Trip report 23 May 2010 - Jurassic Park

Walkabout

Moderator
Today A few of us got up before dawn to go do tracks/camping reccie at an area near Capertee which by unanimous vote shall now be known as Jurassic Park:confused:, those of you have been there before will know where it is by the photo’s to follow later;):cool:
Members in attendance were 1red GU, Teza h, DazzGUIV and Walkabout.

The day started out with members meeting at a Servo in Lithgow that we all knew after the initial drive up from Sydney, Fuel and some food was purchased then we got on the road to the final destination.

Upon arrival we met with an old character whose property was to give us access to the days adventure, we chatted and laughed for a short while whilst inspecting his new Airplane restoration project, pity for him that his runway was only about 800mtrs too short for take off ;) We slipped him some coin for the privilege of using his tracks and were off.

Looking up at the huge steep sheer cliffs ahead we wasted no time in airing down and began the low range climb with the lure of some steep, hard and technical tracks ahead.
The track started to get steeper with some off camber cut backs and thin tracks channeled into small valleys between steep rock cliffs, but was not real problem to reach the top of the first plateau .
At this point a few of us realized that we had either not charged video and camera batteries or had memory full which was frustrating :mad:but just means that we have to go back real soon:D.
It was decided that we should follow a track that leads back down into the valley floor and on to the top of the mountain, with several sections of eroded sandstone steps, walking the track to get good lines plus the odd bit of track building saw us all down safely into the valley buzzing from the descent, from here things started to really heat up as we began the main climb up the mountain.

Uphill rocky Sections between sheer sandstone walls not much wider than your car, off camber uphill bumpy sections where you had to watch your roof line so you did not hit it on the walls, steep downhill narrow rutted sections with loose sandstone to keep you on your toes, this place had it all! I remember 1 section on a downhill corner where because of the ruts and camber I only had 2 opposing wheels in contact with the ground for the whole turn as I slowly moved the balanced car along the corner – it was MAD:D:cool:

Finally we reached the top and after a short 500mtr walk (reality was about 4klm return) to get some pic’s from the lookout it was time for a well deserved lunch, we thought out loud HMMM its going to be harder getting back out again:eek:!

With a fair amount of track building and a good dose of right boot in some sections (as the ladies decided to walk up/ down with one to indulge in some nerve settling red wine)
We slowly clambered over the obstacles, a few of us took on a side track which we had earlier decided was a locker only track and promptly nailed it and we were descending back down the track to where we had started.
Arriving at the bottom we all had huge :D and were already speaking of our next visit.
Will add up some photo’s tomorrow as too tired to do anything with the camera tonight, Guys please do the same and or email me the pic’s and vid and I will tie it all together in a video.
Great day with great wheeling! Wont be long before we will be saying ” Jurassic park - here we come --- again”;)
 
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Big Rig

4x4 Earth Contributer
Good trip report Gordon, looking forward to the photos. Jurasic Park, your right, it is very fitting for the area.
 

Walkabout

Moderator
Photos

Managed to get a few photos out of the small amount of battery life in the camera, hopefully you guys got more ??

1/ Jurassic Valley
2/ Steeper than it looks
3/ Teza climbing up
4/ Walkabout "......."
5/ one of many steeper sections
 

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Walkabout

Moderator
Couple more...

1/ Dazz on track
2/ Sam on top of her first mountain.
 

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Walkabout

Moderator
Scenic shots
 

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1 red gu

4x4 Earth Contributer
great report gordon
thanks to all for a great day out
good to see everyone get out with only miner damage
 
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Big Rig

4x4 Earth Contributer
Good to see the Prado out in front Tezza. What a fantastic area, you guys are in the running to compete with the Vic tracks with stuff like this. I hope your gonna smooth the way with the property owner for forum member and get that track posted ;)
 

andyjim243

New Member
I know that area, We call it Mt Rock Crawl, I take people through there sometimes. some good rock crawling, last time I went through we had to clear 4 or five downed trees off the track, with made for a long day.
 
