Mike, if you don't keep your hands off your rock rail, they're going to get slapped! 
Nice vids.
hahaha dude, that almost happened to me the first time I ran with no doors on. I scared the crap outta me. So now if I know the rails might come in contact with anything, I will either hold my hand flat to make sure my fingers won't cushion the blow, or just move back into the cab altogether.
Dang, that would suck. "Hey what happened to your fingers?" "Oh, I lost them on the 3rd rock at the little sluice" "What?"
So how are we suppose to know what is off limits and what is not. If it is not blocked off or no signs then I would have ran it. I could not find any info on the net or on the USFS site. I plan to run this trail, but not if there are obstacles that are off limits with no signs. Its kinda parking like parking in a 2 hour zone and coming out and having a ticket on your window and there is no sign saying it is a 2 hour zone. Mike if you find out more info on this let me know.
Ok, I just called and spoke to Brian Shadrick, who is the president of Hang m High, and he is a really cool guy. He was happy to know that we had a great time and glad to know that people are interested in visiting the trail. He said that any off limits areas should be well marked, but the problem is that the Forest Service wants them to close down the off limit areas as naturally appearing as possible. So they have to find fallen trees and haul them to the site to lay them down to close those certain areas. He did say that they feel the waterfall section does not appear to be properly closed down and off limits, so he said that they were going to go back up there and add more natural affects to both the high side entrance (where we entered, unblocked) and the lowside entrance (well driven trail). Next time I am there I will add some rocks or fallen tree branches to that area to help enforce it's "off-limitness".
Obviously if I see a log in the center of the road and it is pretty perpendicular to the trail, I am NOT going to drive over it. That is there for a reason.
So basically, if any area is off limits, then Brian said it will be "well marked with natural affects." I told him that the next time I head up there I will just limit myself to $5 and $10 rocks, but he said "
oh no, please go out and explore the area! Drive around as much as you like." So he is pretty confident that if the area is offlimits then we will immediately know about it and avoid it.
Brian was really nice to me and said that he was happy that we were having fun and if it was up to him he would let us drive on any well marked road, but the problem is that that whole Basin is a Historical Dig site!! This I did NOT know. So the Forestry is always on their cases trying to prevent access to certain areas that already contain frequently driven trails. He said that there are some other great places to wheel that have now become off limits to everyone, and that they have to fight every year just to get special permits to run some areas.
Man, I bet 20 years ago we wouldn't have had to put up with this garbage. Unbelievable. Especially when you see the videos I posted and you realize that A MARLIN CRAWLER IS GREAT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. When I am working the phones at the shop, that is one of the selling point of the Marlin Crawler: TREAD LIGHTLY.
Compare me at 510:1 vs. someone at 36:1. Many people ask me how I am able to keep my body straight. I've got two words: Triple Cases.
Tat2drew,
Thanks again for letting me know about Hang m High. I also learned about registration information for their yearly run into Jose Basin every Memorial Day. I am going to register and go run it with Kyle and reaceracer next spring
BigMike
