Flagpole Knob May Meeting!

For CORE’s May 2023 meeting, the club decided to hold the meeting in conjunction with a trail ride, given the great late spring weather. 

Attendees:

• Dawn & Jendra – 4Runner
• Andrew & Cherie – 4Runner
• Arthur – 4Runner
• Andy & Bronson – Tacoma
• Wade – Colorado Bison
• Jeff – Defender
• Marc – Cherokee
• Darren – Wrangler
• Ken – Wrangler

We met at Skidmore Fork Lake, at the base of the trail. From there, we did some introductions as we had a few CORE first timers along for the ride, then aired the tires down, and had our drivers meeting. 

After that, we hit the trail, going left out of the lake parking lot entrance, and heading up the mountain via Dunkle Hollow. We had a few mild water crossings, nothing deeper than a few inches. The area appears to be under a fairly persistent drought, and the water levels are markedly lower than they have been in the past. 

Dunkle hollow has always been a very mild, stock friendly trail. For the most part, that is still the case, with the exception of a couple of sections which flex out the vehicles a bit, requiring either traction control, a locker, or a bit of momentum to go up in a stock suspension vehicle. 

We had a few encounters with vehicles going the opposite directions. In a few instances, they were in very tight sections of trail. One of those instances the person pulled close to the side of the mountain, and we snuck past between him and a steep dropoff, with many of our larger vehicles within a couple of inches to the dropoff. We safely made it thorough though, and continued on up!

Once we reached the top, we were fortunate to have the entire peak to ourselves! We parked around the ring, and found a great shady spot under a big tree, and set up for our meeting and lunch. We had great attendance, meeting the minimum member presence of 8 members for a quorum. After talking through the agenda, voting on some club things, etc, we adjourned.

We took a few more photos, then hopped in the vehicles and headed towards the Briery Branch Rd exit from the trail. We had considered offering an option for the Union Springs downhill exit, but with the added time needed for that, we decided to all head to the mild exit. 

Once we got there, we were airing up, and came across a Ford Expedition which had broken a tie rod, resulting in his two wheels pigeon toeing. He didn’t have the right part to fix it, and unfortunately, we didn’t either. Darren stepped up in a big way and gave them a lift into town to get the part they needed, and brought them back. It was a long drive out and back, thanks Darren for helping them out!

Andy, Dawn and I went up for the overlook view from Reddish Knob, and after that, we departed for home. It was a great trip, thanks to everyone who attended!

Photo Album: 05/21/23 Flagpole Meeting

Trail Report written by Jendra Rambharos. Pictures contributed by Jendra Rambharos, Andrew Taylor, Cherie Taylor, Ken Kyler, and Andy Beaton. GPS tracks provided by Jendra Rambharos.