Mundaring (off the beaten track)

Participants
Joel and Josh (Visitor / Housemate) (Suzuki Sierra)

Simon and Jacob (Land Rover Perentie)

Jon and family (Visitor) (Pajero Sport)

Wilco and Nayeili (Lexus)

Matt (Pajero)

Mundaring State Forest, and in particular, the powerlines, is probably the best known four wheel drive destination in the Perth Region.  As a result, the Powerlines are, for more than a few of us. as familiar as the freeway, and on occasion, as crowded as said freeway on a monday morning. 
Roger and Shaun had previously ran a number of recces, aiming to find some additional tracks  in the area, and they were rewarded, finding a steep, rutted hill, in an area of Mundaring we had not previously explored a great deal. A few more recces revealed a number of steep, technical tracks close enough to the power lines to be easily accessible, but far enough that the traffic jams could be avoided. 
We met at the sculpture park, in Mundaring, and following a coffee, a trip meeting and a mission to recover children from the jungle gym, set off up the highway, at Sierra / Perentie speed (that is, 105 down hills, 85 up).  Heading off Flynn Road, we found a number of steep hill climbs and small water crossings, eventually working our way towards the hill that Roger and Shaun had found a couple of months before, interrupted periodically by the housemate repeatedly stalling the suzuki, causing the convoy to occasionally come to a sudden halt. 
Roger’s hill is one of the trickiest tracks I’ve seen in a  while –  the ruts are deep, and difficult to straddle as a result of the slippery, steep banks on either side of the track. I went first, and promptly fell into a rut, bottoming out on my diff –  but I managed to crawl my way forwards with the assistance of some well positioned max trax, and Simon and Jacob vigorously rocking the Sierra.

 
Wilco, Matt and Simon all followed, showing great skill in straddling a rut more than a metre and a half deep, with a margin for error in terms of tyre placement measured in centimeters, Jon – who’d previously mentioned that this was his very first 4wd trip, of any kind, ever, opted to take a short detour, and, with me in the passenger set, met the rest of the convoy at the bottom of the hill for lunch. 
Following lunch, we moved along a section of the powerlines, before taking a steep detour to the right, which involved crawling down a number of rutted sections, and fording a small river, and a number of water holes, before rejoining the power lines near west talbot road. Jon managed to do his first 4wd injury, gently re-shaping the sidesteps of the Pajero.
The trip was supposed to end with everyone pumping up tyres but the lure of the bog holes proved too tempting for first Wilco, and then myself ( i need to blame Simon for this, whispering ‘your dad would have a crack at it’ worked to convince my to drive into a very deep hole) with both of us making enthusiastic, but futile efforts, succeeding only in covering our cars with mud. 

We pumped tyres, and headed for home, safe in the knowledge that we’d managed to traverse some of the tricker tracks in Mundaring while providing a safe learning environment for a couple of new drivers. 

Story by Joel S.