By Jules "Ice Cream Man" Castron

Steve and I headed out in the morning and got to Denny's just as Gary and David pulled in. I didn’t recognize David with his hardtop on. We all ate breakfast and were ready to go at 8:45. We got to Running Springs and turned on the 18 heading to Arrowhead when David asked why is there smoke coming out of my rig. I looked in the rearview mirror and to my horror there was a ton of smoke coming out. I quickly pulled into a parking lot to investigate. We popped the hood to see oil all over the engine. I thought that is the end of the Red ZJ. We notice quickly that it was transmission oil and started little Red to see oil coming out of the high-pressure trans cooler hose. All was not lost, but where to get a trans cooler in the mountains?

Luckily there was a nice owner at the Antiques shop who let me use her phone to call the Big Bear Chrysler dealer. Where have I heard of this before, Jesse? The parts guy said that this is an order part they don’t stock. "But I am stuck!!!" I said calmly. He said to call back in five minutes. I called back and he said he had the part another guy ordered and that the guy won’t need it until next week. I was lucky. So Steve mortared me to the dealer while David and Gary worked on pulling out the busted part. When we got back David and Gary were ready, we put the new part back on and dumped two quarts of trans fluid into Red and we were ready to go.

Let me tell you about the group I was with. If you ever get stuck you definitely want these guys with you. Gary and David were under my Jeep getting splattered with oil and pine needles sticking them and no one complained or even thought of leaving. It was 12:20pm when we were done and like true Dirt Devils we all looked at each other and said lets hit the trail. We got to Deep Creak aired down and got in the dirt. The rock garden at the entrance was rather easy. It looks like dirt has filled in between the rocks. We had a little ice on the turn to Deep Creak where some people had a Jeep going sideways. We motored around them staying on the left and keeping the drivers side in dry dirt. The crossing at Deep Creak was fun with a good layer of ice to break through. We decided to have lunch there, and watching the kids having fun throwing rocks at the ice.

The clearing after the T6 crossing had an illegal trail. We covered the trail as best as we could but we will need to plan to make a more permanent cover. The rest of the trail was uneventful and went quick. Once we got to the clearing below the waterfall I notice an illegal trail going up and around the waterfall. We went up to see some truck tracks going half way up before they stopped. The rest of the tracks were from motorcycles going over to the top of the waterfall. It looks likes the soft dirt is coming down the hill and filled in the bypass to the waterfall. We got over the fall without any problems, and finished the trail. At the end of the trail David and Gary strapped big rock to block another illegal trail, and we moved some branches to finish the cover.

Overall it was a great trip it went very quickly once we got going. We need to plan to make a trip to make more permanent blocks to the illegal trails and might think to make the trailheads harder. Thanks again to the group for their help and patience. Jules

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