Tinkham Road Fights Back!

08/30/2003

Edit 08/31:  Okay, after getting a nights worth of sleep, here is the full story...

Four of us took off for a little light wheeling at Tinkham yesterday 08/30.  Gene had never done the Tinkham hill climb, so we thought we would head there to give him a shot at it.  Riding with me was ChrisCo, webmaster for WATTORA and riding with Gene was Frank, Gene's buddy from down in Oregon.  This was Frank's first real off road trip.

We had a pleasant trip up the lower Tinkham section, warming up with some light duty Forest Circus roads, then a long, rocky hill climb leading up to the main event.  Once we were up top, both Gene and I elected to take the "tank trap" rather than the bypass.  Both of us made it through without incident.  Once we were through the tank trap,  we made our way around the corner and up to the famous Tinkham Hill Climb that is the last obstacle before the summit.

Gene parked and he and Frank watched me crawl slowly up the climb with both lockers on.  As usual, I didn't have an problem with the climb and once we were clear of the hill, ChrisCo and I hopped out and walked back down to watch Gene take a shot at it.

Gene's ascent required a little more skinny pedal than mine since he is unlocked, but his progress up was similar to other unlocked rigs that I have seen make it up the hill.  (JRuz has made it with the same technique).  After a couple of attempts, Gene made it through the first section of the hill, but was getting stopped by a big hole and a rock that mark the transition to the second part of the hill.  With a couple of runs at it, Gene made it just up over that section and was clawing his way up.  That's when things went horribly wrong.

During an attempt to complete the climb, Gene's rig lost traction and started to slide backwards.  ChrisCo and I watched from above, from about the position that the first photo below was taken, as Gene's rear passenger side wheel slipped back into the hole he had just conquered.  Combined with his relatively short wheelbase, that was just enough for the front end to start to come off the ground, then for the rig to off balance and do a painfully slow to watch "flop".  During the flop, the rig settled such that the passenger side, rear wheel dropped into the hole and the front end came off the ground completely.  It then pivoted on that wheel and settled over onto the passenger side.  It was touch and go for a moment as to whether it would continue over onto the roof, but it stopped rocking and remained on it's side.  If you look at photo #005 below, you can see how close it came to being a roll instead of a flop.

ChrisCo and I scrambled down the hill toward the stricken rig and shouted to Gene to shut the engine off... yes, it was still running just fine on it's side, but that wouldn't have lasted long...  Gene shut it down and called out that he and Frank were fine, hanging from their seat belts, but fine.  ChrisCo and I ballasted the high-side of the rig, the undercarriage, and assisted first Frank, then Gene in climbing out.  Once out, both of them looked a bit dazed, but they quickly recovered and we began the recovery.

We got REALLY lucky.  There happened to be a flat spot on the other side of a grove of trees, perpendicular to Gene's rig where I could park my truck for a perfect winch angle.  Take a look at photos 056 and 057 below to see how we anchored my rig to a stump, then ran my winch line through the trees to Gene's frame. (photo 043).  The truck came back onto it's wheels with the first attempt, but the passenger side rear wheel that caused all of this was still hanging over the hole and the truck threatened to go back over on it's side if we let off on the winch line.  So, we rigged a second line to hold the truck steady while I repositioned the winch and crossed our fingers.  Once I was in the new position, we were able to hook up to Gene's front end and drag it around such that he was now facing up hill again and was back to having all four wheels on the ground.  :)

Once again, we repositioned my rig, this time to the road at the top of the climb and used it to winch Gene to the rest of the way up the hill and onto the Forest Circus road at the top.  From there it was just a quick drive to Tinkham summit where we gave the truck an inspection and kicked back for a few minutes to let everyone's blood pressure come back down to normal.

Surprisingly, damage was pretty slight.  You can see the sheet metal damage in the photos below and that was pretty much it.  No broken glass and the engine started right up. Other that a bit of power steering fluid, the rig retained all of it's precious bodily fluids and all was well.

I would like to note that through out this whole event, Gene was cool as a cucumber.  You would have thought he was helping to recover someone else's rig, not the one he has been working so hard to build out.  Congrats on keeping your composure Gene!  It was truly impressive.  Everyone did a great job in working as a team to pull off the recovery and it worked like clockwork.  When Gene's friend Frank was asked after the run and we were were airing up, "what did you think of off roading?", he gestured toward the side of Gene's truck and said; "THAT is why I play golf!".  The interior of the cab seemed to have an odd aroma after the incident as well, but I am sure that will shampoo out...

Edit:  I just talked to Gene and both he and Frank are feeling fine.  Both are a little sore from running up and down the hill during the recovery, but neither is injured from the flop itself :)

-Rob

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