TR: Cobaw State Forest, Vic, Australia

[el_freddo]

G'day all.

 

Been too long in coming around to get this sorted. Bcoutback came along for the ride as did his mate steve who also played photographer for the day

 

This was the start of my day, I couldn't help myself with this pic:

 

 

Shortly after this pic I met up with damien and steve - and off we went. I wanted to first hit up a favourite hill climb of mine, but unfortunately overshot the turn off and ended up down another track where we discovered the location of the controversial shooting range that the locals are against. This track went down a little further before meeting with a bunch of other tracks that I'd not explored before (something to do when I get home for a bit again ), the bit before the track junctions was very washed out. I had a go at it anyway and got into one of those positions that says "I'm going to roll it" The first of many for the day

 

Here's the pics from that particular track:

 

 

^ Headed back up to bcoutback's subi

 

 

^ I forgot how slippery and boggy the wet sand becomes. This granitic sand is great at choking up your tread depth to create slicks that get you no where.

 

On to another track that might be more suitable for the outback (stock). So I worked out where I when wrong and got us back on track. We almost got to the bottom of the hill climb - after driving around trees over the road we were met by several huge trees over the road without a track around it for a 4wd vehicle.

 

So instead of turning around and heading back up, we did a cheeky little dash back to the main road, 2k down the black top back to where we started... We then when looking for some better tracks that we might actually be able to use - we headed to camp track and found a good obstacle to have a go at. I tried the good ol' "keep the wheels on each side of it" trick, only to slip into the hole:

 

 

 

It didn't take much to get out of here, but I did sustain some superficial damage to the front right guard when I fell into the hole. A bit of kicking got rid of it though...

 

I don't have any pics of the outback having a go at this as I took video instead (now have two vids to get cracking on!).

 

We then checked out the section of camp track that I wanted to "test" Ruby Scoo out with. When we got there I discovered that it had degraded very badly since I was there about three years ago. The recent rains hadn't helped at all either, huge ruts (at least 3ft), rocks that have "grown" and a ledge that used to be about 10cm was now closer to 40cm tall. Not a chance. So we turned around and headed back to the junction to continue on the last section of camp track.

 

Smooth sailing until we hit this:

 

 

Damien got the outback through it as well! It took a bit of effort and unfortunately I didn't get his victory on camera as I was coaching him along the way after getting stuck in the same place several times. Once that was corrected he got out with a bit of work. The rev limiter and Damien may have met too...

 

After this we headed out on a track that I knew ended up in the sand pit - an old sand quarry that was most likely used for the road surfaces in the forest to get the logging trucks in for the timber. We took a detour that I thought looked interesting. There was one point where I thought we'd be turning around but the outback surprised myself as well as Damien and Steve. A couple of hundred metres down the track it turned a little ugly for a stock subi so we turned around.

 

We had a go at pole track, I was keen to check out where Phiz got his unlifted, 27 inch tyre wielding MY sedan up as I was wanting a go with Ruby and her current setup. This is what we found:

 

 

 

 

This type of damage was pretty hectic and unexpected too. So we left this one alone...

 

Continue on the other part of pole track we did, until I had detoured without noticing (tree down over intersection). This is what this part of the forest looked like after some burning off in the last year or two, a bush fire also tore through here in 2003:

 

 

A bit further up the track we found more damage from the heavy rains we've experienced in the last 6 to 9 months:

 

 

This hole was simply huge - even a well kitted out "big 4by" would struggle to get out. At least it might fill the hole and fix the issue

 

Previously in the day we'd had a go at the Sand pit track - it was well washed out beyond what the outback was capable of climbing, so we headed to Lancefield for lunch. We ran into the end of the farmer's market, first time I'd visited it excluding driving through town when it was on... We got some pies etc, ate and headed back out again.

 

So back to the story of pole track where I missed the turn due to the fallen tree: We ended up in some hairy places for the outback, these tracks even gave Ruby Scoo a run for her money at times. So I turned around and did it again to meet back up with Bcoutback. We had some fun in this area getting out. I had another one of my ************ my pants moments (on film) while we got out. My head was in a spin too as I'd not been to this area - and I thought I knew this area like the back of my hand! We ended up popping out above the track we aborted earlier in the day. Since we were so close to the sand pit we went for a walk to have a look at the degraded track out of the area (if we had've headed in from the other side earlier in the day). We found another hole that could eat a 4wd or two. Here's a lame pic of me trying to show Ruby Scoo's belly clearance - I thought I was much closer to the ground and not have an inch clearance under the belly:

 

 

Then we headed off for the track we weren't look forward to, at least we were headed down and not up!

 

 

 

 

^ The outback did very well with the rocky terrain coming down. I reckon Damien's now thinking of what he wants to do with his outback

 

We tried to end the day with a go at the lower end of Stumpy's track. The last bit was always a bit of a rut, last time I was here it was a hole that could be negotiated, this time it was impassable:

 

 

But some muppet decided to have a go at it, probably the night before when I heard an engine going hard for some time on dusk:

 

 

^ You can see the white paint he left behind and where the front right wheel had been working away at the wall of sand as the 4wd moved backwards!

 

We took the chicken track around this hole and continued on. It got very rocky and unfortunately I a) left Damien and Steve behind and 2) didn't get any video or photo evidence of the climb - which was intense and enjoyable at the same time.

 

I met up with the Bcoutback at the end of lower stumpy's track. We had some time spare so we headed off to an area of the forest that had recently been re-graded so was rather smooth - I was also interested to know why it had been graded but couldn't work it out.

 

We cruised around this area and ended up at someone's back paddock gate - turn around again. This was basically the end of the day for us, we headed out of the forest back to where we met in the morning, had the usual chat that is meant to be to say goodbye and have a laugh at stuff from the day - half an hour later and you're still at it...

 

I'll have to work on the video now... stay tuned as I've got another one to finish first. No rest for the wicked!

 

I'd like to thank Damien and Steve for making the effort to come out on such short notice and on the easter weekend - it was the only time I could get out and have a go with the scorpions, I was most happy with their performance

 

Cheers

 

Bennie