[tsk1979]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XAjIfAyyfY

After mid january, not a day passed without news of the pandemic sweeping across the world. Every day, instead of checking the stock market, well along with checking the stock market, a new page was bookmarked. The COVID tracker. Every day, the numbers just went up and up, as we all watched the death tolls mount up. Our way of life, our view of life, and the entire concept of reality was being turned around its head. In all this mayhem, many important news just got ignored. One of them was about our winter. Or lack of it. Well it was cold, in some places, but it was dry. Everywhere. Except a tiny corner of the southeastern desert counties, the winter had just said "nope", I am going to do social distancing from you guys. Our normally wet february, which is somewhat wet even during the drought years, was totally dry. Even when March came, a high pressure ridge parked right across the coast, blocking all storms, and deflecting them towards Seattle and Canada, which were having a wetocplypse.

So, California had an unusual winter this year. Around mid January, as the world slowly awoke to Covid, the storm tap ran dry. The wettest months did not even have a light shower. It could very well be a cold June. Finally, mid march, the long range models started showing a powerful storm approaching the Sierra's. This was the first big storm of the year, and at that time, maybe the last one. And all of us in our Norcal GX group knew, that this is the time, for one trip. Our first, and probably the last for this winter season. Heck strike out probably. As the day approached, we knew it was going to be the last storm. So as the models concurred, we decided to go on a snow wheeling trip up the Sierras. Our offroad group is mostly Lexus GX, and is the Norcal chapter of GXOR - GX Off road.
And as the D day Saturday came, we awoke to rain and wind delightfully so. It had already started snowing in the mountains. This storm was delivering as promised, well a bit more. The ridge had gone northwards to give the Pacific northwest some much needed sunshine, which meant, the storm could unleash its fury on the entire state.


After an early morning start, it took us around 2 hours to hit rally point, a small suburb of Auburn off highway 80

Our trips usually have around 4-5 rigs max, but thanks to the big storm, a lot of people, even non GX owners joined up.

All set and ready to go



From here it was a rainy ride to Georgetown, up the famous Uncle Tom's cabin road. Uncle Tom's is a small "restaurant" in the mountains, a popular pit stop for the Rubicon trail. Thought the rubicon trail is closed in winter due to snow, we had planned to hit Uncle Toms cabin, and then merge with Ice house road, which eventually goes to the trailhead. The idea was to go as far as we can atleast till the loon lake


A few miles past Georgetown, the rain started turning into sleet, and then snow. No flurries yet, but the white was laying down, after a gap of over 2 months



We decided to take the half a mile detour to the cabin where we would air down to around 15PSI to give us more traction




At 5000 feet, the snow really started pouring down after the cabin



There was a good 2-3 inches of fresh powder on the road





Even though soft snow gives decent traction, no big snowfall for past 2 months and frigid cold meant all this powder was under slick ice. So progress was quite slow



A short pit stop


We were climbing now, and at around 6400 feet, the storm was shaping up quite nicely. That said, traction was missing due to the ice underneath the snow, and we had no idea what we will be up against very soon

The loon lake reservoir

[tsk1979]

No recoveries needed, no sliding into places you are not supposed to slide into, and no getting stuck. Well it was no fun. I decided to be the pioneer. At a banked section of the trail, I hugged the drainage ditch a little too close, and in slow motion felt myself just sliding in, gracefully

Yup, that's me, with the driver side inside the drainage ditches which run along the road. We tried winching out, but due to narrow road, I would just go backward and forward in the ditch, without doing any sideways motion.


Even a rear end attempt failed, and I was now a little more stuck than before. The snow was obviously getting heavier. The real storm was forecasted after noon, and it was already well past noon.


So when nothing works how do you recover. I decided to do self recovery again, and just went with the Atrac and V8 approach. And guess what, I was out after bouncing off a couple of rocks.



So onward we marched on, very slowly. The last vehicle in our convoy was an experienced offroader. We ensured first and last vehicles had radio coverage. The vehicles before the last however were new to snow wheeling, and were driving quite slowly. Gave us plenty of time to stop and click pics, before freezing to death in the howling winds



Few pictures of the scenery along the way







After my ditching, I had decided to dress up the bumper with recovery gear. Always more convenient on the trail. Hopefully, I won't have to use this.

[tsk1979]

Its past 2pm when we actually reach the loon lake. The snowfall has gotten much heavier, and there is over 6 inches on the ground now.
As we wonder whether to proceed further till the trailhead or just turn around, I hear the radio cackle. "I am in a ditch".

Our tail end "herder", has not been talking much, and we figured that due to the two newer offroaders he was following were just taking it slow. Well wrong.

He is actually in a ditch. And nope, not just small drainage ditch, but sitting on the frame rails in over 4 feet of snow




A lone jeep (not part of our convoy) pulls up, and the good samaritan tries to pull the GX out. Even with chains on it is a no go. This stuff is way to deep






Another GX has a winch, we we decide to pull against gravity, as this looks to be the only way. Unfortunately, all we manage to do is pull the pulling GX itself towards the tree. Next step, anchor the GX to another vehicle and then pull. Success!



Meanwhile, one of the newer guys parks his 4runner too close to the edge. And this means another recoveries. How did we do it, well do watch the video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxxrGuq7jNI

[tsk1979]

All the rescues have the clocks ticking past 4pm. Even though daylight saving time is on, it will start getting dark at 7, and the storm has really kicked it up a notch. So we just park at the loon lake and take some rig pictures









And this is where we turn back. Time to go home


There is a lot more snow on the road, and this actually makes the going back a little easier as we get more traction in the deep snow







More than 6" of accumulation, all in a few hours of snow. This storm is definitely an overperformer. We slowly trudge along.








