Tim's Hummer Page-Hollister Trip
Hollister Trip  6-14-97  San Jose/San Fransisco Bay Area
     By Thomas Fritz <tlf@quote.com>

    Hollister Hills SVRA is located in Northern California just an hour South of San Jose. For more information on the site you can look at: 

    USGS California Map pg. 36121 
    Delorme Southern California Atlas pg. 19 
    Thomas Brothers California Road Atlas pg. 54-55 

    I picked up Mike Jasper and Tim from around the corner at 6:45 to meet the group at Turbo Tim's shop. 

    At Tim's shop we meet: 

     Black Bronco           Nick Triantos
     Black Jeep CJ7         Rocky Triantos
     White Hummer           John Weston & Mary
     97 Fly Yellow Opentop  Tim Hildabrand and Chris
     96 Blue Wagon          Tom Fritz ( with Mike J. and Tim )
     96 Black Wagon         

    We talked for a few minutes about the rigs and headed down to Hollister. We took highway 101S to 152E. We made a little pit stop for food and gas about 5 minutes from the park. After a few turns we made it to Ricky Rangers toll booth. I started to deflate me tires down to 20 PSI. 

    After a few more minutes we all paid our four bucks and went to the four wheel drive section. We needed to find a level place to unhook the Jeep from the Bronco. I choose to take everyone to the camp sites where the lavatories are located. In five minutes the Jeeps was ready to be driven and the Hummer drivers and passengers were anxious to start. Since we were on the trail that lead to a hill called Five Fingers we went there. 

    Five Fingers is on of the nasty hills in the park. It is very steep and made of powdery silt. The Tough Truck Challenge had placed major whoopies on this hill. I climbed this hill on foot to see if a Hummer could safely. This "could" make it up the hill, but would high center on every whoopee (named from the sound you make when you hit them fast). With that in mind, I did not feel it would be safe to rock off it at a 35+degree angle. We skipped it. 

    Right next to it, was some more whoopies (also known as tank traps) that led to an "interesting" small hill. In the middle of the hill is a U-turn to go down the other side of the trees. We climbed a hill in the area that would good for some practice and have some safe fun with the passengers. The U-turn takes us to a 15 degree side angle. On the down side, there is a 1.5 foot drop off. Like a good driver we took it slow, but it was still bumpy. My passengers kept saying "ah this is so cool"! 

    Next we went to the obstacle course to meet Robert G. I shifted back to HL because the road to the obstacle is made of packed gravel. As usual, if there is a fun path, I took it. At the obstacle was many areas to play. There is a dug out water ditch, full of mud. Several piles of dirt that stood about five foot high. There is also concrete sand pit full of muddy water (nice place to wash up after the mud ditch), tire trap, frame twister, concrete hill, and a mini Rubicon Trail. 

    I took the mud ditch first, since I am hard to keep away from water! We (Mike, Tim and myself) hit it about five miles per hour and got about fifteen feet across the mud. I asked Tim H. to pull me out of the mud. With some work from both Turbo Diesel engines I was free again. I chose not to try this one again. 

    Next everyone climbed the large mounds of dirt, and I went to the frame twister. I have done this obstacle many  times, so I did not have a problem with it. John Weston and Mary tired it next, and made it over a few logs and high centered on one. The GSA's just did not have the grip to pull them off, so I hooked up and gave it a tug. I did not hear people telling me that they were clear, so I ended up dragging them with their brakes on over the other logs.  OOPS!!!! Sorry Mary and John! 

    While that was happening the CJ7 went into the tire course. It did not have the clearance to handle crawling over full sized tires (sample: http://www.iisp.net/~t5150/hum01.jpg). Tim H. went over there to winch him out of the tires. Tim H. had to use the winch because there was not enough room to use the Hummer's drive line. Tim's H. took the tire course next and had no problem! 

    Tim H. then went into the same mud ditch that I had tried to cross. Tim's stopped about five feet away from the mud, then gave it the gas. His first try got him about five feet into the mud ditch. Tim's second try he started about ten foot  away from the pit, with his foot hard on the gas. This try pushed him about twenty feet into the ditch. Tim's third try got him about thirty feet into the course. This time he went more then three quarters of the way through the course. Tim's fourth trip into the mud took him all the way to the other side of the pit. His rear tir The CJ7 then took the frame twister, and got hung right where John & Mary stopped. I hooked up again, and the owner of the Jeep told me to hook up to his tow ball. I told him it was not a good place, but he said it was. Well his whole bumper got bent 90 degrees (sorry, Rocky) We used the Hummer jack from John & Mary's Hummer to place some rocks under the Jeep. Tim had already spooled out his winch so he hooked on, and pulled him off. Tim went into the frame twister with no problem. Those MT's do help with off-road use! 

    At 11:30 we went on a short trip. My passengers talked about a hard trail. I took the bait, and the convoy was off! Later we found out the name was called Tank Trap Road. The Bronco owner did not want to go into this trail, so I think he rode with Tim? This trail goes up a hill's gully with 10-15 foot high whoopies. On the back side of the whoopies was two foot deep mud. The tail is also pretty narrow, in some places. The best place to park and wait your turn (or people to catch up) was high centered on a whoopies! We (lead Hummers) got over about four of them and the fifth was a killer. This killer had a vertical fifteen foot high rock and dirt walls (above the 10-15 high whoopee). Pa With that we backed out of this tank trap trail. I will be back with a shovel!!!!! Backing up through the traps was very interesting! At one point I looked under the Hummer to see 5+ feet of air under the center of the Hummer! 

    We drove back to the obstacle course for lunch. This fifteen minute trail trip took about an hour! We ate and chatted about the last trail. Shortly after Robert showed up in a large cloud of dust for us to eat too! We chatted with Robert about our activities thus far, then showed off the gizmos some of us installed.  

    When lunch was over, we headed to Truck Hill the long way. All right, I got lost without my map! We got the right path and headed right to  it.  Robert was the first one to make the try for the hill. Tim H. and I watched real close to find the best path. I noticed that his brake lights were not on when he really needed BTM. I went to Tim H. Hummer to call Robert to apply more BTM and up he went. I think Truck Hill is about ++50 degrees angle. While Robert was working on the hill, Tim H. and I discussed not going. The angles looked just a little too extreme for my taste. 

    Well the pressure was on and I went for it. I stood on the brakes and gas hard and started the climb. No problem since Robert filled in the holes!;)  Tim H. was next and he too applied mega BTM and made it with little problems. We stood over the top of the hill watching the dust clear. We saw an International Scout try it next, and he made it up to the place that Robert G. had some trouble with. The scout backed down and we continued on the ridge to the main mini mountain. 

    On top we parked and looked at the landscape. Some of us ate some more and most of us had a few drinks of soda/water. We climbed over some whoopies and looked at a trail made by a large tractor that laid the fence. What a trail to take with a Hummer but it looked close to 70 degrees! We left and went back to Five Fingers Hill. We went there to look at the place that another Jeep got stuck in the mud on another trip. It was totally dry and little to look at. 

    We left for home each with a large smile on their faces. We meet a Range Rover on the road that dropped two motorcycles on the asphalt road. They did not have it tied down I guess. We all got out and helped the man and woman put their dirt bikes back on the trailer. They did not look too damaged. The owners pride was damages most. We got back on the road and I was home around 5:30pm. 

    Back to Hollister trip page 

    Visit Hollister Hills SRVA website  for maps and info on the park.