The main group meet at Tim's shop at 7 am and were on the road by 7:15. We made it to Hollister around 8:30 or so after a quick fuel and food stop. Tom was our fearless leader and took us around a few simple hills after looking at one hill that had been chewed up for the tough truck challenge (we all wimped out on doing it). 

Tom then lead us to the Obstacle course and we all took a look at the big mud pit. Since we just got there we all were a little chicken but Tom decided to give it a try and he made it a short distance till he had all 4 wheels spinning and not moving. I Pulled him out and we decided to play on the other stuff. 

Rocky went over to the tire pit and made it almost to the end and got stuck. I got to pull him out as I had not used my winch yet and wanted to give it a try. Well it was quite easy with a light Jeep so it was no problem and I got to see how the thing worked. (major rookie here). So I had to try the tire pit and needless to say it was so easy it was almost not worth going through. Did bend up my license plate as did Tom (we now know to remove them for now on once in the park, as you will hear later about John's frame) 

While we were fooling around Tom was trying out this small section with logs and rocks. As he was going over the logs he dropped down on the rocker guards with a loud thud. This sounded scary but was no big deal and he continued on to finish it easy. Well I had to try it but being the virgin on the trip I had Tom guide me and he got me through it with no hits. (thanks Tom) Well John also tried it and with Tom guiding made it with no problems. Well not to be shown up by all these big trucks Rocky decided to give it a shot in his Jeep. Well let me tell you about Rocky as he will try anything as it was about 5 or so years ago that Rocky , Nick and myself were at Hollister and he had a Bronco that he decided to take into the mud pit and it was deeper than we thought so he hydrolocked the engine. Well that cost him quite a few bucks and a well learned lesson (get a snorkel next time). Any ways he goes over a log or two and then gets stuck (stock CJ7 with street tires). He would not give up and kept trying to get over it. Well after a while we tried rocks and boards to get him out and then Tom was going to pull him out but the transfer case was wedged between two logs. So John got his jack out (none of us had a highlift) and we lifted him high enough to pull him out. (got to use my winch again). 

Well we decided to go try some other trails and Tom took the lead again as he had the most experience, John and I are 2 month old neebies and we had not yet found Robert.  So Tom decides to take us on a trail he has not run before and it was called Tank Trap Trail. I know now why it is called that. So we get to the first part and I am in the back behind the Jeep (we left the Bronco behind) with Tom and John in front. On the radio I hear Tom is stuck on a little hump. Well we all get out and walk up the trail and see this steep hill with a hump that gets the Hummers high centered. Well after a little moving around by Tom and some BTM he makes it up the first hump and on to the next 
few with a few more attempts. 

So John goes next and gets high centered too but does the same as Tom and gets up the hump. Well by now Rocky and I are next and we see the trick is to get speed up and slide over. Well Rocky in his SWB jeep goes flying up and makes it (no high centering for him). Well I figured a little speed helps and after watching everyone else see some of the ways up. I get up a little speed and hit the hill and slide across on the rocker plates and make it no problem.  Well in the time John, Rocky and I make it up Tom has gone up a few more and got stuck on a very narrow hump with a rock on one side that forces his truck to be right up against a wall. By the time I got up to look I had just watched John go sliding up on a hump and told him park it there as we wait to see if Tom can get up the next one. 

So I get up to see Toms left side against the wall of the trail and a bunch of bad noise. I thought holy sh*t Tom has just crushed the side of his truck. Well it looked and sounded worst than it was. Tom was just determined to get up this hump and would not give up. We had no shovels or axes as we would of moved the imbedded rock and made it up or we could of used the winch but Tom wanted to keep trying. Well after about 10 minutes of going up and down trying to get over it he slid hard into the hill and backing down to try it again he was forced to take out part of the hill with his rack. This is when John and I said we are too chicken to go any further. Well we were thinking this 
and I said lets go look and see what is after this hump that Tom is stuck on as if it was easy after this we could use the 
winches (all 3 of us had winches) and finish the trail. 

