All I can say is awesome....... If you havent been to the Hammers you need to ad it to your bucket list of places to wheel in your lifetime......

We arrived Thursday night/Friday morning at 1 AM for the Tin Benders Jamboree, found a level spot, parked and went to bed...... We woke the next morning and hooked up with Bobby and Tina Long of Longfield superaxles and set up camp with them and their group...... They had a circle of RV's established already so I found a spot where one of their rigs would block the nasty west wind and set up our camp.


Here is the view of the actual lakebed from my trailer;

The group that was with us were anxious to get out so they left to run Spooner in the down hill direction and then Outer Limits (the next canyon over) back up. We waited for Odie to show up then we were gonna meet them at the exit of Spooner and run Outer limits with them....... We didnt have enough seats for the 10± mile trip to outer limits so Odie road in the back of my truck playing guide and navigator;


We arrived at Spooner before the group was done so we wheeled up Spooner to meet them, here they are coming down;



Looking back at where I turned around;

This little guy greeted us at Outer Limits;



We worked our way up Outer limits;


We had a wide assortment of rigs with us, Bobby's buggy, 2 Class 4 race buggy's, 2 Hendrix chassis Toyota based buggy's, a 3rd gen Toyota Pickup "raisin", a TJ Rubicon on 37's, a Unimog with front a rear steer on 4D's, and myself.....

The Unimog was trying pretty much every line available, with front and rear steer and portal axles, not much stopped him, but he found his limit here where he was doin the turtle;



Don was out tailgunner today in his Hendrix chassis toyota buggy on 38" swampy's

The trails here are full of big ass rocks with a few ledges and water falls mixed in;


When the canyon widened out more options became available;



Here we are getting collected up after a nasty technical section that included a 5' ledge and plenty of boulders as big ad volkswagens;

Not long after that we were at what became the toughest obstacle of the trail...... multiple ways up, body damage was the theme here for those that had a body and a few winches came out here as well;


Looking back;


Bobby and Glen had already made it up by the time we got there;


Here's Jesse in his Raisin adding to the look;

The Mog was tryin his usual "optional" line;




I got bored and took a few of where we came from;

I kinda like the Mog line since it presented the least amount of damage available;







It took me a few tries but I was able to make it;

We then got the rest up and worked our way out......


We then had a long bouncy ride back to camp...... My rig isn't a KOH racer so I cant hit the whoops at 80 and survive........

We got back to camp and the wind had died down, there was a slight breeze from the north to make it nice and we relaxed for the evening....... more and more RV's piled in for the Tin Benders event.

Saturday morning we woke to cool temps and no wind and more crystal clear blue skies and the plan was to check out "Turkey Claw" a little known trail our new friends opened up a few years back on Thanksgiving weekend. This trail was raw and un-groomed like the more popular trails here;

It didnt take long and we were in the soup;



Mog boys decided they needed a little shade today and made themselves a little roof;


Back to the action;


Near the end of the the section that we were willing to wheel;


We then did a little 50 yard section that led to a 30' water fall where you could go to the left or the right to get up. We opted for the right line and made it up...... we then wheeled up another 100 yards or so and found out that everyone else but us and one of the KOH rigs were done and turning around. Jesse in his Raisin wiped out his front driveshaft here so I took the opertunity to hike up the wash a ways and see how it looked...... Or why we were turning around. It didnt take long;

Disclaimer; these pics do this trail and how steep it is NO JUSTICE;


This is about 30 feet tall and some have gone to the left but it appeared most went to the right to get up it;


Looking back down;


The lakebed, the little black dots are RV's

The 2 big rocks in the middle upper half of the pic are literally 10 feet in diameter plus the hill was prolly 50-60° steep here;


Back at the lakebed;


From here we took an out road and went back to camp for lunch.....

After lunch, by my request for one of the "hammer" trails we went out and did Sledgehammer......

Here's Mike comin up the first ledge in his Toyota based Hendrix buggy;



Don was next;


He wanted to take one of the rocks with him I guess;


Glen in his LS powered Class 4 racer;




The Washingtonians were lookin for shade;


The Arizonian was takin a nap on the warm rocks;

Back to the wheelin;



Warren was not to be out done in his LS powered KOH racer on unimog portals;



Billy was piloting the Mog now;

The next ledge is the site of a Victor Valley 4 wheelers (founders of the hammers) plaque and an infamous pass by Shannon Campbell over, yes over Casey Currie in KOH '10;








I wanted video here but we had technical difficulties with the new camera.

Mike, who you would swear is Sr from OCC had a turn;



Don;


Just lookin back;



Glen;


Lookin forward;

We made our way to the end of the trail and found directions to important places;



Looking back;


We then headed back out and over to a sand hill that is usually a throttle fest with a side road for those that dont wanna play...... Bobby and I proceeded to crawl the steep sand hill without spinning a tire...... it was rather shocking.

At the top of the sand hill we gathered for the group shot;

On out way back down to camp we had amazing views of the lakebed and camp;



We had to come down a nasty sandy canyon to avoid this downhill that Glen just had to play on;





Don wishing for a beer;


Here's the way we came down;


We then went down a steep sandy hill and as I was following Bobby he must of read my mind and took me over to some dunes to play on so I could see why I added the other 2 cylinders to my rig...... Oh yea, it paid off and we had a blast for a few minutes chasing him around..... We then headed back to camp for another relaxing evening of beer, food and BS'n with great friends old and new....... I cant wait to go back but will still like a guide to see and do more trails.....

Looks like fun. How hot was it? Looks a little warm.

Showboat wrote:Looks like fun. How hot was it? Looks a little warm.

Mid 80's both days with a little breeze...... just about perfect....