MEMBER TRIP REPORT
Cobaw Impromptu Trip 14 th March 2021
Participants |
Member No . |
Vehicle Details |
Alberto Pamintuan ( TL ) |
875 |
Nissan Patrol |
Robert Dickson , Curtis Dickson |
1945 |
Pajero |
Neil Pope , Julie Williams |
1642 |
Mazda BT50 |
Peter Thomas |
199 |
Nissan Patrol |
Darren Straub , Greg Straub |
1319 |
Toyota Troop Carrier |
Trip Summary Re-visited tracks that were used for the Proficiency Plus course within the Cobaw Range Forest Distance & Route Approximately 50km from Lancefield then to Soil Pit Track , Stumpy Track and Camp Track Fuel & Supplies We started and finished at the Lancefield township Difficulty Level / Vehicle Requirements Difficult – requiring good wheel placement and route has large boulders , deep ruts and side angles . Tips , Notes and Special Remarks Cobar Ranges Forest Activities Map - Rooftop map
Trip Detail
Day 1 – Sunday 14 th March
On the Friday before the trip , I took ownership of a 2002 Nissan Patrol Coil Cab , previously owned by Greg Sinclair . To familiarise myself with the truck I decided to set up this trip .
We met at the Lancefield Bakery by 9:00am . I spotted Darren ’ s red Troopy along the highway , and we both rolled up just before the meeting time . Everyone else arrived earlier and was already ordering something to eat and drink at the Bakery . I asked everyone to air down at the car park since the trip to the Cobaw Ranges was only 10 minutes away . Greg jumped into the passenger seat . We slowly formed a convoy .
It may have been 3 years ago since I ’ ve been in this area ; so it wasn ’ t long before my memory of the route failed me and I turned into a road too soon . It wasn ’ t officially a u-turn because we found our way to the first track with a bit of a rendezvous around the Lancefield countryside .
At first glance , the forest had regenerated well from a large fire from years ago . We eventually found Soil Pit Track ; and yes , there was one u-turn along the way . My excuse ; I was struggling with the lack of detail from the Hema map , so I reverted to Ozi-Explorer from my android phone .
It wasn ’ t far into Soil Pit track by the time we were into the thick of things . Everyone else was now remembering the track from their previous visit when we ran the Proficiency Plus course in this area ; apart from Rob who was seeing all this for the first time . Rob took the wise decision to go around the large rock shelf to avoid dragging the belly of his Pajero . Others tried different lines with success also . Our next challenge was a rock garden where we needed to carefully take the best