theesotericone's Trails and BS Thread

[theesotericone]

This will be the place to see what trails my rig has been doing lately. It will also be a place to just shoot the shit. Got something to say? Say it. I'm not easy to offend and a lot of you guys are actually enjoyable to chat with. Which is saying a lot since I don't like most folks. lol

I started building my rig about 14 months ago. There was a plan for it since day one. That plan was a simple one. To make it capable of taking me where I wanted to go and also be able to get me home. This rig also does double duty as my wives daily so I had to keep it completely road worthy as well.

I'm horrible about taking photo's so I never went the build thread route. Instead I put my content all over the "What did you do in" thread. For those of you wanting to see some of the mods that got done search my username in that thread.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Rig​

1997 SR5 4X4 Auto

Lift
Eibach #620 lb Springs w/ Taco Billies 2nd Perch Front
ARB OME 2861's w/Toytec Boss Shocks Rear
SPC Upper Control Arms
Extended SS Brake Lines F/R
Extended Rear Sway Bar Links
Front Sway Bar Removed

Drive Line
ARB Lockers F/R
5.29 gears
MB Motoring 352's 17x9 -12 Offset
Nitto Ridge Grappler 295/70/r17
1.25" Hub-Centric Wheel Spacers
231mm Power Stop KC2324 TBU

Armor
Relentless Fab Predator Front Bumper
Savage Off-Road Dual Swing Out Rear Bumper w/ Tire Carrier, Hi-lift Mount(soon), Rotopax mounts
Savage Off-Road Skids
Stubbs HD-SKO Sliders
Rola Roof Rack w/Custom Low Pro Mounts

Recovery
Engo 12000lb Winch Synthetic w/Wireless
48" Hi-lift
MAXSA Traction Boards
4 Gallon Rotopax Gas
2 Thirty Foot 20000lb Straps
Tools to Fix Shit On The Trail
ARB CKMA12 Mounted Under Hood


Electrical

All Grounds Over-Sized
100A Relay Wired to Ignition
100A Bussman Circuit Breaker
12 Gang w/Negative Blue Sea Fuse Box
5 40A Relays w/Custom Acrylic Mount
Blue Sea 9003E 350A Battery Disconnect(for winch)
Custom Acrylic Rocker Switch Dash Insert
2 Seven Inch Combo LED's Top of Bumper
2 Four Inch Spot LED's in Bumper
SNAN 300W Inverter
7" Electric Trans Cooler Fan

Music
Butyl and Mat Sound Deadening 75% of Rig
Pioneer TS-W259S4 Champion Series 10" Single 4ohm 1200 Watts Mounter in Rear Storage Compartment
Polk DB651's 6.5" in Rear Door
Infinity Reference 6500CX 6-1/2" w/Tweeters in Front Door
Boss AR1500M ARMOR 1500W Mono for Sub Mounted in Rear Quarter Panel Behind Sub
Hifonics ZRX1016.4 Zeus 1000W 4-Channel for 6.5" Under Drivers Seat
Dual DV526BT Double-DIN DVD Receiver
If It's To Loud Your To Old

Other Mods
Hayden Trans Cooler In-Line w/ New Rad
Auto-Meter Trans Temp Gauge w/Pillar Mount
Sonora Steel Rear Poly Body Mounts
Sonora Steel Washer Bottle Relocate
Rear Diff Breather
Front Diff Breather

June 9th 2016

Current

 

[theesotericone]

Sand Canyon and Wheeler Ridge​

Finally my rigs pretty much where I wanted it. There will be F/R lockers and a re-gear coming in the next year but for now I'm happy to be wheeling it instead of working on it.

Here's a little trail I went out on today. It's called the Sand Canyon Trail. It starts in the community of Swall Meadows just north of Bishop. It's an out and back trail that's about 12 miles each way and ends at the wilderness boundary in Rock Creek.

There's also a spur road here called the Wheeler Ridge Trail. That takes you through some gnarly terrain. Did I run it? Of course I did.

As soon as you start the trail you're greeted with a "Most Difficult" sign. About 100 yards after that it turns sharp uphill and you hit about 7 obstacles. Big rocks with only a few good lines is what this trail is all about. There spread over about 1.5 miles so you have some time to chill in between the oh shit moments.

