Bulldog Canyon Run 4-5-08

Dave had posted on the AZXJ about running Bulldog Canyon, so I thought I would join the group and run it again.

With any planned run, there are always last minute repairs. This was how the day started. One of the guys, Chris, had to change out his front yoke and install a new U-joint in the frontdriveshaft. He met me at my house at 8:30 to get this repair done. The plan was to meet Dave, Keith and Mario at the Idaho Entrance of Bulldog at 9:30.  Chris and I finally get rolling at 9:35(thankfully I don’t live to far from the Idaho Entrance!).

Once we met the rest of the group, we aired down and did the routine gab session. Dave, Chris and I were in XJs and Keith was driving an YJ. Mario was passenger and photographer with Dave. Bridget, my wife, was with me as navigator/photographer.

FR10 is a nice simple trail with some spots scaling up to a 3.  For anyone not familiar with the area, it’s not a trail that is all difficult. There are easier sections with hard stuff intermixed. Bulldog is a good place to get your feet wet with off-roading or just to take a leisurely Sunday drive. Make sure to bring your camera because the scenery is great!

It was agreed on that I would lead the group being I was just thru here the previous weekend and mapped it, like that mattered! After only 10 minutes into the run, I ended up leading the group down the wrong trail. There are so many spurs off of FR10 that even with maps and a preexisting GPS trail you can get off track.  Thankfully everyone seemed well versed in turning around in tight quarters and/or backing down trails.
 
We came across our first opposing traffic shortly after getting back on to the right trail. We felt sorry for the guys in the two factory trucks, but the Xterra seemed to be doing ok.  One of the higher scale sections got interesting. As we pulled into that area it turned out to be a traffic jam. A full-sized pickup and Samurai were in the process of escorting a second Sami, who had a broken driveshaft, down the hill and out of the trail system. Waiting to use the hill was a total of four horses, two ATVs and our four Jeeps. To clear the trail for the disabled vehicle we all pulled off by the horses being careful not to spook them. I felt sorry for the Chevy. It was hitting every part of the frame and IFS all the way down. Thank god for gravity. The trail cleared up and we planned to get to the top and break for lunch. Before this I asked the riders which way they were going so we could allow a respectful distance between us and them. Unfortunately one lady was VERY rude to us mumbling something about us getting in their resting spot and complaining about Jeeps. It’s sad she took this attitude; we are all on that trail for the same reason, to have fun and enjoy the outdoors.

Lunchtime. We had lunch and everyone did the usual, talk Jeep and tell story. We met a couple of other jeepers up top one of them being new to Jeeps and new to offroading. One of the drivers said he just ordered his lift and we said “he’s hooked”! “We all start at 3” and go nothing but up from there” we told him. Like most other gab sessions the group of drivers moved from jeep to jeep showing there upgrades and custom jobs. Above us was a very long steep hill that as far as I know is not a motorized trail but might have been worth a try. Pucker factor would get high I bet.

We continue on. We took our time just out enjoying the day. There was even a nice breeze all day so it didn’t get too hot. Stops were occasionally made for a quick snapshot of the scenery.  There is an intersection at FR10 were there are two arrows and they both point into the ground at an angle all this and you’re looking at four trails to go onto. The one to the far right takes you into a NON OHV area. The next on left goes god knows where. The next left is the bypass for the far left trail. The entire far left trail is a slight hill with some off camber holes, nothing too bad. So we got out gabbed some more and I decided to run the hill up and see if I could get stuck with open diffs. Let me tell you, the brake trick does work to get both back tires to turn at the same time with an auto. Keith’s YJ is built pretty well with somewhere around a 100:1 crawl ratio he just idles right up it. Chris’s Xj flexed good and Dave’s XJ had no problem keeping all four tires planted to terra firma 3 link front suspension. Mario was out taking so many shot that his camera battery went dead.

A mile or so down the trail is the intersection for FR3554, this would take you to the Usery Pass Road entrance. We opted to take FR10 all the way thru to the Bush Highway. After the 3554 intersection FR10 becomes a flat windy gravel road. The one nice thing is you can get some really good shots of Four Peaks from the north FR10 road.

It was about 2PM when we got to the Bush Highway entrance and we all were trying to make excuses to keep running but we actually had things to do. Once again while airing up we are gabbing and comparing each others OBA system. If you think about it we had all four flavors of OBA. Dave has CO2, Chris has a 12v tire inflator, Keith has a converted York A/C compressor and I have a 12v tire inflator piped into a 7 gallon tank.

All in all someone did in fact get rock rash and it wasn’t a jeep. Bridget was walking down a section of rocks to get some pics and slipped. She scratched up her left leg pretty bad in order to save the camera. Bridget got up and like a trooper brushed herself off and got the shots.

We said our goodbyes and agreed to get together again for a trip thru Box Canyon. All in all it was a fun day. Great times had by all.

Below are the rest of the Bulldog Canyon Run Pics.

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