The Bakersfield Trailblazers have been taking care of their favorite trail, Surprise Canyon/Panamint for many years. This year as in yeas past Marlin Crawler organized a clean up weekend before the big annual Panamint Valley Days event held this year in early November. We met on the valley floor Friday night and started up the canyon Saturday morning.

This time out Marlin brought a new tool along to help with the annual cleaning and pruning. A new weed eater with a skill saw attached to the bottom! With this new toy would prove very useful for clearing away large amounts of weeds from around the cabins and on the trail.

But within the first 5 minutes of use disaster struck. As Marlin was walking by his truck and he accidentally hit his tire with the spinning skill saw blade and RIP...POW!

The blade cut right through the side wall of a new 35" Super Swamper! Within seconds the air pressure was gone. We quickly changed out the tire and were on our way again. I think the tire cost more than the weed eater did!

Soon we came up to the the famous seven water falls and our five trucks started winching and climbing up them to reach Panamint city at the top.

We were making good progress until we reached the fourth fall and one of the two Jeeps with us a 65 Jeep CJ5 had the clutch fail on his Warn 8268 winch and it would no longer pull his jeeps up the falls. The clutch unit was dissembled and inspected.

It was determined that the best thing to do was weld the clutch up. The winch would no longer freewheel but at least it could be used to pull again. We also found that the track bar was coming off the CJ7 so it was removed. On up the falls we continued.

As we continued we saw some of the many mules common to Death Valley and the surrounding mountains. They watched as we drove by.

By late afternoon we arrived at Panamint city and setup camp. Some slept in the houses and shacks in town, while others slept in tents. The next morning we got up early and work began with the clearing of brush and weeds from around the shacks and houses, just as if someone still lived there.

Several skill saw blades and about 5 gallons of fuel later the area was cleared and much more presentable. Lots of trash and garbage was removed from the cabins and trails and collected into bags. Soon it was time to head back down the Surprise Canyon to the valley floor below.

As we descended from the city the older 65 Jeep was makings some funny creaking noises like someone walking across an old wood floor. It would make these noises every time the suspension flexed. Before descending we inspected the frame and found two large cracks in the frame.

One was near failure. Using two batteries and jumper cables I welded the frame back up. The welds looked good and we confidently thought the Jeep frame would make it down the falls without further assistance - wrong. We failed to continue to inspect the frame. Guessing we had found and solved the funny noise we did not look for further problems but there were two other cracks that that we did not see till later....

Before reaching the bottom of the falls the steering was not working correctly, the driver reported that the wheel was a bit sloppy. Well one of the undetected cracks had completed it's course through the frame.

The frame separated like a fault line in the earth. Too bad we did not have anymore welding rod, we had to come up with a different solution. We first tried the winch thinking the the frame could be held together with the winch line but now the winch motor was not working and the winch was completely unresponsive. With only a few miles left to go before reaching Ballarat it seemed so close but so far away.

Continued driving like this was sure to cause the other frame rail to break. After much though a High lift Jack was used to lift and position the frame back into place. Then a cain was used to connect the two sections together. Even if it did not make it all the way it would at least bring it closer to the main camp.

Further inspection found the fourth crack in the frame but this one was only 1/2 way through the frame and we felt slow driving would get it just a few miles down the road.

The left rear leaf spring mount had also failed and the U bolts were coming apart. The Jeep was truly on it's last legs after making the trip up to Panamint and back some 20 or more times, this was it's last and final trip - anywhere.

With slow driving and lots of patients the CJ-5 made it back to Ballarat and was parked.

Later it was picked up by trailer and returned home. No attempt was made to further repair the poor old Jeep. It was just too far gone - DNR. It will be parted out to give new life to other Jeeps. What more could an old faithful Jeep want, to die on the trail in the line of duty, after years of faithful service and many happy trails. RIP.

PS Many people have asked how did Project Trail Toy do on the trails? In a word, outstanding! With my previous truck I had to winch up all seven waterfalls. This time I was able to drive up four of the seven falls.

Short winch pulls were still necessary on falls number 2, 5, and 7. I can't help but sit and think of ways to improve the truck to the point of allowing it to climb all seven. I am also happy to report no failures or repairs were needed on my truck.

The last trip with my 4Runner I broke one front and one rear axle. This time nothing even needed adjustment, it all worked great and I am looking forward to going again in a few weeks for the official Panamint Valley Days trail run!