It's another 1.5 miles from the end of this section to the old mine. There's an overlook about 1 mile in that most people stop at. The road from there to the mine is super loose, off camber and scary as shit. I backed out about 1/4 mile. I stopped again at the overlook to rethink my plan.

My plan is now to do this section with another rig. There's no winch points anywhere on the way up and it's off camber and loose. There's actually a sign there that states not to take motorized vehicles up it. That means I have to do it. Who's in?

The Sand Canyon trail is passable by most stock vehicles with an experienced driver. The Wheeler Ridge trail is the real deal. Lift, 33's and lockers if you got them will all come in handy. A spotter's not a bad idea for those of you not used to going solo through Class IV.

 

[theesotericone]

While filling my tires back up I did the usual rig inspection. I found this little guy that didn't quite look right. Energy Suspensions. Any one else have one of these brake like that? I might go back to OEM. Rubbers a little more forgiving when it's stressed. At least it's an easy fix.

 

[AssBurns]

About time! I haven’t seen any photos of your rig yet. Looks awesome! Maybe one of these days I’ll cruise up and we can do a wheeling/ camping trip. Also I saw that Dirtco had the same issue with his rack bushing. I bought some like 6 months ago, but haven’t installed yet. Maybe I’ll hold off then.


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[85straight]

Nice photos! I've always wondered if there was a trail that lead up the pass, looks like a blast.

 

[Road Bull]

Awesome! Glad to see you started your own page man. I know you don't dig taking lots of pics, but you have got some cool mods that I am sure people around here are happy to check out. That rear bumper looks like it came together well. And it's cool to see your rig stretching its legs out on the trail.

 

[theesotericone]

About time! I haven’t seen any photos of your rig yet. Looks awesome! Maybe one of these days I’ll cruise up and we can do a wheeling/ camping trip. Also I saw that Dirtco had the same issue with his rack bushing. I bought some like 6 months ago, but haven’t installed yet. Maybe I’ll hold off then.


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There's photo's of my rig all over this site. lol I finally just decided to put them in one place.

It's funny your the first one to post. I almost mentioned you when I typed the "Who's in?" line above. I figured you'd be down judging my some of your posts on here. As far as I know the road to the mine is the highest 4x4 road in Cali. I was probably still 400' shy of the top when I chickened out. That was at 11,000 feet.

I might have kept going but had a strange encounter with a guy I know at the end of the Sand Canyon trail. He's came up to the parking area on his enduro. We said hi and chatted for a bit. I told him I was planning on doing the old mine road. He looked at me and mentioned it was pretty crazy. Then he told me about a Toyota that rolled when the road broke out a few years ago. I said bye and headed up.

As soon as I realized how shitty the road was that last 1/2 mile I backed out. Why? Because I was in a Toyota. Had he said it was a Jeep that rolled I probably would have kept going. With another rig behind you or in front of you to winch off of if you slide out I think it's doable. Sketchy but doable.

I've wheeled pretty hard on those bushings for 9 months now. Honestly though, this trail was the hardest I've done. I'm really surprised that was the only damage. I fully expected to snap a CV axle. It's so tight at times you have to power through while still under full lock full stuff. I sure fire way to snap CV's like toothpicks. I'm impressed my rig made it without a rear locker.

Awesome! Glad to see you started your own page man. I know you don't dig taking lots of pics, but you have dine some cool mods that I am sure people around here are happy to check out. That rear bumper looks like it came together well. And it's cool to see your rig stretching its legs out on the trail.

Thanks man. I might organize some stuff and put it here but this will mainly be wheeling thread. I'll add a photo of my rig and a list of mods to the OP eventually. I'll also find a photo hosting site so you guys can blow up the photo's. The only downside to using the attachment function on the site is you can't blow them up. That and you can't add text between them. Blowing up some of those photo's gives you some cool stuff your not seeing all that well with the attachments. For instance, there's a most difficult sign off to the right of my rig in one of the pics. It looks great blown up on my comp but is hardly noticeable in the post.

