- First Name
- AJ
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2021
- Threads
- 21
- Messages
- 225
- Reaction score
- 982
- Location
- Orange County California
- Vehicle(s)
- Multiple
- Your Bronco Model
- Big Bend
- Thread starter
- #1
Hey 6G,
I want to thank everyone who made it out to our Tour of The Hammers & Bronco Knoll run. This was a record size group for us with 25 rigs making it out. With a group that big, things can get sideways quickly. I want to thank everyone for all their help during the run, and keeping their positive attitudes as the day went on!
For those who couldn’t make it, we started our day airing down by the Giant Rock just outside of the Homestead Valley. From there we continued north to the Hammer Mountain range. Due to our chart plotter freezing up, we had an unexpected detour for a bit, but quickly got back on track and to the entrance of the Hammer Valley.
As we entered the Valley, we got our first taste of what was to come. We had a few bumpy sections, and then found a steep climb up a rocky hill to test our 4-wheel drive systems. As we entered the valley, we found our first major obstacle. It was a deep hole with a drop off on the side. It is one of those obstacles where the pictures do not do it justice. After we conquered those warmups, we continued along the trail to our most difficult obstacle of the day. Some had asked if there was a bypass, unfortunately this being the Hammers… the trail we were on was the bypass.
It was a hill climb that had a step up, with a large boulder in the way forcing you to pick a line. To the left you would most definitely scrape your bottom, risking damage to the undercarriage and driveshafts. To the right you had to thread the needle of gaining traction on the large bolder in your way, while balancing and turning into the traction you absolutely needed to get through it on your passenger side.Those with front lockers and 4 doors found this one mildly challenging, the sasquatch package really shines in moments like these. However, that day we had a few that did this one on level expert without it. We had a couple rigs that had no front lockers and 33” s, and even had one manual bronco that made us all look bad when he did it with ease. All showing us that those fancy packages are nice to have, but skill and determination have their place as well.
After a flat tire and making it through the most difficult part of the day, we chased the afternoon sun across the desert to Soggy Dry Lake. The trails were badly washed out due to the recent rain, and the broncos were bucking in the whoops along the way.Once we got to the lake, we found gusts of wind blowing at what the weather report says is 30 mph, but I think everyone will tell you it felt much faster than that. Here we got in line and took some of our best photos of the day! Running about 2.5 hours behind schedule we agreed to head to the Knoll.
When we got to the Knoll we summited from the east. Taking our time to pack all 25 of us up there to sign rocks and pay our homage to the history of testing these amazing rigs. After conferring with some that ran the knoll the week prior, we decided to take the short way down on the south side. It was a steep but fun ride down as continued onto powerline road to find our way back to pavement.
Again, I want to thank everyone who made it out and contributed to a remarkable day! I especially want to thank Boris for running chase for us, and Marc who did the prerun with myself. We owe a lot of the success of this trip to you two. Thank you for stepping up and going above and beyond! I hope to see many of you on the next one!
Cheers,
AJ
I want to thank everyone who made it out to our Tour of The Hammers & Bronco Knoll run. This was a record size group for us with 25 rigs making it out. With a group that big, things can get sideways quickly. I want to thank everyone for all their help during the run, and keeping their positive attitudes as the day went on!
For those who couldn’t make it, we started our day airing down by the Giant Rock just outside of the Homestead Valley. From there we continued north to the Hammer Mountain range. Due to our chart plotter freezing up, we had an unexpected detour for a bit, but quickly got back on track and to the entrance of the Hammer Valley.
As we entered the Valley, we got our first taste of what was to come. We had a few bumpy sections, and then found a steep climb up a rocky hill to test our 4-wheel drive systems. As we entered the valley, we found our first major obstacle. It was a deep hole with a drop off on the side. It is one of those obstacles where the pictures do not do it justice. After we conquered those warmups, we continued along the trail to our most difficult obstacle of the day. Some had asked if there was a bypass, unfortunately this being the Hammers… the trail we were on was the bypass.
It was a hill climb that had a step up, with a large boulder in the way forcing you to pick a line. To the left you would most definitely scrape your bottom, risking damage to the undercarriage and driveshafts. To the right you had to thread the needle of gaining traction on the large bolder in your way, while balancing and turning into the traction you absolutely needed to get through it on your passenger side.Those with front lockers and 4 doors found this one mildly challenging, the sasquatch package really shines in moments like these. However, that day we had a few that did this one on level expert without it. We had a couple rigs that had no front lockers and 33” s, and even had one manual bronco that made us all look bad when he did it with ease. All showing us that those fancy packages are nice to have, but skill and determination have their place as well.
After a flat tire and making it through the most difficult part of the day, we chased the afternoon sun across the desert to Soggy Dry Lake. The trails were badly washed out due to the recent rain, and the broncos were bucking in the whoops along the way.Once we got to the lake, we found gusts of wind blowing at what the weather report says is 30 mph, but I think everyone will tell you it felt much faster than that. Here we got in line and took some of our best photos of the day! Running about 2.5 hours behind schedule we agreed to head to the Knoll.
When we got to the Knoll we summited from the east. Taking our time to pack all 25 of us up there to sign rocks and pay our homage to the history of testing these amazing rigs. After conferring with some that ran the knoll the week prior, we decided to take the short way down on the south side. It was a steep but fun ride down as continued onto powerline road to find our way back to pavement.
Again, I want to thank everyone who made it out and contributed to a remarkable day! I especially want to thank Boris for running chase for us, and Marc who did the prerun with myself. We owe a lot of the success of this trip to you two. Thank you for stepping up and going above and beyond! I hope to see many of you on the next one!
Cheers,
AJ
Sponsored
here’s the Venmo for those who want to donate towards the art we had.