And guess what if you are the guy who keeps stopping to take pictures, well they make you the rear guard .
So at the end of the convoy, I am the shepherd now

[tsk1979]

Watching the convoy pass by as I take the rear guard position







The last one rolls away, and I am all alone


Well not quite alone, I do have the radio to call for help if needed. But I can also keep taking pictures








And finally, as it starts getting dark, we are out of the woods


At lower altitude, the convoy has cleared the snow exposing the tarmac below



Finally, before the main highway, we all stop to air up. And I discover a problem a big problem




When you fill in air, you expect to hear the whoosh from near the nozzle area. But not from the sidewall. I can hear loud and clear, air escaping from the bead. The bead is not locking with the rim, and after filling to 20PSI, I am dropping at about 2 PSI to minute.

This is time for a a tire change. Guess what. We are unable to find the wheel lock key. Lexus has about 12 different wheel lock keys, and its random what you get. With 5 GX between us, I struck Murphy's gold here. None of their wheel lock keys have a match.

So plan B is formed. Drive almost 200 miles, stopping at gas stations on the way, topping up. My fellow bay area members decide to drive slow to keep within the helping distance. I have to atleast get to 120 miles from the bay area so I can call up a tow truck. AAA membership gives me 120 miles on a flat bed atleast once a year or so.

And so the journey starts. Drive 10 miles, fill up drive 10 miles fill up. At the 4th attempt I see that I never go below 12 PSI. So I slowly trudge along.

Next fillup I strike gold. A high pressure filling station and I pump it upto 50 PSI. And guess what its holding. For over 40 miles I can just keep driving,and then again, I hear the beeping on the TPMS, as I watch the air pressure fall in real time.

Down to 12 PSI.
It takes 2 more fillups for pressure to stabilize at 35PSI, and I am 70 miles away. And guess what, the tire holds now. Looks like whatever was blocking the beads from settling is finally gone, and I can do a non stop drive home. Filling up at gas stations every 10 miles and then driving 30mph on the freeway was getting really really annoying.

As a follow up, if you are wondering what went wrong. Well I have no idea. I went to the tire stations the very next day, and the tire was sealing up fine, and its still holding up after a month. Most probably it was some kind of pebble or something stuck where it should not be.

Nevertheless, it was quite an enjoyble trip. We knew it would be our last group ride of the season. With county after county locking up, barely a week after our trip, entire state of California went into lockdown, but we all are glad we made some real good memories!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank you ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the 4x4 Section. Thanks for sharing!

[Tassem]

Looks like it was quite the adventurous trip! Love how haunting the scenery is. I could almost hear the wind howl and feel the chill in my bones!

Do you guys camp out in the snow?

[Jaggu]

Wow very nice trail and awesome weather. I never have experienced offroading in snow, hopefully in the coming year or two can strike it off the bucket list. Till then shall envy the post Thanks for sharing Tan.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Tassem

Looks like it was quite the adventurous trip! Love how haunting the scenery is. I could almost hear the wind howl and feel the chill in my bones!

Do you guys camp out in the snow?

Thanks! No camping though. Snow camping looks very good in youtube videos but is hell in real life. Trust me, I have tried it
Esp places where temperatures at night go down to -15 etc., Sure if you like doing things like Chadar trek, then its fine, but I just nope out if the temperatures are going to hit sub zero

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Wow very nice trail and awesome weather. I never have experienced offloading in snow, hopefully in the coming year or two can strike it off the bucket list. Till then shall envy the post Thanks for sharing Tan.

What are you waiting for. Umm wrong question. Nevertheless, end of this year make sure you make a trip to atleast Narkanda.

[VijayAnand1]

Beautiful pics. Gotta say most of the pictures were truly wallpaper worthy. One thing though, how does traction control work at these times, especially if stuck in a ditch.

Cheers!
VJ

[gb97ce6]

Any reason why snow chains were not used ? Snow wasn’t deep enough or you were driving on tarmac often ?

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

Beautiful pics. Gotta say most of the pictures were truly wallpaper worthy. One thing though, how does traction control work at these times, especially if stuck in a ditch.

Cheers!
VJ

The regular traction control system which cuts power to wheels is disabled when you lock the center diff. So there is no power cut. However Toyota has this system called ATRAC which brakes the spinning wheel to send torque to the stuck wheel. It is more useful for relatively high traction environments when wheels lose traction due to lack of articulation, and you have to modulate the throttle. Far less effective than lockers, but in snow, both lockers and ATRAC get useless very fast.

Originally Posted by gb97ce6

Any reason why snow chains were not used ? Snow wasn’t deep enough or you were driving on tarmac often ?

Snow chains take time to put on, are cumbersome, and will ruin the interior of the vehicle due to mud etc., Some parts we did had a bit of tarmac, but the purpose of no chains was mostly convenience and we knew we had safety in numbers. Last but not the least, the snow was not too deep as almost all vehicles had A/T or M/T and many had winches. In smaller groups when we offroad much further out, then usually half the rigs do put on chains.

[charanreddy]

Wow .. stunning scenery. Takes me back 5 years when a colleague and I were visiting for office purpose and took a trip to Lake Tahoe. We did not know that the weather would turn for the worse and saw sub zero temperatures for the first time in our life. Drove for 2 hrs in snow in a rented Camry holding onto dear life on the Reno Sacramento route, hoping that we don’t damage the vehicle.

Scary stuff and not something one I thought would voluntarily do until I read this

[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

The idea was to go as far as we can atleast till the loon lake

The loon lake reservoir

Unique travelogue! Unique pictures!

There is a novel called Loon Lake by E.L. Doctorow. A postmodern novel... I had read it long ago... Recalled while reading this

[WhiteKnight]

I just asked you a week back about no travelogues being published, and, you are back!!!

Good to see you, and even more so seeing you have not abandoned your adventure streak