Crown King "The Lost Trip" Trail Report 7/7/2013
Author: Daryl Griffiths
Hey All,
Thought I would start a Trail Report on Offroad Rage's and my trip to Crown King on Sunday 7/7/13. Maybe, I should say our "Lost Trip to Crown King", not that we got lost, it was just a missed opportunity to make CK by the end of the day.
The trip started off like most CSC trips in that we thought there would be more rigs attending the run, and that we were late to the meet spot. Meet time was 9AM at the trail head to air down. We got there at 9:30AM and proceeded to air down. While doing so we got to see a heard of wild burros on the hillside above our point.
We waited a bit, and then decided to hit the trail. All was well, having fun along the way. It was my wife's, first, real time wheeling and it was apparent that we weren't going to do anything hardcore. Especially after Offroad Rage did his first obstacle, and I got a, "Are we following him up that?". I decided to play it cool and give her a chance to get accustomed to our sport and ease her into it, or she wouldn't ever ride shotgun with me again. So we took the bypasses all day. She did freak on me once when we slipped on an up hill climb that had some pretty good ruts in it. I was calm and told her don't worry, then I put the rig in 4low and locked it. It climbed right up no problems.
So the trip went like that most the day, Rage playing and us taking the bypass. Traffic was real light. Saw on white jeep on the way up, and let it pass us as Rage took another obstacle.
After we passed CK rock turnoff, Rage fell behind a yellow CJ and then a Jeep Cherokee jumped in between us. We let them around and the headed up the trail ahead of us. About 2 miles ahead we passed them, as they were pulled out and stopped. We continued up the switch backs in this ravine and were just about to turn the corner and slip out of the canyon, when Rage caught in his side mirror the yellow jeep with it's tires in the air. We stopped and watched from our vista point to make sure they were all good.
It was apparent they were not. We could make out a female climbing out the driver side window that was pointing toward the sun, and she was moving ways that made us believe she was not good. Rage took one of the hand held talkabouts and headed down through the desert towards them. Upon reaching them and accessing the situation he called up and said we needed to help them.
I arrived first, while Rage acquired a cell signal from the side of the hill and called 911. The driver of the jeep had already initiated his spot system and when Rage was talking with 911 they had already received his distress signal. Rage was able to fill 911 in on the situation at hand and leave a call back number. Everyone in their group had dead batteries in their cell phones. Some of their group had moved the female to the backseat of the Cherokee and started medical attention, while I started to get the recovery gear out of the FJC with a couple of their group so that we could get the jeeps tires back on the ground.
After waiting about 45 minutes, another couple in a white jeep who had been camping in Horse Thief Basin came upon us and helped render first aide and water to their group. One member of their group was suffering from heat exhaustion/ first signs of sun stroke and dehydration, so I put him in my FJC with the air on. He sat in there with my wife, and at one-time broke down and cried "that he did not want to die in the desert". My wife offered him assurance that, that was not going to happen to anyone here on the, "Guy's In The Yellow Shirts Watch". She said, "See how calm they are, see how my husband is more afraid of the yellow jackets buzzing him, then the desert". With that he laughed and calmed down she said.
After about 1.5 hours of wait time, Rage was able to raise a cell signal and get in touch with 911 again. They had been trying to contact us, but signals were very spotty. The woman was not doing well and was slipping in and out of consciousness at this time and we suggested that we transport her down to the houses at cow creek or at least to meet the emergency team in route to us. We were met with opposition from the fire department at first, but upon our surroundings and not having a place to air-evac from we started down the hill for flatter ground.
We ended up meeting up with the rescue team enroute to us about 30 minutes later in a flat area of desert, and the woman was treated for head trauma and air-lifted to John C. Lincoln. Rage and I were thanked repeatedly by members of their group for us stopping and coming back to them. The driver of the Cherokee said to me, "that he knew things were going to be OK when he saw that we had stopped on the hill above them, and that we were out of our trucks looking down".
After the helicopter lifted off, Offroad Rage and I headed on back to the trail head and aired up.
All in all it was still a good day. We did what we needed to do when called upon, and what it seems we do as a club more often then not... Help those in need and render assistance on the trail.
