Took the Z to del puerto canyon this morning
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Joined: Apr 2005
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From: modesto, CA
Took the Z to del puerto canyon this morning
What an experiance.
A friend of mine called me up at 5:45 this morning and wanted me to go to del puerto canyon with him, so off I went.
Got up, got dressed, went and filled up the tank and headed off to his house. Once I got there he printed me a map incase we got seperated and off we went.
Took us 20-30 minutes to get to del puerto road from modesto which wasnt as bad as I thought. When we got there we pulled over and discussed who was going to lead, I figured he wouldnt be able to keep up in his scion Xb and I might get bored following so we switched it off a couple times.
Off we went. At first its not so bad, just long fairly windy road then once you get into the canyon it gets really fun. We got about 5 miles onto the road and it started to rain, total bummer. We decided after both having slipping issues (dirt + rain + old road = bad) we would back off and take it easy.
Cruised through most of it in 3rd between 3-5rpm only downshiftting for the 20mph turns. Didnt really need or want the extra power/torque from being in 2nd with the rain, talk about a bad combo.
Theres a lot of blind corners going up so crossing the double yellow was a bad idea for most of the turns, though it would have made it way easier. The left hand turns were the worst by far and gave me the most problems.
We both had a couple scary moments where we would slip or go into a turn a bit to hard and the backend would start to come around, without even pushing it that hard going into the turns. I kept the VDC on because the Z is my first RWD car and, well its got a lot more power then my EP3. I would strongly advise anyone else to keep it on as well, even if the roads are dry.
At the end of del puerto we took a left onto mount hamilton and headed towards the observatory, which is another fun road. The road is newer and was a lot more coarse, traction was a lot better on it. Still raining we decided to head up to the top anyways. We pushed it a little harder because traction was way better but not to an unsafe point.
Once we got to the top we parked and took a couple pictures. It was cloudy/foggy so they werent the best. It was incredibly windy and only 35º out. I would suggest bringing a jacket for this part of the trip, haha.
After partially freezing we decided to head back down and take some pictures. We stopped maybe 3 - 4 times on the way down and got some cool shots. I took 118 pictures in total and, 90% of them turned out good. Later today I will resize them and post some of the better ones.
Overall it was a very good experiance even with the rainy weather and the bad road conditions. I would strongly reconmend anyone in the area taking a trip up there to have some fun in the Z. I definatly plan on going back, and hopefully get some more people to make the run with us.
Some things to watch out for if you do go...
Rocks in the road, theres lots of them, and I dont mean pebbles. I mean...big brick sized rocks that dont mix well with cars. Pine cones were another issue, sure they explode into a kajillion pieces when you run them over and make a cool noise but, I dont think its very good for the tires :P
Animals. During the trip I hit two birds, one ran into the road and flew up and I hit him with the front right side of the car (no guts thankfully), when I looked back he was flopping around in the road. The other bird flew out infront of me then tried to fly back and I hit him with my front windshield, I think this one survived. Squirrels...I didnt kill any but I had one run under my car, he tumbled a few times and ran back accross the street. I found it hilarious to watch. Deer, not so much in the canyon but, once you get onto mount hamilton road. Saw probably 5-6 near the road and one on the road. Cows, we had no bad experiance with cows but, they DO get out and onto the road. Cow guards, these things are scary. Theres a couple just around turns and they arent very good for traction. I had my backend slide out from under me around a sharp turn because the guard was just before the end of the turn. Not to mention they are like hitting a pretty bad pot hole.
Well thats my del puerto canyon experiance and, I loved it. Cant wait to go back when the roads are dry.
Should have pictures up later today.
A friend of mine called me up at 5:45 this morning and wanted me to go to del puerto canyon with him, so off I went.
Got up, got dressed, went and filled up the tank and headed off to his house. Once I got there he printed me a map incase we got seperated and off we went.
Took us 20-30 minutes to get to del puerto road from modesto which wasnt as bad as I thought. When we got there we pulled over and discussed who was going to lead, I figured he wouldnt be able to keep up in his scion Xb and I might get bored following so we switched it off a couple times.
Off we went. At first its not so bad, just long fairly windy road then once you get into the canyon it gets really fun. We got about 5 miles onto the road and it started to rain, total bummer. We decided after both having slipping issues (dirt + rain + old road = bad) we would back off and take it easy.
Cruised through most of it in 3rd between 3-5rpm only downshiftting for the 20mph turns. Didnt really need or want the extra power/torque from being in 2nd with the rain, talk about a bad combo.
Theres a lot of blind corners going up so crossing the double yellow was a bad idea for most of the turns, though it would have made it way easier. The left hand turns were the worst by far and gave me the most problems.
We both had a couple scary moments where we would slip or go into a turn a bit to hard and the backend would start to come around, without even pushing it that hard going into the turns. I kept the VDC on because the Z is my first RWD car and, well its got a lot more power then my EP3. I would strongly advise anyone else to keep it on as well, even if the roads are dry.
At the end of del puerto we took a left onto mount hamilton and headed towards the observatory, which is another fun road. The road is newer and was a lot more coarse, traction was a lot better on it. Still raining we decided to head up to the top anyways. We pushed it a little harder because traction was way better but not to an unsafe point.
Once we got to the top we parked and took a couple pictures. It was cloudy/foggy so they werent the best. It was incredibly windy and only 35º out. I would suggest bringing a jacket for this part of the trip, haha.
After partially freezing we decided to head back down and take some pictures. We stopped maybe 3 - 4 times on the way down and got some cool shots. I took 118 pictures in total and, 90% of them turned out good. Later today I will resize them and post some of the better ones.
Overall it was a very good experiance even with the rainy weather and the bad road conditions. I would strongly reconmend anyone in the area taking a trip up there to have some fun in the Z. I definatly plan on going back, and hopefully get some more people to make the run with us.
Some things to watch out for if you do go...
Rocks in the road, theres lots of them, and I dont mean pebbles. I mean...big brick sized rocks that dont mix well with cars. Pine cones were another issue, sure they explode into a kajillion pieces when you run them over and make a cool noise but, I dont think its very good for the tires :P
Animals. During the trip I hit two birds, one ran into the road and flew up and I hit him with the front right side of the car (no guts thankfully), when I looked back he was flopping around in the road. The other bird flew out infront of me then tried to fly back and I hit him with my front windshield, I think this one survived. Squirrels...I didnt kill any but I had one run under my car, he tumbled a few times and ran back accross the street. I found it hilarious to watch. Deer, not so much in the canyon but, once you get onto mount hamilton road. Saw probably 5-6 near the road and one on the road. Cows, we had no bad experiance with cows but, they DO get out and onto the road. Cow guards, these things are scary. Theres a couple just around turns and they arent very good for traction. I had my backend slide out from under me around a sharp turn because the guard was just before the end of the turn. Not to mention they are like hitting a pretty bad pot hole.
Well thats my del puerto canyon experiance and, I loved it. Cant wait to go back when the roads are dry.
Should have pictures up later today.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
From: modesto, CA
Originally Posted by Bubble
how is your front bumper? 
I only hit one pine cone, didnt get any rocks.
After I wash it I will know how it is for sure, but it looks ok right now.
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