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Clayton, Oklahoma - Trail Ride 3/15-16/03 Yaroslav Andrus and Crew - Blue DI Chris & Laura Brookins – White DI Brent Fulfer and Jason – Jeep CJ-5 Lloyd & Leigh Ann Hardin – Champagne DII Jon & Erika Reeves – Gray DII Ryan & Yvette Richardson – Blue RRC LWB Brad Smith – Black DII Jim Royall – White DI Chris Salyer and Wiley Carlile - Red D90 Brian Turner - Suzuki Samurai of unknown vintage and some sort of rust/primer color covered with mud Alan Bates, Dan Vise, Jay Steen – White RRC |
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 The day started rather innocently with everyone meeting
Saturday morning at Clayton Lake State Park, but things would change. The weather was clear and
perfect with temperatures in the 60’s, couldn’t ask for anything better. With a total of 11
vehicles, we entered the trail system through wildwood estates, a subdivision of assorted abodes
about 4 miles south of Clayton off Hwy 271; this is a good starting point to enter the vast
trails on the north side of Hwy 271. Our first task of the day was Upper Poweline Trail, stock
vehicles were bypassed around, this trail starts with a steep somewhat off camber decent into a
gully with large rocks and boulders, high clearance is needed to avoid any damage. We spotted
everyone through with no problems, the trail then rises sharply with rock outcrops, loose soil
and rock. The trick here was to maintain some speed, i.e. gun it. Everyone made it up with a few
spinning wheels and smoking rubber, aah there’s nothing like the smell of smoking rubber in the
morning. |
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We then met up with everybody and proceeded onto 3-Stage,
my trusty co-pilot Dan was too busy enjoying the wonderful scenery when we took a wrong turn, a
few u-turns along the trail and the GPS guided our way towards 3-stage, based on passed
experiences, it is not advisable to go out here without a GPS or a good topographic map of the
area. There is a neat little creek bed trail that most vehicles took at the bottom of 3-Stage.
We all then looked at 3-Stage, I call it 3-Stage, but in actuality is the 1st obstacle of 3, it
is a solid rock climb of about 45+ degrees with a two foot ledge at the bottom and several
smaller ledges on top, words and pictures do not describe it, it must be seen in person. First
up to try it was Jim, he nosed up to the ledge and went at it, he tried valiantly but to no
avail, next up was Yaroslav, he was a determined person, after many many attempts he got his
front wheels on top of the ledge, I was very surprised that he got that far, being his Disco like
everyone’s else’s had open front and rear differentials, it was shear determination, but after
that, his rear wheels would just spin, ahh the smell of smoking rubber again. I have no doubt
that with a front and rear locker he would have possibly made it. Next was Ryan, no luck, just
spinning tires. Finally Brent and Jason in his locked and loaded Jeep CJ-5 gave it a shot, he
got the front wheels onto the ledge but did not have enough momentum to get the rear wheels up.
The trick to getting up this ledge is to hit the ledge straight on with a little bit of speed,
bounce the front end up in the air, give it a little gas, and drop the front tires on top of the
ledge while at the same time giving it more gas so that you don’t loose momentum and popping the
rear wheels over the ledge, all the while making sure your front wheels are pointed straight,
because you are on a 45+ degree slope, and if you start turning sideways you could easily roll
the truck down the hill. Brent had never seen anyone do it before and with his short wheelbase
of the CJ-5 it was a little intimidating, he will attempt it again and no doubt conquer it when
he heads down with Sam’s offroad and sees someone going over it, this was a good scouting run for
him. |
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Next, the carnage begins! There is a short and very steep
bypass to the right of 3-Stage, it starts off with a narrow steep loose dirt and rock off camber
climb with trees to the left and right. First to attempt this was Jim, he successfully made it
up, but not without a battle scar, as he climbed up the initial steep slope, the off camber
angle of the slope threw his DI into a tree leaving some damage to the area around his rain
gutter and alpine window, Jim seemed rather unfazed about it. Next was Jon in his DII, he tried
several different lines, with Erika screaming words of encouragement, or maybe it was “stop!”,
but to no avail, his all purpose terrain tires letting him know that they did not want to do
this. Then Chris in his spotless, not even a ding, white DI to gave it a shot, the off-camber
initial climb threw his DI into the same tree that Jim hit, but it hit his roof rail and gutter,
crushing the roof rail and putting a nice crease in his gutter and roof, the DI was leaning
sideways against the tree and people came running to right the DI back on its feet, if that tree
wasn’t there he stood a good chance of rolling it, Chris was a trooper about it, he was rather
strangely excited about having his first battle scar. Brian in his red Sammy attempts it, but
his all-purpose tires fail him too. Then came Ryan in the Biarritz blue monster, he tried the
line everyone else took but failed, he then tried another line, but had to be winched clear of a
tree, the third time was the charm, he used a heavy right foot and gunned it up the hill. After
seeing all of this, Chris and Wiley in the D90 were itching to give it a go, he too used a heavy
right foot and gunned it up the hill, they made it up the initial off-camber climb but started
slipping sideways, if they had stopped at this point they would have been in serious trouble and
a possible rollover, he gave it more gas and his BFG all-terrains spun the whole way
up. |
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It was time to head out, and at about the same time,
Yaroslav decided to have some fun on the rocks below 3-stage, he proceeded to rip his passenger
side mirror clear off, and tore off his tail light guards, it doesn’t stop there. Someone in
the past had left some barbed wire fencing in the area between 3-stage and the bypass trail,