As far as the bumper goes, I'm incredibly happy with it. It took a beating today. So did the skids and sliders. That trail isn't very scenic by Sierra standards but it's a beast by wheeling standards. Everything is still attached to my rig and functioning well, except that bushing. lol

 

[AssBurns]

That’s funny that you almost mentioned me. How late in the season is that trail passable? Sounds fun! I’d like to check that one out and maybe camp. I’m busy most of next month but if it’s doable in October, I’d be down to drive up and check it out for the weekend or at least an overnighter.

I’ve never had any major issues like that with my rack bushings. Even with all the wheeling I do. I might try the Energy bushings out just to see for myself. If they turn to shit, I’ll swap them back out. As for breaking CV’s, they only break when your doing stupid shit. I’ve only broken one so far and I knew it was going to happen too. Since then, I knew the limits of what it takes to break CV axles. I don’t get how people break them all the time. Wheel smarter not harder haha.


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[Dezert4Runner]

I was in the Rock Creek area a couple weeks ago and didn't even realize there was a trail that ran parallel to the paved road going up to Rock Creek Lake! We were in my buddies company car this trip so no off road trails for us this time around.

On another note, I finally got my Sierra Slam up in Little Lakes Valley! Goldens at Treasure, more Brookies than I remember at one of the Gem Lakes, and Rainbows & Browns in Rock Creek near our campsite in East Fork. There was a lot of water running through there this year so the creek fishing took a bit more finesse to be successful this trip. Saw a hybrid Brookie/ Rainbow in one of the Hidden Lakes, which was pretty cool too. Common in any of the lakes you fish around Bishop/ Mammoth? Ooh, also stopped by Hing's Donut shop in town. They have a killer breakfast croissant sandwich with jalapeño!

 

[theesotericone]

That’s funny that you almost mentioned me. How late in the season is that trail passable? Sounds fun! I’d like to check that one out and maybe camp. I’m busy most of next month but if it’s doable in October, I’d be down to drive up and check it out for the weekend or at least an overnighter.

It'll be passable till the first big storm drops more then 12" of snow on it. Could be Oct could be Nov. I'll keep it in mind if you wanna come up and get out for a weekend in Oct.

I was in the Rock Creek area a couple weeks ago and didn't even realize there was a trail that ran parallel to the paved road going up to Rock Creek Lake!

Saw a hybrid Brookie/ Rainbow in one of the Hidden Lakes, which was pretty cool too. Common in any of the lakes you fish around Bishop/ Mammoth? Ooh, also stopped by Hing's Donut shop in town. They have a killer breakfast croissant sandwich with jalapeño!

Next time bring your rig up and camp at the end of Sand Canyon. It ends about a half mile from Dorothy Lake. Then Tamarack is another 2.5 miles past Dorothy. It's easy to pick up the trail and it skips about 1500' of elevation gain compared to coming in from the Rock Creek side. When your done fishing those head back to Hings and get some donuts. Now point it towards Coyote Flat and go to Baker Lake. Enjoy the tips. There good ones.

I've never seen or even heard of a Brookie/Bow hybrid. There's tons of Cutbows and Golden/Bow hybrids but the Brook/Bow is a new one to me. Did you actually catch it or just see it swimming by? I'd be really curious to see a photo of it. How big was it? It could have been a Cuttie. Small Cutties can look very similar to what I imagine a Brook/Bow cross to look like:

 

[Dezert4Runner]

Yeah, I'm probably making a bad ID and it's something different. My go-to website for the Eastern sierras is Stevenojai.tripod.com and I read there was only Brook and Rainbows in Hidden Lakes. Here's a link to the area that I read up on what Lakes have what fish in them.

http://stevenojai.tripod.com/http://stevenojai.tripod.com/rcreekbc.htm

Here's the one I took a photo of. What do you make of it? I just looked at some more online photos and it almost has the big oval spots that Goldens have. I just assumed it was a hybrid Brook/Rainbow based off of the fish I thought were in there.