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teza h

Well-Known Member
Yeh! thanks to all concerned for a great day out, realy enjoyed a bit of rock climbing,,well a lot of rock climbing, the best i'v done for a long time and definatly the best i'v done in this rig, and just being in that sort of country is a real treat.
A special thanks to (Scotty) 1 Red GU for geting us up there and going out in front to do the bulk of the track building "rock moving,trail blazing" Top effort, Thank buddy! Did'nt get any pics of you though.
Gordon, top trip report there buddy,you said that you were no good at it, Ha! nice one!
Big Rig, thanks mate,I was'nt realy out in front but i am pretty happy at the way the little 90 holds up out there,I did bend some side step brackets but i'v been tiping that for a wile now. It actually held up much better than my wife mel, Ha! She bailed out, red wine in hand to calm her nerves.
A few pics to come.
 

Big Rig

4x4 Earth Contributer
Yeh! thanks to all concerned for a great day out, realy enjoyed a bit of rock climbing,,well a lot of rock climbing, the best i'v done for a long time and definatly the best i'v done in this rig, and just being in that sort of country is a real treat.
A special thanks to (Scotty) 1 Red GU for geting us up there and going out in front to do the bulk of the track building "rock moving,trail blazing" Top effort, Thank buddy! Did'nt get any pics of you though.
Gordon, top trip report there buddy,you said that you were no good at it, Ha! nice one!
Big Rig, thanks mate,I was'nt realy out in front but i am pretty happy at the way the little 90 holds up out there,I did bend some side step brackets but i'v been tiping that for a wile now. It actually held up much better than my wife mel, Ha! She bailed out, red wine in hand to calm her nerves.
A few pics to come.

Good to see none the less. Do us Proud mate. Don't worry bout those side steps. I lost my LHS one yesterday. Looks like I might finally get my sliders.
 

Walkabout

Moderator
Teza I think everyone was impressed with the prado and how well it went, or maybe it boils down to the old saying "it aint what you drive but how well you drive it"
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but we will get you stuck yet !!!!!:eek::D

Oh yeah.. thanks to & top effort Scotty, you could get a job on a council road crew anywhere:p:D
 
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teza h

Well-Known Member
Teza I think everyone was impressed with the prado and how well it went, or maybe it boils down to the old saying "it aint what you drive but how well you drive it"
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but we will get you stuck yet !!!!!:eek::D

Oh yeah.. thanks to & top effort Scotty, you could get a job on a council road crew anywhere:p:D

Gee,Thank buddy as long as you get me out again Ha!
Mel says she still traumatised by the crunching of metal to rock n squeeling rubber.
 

Pure Yobbo

Moderator
Great report guys sounds like a good day out. I love that area around the blue mountains great wheeling and the views are just unreal.

I hope to spend some more time in that area real soon.
 

teza h

Well-Known Member
OK here's those pics.
Teza h leaving behinde some BFG ruber.

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1 Red GU (Scott) guyding Daz GU through a rocky cutting.

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Walkabout at the weel,1 Red GU doing some track work.

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Bit of a drinks break about half way up.

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Back drop of where we had driven, ready to air up for the drive home

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Great to see you guys had as much fun as us sorry we missed it but mr split pin slept in. So how many track builds did you have to do? We only had to build up one little hole. But yes the view was well worth the drive. We went on the saturday because Peter's best mate wanted to propose to his girlfriend at the look out and didnt want to do the track on his own.
 

KDA

New Member
That looks like a great day, and a great drive guys.

Is that a yellow studeabaker in the back ground? (dont know how its spelt) in the bank ground?
 

teza h

Well-Known Member
Yeh! you picked it mate, Studebaker Hawk, with a tracktor steering weel on it, clasic !!!
 

1 red gu

4x4 Earth Contributer
Great to see you guys had as much fun as us sorry we missed it but mr split pin slept in. So how many track builds did you have to do? We only had to build up one little hole. But yes the view was well worth the drive. We went on the saturday because Peter's best mate wanted to propose to his girlfriend at the look out and didnt want to do the track on his own.

ye we had a great day that place hasent changed one bit in the last 9 years i love it:D
we built 3 holes up just to stop any sill damage
i hope the propose'll went well its a long fall if she said no!:D
 

Walkabout

Moderator
Great report guys sounds like a good day out. I love that area around the blue mountains great wheeling and the views are just unreal.

I hope to spend some more time in that area real soon.

Sure we can help out with some good tracks next time you are down mate;)
 
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