Yaroslav somehow managed to find the barbed wire and it proceeded to wrap around his rear
driveshaft like a ball of twine, how bad could it be? Just a little wire right? But one look
under there and it was a whole lot of barbed wire. Our team of experts, Brian and Ryan
proceeded to diagnose the problem and tools and wire cutters came out, everything was bound up
in the driveshaft area. |
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As this was going to take some time to repair, we sent the waiting vehicles to a play area by
the old charcoal plant to have some fun, the area consists of some drop offs, a nice big dirt
mound, and some steep little climbs. After much work by Brian and Ryan the bound up driveshaft was dropped and we winched the 25+ pound ball of wire off the driveshaft, put it back together and we were ready to go. A big thanks go out to Brian, Ryan, and those that helped. |
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The group got back together and we proceeded out to
Surveyor and Busline Trail, we were off schedule due to trail repairs, and by the time we
reached Surveyor it was evident we did not have time to run it or Busline. It was time to head
back, and we decided to take Clayton Trail back, the trail wasn’t going to let us off without a
tire donated by Jon and Erika, they caught a rock on the sidewall which put a nice slash into
it, jack and tire iron came out along with some shoveling by Jim, and the tire was changed, it
was getting dark by now and after spotting everybody through a washout we were on our way
back. |
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The evening’s festivities commenced around a camp fire at
Clayton Lake State Park with hamburgers provided by Ryan and grilled on his nifty trailer hitch
cooker, and Lloyd and Leigh Ann providing everyone with potato salad, beans, chips, beverages,
and some very nice cigars. Everyone had a great time, and thanks go out to Ryan, Lloyd and
Leigh Ann. As the evening’s festivities wound down, it was time to have a night trail run. |
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With Ryan and Brian in the RRC, Brent and Jason in the CJ-5, and Dan, AJ, and Myself in
the RRC, we headed out to 3-Stage. We entered the creek bed below 3-Stage with Ryan and Brian,
and Brent and Jason heading down the creek, the creek bed was narrow and littered with some very
large boulders. The trail carnage continues, Ryan’s front wheel got up and over a very large
boulder and on its way down clipped the boulder leaving a nice divot in his front quarter panel,
his plastic sills then proceeded to be mashed up into the rear door curling the bottom edge up,
at this point we decided to turn around. We headed up a trail that led us out of the creek
bottom and we headed up into the pitch black hills, the trail was rock strewn and very narrow,
sometimes it looked like there wasn’t even a trail, but Brent and Jason navigated us through,
the trail then took a nasty turn with some very large rocks, it was getting late and it was
decided to head back, plus my GPS was not picking up a signal, I think the planets weren’t in a
geosyncronous orbit, and we did not know where this trail ended, we got back to camp close to 2
am, it was time to hit the hay and call it a day. |
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On Sunday morning we rounded up those that did not have to
leave early for a short trail ride. We proceeded to the play area by the old charcoal plant, we
all had fun going down the big dirt pile, while Ryan decided he must climb up the big dirt pile
the other way, and it cost him a busted brake line, thankfully this is where the carnage finally
ended. Ryan, Yyvette, and Rugrats decided to limp the Rover back to camp, and Jon and Erika
decided to call it a day. It was down to Brian in the Sammy and my crew in the RRC, we explored
more of upper poweline trail and found some nasty little gullies that we had to do some trail
building to get through, we also encountered some steep descents with some small rock ledges.
It was time to go and we didn’t want to press our luck, having witnessed all the trail carnage.
All in all it was a fun time had by all, and we will have to make a return trip back to Clayton. I would like to thank everyone for participating and making this a successful and fun event, and my condolences go out to those that sustained some trail damage, trail pin striping and bumper scuffs do not count.
Jim and Lloyd and Leigh Ann decided to explore some private property open for trail use located north of Clayton and here is his trail report: The Freiling property private land that has been made available for offroad vehicle use is about 10 or 12 miles North of Clayton. I was told that over 1,200 acres are included in the area and it's obvious that the landowner lives on the property. A house with a number of vehicles parked around it is visible from several of the trails. The cost of a day's stay on the property is $10 although I overheard one of the "huge tire" drivers negotiate a fee of $5 for the second day. A 4-wheeling club out of Ft. Worth is apparently developing and rating the trails. You put your money in an envelope with a signed release into an old gas pump at waypoint 95.16.04 West Long. 34.44.46 North Lat. Myself and Lloyd & LA Hardin went in Sunday morning for a quick look around that turned into a 2 1/2 hour ordeal involving the snatching of a 3' dia. boulder out from under my rear bumper on a steep stretch of trail we probably should have given more thought to before heading down. It seems right now most of the trails are too easy or too difficult, much of the difficulty being caused by loose rock. As the trails mature this will probably change and another look would probably be worthwhile. Another negative, to me at least, was the trash, it seemed there was a dump around every curve at times and I saw at least two areas with enough vehicles to be called salvage yards. The brand new trails really were just like landfills complete with metal and tree stumps sticking up. I'm sure when the tree's leaf out it will take some or most of this unpleasant edge off of the area, but in the mean time I have no desire to explore it further. |
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