 

[theesotericone]

Yeah, I'm probably making a bad ID and it's something different. My go-to website for the Eastern sierras is Stevenojai.tripod.com and I read there was only Brook and Rainbows in Hidden Lakes. Here's a link to the area that I read up on what Lakes have what fish in them.

http://stevenojai.tripod.com/http://stevenojai.tripod.com/rcreekbc.htm

Here's the one I took a photo of. What do you make of it? I just looked at some more online photos and it almost has the big oval spots that Goldens have. I just assumed it was a hybrid Brook/Rainbow based off of the fish I thought were in there.

That's a juvenile Brookie. The parr marks will go away once it gets bigger.

Fish Details

 

[Dezert4Runner]

I just searched juvenile rainbow and they also have the parr marks. Seems like both species as juveniles are very close in apprearance.

 

[BrianSD_42]

Subscribed!

 

[Unner]

It's about time! I don't think I've seen but one picture of your rig, but I also don't frequent the What did you do today thread.

Looking forward to see where all the rig will take you! It's fun just taking the truck out and wheeling it/exploring and not trying to build it at the same time. So far for me it's been mostly maintenance and a few small mods here and there but a lot more trips this past year.

 

[theesotericone]

I just searched juvenile rainbow and they also have the parr marks. Seems like both species as juveniles are very close in apprearance.

You might be right. It's hard to tell but the tail on your fish is pretty square. Brooks tend to have more of a v in the tail. I'm sure an actual biologist could tell you, I'm just some dude who fishes a lot. lol

I forgot to say congrats on the Slam before. It's pretty cool to do. There's more then a few drainages in the Sierra where it's possible. Rock creek is the most accessible and has some of the shortest hikes to make it happen. Plus it's a damn pretty cirque back there.

If you ever want any fishing or wheeling advise feel free to ask. I almost named the thread "theesotericone's Unofficial East Side Questions" thread. I wouldn't trade where I live for anywhere else in the US. I've traveled all over it climbing so that's saying a lot.

It's about time! I don't think I've seen but one picture of your rig, but I also don't frequent the What did you do today thread.

Looking forward to see where all the rig will take you! It's fun just taking the truck out and wheeling it/exploring and not trying to build it at the same time. So far for me it's been mostly maintenance and a few small mods here and there but a lot more trips this past year.

Yeah, it is about time I guess. My New Years resolution was to get better about taking photo's and organizing them. I'm only 9 months late starting that. But you know, things like climbing, fishing and wheeling tend to get in the way. Plus the wife and work. The real 4 letter words. lol

You should frequent the What Did thread more. It's actually a great thread. A guy with your experience could lend a hand or some ideas to the thread. It's got some good content albeit spread over a lot of pages.

 

[Dezert4Runner]

You might be right. It's hard to tell but the tail on your fish is pretty square. Brooks tend to have more of a v in the tail. I'm sure an actual biologist could tell you, I'm just some dude who fishes a lot. lol

I forgot to say congrats on the Slam before. It's pretty cool to do. There's more then a few drainages in the Sierra where it's possible. Rock creek is the most accessible and has some of the shortest hikes to make it happen. Plus it's a damn pretty cirque back there.

If you ever want any fishing or wheeling advise feel free to ask. I almost named the thread "theesotericone's Unofficial East Side Questions" thread. I wouldn't trade where I live for anywhere else in the US. I've traveled all over it climbing so that's saying a lot.

Looking at some more photos, the Brook Trout have mostly yellow spots as their base pattern and some red circled in blue spots mixed in. Rainbows have all black spots as their base pattern along with the pink stripe so I've concluded that this one was a young Rainbow. The parr markings are now in my vocabulary, so thanks for that tid bit of info!

Regarding the fishing spots and trails, I really appreciate the insight. You know how fishing is, you might give up some of your good spots but the best ones are your ace up the sleeve that you only share with your closest friends. That was only my third time in the Sierras fishing, and my first being in 2014. Only make it up there once a year if that so it will probably be next summer for fishing but might possibly head out to the southern ranges like Coyote Flat or Kennedy Meadows for some off roading and camping in the cooler months when it's passable after the snow melts later in the spring.

First photo is a more colorful Brook Trout from this trip, and second and third photos are from 2014, all at the same lake (Hidden Lake):

 

[theesotericone]

Regarding the fishing spots and trails, I really appreciate the insight. You know how fishing is, you might give up some of your good spots but the best ones are your ace up the sleeve that you only share with your closest friends.