Well I could not believe it as I went way up the trail and there were a bunch of these humps and they were even harder and more narrow than the one Tom was on. Well since we did not want to spend the whole day on this one trail and John and I did not want to bang up our trucks we finally convinced Tom to back down and go a different way. Well Tom was not happy and wanted to press on but he realized we had to go back. So we start the backwards trek down the humps and I was first but only had got to do the first one. So with Nick guiding me I made it down no problem. Well next was Rocky and he even turned around on the narrow trail (damn short wheel based Jeeps) and had no problem. John was next and he slid a little bit and broke up his fancy neon license plate frame (his truck came with it and he was planning on dumping it ) . With guiding John got down and Tom soon followed. 

So we headed back up to the obstacle course looking for Robert. There was quite a few other 4 wheelers hanging around and playing on the course. Watch a little Nissan pickup fight his way through the rock and tree course Rocky got hung up on. He was getting stuck on the big logs that Rocky did and after about 5 minutes and almost hitting a post he made it through. Well to show off I had to go through and with Tom guiding went right over it in like 30 seconds. (Thanks Tom). 

So with my new found confidence I decide to try the MUD PIT. First mistake was not hooking up the tow rope so I would not have to do it in the mud. Well on my first attempt I made the mistake of going down the middle and going to slow. I dropped into the big grooves got about 1/4 of the way. Good thing about a open top is I could craw over the top and hook up a tow strap. Tom backed down and pulled me out. 

Well I saw that I needed more speed and got to go to the left away from the big grooves. I also was not sure what gear and what transfer case selection I should of been in? I had it in low lock and 2nd gear. So I got a lot more speed this time and made it about 1/2 way or so and fell into the grooves again and stuck with all 4 spinning. Well this time I needed to be pulled from the front so I climbed out over the windshield and walked out to my new Garvin brush guard. Well the tow hooks were under the mud and muck so I stood on the grille guard (thanks to a big beefy cross tube) and finally found a hook with my now muddy hands. Well I had not used my new tow strap yet so much to the amusement of the 20 or so people who had gathered to watch and cheer me on I wrapped my virgin strap on the hook and Tom pulled me out (again). 

By this time there were quite a few people watching so I said what the hell my truck is already muddy so I will try it one more time. I figured more entry speed and stay to the left as long as I can. So with a long running start I splashed into the left side and got about halfway before falling into the ruts again. But this time with more momentum I was able to keep going and then fell into even deeper ruts and this put the mud over the hood. This cool picture (Thanks John & Mary) looks like a wall of mud but it is a mixture of water and mud. I could not believe it as I kept going with all 4 wheels spinning and the crowd yelling and cheering me on. I could hear them yelling "go Tim" and I was so pumped I felt I was going to make it. At the end of the pit on the exit ramp there are hugh ruts with a big rock in one of them. Well I stopped when my front tire hit it, but I could still move so I went back and forth a few times and finally got the front tire over the rock and it seemed like I had it as the front of the truck was out of the water. Well I made it till my rear tire hit the rock. After a bunch of backing up and trying again many times and with all the yelling and screaming I finally had to give up. I was sooo close and everyone gave me a big applause. Well with a light tug from Tom I was out and almost was going to try it again. 

By this time we decided it was lunchtime and we all gathered around the trucks. I did not realize how muddy myself and the truck was till about this time when I could not find a clean place to sit and eat. Another lesson learned was when mud running put the top on as I had mud everywhere inside the truck. The inside of the front windshield, on the tape that was in the tape deck, all over the gauges everywhere had little speckles of mud. I still after spending many hours cleaning find mud from that trip. My new Hummer T-shirt had mud all over (could never get it out, another lesson learned, wash muddy T-shirt right away) as well as my copilot Chris's shirt who wanted to be in the truck during the attempts. Well he may change his mind next time. So thanks to John's tailgate I found a clean place to eat and we all finally got some food. 

We noticed a few jeeps going to attempt the pit and one got about half way and the other jeep pulled him out. Then the other one tried and got a little ways. After he was towed out I noticed his hood up as he must of broke something. Also saw him later in the day with his hood open again. Bummer. Well we see this black wagon come flying into the obstacle with wheels spinning and guessed it was Robert. So he finally found us as he was up at the course looking for us while we were down on the Tank Trap Trail. He said he had played on the course and went up to the top of the mountain in this time. 

Back to Hollister trip page 

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