On Saturday 23 January EC Offroad Adventures had their first outing of 2010 to the Loerie 4x4 Trail. We knew it would be popular with it being a new trail and so close to PE, but we never imagined we would have such a huge turnout. From 8am the first vehicles arrived at the Koekepan road side stall, and by 9am we had a group of 17 vehicles.

Payments and paperwork were taken care of at the Koekepan and then we moved on to the Loerie Rest Camp in convoy. At the Rest Camp entrance we were greeted by our guide Ronnie who did his driver's briefing in the hall. From here everyone got in their vehicles and we set off to the first section of the trail.

The first hill on the trail in a slightly steep loose rocky hill. Most of the vehicles had no problems here, but one or two had to reverse back a bit half way up the hill to make it up. At the top of this hill we turned off left and ran along the edge of a hill known as the camel back. At the end of the camel back there is a steep down hill into the river bed. Everyone took it easy and slowly made their way down. At this hill Ronny let those who wanted to, attempt to drive back up the steepest section of the camel back. First up was Ryno in his big green Patrol. The patrol spun the wheels a bit but it clawed it's way up the hill. Next up was Phillip in Barto's Triton and he made it up without much fuss. Daan who recently traded up to a Discovery 3 from his Discovery 2 was also keen to attempt the hill to see if his new vehicle really is better than his previous vehicle. Daan's discovery fought it's way past the difficult loose corner with the electronics fighting to get power to the wheels with traction, but it made it all the way and Daan was happy with his new vehicle. The second Discovery 3 in the group, also wanted to try the hill. He made it all the way to the edge but then he dug in. Gary tried a few times to reverse a bit and go forward again, but he just moved further and further back down the hill. The best option was to reverse back down, but Gary didn't want to take any chances with this, so Barto was asked to assist and he reversed the vehicle safely back down the hill again.


The convoy along the camel back.


Andre's little Samurai driving along the camel back.


Ryno's Patrol climbing back up the camel back.


Phillip coming up in the Triton.


The rest of the group in the riverbed watching the vehicles attempt the difficult climb.


Daan's Discovery 3 clawing it's way up the hill.


Gary's Discovery 3, "Crofty" climbing up the hill, but unfortunately he did not make it all the way.

From the camel back we drove a short distance along the riverbed and then back along the gravel road to the entrance gate where we again had to go up the first hill. Everyone knew what to do this time round and there were no problems with this hill. At the top of the hill we turned right where we unfortunately ran into the group ahead of us who were waiting around for no apparent reason. We turned right off the track and headed down into a valley with 2 ways to get out. The one way was very loose and steep, with the other also quite loose but not as steep. The easier of the would be the most difficult hill of the day for those who did not attempt any of the optional hills. We first had to wait for the previous group to get out of the valley, but that took some time as they were all highly experienced driver who wanted to attempt the difficult option. One made it up and three tried but failed.


Our convoy waiting for the group ahead of us to move on to the valley.

First vehicle in our group, Ronny in his Wrangler, opted for the bypass since he has a broken front side shaft. The second vehicle, Andrew in his beautifully engineered SFA hilux took on the option hill and close to the top he hit an ant hill which threw him straight into the fence. The hilux lost a bumper corner in the process and a wooden fence dropper was broken. Andrew reversed back a bit and then crawled up the hill. The next few vehicles all took the easier route, not that it was that much easier and you could see the vehicles had to work quite hard and kicked up a lot of dust. Leon was next to attempt the difficult hill and made it on his second attempt. A few more vehicles took the easier route, but Ryno in the Patrol, who was second last wanted to go for the difficult hill. He made it only a short distance when he dug in and stalled the Patrol. Then he couldn't get it restarted. Eventually we solved the problem by jump starting from the one to the other battery. Ryno then took the bypass. Phillip in the Triton was the last vehicle in the group. He also took on the difficult hill and made it up with some spinning and bouncing.


Benji's Isuzu going up the easier hill in a cloud of dust.


Andrew bouncing off the track into the fence!


Ryno attempting the hill, but he only got this far when the Patrol stalled and didn't want to start again.

The next section was a steep down hill with a sharp hairpin at the bottom. Ronny stood at hairpin and guided each vehicle and showed them exactly when to turn to make it safely around the corner. JJ from the other group then tried to go up this hill, but had to reverse back when he failed to make it all the way up. He gave us all a scare when he reversed back down and came perilously close to the edge of the track. From the bottom of this hill the road winds it's way through the valley with quite dense bush. We got back to the main gravel road again and further down we turned off to go to the playground.


Dave going around the hairpin.

At the playground those with serious guts took on the option obstacles. Here and there we had to assist the vehicles without diff-locks to get through the big cross axle holes. Those who wanted to, played around on the tracks and the others just watched and took pictures. After playing around for a while, some of the people moved on to the little waterfall where they could cool down in the water pool.


Ryno's Patrol in the cross axle holes.


Donavan's Prado in the cross axle holes.


Dave's Defender double cab coming through the mud hole.


The Patrol flying through the mud.


Andrew testing to see if his wheels touch after recent major modifications.

Dave in the double cab Defender almost put his vehicle on it's side here when he pulled away without realising where the track is. The left of the vehicle was right on the edge of the soft bank and it would have fallen over had he tried to go forward or backward. He was hooked up to the Triton and he was quickly snatched back in line.

Slowly everyone went their separate ways, with some staying over for the night and others heading back to PE. On the way back Benji's Isuzu developed an engine knock. Not wanting to take a chance, he stopped and called for a rollback to come and pick him up. Daan stopped by him and waited for the assistance to arrive. Barto came past as well and stopped to see what can be done. It was decided to tow the Isuzu with the Triton back to the N2 where it would be easier for the truck to load the Isuzu.

Although the size of the group did prove to be bit big, we hope everyone still enjoyed their day. In future if we have such a large group again we will make a plan to split the group up into 2 smaller groups. Watch out for our next outing to the Gonjah 4x4 trail on the 20th of February!

A huge thanks to all those who attended!

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