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Old 01-29-2010, 04:45 AM   #21
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My wife would kill me!!! Nice job!!
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Old 01-29-2010, 10:04 AM   #22
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Thanks guys, here's an update on what I got done last night. This is the rock from East Texas, the section I plan to call Gilmer. There is alot of "polish work" to be done yet on the whole garden, trimming the flagstones for better fit, and glueing some of the smaller rocks in place. And I need more rock. My buy some drainage rock to fill in the gaps until I make it somewhere on a wheeling trip.
My 5 year old daughter wanted an easier place to run, so this is it.
It has a cool little dry wash in the front that is fun to straddle or cross-up in, and the hill provides some decent climbs. I hope my daughter like the surrounding boulderfield. Even though it's "easy", this section has put me on my lid a few times already. LOL.

Here's an overall shot from the front.


Another form further out:


A closeup of Gilmer Gulch:


Shot of the backside, finished up to the house foundation:


Might be Sunday before I get a chance to work on it again.
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Old 01-29-2010, 10:10 AM   #23
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Nice! Man, I hate that red stuff.....I havent wheeled in Gilmer in at least 5 years and I think there is still red dirt on my jeep! That crap stains everything!
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Old 01-29-2010, 10:32 AM   #24
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Man! I know what you mean! That YJ I'm working on right now just got back from Gilmer last weekend. This guy is METICULOUS, his rig is clean before it ever gets home, and I still had spots to clean up. It actually made it in between the stock cage footplates and the floor. I think that iron ore up there is magnetized by N.O.R.M. Stains from the Red Planet.
My leopards are red now. Reminds me of home.
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Old 02-11-2010, 07:32 PM   #25
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Alot has been getting in the way of the garden work. Finishing that YJ, burning up my esc, etc.
I did get out there this last Monday and restack the Sicily Island section, forgot to take pics of it, will get some tomorrow. I like how it turned out, not much altitude, but has alot of nice squeezes, straddles and ledges to shoot. There's also a good steep climb with nowhere to go once you get to the top. Bonzai!
Tuesday, I tore down the comp section and restacked. Main reason was that I wanted to build a long diagonal squeeze instead of only having outside corners. And I wanted to set the flagstones to where I would have a notch to belly through so I could crest the steeper slopes. It still needs some finish work with sand topper to improve the aesthetics, but I like the general shape and available lines much better than before. edit- you can ee it in the background of this first shot and a few others coming up.

Here's a shot of it torn down, the only area left mainly undisturbed was the spiral stair in the back.


Here's a shot of the diagonal squeeze I built. The flagstone on the left is at 61*, on the right is 56*. The squeeze up the middle came in at 53*.


Here's a shot of the backside that shows a cantilevered shelf you have to use once you clear the lip of the 56* slope.(The flagstone stacked on that other slope were just there while I worked)


This is the otherside of the comp stack now. The slope in the front with the overhanging ledge at the top is only 45*, but that ledge will be pretty challenging depending on whether you go right or left side. The layered slope that is facing the cam is at 61*. I made sure to set up some notches to belly through at the top of this part.

Last edited by shelljeep; 02-11-2010 at 07:36 PM.
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Old 02-11-2010, 07:54 PM   #26
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Anyhow, onto today's progress...
40* degress and drizzling, perfect day to work on the rock garden.
I found a local place to get riprap for $35/ton so I picked 3500 pounds this morning.
Had to borrow my buddy's little utility trailer to go get it since I can't get to mine because of the soft, rain soaked yard. This trailer HATES me now.:-P I ask the guy to load me up with a ton, and ended up at 1.73 tons.
Had to unload all the pieces I could physically pick up and put them in the back of the truck just so the trailer tires would survive the ride home.
Pics do not do these justice. I could barely even roll some of them.

The big ones:


The smaller ones, some of which will go 100 pounds easy, this is what I moved into the damn truck bed:


Here's what I started with this morning. The yellow bucket s where the next stack I show is located:


There is a core of broken concrete about 12" high and 36" in diameter hidden under the stone. Everything wedged together nicely and should stay put. I'm finding out that heavy stone is good to work with for that one reason.


Another angle of the same stack:
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Old 02-11-2010, 08:09 PM   #27
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Put most of the bigguns in the same stack. This concrete base is about 18" tall. Of course, the rock that would work best up there was the biggest rock of the entire bunch.:?
I had to stack the others around the base and use them to roll and wiggle that bastard up there, then unstack them and reorganize. Well worth the hassle.
The base:


The base under the stack to the left, the right stack is just 3 rocks leaned into each other:


Kind of a confusing shot, makes the stacks look merged but they are seperate as seen in the previous pic:


Baxide is nasty:

Last edited by shelljeep; 02-11-2010 at 08:11 PM.
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Old 02-11-2010, 08:21 PM   #28
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So, to wrap it up, here is an overall of how it looks now. The plan is to pick up another 3000 pounds or so of smaller stuff in the morning. I'll use it to fill in the spots where the landscaping paper still shows. It will be rocks from baseball to soccer ball size.
Going to be a busy morning, because I've got a school function to attend for my little girl as well. Don't count on any progress shots tomorrow though, KOH starts at 10 CST.
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Old 02-11-2010, 08:28 PM   #29
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Looking good man! That will be fun when you are finished!
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Old 02-11-2010, 09:09 PM   #30
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Yeah man! My bud who lent me the trailer just bought a crawler, he's pumped up too. Got quite a few of the guys I wheel with nibbling at it too.
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Old 02-11-2010, 10:20 PM   #31
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Man you got rock from every where

Your going to get many people into crawling if you set it up right looks awesome
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Old 02-12-2010, 10:58 AM   #32
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Well done. It is amazing how you let a 1:1 guy play for a minute and a week later they are building a comp rig.
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Old 02-14-2010, 11:13 AM   #33
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I'm alot closer to done now. Got the small riprap installed. I don't like how it minimized some of my obstacles so I will be clearing it away from the base of the big stuff and replacing it wiht gravel. Will also spread the gravel throughout to cover the small gaps where you can see the paper peeking through and lock the riprap in place.
Need to add some edging also.


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Old 02-14-2010, 12:09 PM   #34
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That turned out nicely!!!
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Old 02-14-2010, 12:30 PM   #35
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Thanks man, headed to lowes right now for the sand topper
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Old 02-14-2010, 01:22 PM   #36
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Nice start, it's always good to have a spot you can't do "yet". Builds technique and skill.
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Old 02-14-2010, 02:01 PM   #37
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Thanks, yep, gotta plan ahead.
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Old 02-14-2010, 02:39 PM   #38
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Oh Wow!! Your either divorced (soon to be), single, or have the most understanding wife around!

Awesome job!

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My wife would kill me!!! Nice job!!
My wife would ill me too. She wouldn't even take the time to put the K in front of Kill either.
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Old 02-14-2010, 03:05 PM   #39
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Thanks guys,that self righteous smug you just gave her was like a bonus Valentines Day gift.
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Old 02-15-2010, 05:49 PM   #40
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Got the gravel this morning, I like how the bigger obstacles are more defined again. The footprint increased slightly, call it eminent domain.

Here's what welooked like after I removed all the riprap that was too close to the stacks and got the new paper down.


This is an example of before:


And after:


Wore my helper out today:


Overall from side:


Overall from front:


I'll be at the post office when it opens to pick up my new ESC, BEC, and the puller motor. Tomorrow afternoon, it's awnn!
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