My "secret" spots are pretty easy to find if you look. They 're all also more then 8 miles from the nearest trailhead. Well not all of them but most of them. If there's good lakes that you can 4x4 to I'm more than happy to share them. The stevenojal site you linked above has been a resource I've used for years. It's a great site. To find the secret lakes get a topo map and use his site. Any lakes he doesn't have labeled that are over 10,000' are worth checking out. There's a lot of lakes that DFG lists as "fishless". It's a joke. One of my favorite lakes is "fishless" status. I keep catching these 16" Goldens out of it though.

Nice choice on the mini-jig. I fish them 80% of the time. The other 20% is spent chucking my flyrod. My mini-jig rod is a 9' rig with 3lb test. 2lb works but I fish a lot of lakes around Bishop that hold big fish. That extra pound allows me to get them in a little quicker so there healthier for release. With that setup I can huck a 1/32oz jig as far as most guys can huck a kastmaster.


This is a 9lb 6oz hog I pulled out of South Lake in 2012. The biggest Rainbow I have ever landed. I tried to release it for about ten minutes but he couldn't swim away. I finally gave up and had a buddy smoke him.

 

[Dezert4Runner]

My "secret" spots are pretty easy to find if you look. They 're all also more then 8 miles from the nearest trailhead. Well not all of them but most of them. If there's good lakes that you can 4x4 to I'm more than happy to share them. The stevenojal site you linked above has been a resource I've used for years. It's a great site. To find the secret lakes get a topo map and use his site. Any lakes he doesn't have labeled that are over 10,000' are worth checking out. There's a lot of lakes that DFG lists as "fishless". It's a joke. One of my favorite lakes is "fishless" status. I keep catching these 16" Goldens out of it though.

Nice choice on the mini-jig. I fish them 80% of the time. The other 20% is spent chucking my flyrod. My mini-jig rod is a 9' rig with 3lb test. 2lb works but I fish a lot of lakes around Bishop that hold big fish. That extra pound allows me to get them in a little quicker so there healthier for release. With that setup I can huck a 1/32oz jig as far as most guys can huck a kastmaster.


This is a 9lb 6oz hog I pulled out of South Lake in 2012. The biggest Rainbow I personally have ever landed. I tried to release it for about ten minutes but he couldn't swim away. I finally gave up and had a buddy smoke him.

That's a monster Rainbow! I'm not much of a fresh water fisherman but I do get out and spearfish every now and the and do some sport boat fishing for Yellowfin, Yellowtail and Dorado offshore, and Calico Bass, Sheephead, Halibut and rockfish inshore depending on the time of year.

We were using the 1/64 Trout traps on 2-4 lb line with a 6.5-7ft ultralight rods. Got the job done! We weren't having any luck with the dry flies on a 2ft leader with a clear bobber like we did in trips past, so it was crucial to master the mini jigs to get our fish count! We were striking out on Kastmasters and Thomas Bouyants too. All the stuff that works at our local lakes with stocked trout is hit or miss in the Sierras. Too many seasonal factors with these wild trout and what bugs they're eating and also the water thaw/ flow conditions are factors depending on the area.

 

[BigFishAllDay]

The ichthyological information posted in this thread so far has been tough for me to read. :fish:

1. Rainbows and cutthroats are spring spawners, while browns and brook trout are fall spawners. In nature you will never see a cross between two species which spawn at opposite times of year. Even at high elevations, their spawning seasons are separated by a month or more. Cutt-bows, sure. Tiger trout (brook/brown), sure. Rain-brook... no way. Cutt-brown... nope.

2. Brook trout have square tails, not a v. A common nickname for them is "squaretail", look it up.

3. VERMICULATIONS. That is the only word you need to know when it comes to identifying a brook trout. Only brookies and lake trout have them. Brookies and lakers are both fall spawners, which sometimes cross in nature to produce a fish known as a Splake, which would make for a third possibility. Lakers and splake both have a deeply forked tail, aka a "v", in the tail. Brookies have square tails.

That is all. I had to get it out of my system.