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7/14/1997
More Wheelin' in the Southern Hills
Well, Julie and I headed back out to the same spot in the Southern Hills for a little more wheelin' today.. this time, we were armed with a new 35mm camera, a roll of film, and had the hubs locked in 4-lo!
Locked up in low, I was able to climb the soft, rough n' bumpy hill climb I got stuck on yesterday. No 3 or 2-wheelin' action for the camera.. But it was still fun crawling our way to the top.
After reaching the top, we rolled along in the hills, until we came to a rather ugly looking rock climb. Two routes existed, one to the left with just a few big rocks, and one to the right, with some rather large rocks, at some ugly places. Of course, the third route was to take the middle, which Julie wanted to do, but I had a feeling I would come in at just the right angle to scrape something on the largest rock.
So, Julie got out and walked up the hill a little bit with the camera, while I fired up the '77 again. Slip it into 1st gear, 4-lo (6:1, x 4.11s) and started creeping forward, giving 'er some power.
I pushed the front wheels up over two staggered rocks, and then climbed partway up before stalling, with the front wheels over the steps/rocks, and the rear wheels down below. Locked it up in gear, and put the brake on, and got out to take a peek. Pretty cool.
Julie got the camera ready (she was supposed to take pictures on the way up, along with flagging me if I was about to smack something important on the rocks.. she warned me, but forgot to snap a shot). So I climbed back into the Scout, throttled up, and scratched, clawed, and banged my way over the rocks, Julie taking about three pictures on my way over.
What followed was some less eventful rock bouncin', no more pics though. We drove down a trail to what looked like a wash going uphill. Julie (of course) didn't want to try it.. and, for today, I wasn't really game either. Again, two routes were in front of us. Both were very steep. The one to the left climbed up, about a Scout length, then had some nice big rocks sticking out, making one wicked stair step to the top. On the right, the rocks were spaced much nicer, almost a stagger configuration, but none too tall or deep, such that a good, low geared or V8 powered Scout could just claw and scratch over the top. For today, it looked like a fun place to come *down* from, but not up. Even in low, with 4.11s and the stock 235/75R15 tires, my Scout would have to really haul to have the UMPH and momentum to make it over that rock ledge. So we turned back, and headed a different way.
That about ended the exciting parts.. we went down a very little used, grass covered trail, only to stop at the end after brushing a few saplings a little too much. We didn't care to tear up too many trees, and they were getting worse. About that time, all the pollen from the grass and trees and such started to get to me, so we high-tailed it home.
Julie is taking the film to work in the morning to have it developed (she works at a local drug store as a bookeper /accountant), and I should have the pics by noon tomorrow. This'll be the first roll of film in the new (used) camera.. it'll be fun to see how they turn out. If all goes well, I'll scan 'em and post them tomorrow night.
-Tom Mandera, Helena MT