by Andrew Steffy
It was finally Dusy Day! We had been talking about and preparing for this trail almost all year. As some of you might recall, we had a successful club vacation run through Dusy back in 2022. That trip report could have been summarized in just one word: Perfect! This year, things were just a little different…
created by dji camera
Our group of six rigs met at Shaver Gas at 7:00 a.m., since the trailhead was a good hour’s drive out of town. About 10 minutes later, Doug
arrived in the seventh rig, so we hit the road. It’s such a scenic drive out to Courtright Reservoir, where the trail starts, and you even
have the opportunity to stop at the McKinley Sequoia Tree Grove along the way. After a few pictures at the grove and Courtright Dam, we aired down and hit the trail a little after 9:00 a.m. Terry led the way, followed by Dennis, myself with my friend Josh riding shotgun, Olga, Doug, Randy and Diane, with Jerry bringing up the tail. After roughly 15 minutes on the trail, we made it to Voyager Rock Campground and the infamous Voyager Rock granite climb. Terry walked right up the granite face and had plenty of time for a personal photoshoot with his Jeep, while Dennis quickly got bound up in the gatekeeper. This was a good reminder for me to get my straps, D-rings, and winch remote ready for the day, as we were already pulling line to free him up. Once free and with a better line choice in his sights, Dennis was up and the rest of our group soon followed. We all stopped for several breathtaking photos before proceeding down the trail.
Frank and Johnny had taken off the day before to enjoy a day of camping at Courtright. They planned to rendezvous with us on the trail Tuesday at Ershim Lake, if not sooner. As we worked our way up the Dusy, we came across their campsite and stopped for a quick visit and check-in before proceeding.
Shortly after their camp, the infamous tight trees and relentless rock gardens began. The three 2-Door Jeeps leading the pack made things look easy, but the longer 4-Doors often took a few resets to avoid body and hardtop damage among the trees. If you ever get lost along Dusy, just look for all the tire and hardtop rub marks on the trees to find your way!
The trail had plenty of tight turns and rock obstacles along the way, but one almost claimed a few of us just before lunch. What looked like an easy little climb quickly pitched Terry toward the passenger side of the trail. He had slid off a rock, and his front tire was now wedged between a tree and said rock. While working the Jeep forward slightly, he was able to turn hard passenger and back around the tree, then walked right over the obstacle. Dennis got through fine, and I quickly did exactly what Terry told me not to do and got myself into the same predicament. Luckily, we knew the trick, and I was able to back out and try again. Fortunately, nobody else had an issue after watching two of us already make failed attempts. Shortly after, we came across a nice clearing and opted to break for lunch. So far, it had been smooth sailing, minus a couple of resets, and we were still making great time. But Thompson Hill was still between us and camp for the night.
Shortly after lunch, we started to creep into the lower wooded sections of Thompson Hill. Everything was loose and tight, but I always remembered the clear section toward the top being the worst. Just like that, we were at the clear section I remembered. Terry took off first and slowly made his way up. Dennis, however, was quickly bound up and needed to winch. Once free, he continued to follow Terry up the trail, but not for long. By the time I walked back down to my Jeep and started my way up, Dennis had gotten bound up against an undercut.
Terry said something didn’t sound right, so we crawled under the Jeep, checking for broken U- joints or an axle shaft, but everything looked okay. We attempted to reposition him and stack a few rocks, but right as he started to climb, the not-so-good noise came back…ring and pinion. He was done.
We quickly realized we had to get him turned around on the rocky and loose Thompson Hill and start making our way back out. With no ability to move forward, we tried to back him out, but a large rock was in the way. The tree straps and a snatch block were assembled quickly so I could use my winch to pull the rear of his Jeep past the large boulder that was preventing him from backing up. What felt like hours later, he was free, and we guided him backward down the trail to a level pull-off. I went ahead and got my Jeep off the trail as well so Olga and Doug could continue the climb up Thompson behind Terry. While they worked and winched their way up, we began working on Dennis’ Jeep. Our first task was to pull the main skid plate and remove the front driveshaft to prevent any further binding. We knew we needed to pull the axle shafts as well, but sadly, this section of trail wasn’t ideal for that. After a few conversations, we decided to continue backward down the trail in search of a good, flat camp for the night. With some rest, we would plan to pull his axle shafts first thing in the morning.
