photo post: thru guts or chicken track?
Submitted: Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 21:37
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Casnat
Hi all,
this has really been prompted by Trucksters response to how to post pictures on post # 28639. I have joined photo bucket and am trying it for the 1st time. If it doesn't work blame him! (not really, just means I haven't done it right I guess).
I posted some time back about the relative merits of attacking
water hazards "down the guts" vs around. In the photo attached (hopefully) I took the option to the right (the "chicken track") and had all sorts of problems getting out of shape and almost collecting the tree at the end. I now think going straight through the guts may have been the better option and this was endorsed by responses to my earlier post. I didn't walk the full length but testing with the proverbial stick showed a firm bottom not too deep.
Anyway, hopefully the following photo link works or I will look pretty silly:
[ View Image]
(fingers crossed)
Trevor
Reply By: Glenn (VIC) - Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:00
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:00
Trevor,
The link worked, but where are the shots of the chicken track drive through?
Cheers
Glenn
AnswerID:
142679
Follow Up By: Bonz (Vic) - Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:12
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:12
I would have taken the right hand line
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Follow Up By: Casnat - Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 23:14
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 23:14
I actually did take the right hand lane but it nearly ended in disaster which was the reason for my post. It was fine up until the end but then to get around the tree that you can see at the end it was necessary to drop into the ruts and then the Patrol went wherever the ruts took it and that happenned to be straight for the tree.
I now wonder whether the straight through from the start option would be more controllable, allbeit longer in the
water.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: GaryInOz (Vic) - Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 08:59
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 08:59
Bahh humbug...theyre both chicken tracks.LOL
Stop the car and find a stick to measure the depth. Usually better to go for the solid base of the deeper ruts, rather than risking the clay of the newer ruts.
Try to pick the best most level track too, with traction applied equally to all 4
wheels rather than heavily biased to two
wheels (important with open diffs).
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Bonz (Vic) - Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:04
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:04
You have to love a firm bottom
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:14
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:14
Especially if it's both "firm" as
well as "slippery".....oh yeh!!!!!!!
Now where DID I put that bloody medication......NURSE!!!!
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Bonz (Vic) - Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:22
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:22
Now Now Bill, I wasnt going THAT far ... but now we're there.....
The one reason I dont attempt the straight thru track is that I have 265-16's on the Patrol, and I just know that someone with 285's or 315 or BIGGER has been there before me and all I would manage to do would be sit the axles on the ground and go naught farther.
Any bottom that been made that way by 33" or more is out of bounds to me.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Mad Dog (Australia) - Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:22
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:22
Yeah as I used to yell at the sheep dogs on the farm "GET IN BEHIND"
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Reply By: Member - Davoe (Widgiemooltha) - Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:50
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 22:50
definitly through the guts in that terrain - that is why the
water is there it has a firm bottom. Where was it it looks like goldfields scrub, possibly around
southern cross?
AnswerID:
142688
Follow Up By: Casnat - Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 23:07
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 23:07
was in Little Desert NP. Close as buggery scratching both sides.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Davoe (Widgiemooltha) - Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 00:42
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 00:42
there you go that bush looks a dead ringer for some of the WA bush
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: prado_95 - Friday, Dec 09, 2005 at 21:11
Friday, Dec 09, 2005 at 21:11
Gee's
its mallee scrub. Southern central & southern west have it every plae you look once yu get away from the big smoke.
Could have been any place in 1/3 of Oz.
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Follow Up By: Member - Davoe (Widgiemooltha) - Friday, Dec 09, 2005 at 22:37
Friday, Dec 09, 2005 at 22:37
Ahhhh city boy eh? bush is bush? not quite looks nothing like the malle scrub of Eyre penninsula. i may have got it wrong from one slightly hazy photo I am no Botanist but i can drive a track and point out to people like you the subtle difference between flora ongranite sand areas yellow sandplains and redsoil plains and even point out a few different kinds of trees and bushes (not all over 16% of OZ eucalypt species alone reside locally) and Often they say Thanks at first I thought it was all just bush
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Casnat - Saturday, Dec 10, 2005 at 00:08
Saturday, Dec 10, 2005 at 00:08
I thought mallee was mallee also and I went through the thousands of outback shots I have looking for one from somewhere else that looked like the one I posted above but nothing close.
The following photo was taken 100 metres or so before the one in my initial post (you can see the
water ahead (it opens up to the right for the chicken track but you can't see it in this photo). It is amazing in that short distance how different the landscape is.
[ View Image]
(just an excuse to test out posting another pic)
Trevor
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Reply By: Billowaggi - Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 23:57
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 23:57
You know you should get out and walk it first!! At least walk along side and probe the depth with a stick, I would imagine huge deep ruts through the middle.A place I go often looks like that in the winter, when it drys out the ruts are over a meter deep, you would not drive through them even then.
Regards Ken.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Casnat - Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 00:05
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 00:05
agree. I did the poke with a stick thing and it wasn't that deep. Decided to take the track to the right and had a near miss with the tree. The thing is that given the "stick test" showed the bottom was firm (no further joking required guys!) and not that deep, the straight through option would potentially have been more controlled than what ended up being a "drop into the ruts" at the end of the "chicken track"
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Casnat - Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 23:57
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 at 23:57
Thanks all.....the posting of the picture worked...YEAH! (thanks truckster)
You can all probably look forward to lots of picture posts for a while until the novelty wears off!
Trev
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 14:47
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 14:47
It cant get easier than photobucket ;)
BTW, take the
water line! More fun!
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Reply By: Willem - Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 07:41
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 07:41
Before going through the guts I would assess where the best winching options are. Then I would find a stick and poke around in the
water to see how deep the ruts are.
In most instances it is better to drive through the guts as that is the hardest part of the track. Going around is where the soft stuff is and potential problems.
Then again, I have had a couple of serious bogs through the guts...lol
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Glenn (VIC) - Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 21:12
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005 at 21:12
Last bog hole similar to that that I came across, jumped out and tested the depth both sides and all looked cool. What I didn't check was the initial drop off from solid dry land to
water...hahahahhaha...a snatch strap or tow later I was recovered backwards..thank God for Moses, and lucky I was in a Cruiser not a Jack, as I may have had wet carpet in the cabin.
It was obvious later that vehicles coming from the other direction had dug large holes trying to get out, from the end that I was trying to get in. I have now learnt to check both entrance and exit edges of bog holes, just in case. It would be similar on the
Border Track after rain, coming across some of the holes on the clay pans would strand most vehicles.
Sometimes it is better to test and take the chicken track, and not worry about stripping and cleaning your vehicle later, but then again, that is what 4wdriving is all about.
Cheers
Glenn
AnswerID:
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