S.O.B. Hill
At the bottom of S.O.B. Hill, we found ourselves behind a full-size Blazer on 35" tires with a rear Detroit locker. After we waited for some ATVs to come down the trail, we watched the Blazer head up the rocks. It reminded us of the Rock Garden on Spring Creek. After several attempts at different angles, the Blazer pulled over to the side to let us go by. He just couldn't get past all the loose rocks and boulders.
Dave went up first, and glided up with no problems. Then he came back down on foot to help spot Bruce through a difficult section. Bruce's right rear tire had slid off a large rock and gotten stuck. After some rock stacking and careful guidance, Bruce went the rest of the way up the hill.
Bill came up third and climbed his way up through the rocks with a grin on his face. He seemed to be pleased with his lift and 33" tires.
Walt came up behind Bill and found the same rock that Bruce got stuck on. After some spotting from Gary, Walt worked his way through and up.
Gary was last in line. He, too, found some difficulty with the same rocks that Walt and Bruce fought with. After several attempts, Gary found himself high-centered on the rock. The difference this time, though, is that Gary had rolled the rock over and wedged himself on his belly pan causing his transmission and engine to tip forward. The result was his fan grinding into his brand new radiator, opening two small holes that were leaking antifreeze all over his exhaust manifold.
The resulting steam looked worse than it was. Gary got out some antifreeze and Barrs Stop Leak. The Barrs seemed to do the trick. Everyone present now thinks that that stuff will become part of their off-road kit after seeing how it bailed out Gary. After filling up the radiator we drove the rest of the way up S.O.B. Hill.
We meandered along the side of Glacier Peak and the views from the top of the first hill were awesome. Gary's Jeep was doing well -- there were no leaks and it was running cool. We didn't run the rest of Glacier Ridge, though. A few of us made some phone calls to our respective others to let them know to not wait for us to eat dinner. We decided to eat on the way home. Gary's Jeep decided to let us know we had taken a long enough break as it started to leak and steam again. Gary topped the system off and we continued towards Highway 285 and the town of Jefferson.
We continued on over the top of Georgia Pass. A few pictures were taken before we followed Gary quickly down the mountain. He apparently was also low on gas and wanted off the mountain before his Jeep decided to give him any more trouble.
Finally, we reached Jefferson and a gas station there. Gary filled up while the rest of us aired up our tires. We agreed that the Elk Mountain Restaurant in Conifer was the perfect ending to a great wheeling trip in the cool mountain air.
Reports from Other Days: 3
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for S.O.B. Hill. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
