Hollister 2001
Second Annual Blazerfest
July 13th-15th

Article/photo's courtesy of Stephanie Baxter

The trip to Hollister Hills for those who missed it turned out to be one heck of a trip. I've been wheeling before but never with so many other K5 owners. It's more then just a little bit cool to hit the trails and see heads turn everywhere you go because there's a group of K5's heading by stirring up huge clouds of dust. We ended up for the weekend with 15 Blazers/Jimmy's (plus some other non K5 rigs). Each one with it's own personality custom tailored to suit the tastes of each owner. It was pretty neat to see all the different body styles and types wheeling side by side. The weather was just about perfect. Warm and sunny but not too hot. The night slightly cool, but nothing a good camp fire couldn't fix. Everyone got along great and had a great time getting to know each other. We all knew before the trip CK5'ers were a great bunch a folks. After the trip there was no doubt at all that this was certainly the case and then some!

It was around 8am on Friday the 13th that the troops began to march in one by one to start up the action. GoKarterGo (Dan) and GoldRush (David) arrived at the park first. They headed right on into camp ground 5 to set up. A little bit later FrizzleFry (Chris) and Burt4x4 (Steve) were next in. As the camp ground begin to pop up a pretty beat up red Toyota truck with some kids headed by and up top the hill to wheel. A little bit later they headed back down minus the truck because they had sunk it pretty darn good in the mud. At
this point Esteban86 (Esteban) was there and they approached him and GoKarterGo to give them a tow out. Being the good guys they are they agreed and headed on up in their rigs. GoKarterGo tied up to the Toyota and began to spin his tires and dig in to pull him out. After spinning down into the dirt about 4 inches he stuck mud and sunk himself in. GoldRush who had since come to watch the action tied up to GoKarterGo and gave him a yank to free him. Burt4x4 followed as well and winched the kids out. They asked Burt4x4, how come they got stuck? Pretty sure he just laughed at them to himself because the answer was pretty obvious. They didn't know what they were doing in the very least and were alone. Two mistakes not wise to make separately more or less combine together.

Burt4x4 trying to balance on the teeter totter

After the rescue the group headed over to the obstacle course to play follow the leader. The course had logs, rocks and various other things to try out. GoKarterGo blew his cv-joint pretty much right away and that was it for the day for him. The rest of the guys played on the teeter totter, hills, rocks, the not so muddy mud hole and anything else they could get their rigs to crawl onto. Chaz88K5 put on a show jumping his rig several times and showing off for all those who came over to watch. The rest of the day consisted of simply trying out the trails and seeing what all there was to do and what to plan for on Saturday.

Chaz88K5 jumping his rig

Saturday morning started out with a group of us heading up to the obstacle course. I rode up with GoKarterGo. We went up the logging trail and around it until we came to a gully type area. Despite not having 4 wheel drive he made it up and through it without a hitch. Which is more then I can say for others I saw later on that day with 4 wheel drive in Jeeps high centering and sliding back down hill. It seemed the Blazers & Jimmy's ruled the trails even with 2 wheel drive!

Once up the hill we drove around just seeing what everyone's plans for the were. We stopped at section of the trail called Tank Trap which was rated black diamond, the hardest trail there. JunkYardCrawler was attempting the first of three mud holes but was having to be winched out by BabyBlue. The bead on his front left tire let go and there was no way anyone could finish that trail with a tire like that. Once out JunkYardCrawler changed his tire as most of us headed over to the mini Rubicon to watch Frizzlefry attempt to get across it.

BabyBlue pulling JunkYardCrawler out of Tank Trap

Frizzlefry began to head up slowly with some spotting help. He was looking good and like he'd be able to get onto the rocks with a little work. However before he could get all four tires onto it he slid a bit causing his tire to turn and an u-joint to blow. GoldRush and Burt4x4 winched him down off the rocks with a bit of help from the hi-lift king himself (Friz). At the time when he got down it was thought to be just be the joint until back at camp when the tire was off and it could be seen the axle shaft was now butterflied and unusable. Luckily someone had a spare and lent it out to him to get back on the trail ASAP!

Frizzlefry climbing onto the mini Rubicon

Burt4x4 and GoldRush pulling Frizzlefry off of the mini Rubicon

After Frizzlefry tried the mini Rubicon Chris (Chaz88K5's friend) in his Bronco decided to make a try for it. He got up and on rather quickly and made it across with no problems or hitches of any kind. BabyBlue not wanting to be shown up by a Ford of course said he'd try it. However he just placed his front wheels up before he backed off due to a broken axle shaft/u-joint changing his mind.

