was forced to keep 15 psi in them. As you know, bias ply tires require very low air pressure before they will begin to flex. The lack of traction at 15 psi was a huge disadvantage for him. I showed YJ Dave the line I took and he drove through without any help at all. Sometimes the right line and the right driver can beat out a locked-up rig.

Speaking of which, I spent a large pat of this run riding with Jo-Jo in his stock Samurai. It was an illuminating experience. Watching Jo-Jo concentrate on sections of trail that I would have easily cruised over, I began to appreciate the benefits of a stock 4x4. It brought back memories of when I was first introduced to this trail and how it was much more of a challenge. The Leechtown trail was one I had driven in the past when my Jeep was much more closer to stock. Back then, it was a difficult trail that required constant attention to your line. As the years went by and my Jeep received ongoing upgrades, trails like Leechtown became must less interesting. It was a bit of an epiphany to see that, from a stock vehicle's perspective, these trails were as much fun as when I first ran them. Jo-Jo was continually looking ahead, planning his next move. I'm sure he was having way more fun on this trail than I was in my built-up Jeep. He had honed his driving skills to the point where he was doing better on some obstacles than the 4x4s with aggressive mud tires and lift kits. I resolved then and there to one day buy a cheap Suzuki Samurai for a commuter vehicle and off-roading on the easy, local trails.

Dave's Jeep got wedged against this tree, forcing him to either accept a winch pull from Jonathan or damage his soft-top's frame.

The last bit of new trail Rob McFayden showed us was another hillclimb. It was a long, relatively easy crawl up a bare rock hill. Near the top, there was a loop to turn us around. It featured some off-camber sections and gnarly rock steps. Amazingly, Dave blasted his YJ up there with zero difficulty. Some of the fully locked 4x4s had to back up and try a different line before reaching the top.

On the way back down, Harbourview Road was crawling with campers and 'wheelers not associated with the RC event. Progress was slow. We stopped to help a CJ5 driver who snapped a rear main leaf spring. We stopped again when we encountered an ex-mil Dodge Power Wagon (looked like a modified ambulance vehicle) stalled in the middle of the trail. We couldn't help him out but were able to winch him out of the way. We were on the trails longer than expected and most of us were antsy to reach camp, pack up, and catch the ferry.

Every year, I promise myself that I will make extra time available to say a proper good-bye to my friends in the IRC but every year, it never happens. Back at camp, we quickly struck the tents and packed our gear. Rushed good-byes were made and we took off for the ferry. Another fantastic Rock Crawl event came to an abrupt end as we sped off towards the Swartz Bay ferry terminal.

...lars