Solihull Society

Chinaman Gulch – Trip Report

I knew it was a bad sign when I drove past the bent up gate that signaled the left turn up to the Chinaman Gulch trailhead. Ordinarily not a big deal but I was the trail leader and I was leading 7 trucks including 2 defenders, 4 discos and 1 P38 RR and if Jim Hall had shown with his Series we would’ve had the spectrum of the Rover line. Jimmy had gone ahead of us and radioed for us to go back to the gate to get back on track. Chinaman’s reputation was that of a difficult trail with some challenging and notorious obstacles such as the waterfall, whale’s tail and rock pile. Fortunately, all the Rovers were driven by experienced members and had the necessary modifications.

From past experience I knew the trail could take a long time to complete but I felt confident with the relatively small, capable group we had that it would go fast. After airing down and assigning a tail gunner we spotted a group of Nissans approaching us to begin their air down. The Nissan trail leader called on the CB that both groups were on channel 4 and we should move. I suggested they go to 20 and we quickly lined up to start ahead of their group and get the jump on the trail.

A group’s ability to complete a trail quickly is affected by the least capable truck in your group, unexpected field repairs, trail traffic OR navigation errors. Shortly after our orderly start Mark’s Defender pulled over after the rock pinch at the beginning and opened his hood. I thought “uh oh” here is our first setback but it was a simple air filter issue and we were back in action fast. We continued on at a brisk pace easily moving through some rocky sections. At one of the breaks I commented to Jimmy who had done the trail two weeks previously that it seemed weird we hadn’t hit the first obstacle yet…

A brief time late I came across a steep obstacle that didn’t seem familiar but I decided to press on and realized quickly it was steeper and rougher than I thought. WHAMM!! I came down hard on my right rear bumper on a large rock. Fortunately, several of our group had stopped at the top and dismounted and I could hear the ohhhh! As I hit hard. I slowly made I it down and checked out the damage – whoa! I bent up my right rear bumper like a crooked smile. The rear door was jammed shut and my bumper looked beyond repair. Jimmy commented that he was suspicious but now confident that we were running the trail backwards as he remembered this was the last major obstacle before the end. Looking back at it from the bottom memories from past trips to the gulch came to mind and I realized he was right. *&%%, I made a mistake and missed a right turn at the beginning. Chinaman runs counterclockwise, everyone knows this but I had lost my concentration and went left. I was crestfallen and was trying to think of what to do next, someone called out “what now trail leader” with a little bit of deserved cynicism in his voice.

We decided to hold the group at the top and have them turn around while the three trucks that came down turned around and came back up the obstacle and backtrack to run the trail properly. At this point I knew the timing was all screwed up and we would behind the Nissan’s. We worked together to come up with a plan and broke for lunch before going at the trail the right way. I checked my watch it was noon and we were starting essentially from the beginning.

I decided my self – imposed punishment would be to take all the bypasses for the rest of the trail to save some of the time we lost. Quickly we came up on the rock pile with several jeeps that had just finished playing and looked upon us with a skeptical eye. First up was Jimmy, a former jeeper with a reputation for pushing his truck. The jeep guys came up to watch and see if we could handle it. One of them made the comment “those D90’s should have no problem but those others?” and then proceeded to spot Jimmy’s D1 through the difficult left side successfully when he commented “I have new respect for the Discovery”. Next up was Mike B. in his open diff D2 he used more of the easier right side but also got through. Pretty soon Anthony’s Defender and Jeff’s P38 made it through with Mike’s MIT D2 clearing from the rear. A really good showing from the group on a hard obstacle modded up jeeps sometimes struggle with.

Next up was the Whale’s Tail and I headed for the easier right side to clear quickly. This was a fun obstacle and I’d seen others practically do handstands to try and climb up the harder left side. Jimmy decided to take the middle approach and came up without problem. He was followed by Mike B. who’s work of the skinny pedal again made proof positive that driver skill trumps lockers. The rest took the middle approach but we weren’t sure how the P38 would do but with some careful spotting it also made it through unscathed. Last was the tailgunner MIT truck which made a few attempts at the middle before making through.

Next is the Stairs, this is a tricky obstacle that requires that the driver hugs tight to the right side as close to a obviously abused tree as possible. My last time here I used two foot breaking to work my through with competent spotting and came diagonal back across the grain. Most of our group used more of a straight approach from the tree with some adjustments but all made it through with some spotting.

The final obstacle is the chute which some of us had already run from the opposite direction. No bypass here so it’s your challenge to get through. By this time we were catching up with the Nissans but the day was also nearly over. I’d done the end of this trail in the dark on my last visit and no matter how many lights you have on your rig there are many things you just can’t see so I did not want recreate the night wheeling. IMHO, this is the hardest obstacle on the trail with large rocks on the left side and a canyon that you must work by bringing up high on the right and then just at the right moment break left so you don’t fall in the notch. I tried hard to get over it but I kept sliding down and coming too close to my side so in desperation with the day wearing down with the group behind me I decided to winch out. We hooked up a tree strap but when the winch didn’t have the strength to finish the job we rigged a snatch block for a double line pull that did the job. The rest of the group did much better than I and despite some struggle make it up without a problem. Mike’s MIT truck needed some coaxing to avoid the notch but also made it through.

It’s 5:00 and the homestretch but the Nissan’s are taking their time with and we waited several times for them to get through. On one of our breaks we checked out Carnage BV and we all agreed we won’t be doing that anytime soon. Finally, we made it all the way down and despite our wrong turn at the beginning agreed we had a great time. No one had any meaningful damage except my bumper.