Signal Peakin’
Holy PEAK. This day started off as a quick “light Monday” around the Pierce water trails, but ended up being a 2-day ordeal. The weather was clear and sunny with a nice crisp breeze of nature. We began the trailhead at approximately 10 AM and took our time to enjoy the atmosphere and snap some media. Once completed around noon, we found ourselves looking for more. Hung (@hmnguyen916) had suggested either going through Fordyce to Eagle Lakes or to Signal Peak which him and Dre (@wagondre) had done in the past in under 2 hours. We opted for Signal since they had ran it before and to enjoy the view that most of the group hadn’t yet seen.
Boy, were we in for a surprise. 45 minutes in and Hung is hit with a sidewall blow out. We quickly do the trail repair and minutes later we see two TJ Jeep’s coming down the trail telling us it was too muddy and icy. PURE being PURE, we ignored the advice and kept chuggin’. At 1400 hours, we hit the first big obstacle: a huge 50 yard section of quicksand-like mud. After trying to build ramps by transporting rocks and brush, Aldrin (@pure_tacomaldrin) finally makes it up with his 2nd gen Tacoma and is able to pull up Jason (@3gs_jaayyyy) whom is then able to pull the rest of the group up one by one with the mighty Tundra. After an hour and a half in the pit, we’re finally on the move and greeted with a few small obstacles. The trail itself didn’t look very groomed and we could tell it’s been some time since someone had gone up the peak. At 1700 hours we see the iconic Signal Peak satellite buildings and sighed a breath of relief. But of course it couldn’t be that easy. A small 40 yard patch of ice stood between us and the goal line. With daylight counting down, we got to work with our shovels and recovery boards. 3 hours later some of us had finally passed the ice patch and heaved to the top of the peak. But wait, there’s more! MORE ICE. At 2000 hours, another smaller patch of ice at the cap of the hill haunted us. Another set of recovery pulls by Jason and daisy chaining finally got us to the goal line. The second group was next, and this pull caused a major casualty given our resources. Tommy’s (@2_tangz) GX470 was taking point to be pulled by Jason when the tow strap had arbitrarily wrapped around his axle, severing his brake line. It was dark, cold, and wind gusts didn’t stop us trying to scramble for a solution on the spot. By 9:30 PM we threw the white flag and Tommy agreed to just leave the GX on top of the peak overnight with the plan to return the following day with parts for repair. 10:00 PM Aldrin and AD (@pure_f90gx) had grilled food for us at the top since nobody had eaten all day. 0100 hours and we’re all finally home. Remind us noobs not to trail without a working winch and chainsaw ever again.
The following day we set for a recovery trip BACK to Signal with Tommy, but this time with our trusty master mechanic Dre. Rich (@rokkim916) was there also to lend a hand. With the struggles endured the day before, we opted for the backside fire road up to the peak which took less than 30 minutes. Dre was able to repair the GX in 20 minutes and we were back in business. We ate and enjoyed the sunset before heading back to town.
We definitely learned the obvious: bring some damn proper recovery gear. Oh, and make sure it’s in working condition (lol). Even though we faced many challenges that day and underestimated the icy/muddy conditions, we all learned. Even when we thought it was impossible to get to the top, we had each other and never gave up. The trip costed us two days, but the memories and experience gained is priceless. Here’s to the next adventure.
