Metal Masher
This is one of our favorite trails, and we were looking forward to running it again. We got a nice, early start and we were soon on our way. We went in via Gemini Bridges Road ("Gooney Bird Rock Road") and didn't see anyone else.
We were at the sand ledge in no time. Don gave it a few tries and soon he was up and over it. Michael also managed to make it over. Everyone else went around.
Tailpipe Hill still seems impossible, but Don gave it a try. His front tires were in the air at one point, but he came back down. It's just too difficult, because you can't get a good bump at the bottom. He ended up backing out of it.
We were at Rock Chucker at 11AM, and other people were there already. It turned out that they were the bikers we saw on Cliff Hanger, but now they had vehicles. They had tried a few lines but they were unsuccessful, so they wanted to see what we would do.
Don got up on it but just couldn't get up the last bit. His front passenger-side tire kept getting lots of air, and he was already pretty vertical. He tried for awhile, but it wasn't looking good. A few guys pulled on a tow strap attached to his front bumper and that was all he needed, and he was up and over it. He circled around and came back down, but no one else wanted to give it a try.
We all headed up and through Mirror Gulch. No one but Steve had any issues, but he had some major ones. His winch hangs very far out in the front because it is detachable, but he lost the keys a week before. He hit the winch hard enough to bend the mount down, and now he was getting hopelessly stuck. He managed to work his way through the obstacle, but his winch was barely off the ground.
The Climb Challenge was next, and everyone worked on it and made it through. Steve had issues because of his newly lowered winch, but he made it up, too. After that, he took a minute to take the mount and winch off, and then he was okay.
We all spent some time enjoying the overlook and the fabulous scenery. Metal Masher has such a long string of obstacles before the overlook, so it's nice to take a break. The weather was absolutely perfect.
We kept going, eventually, and at the intersection with the Widowmaker bypass only Don and Michael kept going. There was a line of vehicles at the obstacle, but soon it was cleared and it was time for the guys to go up.
The section of trail at the top of the hill before Widowmaker is tippy and scary, and people have rolled here. Don took his time and got pretty tippy, but he got through it. Michael didn't get as tippy, and he took it pretty quickly.
When Don got to Widowmaker, he tried a couple of approaches but it was just too big. After just a bit of thought, he asked Bill to be an anchor point. He winched himself up. After that, Michael winched himself up, too. It's fun getting winched up it, but it's disappointing to not be able to do the obstacle.
We were all together again, and we worked our way out to the end of the trail. We found Mother-In-Law Hill, and only a few people played in it. It was fun, but not that much fun after doing Metal Masher. We moved on.
Instead of going out the usual way, we went out a new way through Arths Pasture. It was a great way out and a great end to a fantastic day.
Reports from Other Days: 3
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Metal Masher. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