Chris (friend of Chaz88K5) in his Bronco running the mini Rubicon

During all this others tried the frame twister out flexing and seeing what their rigs could do. They also went up the stair stepping hill.

Esteban86K5 hitting the stairs

GoldRush showing off some flex

Once we got everyone off the mini Rubicon most of the group headed on over to a mudding area. It looked like more of a small pond to me. Something one would cross in a boat and not a truck. But despite this a few brave souls ventured into the muddy muck to see how far they could get before the mud wouldn't let them move any further. The first person to head in was Triaged. There were two ways to enter this mud. One was to drive down by it and head in that way. The other was to set up at the top of a hill and fly down it landing in the mud. Triaged decided to hit the hill and see what that was like.

Triaged hitting the mud and making waves

Triaged ended up making a few passes through the mud before he ended up getting so stuck the winch had to be brought out to free him. BabyBlue hooked up and began to pull him free.

BabyBlue giving Triaged a tug out of the mud

Once Triaged was free his rig sat up on the edge of the water. It seemed to be fine until some smoke began to creep out from the front and wheel wells. Before anyone hardly had time to say the word "fire" three people were on the truck with extinguishers putting it out. One guy who wasn't even with us flew down the hill and helped out. It's amazing how fast strangers come to the aid of others when they are in trouble. Just something that's part of wheeling. Helping out everyone you can because you never know when you will need some help back!

Triaged having a small fire which was promptly put out

The fire was put out and despite this the truck still ran. It turned out some tranny fluid came out and hit the headers. The headers being so hot instantly caused the fluid to smoke and give everyone a scare. It was one heck of a show that was for sure to see it.

RaisedK5 showing off he can run the mud just as well as anyone else can

Once Triaged cleared out RaisedK5 went for it and tried the mud out himself. He made several passes and kicked up a lot of mud and entertained everyone for quite sometime. Some on lookers in a Jeep sat on the other side of the mud on the road looking on. We joked about how if they tried this it would have been more then half under water and probably stuck there forever. He made it out with no problems and definitely proved that the full sized rigs could do it all that was thrown at them.

JunkYardCrawler's dad hitting the mud hole

JunkYardCrawler who was there with his dad decided to try to out the mud. Both of them hit the hole heading down the hill. Dad went first and showed off. He finished up his run and then handed the truck over JYC who flew down the hill and hit the water so hard he managed to knock his grill loose. It was a wonder he didn't do more with the amount of force there was. He did end up getting some water under the dist cap which took quite sometime to fix. But once dry it fired right up and was ready for some more action.

JunkYardCraler himself hitting the water with a big splash

While we were waiting for JunkYardCrawler to fix his rig Greg72 made a pass by us and up the hill. The area was really dusty. As you can see he kicked up plenty of dust going up that hill! Also during this time myself and some other walked down a trail nearby because we heard someone was being winched out. Turned out a Sami rolled on it's side. The drivers didn't know what they were doing and tried to tackle a run too difficult for what they were equipped for. It went to show that getting out and looking over whatever you were about to hit was a wise decision and should be the rule of thumb for all drivers anytime they go out on a run.

Greg72 kicking up some dust and making some noise

After that hard day of wheeling everyone returned back to the camp for some dinner. After some relaxing and time to look over the carnage of the day we all headed to the stage area for the raffle. There were lots of prizes awarded. Everything from t-shirts, herculiner, stickers to a diff guard.

The winners were:

Stuart Post (JunkYardCrawler): t-shirt (furthest distance driven- from Arizona), antenna from Chicken Lips CB's

Stephanie Baxter (ChevyCaGal): Gypsy Cruisers t-shirt, CK5 window stickers, quart of Herculiner, Westin step bars, leather driving gloves from Chicken Lips

Matt Restelli (BabyBlue): CB radio from Chicken Lips, Advanced Adapters sweatshirt, Chevy baseball hat, battery checker from Chicken Lips CB's

David Renschler (GoldRush): CB antenna mount from Chicken Lips, Skyjacker shocks

Esteban Solano: Hurst shift knob, CK5 t-shirt, Waag t-shirt, antenna from Chicken Lips CB's

Chaz Murray (Chaz88K5): Waag t-shirt, leather driving gloves Chicken Lips, CK5 window stickers

Mark Shepard (Gandolf): Differential guard, Pull-Pal certificate

Leland Hyde (RaisedK5): Crusin' stickers, $100 gift certificate from High Angle Drive Line, fuse block from Chicken Lips CB's,  CK5 window stickers, Gypsy riders t-shirt and the Offroad Toybox windshield sticker

