Return to Collie

In my earlier post, I told you of our reckie to Collie. So this time, we returned to traverse the track we take in winter in the reverse direction.
The length of this track is only about two kilometers long but has some very steep and seriously badly rutted section.
As it turns out, only four cars turned up at the meeting place. There are Rob, our leader, with his modified Sierra - rock hopper kit, front air locker, rear limited slip, serious suspension lift and 235/75 mud terains. Next there was Mat in his Sierra - front and back air locker, serious suspension lift and big all-terrain tyres. Then there was Peter. His coil sprung Sierra has a lift and some monster mud-terain tyres. My Jimny has a modest 50mm suspension lift and 215-75 mud-terain tyres.
The start of the track has a badly washed out drop down into the track which worried us a bit. In the past, we have driven or been snatched up this so it was a bit strange going down nose first. However, with great guidence from each other, we all managed to inch down the rocky, dusty and rutted slope. Rob took a path to the right over some very big rocks and scaped his sill protector. The rest of us chose the left and it was only the Jimny that scraped the suspension hanger as we climbed over Jeff Pit's big rock from the previous trip.
The remainder of the drop down to the creek was a lot easier than we normally would find going up in the opposite direction. However, the climb back out was going to be another matter. Upon inspection, there was evidence of a recent roll-over which made us a bit more worried.
Rob decided to straddle the very deep ruts on the right in the same manner as we do when ascending. OK with lockers and after one failed attempt where he was only seeing blue sky and ended up in the hole, he sucessfully managed the climb without futher incident. Matt tried his luck on the left hand side where the camber of the first part of the track is a bit frightening followed by a very deep rut to straddle to get to the top. He made it up the first part but fell into the hole on the second. The lockers enabled him to keep going and, after a few tries, scraped his way to the top. Peter tried the same trick but, without the lockers, stopped in the hole. The track had a crossover to the right at this point so we manouvered him over to the other side and, with a bit of pushing, managed to get him going again and up to the top. My turn so I decided to take the track to the left and then crossover to the right. As it turned out, the Jimny just drove straight up with a few bumps as it crossed over and was up to the top in no time.
The next section down to Cowbone was very easy except that Rob tried to drive in some deep ruts and had to be extricated when all four wheels just turned and got nowhere, and I tried going over a mound at the bottom and unexpectantly slid sideways.
The last climb, although long and hiding some traps for the uninitiated, looked pretty easy. Rob tried a straddle that did not work the first time, but had no real difficulty getting up. Mat and Peter also did not appear to have any real issues either; however I took the first section a bit to far to the left (did not want to fall in the big hole) and found some very soft and loose soil so lost traction and stopped almost at the top of that section. A change in direction back up onto the ridge got me going again only to get two thirds up the next section and to keep falling off the ridge into the rut. I tried Rob's path but without lockers, I went nowhere. After a few more attempts, I figured that I was turning to soon near the top as the track went to the right and so managed to stay on the high side and get over that section.
The remaining section was just a bit tricky and all of us managed it without any real issues, unlike the Nissan we pulled out of there on the previous trip.