Thought I would start a Trail Report on Offroad Rage's and my trip to Crown King on Sunday 7/7/13. Maybe, I should say our "Lost Trip to Crown King", not that we got lost, it was just a missed opportunity to make CK by the end of the day.
The trip started off like most CSC trips in that we thought there would be more rigs attending the run, and that we were late to the meet spot. Meet time was 9AM at the trail head to air down. We got there at 9:30AM and proceeded to air down. While doing so we got to see a heard of wild burros on the hillside above our point.
We waited a bit, and then decided to hit the trail. All was well, having fun along the way. It was my wife's, first, real time wheeling and it was apparent that we weren't going to do anything hardcore. Especially after Offroad Rage did his first obstacle, and I got a, "Are we following him up that?". I decided to play it cool and give her a chance to get accustomed to our sport and ease her into it, or she wouldn't ever ride shotgun with me again. So we took the bypasses all day. She did freak on me once when we slipped on an up hill climb that had some pretty good ruts in it. I was calm and told her don't worry, then I put the rig in 4low and locked it. It climbed right up no problems.
So the trip went like that most the day, Rage playing and us taking the bypass. Traffic was real light. Saw on white jeep on the way up, and let it pass us as Rage took another obstacle.
After we passed CK rock turnoff, Rage fell behind a yellow CJ and then a Jeep Cherokee jumped in between us. We let them around and the headed up the trail ahead of us. About 2 miles ahead we passed them, as they were pulled out and stopped. We continued up the switch backs in this ravine and were just about to turn the corner and slip out of the canyon, when Rage caught in his side mirror the yellow jeep with it's tires in the air. We stopped and watched from our vista point to make sure they were all good.
It was apparent they were not. We could make out a female climbing out the driver side window that was pointing toward the sun, and she was moving ways that made us believe she was not good. Rage took one of the hand held talkabouts and headed down through the desert towards them. Upon reaching them and accessing the situation he called up and said we needed to help them.
I arrived first, while Rage acquired a cell signal from the side of the hill and called 911. The driver of the jeep had already initiated his spot system and when Rage was talking with 911 they had already received his distress signal. Rage was able to fill 911 in on the situation at hand and leave a call back number. Everyone in their group had dead batteries in their cell phones. Some of their group had moved the female to the backseat of the Cherokee and started medical attention, while I started to get the recovery gear out of the FJC with a couple of their group so that we could get the jeeps tires back on the ground.
After waiting about 45 minutes, another couple in a white jeep who had been camping in Horse Thief Basin came upon us and helped render first aide and water to their group. One member of their group was suffering from heat exhaustion/ first signs of sun stroke and dehydration, so I put him in my FJC with the air on. He sat in there with my wife, and at one-time broke down and cried "that he did not want to die in the desert". My wife offered him assurance that, that was not going to happen to anyone here on the, "Guy's In The Yellow Shirts Watch". She said, "See how calm they are, see how my husband is more afraid of the yellow jackets buzzing him, then the desert". With that he laughed and calmed down she said.
After about 1.5 hours of wait time, Rage was able to raise a cell signal and get in touch with 911 again. They had been trying to contact us, but signals were very spotty. The woman was not doing well and was slipping in and out of consciousness at this time and we suggested that we transport her down to the houses at cow creek or at least to meet the emergency team in route to us. We were met with opposition from the fire department at first, but upon our surroundings and not having a place to air-evac from we started down the hill for flatter ground.
We ended up meeting up with the rescue team enroute to us about 30 minutes later in a flat area of desert, and the woman was treated for head trauma and air-lifted to John C. Lincoln. Rage and I were thanked repeatedly by members of their group for us stopping and coming back to them. The driver of the Cherokee said to me, "that he knew things were going to be OK when he saw that we had stopped on the hill above them, and that we were out of our trucks looking down".
After the helicopter lifted off, Offroad Rage and I headed on back to the trail head and aired up.
All in all it was still a good day. We did what we needed to do when called upon, and what it seems we do as a club more often then not... Help those in need and render assistance on the trail.