Dan Barcroft (Triaged): 50% off Borla Exhaust

Steve Chin (Steve_Chin): Waag t-shirt

Matthew Meyer (1Blazin71): CK5 windshield sticker, CK5 t-shirt

Melinda Meyer: 10% off Painless Wiring certificate

Greg Blanchette (Greg72): Unknown

Name Unknown: Hurst shifter knob

Name Unknown: Huskey Liners, CK5 t-shirt

Name Unknown: ORD sway bar disconnects

Name Unknown: Cobra hand held radios

The peanut gallery gathered in the picnic area waiting for the raffle to begin

Sunday morning before anyone else woke up JunkYardCrawler went out to take Tank Trap again. He didn't finish it but gave it one heck of a try. Just entering the trail based on the holes, and ditches you could tell if you weren't prepared you'd definitely come out with some modified fenders, doors and anything the trap decided to rearrange in it's favor. Triaged went down the trail later on that day to hit the first mud hole along with BabyBlue. The mud hole itself looked deep, but not like anything a little steady gas on the pedal couldn't get you through. The water sitting in it had the appearance of chocolate milk. But under the calm surface laid some thick heavy mud which could be best described as the consistency of cement when churned about by tires spinning and digging in. Triaged managed to make it quite a distance before the mud simply won out. BabyBlue winched him out then took his turn.

Triaged tackling mud hole one on Tank Trap

During this time GoldRush was over at the mini Rubicon hitting the rocks. He was not to be beaten by the Bronco who went across the rock the day before while none of the K5's were able to really even get on. It took a while to get started. But with some good spotting and some even better driving done by GoldRush he made it totally across and showed off the full sizes were to not be outdone.

GoldRush beginning his crawl onto the mini Rubicon

Heading back over to the Tank Trap I found BabyBlue who despite snapping the front axle shaft and only having 3 wheel drive was determined to make it all the way through. He winched through the first mud hole without any problems. It took him several hours but he managed to do it. Along the way he broke the other front axle shaft along with some other damage which included breaking his right topper window, bending a rim, destroying a locking hub and body damage to the passenger side of his rig. He had to winch through all 3 of the mud holes but we watched many people with winches go around the mud and even some cut out because they simply decided it was too hard to try.

BabyBlue tackling one of the 3 mud holes

Checking out the trail and making up the plan on how to drive it

Body damage BabyBlue got running Tank Trap

The run at Hollister ended with big plans for next year. We hope that we can get 50 rigs there. 50 signed up this time but not everyone showed. Now that you can see what you missed and what is to be expected you can start planning now! Hope to see you next year! Until then wheel safe and tread lightly!

The attendees:

GoKarterGo- 86 Blue K5
Dan Allemand
Danielle Allemand
Charlotte Lassador

GoldRush- 75 K5
David Renschler
Dakota Keffer w/Turbocycle

Burt4x4- 72 Brown K5
Steve Burt
Tyler Burt w/MxR

FrizzleFry- 81 White K5
Chris Brewer

Esteban86K5- 86 K5
Esteban Solano

Chaz88K5- 88 Yellow K5
Chaz Murray
Chris Bozich w/70 Blue Bronco

Tori89K5- 90 K5
Tori Miller
Molly (trail dog)

JunkyardCrawler- 73 K5
Stuart Post
Stu's Pop

RaisedK5- 75 Black K5
Leland Hyde

1Blazin71- 71 K5
Matthew Meyer
Melinda Meyer

Gandolf- 89 K5
Mark Shepard

Greg72- 72 Gray K5
Greg Blanchette

SarazK5- 4 Runner (79 Jimmy home sick)
Sara Brandt
Shawn
Freddie aka Pig the Hunter

BabyBlue- 82 Urban Camo K5
Matt Restelli

Steve_Chin- 72 Blue K5
Steve Chin

Triaged- 72 Yellow K5
Dan Barcroft

RyanB- 72 Maroon/Black K5
Ryan Burke

ChevyCaGal- 95 Dodge Neon (86 K5 home sick)
Stephanie Baxter

A big THANK YOU to those who donated items to our raffle:

ColoradoK5.com
Off Road Design
Chicken Lips CB's
Westin Truck
Herculiner
Split Fire
Weld Racing
Painless Wiring
Auto Meter
Borla Exhaust
Skyjacker
Advanced Adapters
Pull-Pal
Huskey Liners
Hurst