Huey,

I may still wonder up to Deer Valley if I can hitch a ride with someone....provided you guys think it is safe to leave my X out at the trail head for a few hours unattended in that area (never been up this way before).

Also...would you mind PMing me your cell #....not sure where I have put it.

Anyone new who's interested in joining? This will be a great 1-day adventure to leave the pavement and enjoy the Sierras w/ your truck.

Wow, we posted within 1 minute of eachother.

If you ride the sliders you know that means I'm going to be aiming for trees.

To anybody who wants to ride along on Deer Valley, there is a parking lot at the bottom of the trail where you can leave your trucks.

- Matt

We might join you all up there. We'll stay the night Saurday though. Is there a campground at the trailhead?

Hey Marty, how goes it?

Yeah, there is a campground at the trailhead. It's semi developed (there are bathrooms) if you can find a spot. If you don't want to pay, just hit the trail and at the end there is a very nice (near a river) undeveloped campground that you can use. The trail shouldn't prove any problems for you and you can easily do it by yourself. You could just hang out there till we reach you and run it back out with us.

To get there take HWY4 a little past Big Trees and look for Boards Crossing Road. There is a small realty office on the right side of HWY4 at Boards Crossing, make a right there. Then just follow the road through the neighborhood and on to a lonely streach (I think 6mi total). You will then cross a bridge and imediately see the camp area (parking lot and bathrooms) on the left. The trail head is off to the right in the parking lot.

If you get lost just ask the locals to help you find the Sour Grass camp ground.

Thank you Huey, I'm doing good. Just bought a house in Concord.
We're planning on biking before you guys get there. It'll be easier on me to be there on Saturday.

Akio are you still going? If you are, do you want to meet up in safeway mission blvd.?

Okay...say 8:30+ AM ? :rolleyes: (It's only 20 min. from the safeway to McD in Pleasanton...)

1. Huey (McDonalds in Pleasanton)
2. George
3. Robert (super size me in pleasanton)
4. Ryan (meet you at Angels Camp)
5. XPLORx4 (maybe)*
6. XSAL (probably)**
7. Matt (will probably have room in Jalopy if people want a ride on Deer Valley)
8. Steve (pleasanton)

Thanks everyone for making this a great day trip.....nice to see some old faces and new ones alike. Thanks to all that helped spot me on occasion....it was much appreciated. I really enjoyed the trail.

Hope your guys were able to meet up with Dean and Huey. Looking forward to seeing the pics since I have to wait to get mine developed.

See you all next time!

Pics here:
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/Xterra%20Sourgrass%206-12-05/

After we left sourgrass, Matt called up dean and huey and found that dean had to be towed back to huey's house. I'll let them tell the story. It's a good thing huey is having a mod day next weekend .

Anyway, Matt, Geoff and I decided to just head home after sourgrass. When's the deer valley trip?

It was a fun, relaxed run... Too bad that new people didn't show up. It would have been the perfect trail for newbies and enjoy the Sierras... :rolleyes:

Sour grass Pics

LOL It was a fun day....but I think that trail would have given the first timer more then a run for their money.

Yeah, I heard about the creative tire-lifting line that you guys all took. Sounds like you enjoyed it, though.

Here's a couple of PICTURES
I took.

I was soooo close to going on this trip, but I have finals this week which was the deciding factor. Glad to hear you guys had fun and shot some cool pics.

Hey Dean.....did you make it home ok? What was the verdit on your rig? Sounds like if you got towed there was more to it then just the fan belt? Hope not.

Yeah, I made it back home OK, but OMG, what an ordeal!

So, as you know, the original belt shredded. We figured it shredded because it was old.

So, we left my truck near the Calaveras County line (pretty close to the mine-cart "county sign") and we went to Kragen to buy a new belt. Returned to the truck with the new belt and installed it, but noticed one edge of the belt was riding high on the alternator pulley. We figured it would hold until Angel's Camp, so we started heading towards town.

Four miles later, at the bottom of a steep grade, the temp hits HOT and the engine dies, so I pull over quickly and pop the hood. The $34 Kragen crappy belt (what a ripoff!) had also shredded.

Upon closer inspection, we noticed that the alternator pulley had 5 grooves (instead of 6) which explains in part why the belt was riding high on one side of the pulley. The alternator pulley was incorrect for my truck.

Anyway, my wife brought the stock alternator up to Huy's house later in the evening and we swapped the alternator out, and I was able to make it all the way home.

This morning I visited a local alternator shop about a mile from my house, and got the correct pulley installed on the new alternator.

Whew, what a nightmare!

I once read a quote from a wise person:

"4x4 in upper case is $X$"
Sorry you went through that, glad you didn't blow something REALLY bad.

Like breaking the splines off of an axle-shaft, oh wait! (just teasin Dean)

Here are some more pictures:
http://www.blankwhitepage.com/gallery/sourgrass_20050612

- Matt

"4x4 in uppercase is $X$"

hahaha! Yeah, well at least I didn't have to pay AAA for the tow! It would have cost me $7.50/mile w/o AAA!

I had a very entertaining experience riding with the 56-going-on-78-year-old tow truck driver for the 100-mile trip, who not only finished 4 cigarettes in our 90 minute ride (Ack! Cough cough! ), but enlightened me with lots of history about the regions we passed through....

"See that fence line there? That used to be such-and-such ranch back in 1882. blahblahblah"
He was a character all right.

Glad to see you all got back safe. Wish I could have made that run. Nice pics everyone...

Great pics.

Dean, glad to hear you made it home alright. It's been quite a month for you eh?