shelljeep's Rock Garden

[ScottKelly911]

That looks pretty awesome! But I have a suggestion. Those tree's are BEGGING for a bridge of some sort!!! Like a suspension bridge with a few broken slats for good measure. Maybe do a Suspension bridge between two trees, but then the tree that has the branch sticking out sideways like an arm, have it attach another bridge going down toward the rock garden. Great start, you've got a lot of potential there. BTW, LOVE the tunnel, very cool. keep it up man!

[shelljeep]

Thanks man.
I've been thinking about something like that, a suspension bridge. I've thought about having it come off the rocks, to a small stage on the limb so you can make a turn and drive down the limb 6-8 feet, then cone off of it with another suspension bridge. It's just wide enough for 1/10 crawler to make it w/o hanging a diff. If you steer carefully.
Bcampisi was a big help yesterday, we got the majority of the big rock moved into the new garden. I need to tune up the stacks but having it over there is a huge help. Thanks dude!

[Rig Rocker]

Looks great man!

Great idea to tarp the ground so you won't have a muddy mess

Wish I had space like you do!

My rock course, "The Cave" is confined to 25' x 6' area

[White Stripe]

You know what I have seen that a lot of those courses dont seem to have is a nice canyon. I got a thing for cool canyons to drive through with cool ledges and walls to stradle.

[shelljeep]

Rig Rocker- Great use of space, I like the height. Bet the weathers always nice there too.
White Stripe- you are right, canyons are cool. My plan was to have a couple tree wraparounds, a couple big piles in the open, and a ridge snkaing between them and around the trees. This would create canyon on either side of the ridge, hopefully like 20' or more. I need to rearrange things to get it right. I don't mind the work, redoing it to get it how I want, just need the time.

[Rebelspawn]

Keep up the great work!

[Rig Rocker]

Originally Posted by shelljeep

Rig Rocker- Great use of space, I like the height. Bet the weathers always nice there too.

Thanks You can't see from pics, but there are a lot of variations in terrain and a canyon thats not visible that snakes through the valley between the 2 mountains. Has a gnarly vertical climb out and and an axlebreaker to avoid. I'm able to set up a course or two every weekend and it never gets old. I'll also throw in some ladder bridges and other stuff from time to time.

You're right about the weather! Thats why I moved hear over 10years ago. Average temp is 80. We do have a rainy season though so I have 2 easy ups covering most of the course and my work benches, so we can be outside having fun on rainy days.

Your course is looking pretty "Epic"! Your going to have to call it something like "Crawlville" since you have so much space!

[Mr.Shrek]

Looks like you've got a great mix of terrain and angles, very fun looking course.

[country_crawler]

Any updates shell?

[shelljeep]

Thanks guys and yes, updates!
Got all of the rock shifted over and the larger pieces are in place. Looks like I need about 3 more tons to finish. I'm leaning toward some nicer rock, like "Mossy Boulder" instead of riprap. Would be good to have some more diversity and the look would be nicer as well. As you see the pics later, picture the areas that are still groundcloth and exposed concrete covered in dark brown rock, mostly basketball size and larger. Would work well to tie it all together. I have found a place in Texas where I can get it for 6 cents/lb vs 17 cents/lb down here. Compared to riprap at $35/ton, it comes in at $130/ton. Still kinda pricey.
I also need to do the concrete work. I need to bed in the slate pile that wraps around a tree, and I also need to mortar the smaller riprap that rests on top of the 3 caves.
Hosted a Christmas party for my 4x4 club last weekend, good times had by all. Had my 3 rigs and 2 others, the AX10 I rebuilt on a Losi chassis and a RedCat. About a dozen guys got to wheel the piss outta my 3 cars. Was tough to keep up with batteries and repairs.
Got to introduce a bunch of guys to RC crawlin though, and a couple are looking for rigs now.
A couple others said they'd buy rigs once I finally finish my jeep and get back out on the trails with it. Been down for a year and half now. I blame Losi and RCCrawler.
I'll upload some pics in a bit for you guys.

[shelljeep]

Here's a few shots from the day of the Christmas party. Not any really good overall shots, hopefully I can remedy that tomorrow.

[shelljeep]

Haven't updated this too much lately but it is still a work in progress.
Picked up some concrete, mortar and sandtopper mix to begin that phase.
I'm using mortar to secure the smaller pieces of riprap on the slopes and across the roofs of the caves.
I have an unfinished penisula of concrete chunks that I was going to buy mire rock to cover. I think I will make a manmade section there instead, hence the concrete and sand topper.
I'm about to resize and post up some overall shots as well as some from a GTG about a week ago. More of my wheelin' buddies are getting the bug for this now that they have driven mine. Things are gaining momentum.
Here's a video of about 10' worth of 1.9 crawling to snack on while I get the other pics ready.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BV9mSuEZHs

[shelljeep]

OK, here are some overall shots. They don't show much detail though. Can't really see the elevation changes, caves, etc.
I think video will do a better job of showing what's really here.
The pics will start from the north and move around the garden clockwise.

[shelljeep]

And here's a shot of Bcampisi's stupid nice XR10. He should've never let me drive this thing. LOL It is smooooth and precise.


This is a turnaround we laid out, I drove up to the top and dug a 180, he just drove past the first gate and turned left.


A little free crawl.


Dropping off the big straddle.


Me, same spot.


Another drop.


Bcampisi working his way through the same squeeze.


Next squeeze please.


A sequence of Blake's XR10 running through the same spot.

[Bcampisi]

Them pics came out good Shell.My new wheels are on the way

[shelljeep]

Sweet. I switched the dates for the GTG to Jan 22 or 23 so you can make it.
We can firm up the date as i hear back from people who have a preference for 1 day or the next. I'm good with either or both. Anybody else that wants to show up is welcome.




You find a truggy yet?

[Drclarkin]

That makes my pile of rocks look pretty lame.....

[shelljeep]

Originally Posted by Drclarkin

That makes my pile of rocks look pretty lame.....

If I lived in Montrose, I wouldn't worry about a rock garden

[Bcampisi]

Awesome thanks for moving the date so I can be in for it.I've been looking at truggy's I have some schooling for wrk coming up might start my truggy fund.So whos all planing to come down for the G2G?

[2manyprojects]

I wish u were my neighbor!