We gathered at the Loon Lake staging area and left about 10:30. There was Earl, Woody, Nate & Kristy, Lee, Larry & Cole, Vernon & Peggy (Larry’s parents), Alex & Richard, Keane, Don, Teddi and me. Sorry if I’ve left anyone out.
Everyone made it through Gatekeeper, some a little more uneventful than others. Don’s YJ stalled after getting through. The problem was thought to be a loose coil wire because it started right up after pushing it back on a little harder. And Alex tried using his front tow hook as a chisel to get the big rocks out of the way.
We stopped at the Loon side of the slabs to take in the sights and snap a few pictures then proceeded to the other side of the slabs for a lunch break.
After lunch Larry, Cole, Vernon & Peggy, all in Larry’s CJ5, turned around and headed back out through Gatekeeper. Vernon & Peggy seemed to be having a good time and might have some modifications in mind for their pretty stock CJ7. It was very nice to meet them.
Earl, Woody, Nate, Kristy, & Lee decided to lead us in as far as Ellis Creek before turning around. Along the way to Ellis Creek, Don’s jeep died again but was restarted again with no real indication of what was wrong.
Now we’re on our own, Alex & Richard in Alex’s Toyota pickup, Don & Keane in Don’s YJ, and Teddi & me in our TJ. We only got maybe a quarter to half mile past Ellis Creek and Don’s jeep dies again. This time it looked terminal.
Knowing that we’ve got a group behind us, we push Don's jeep out of the way and let the group
behind us get by. Then we tugged it up into the turnout so we can work on it. This time we around we checked for fuel pressure by depressing the
Schrader valve on the fuel rail. Fuel pressure was obviously too low because fuel just trickled out. Keane jumped under the Jeep and pulled the fuel filter. We blew it out, reinstalled it and the Jeep started. At this point we decide the wise thing to do would be to turn around. It's about 2:00 pm if I remember correctly.
Keane, Alex, & Richard didn't really want to camp at Loon again but I wanted to get Don as far off the trail as possible so we'd be as close to an area as possible to get Don towed if necessary. Wentworth Springs seemed to be a good idea so we headed back that direction.
On our way out to Wentworth Don's jeep dies several more times - too many to remember all the details, with one exception. There's the really rocky area with a sheer granite wall on the right (if you're coming down), well Don get's into a pretty precarious position, he's stuck despite all the excellent rock stacking. I back up to him and give him a little tug and he’s free. And then his jeep dies again. A little more wire jiggling, mumbling, cussing, voodoo, and praying and the jeep's running again.
The Toyota gets stuck in the same spot but with some rock stacking he’s free unscathed (we thought). We get a little further down the trail, out of the rocks, and pick up a little speed and Alex says he's got a problem. Over the cb I hear “we need a hammer”. When I get back to them with the hammer I find Keane and Alex under the truck saying the rear drive shaft is bent and rubbing on the cross member as it rotates. The drive shaft’s got to be pulled because if it were to break it could do a lot of damage including rupturing the fuel running parallel to the drive shaft and is only a few inches away.
At the flat area around the next turn we break out the tools and Alex and Keane perform the driveshaftectomy.
At this point it's probably about 5:00 and we've got one jeep that sporadically dies, and a front wheel drive Toyota pickup. We know we're getting close to Wentworth springs but don't know how long it will take to get there.
Now it's about 6:30, we're still not at camp, we get out of the rocky section and now are in the lowland flooded out area. Don's jeep dies and I tell him we’re not messing with it anymore and I'm towing him into camp. We tow it a ways, and he asks he can try starting it one more time. It starts and runs all the way into camp. It's somewhere between 7:00 and 7:30.
We get into camp, and the first order of business is to gather firewood before it's dark. We had one big stack of wood, and only burned about a third of it. The next one's in there will be very happy.
Anyways, we had a great camp, everyone thought I went a little overboard with the anti-bear preparations, but after Teddi told them our story they didn't think I was quite as crazy and even put their stuff under the tarp covered with cayenne pepper..
The next morning, we packed up and headed out. Don's jeep started right up. Once we got on Ice House road we let Alex lead and set the pace in case he had any problems running in front wheel drive at speed. He was able to hit 65-70 mph with no problems.
As we were approaching Placerville Don's jeep died again. We took the Mosquito road exit and he coasted to stop on the shoulder. A precise jiggle of the wiring harness going into the under hood fuse block and it started up. Hmm, maybe we're getting this figured out slowly but surely. Anyways, it ran fine from there to the Prairie City exit where Keane got into Alex’s truck for the rest of the drive home.
Don was going to head home from here but I suggested he follow me to my house so I could drop off Teddi and then I would follow him to Elk Grove. He agrees. After stopping for a couple minutes in front of the house the Jeep won't start again. We get it going again and make it to the stop sign and it dies again. It starts a few minutes later and we get it back to the house.
As I write this, I'm sitting in my home office looking out the window at Don's jeep sitting on the side yard. When we parked it was running like a champ but we have zero confidence it will make it to Elk Grove. If we could get it to completely fail, then we start diagnosing it. While it's working there's not much we can do.
Fred