Luckily, Randy, Diane, and Jerry hadn’t started up this section of Thompson, and we were able to turn around fairly easily. We slowly spotted Dennis back onto the trail and started guiding him down. With only two-wheel drive, he needed constant spotting and multiple winch pulls to get back down this section of trail. I got into my Jeep and started to get turned around as well, which isn’t fun on a steep, rocky, and loose section of trail, but we made it work even while frustrations were still high. Throughout all of this, there was constant chatter on the radio from the rest of our group about the continued difficulty toward the top of Thompson. As we got back toward the bottom of the clearing, we all got on the radio, and Terry realized it wasn’t best for the group to split. Terry and Doug turned around and began to follow us out. Olga, however, opted to stay at Thompson alone that night and wait for Johnny and Frank, who would be coming down the trail the next day.
The next 2–3 hours were relentless. My buddy Josh, who was joining us from New Jersey, became Dennis’ personal spotter and hiked the rest of the day on foot. While we still had a tough evening, this effort saved us Tons of climbing in and out of the Jeeps to spot, and we also avoided a lot of possible winching situations. Don’t get me wrong, we probably still pulled cable over 30 times to quickly free Dennis up, but it would have been way worse. Around 7:00 p.m., the Gates of Heaven opened and presented us with Burl’s Camp, an established campsite with picnic tables, a fire ring, and even a log bar! Everyone was tired and hungry, but we were sure relieved to finally call it a day.
Prior to this, we had contacted Frank and Johnny over the GMRS radios back at Courtright. We updated them on the situation, and they decided to proceed down the trail and meet us. Right as Terry got his infamous taco soup ready for the group dinner, both showed up and joined us. It was late and getting dark, so they opted to camp the night with us before proceeding up the trail to meet Olga. After dinner, we all gathered around the fire to discuss the day and share stories before calling it a night.
We all woke up refreshed the next morning, but we knew we still had a long day on the trail before getting back to pavement. Josh and I fired up some pulled-pork breakfast burritos before we all jumped in to start pulling the axle shafts out of Dennis’ Jeep. Frank and Johnny waited around a bit to make sure we had all the tools we needed before proceeding up the trail to meet up with Olga. Dennis’ Jeep was quickly done, and we were ready to start the day. With the axle shafts removed, the Jeep was moving along much better. Somehow, he managed to make it through a lot of obstacles that morning without the need for a spotter or winch line, so we were making good time. We finally made it all the way back to the edge of Courtright, where Frank and Johnny had camped that first night. From here, we knew it was a steady, loose incline out.
Doug decided to break out his strap to help pull Dennis up the trail since it was getting steep. As we were setting this up, Johnny came across the radio letting us know Frank had broken down. They were somewhere between Thompson Lake and Ershim Lake when his control-arm bracket ripped off the frame. As luck would have it, Johnny just so happens to be a welder by trade. However, the leads for his Premier Power Welder were back in his tow rig off Dinkey Creek Road. Before he got out of range, he let us know he was motoring on down and out the trail and then back to town. He said he would reach out once he was in Shaver to fill us in. What a mess!
We continued up and out, with the strap doing a lot of the work, but several winch pulls were still in the mix. Finally, around 5:00 p.m., we were back on top of Voyager Rock for a final photo opportunity before finishing the last remaining bit of trail.
We aired up back at the dam and made our way into town. We closed out the night at the local pizza spot before making contact with Johnny at our camp. He planned to head out early the following morning, back up Thompson alone, to meet up with and fix Frank’s Jeep. Fast forward to Thursday: they were successfully fixed and made their way off the trail in time to meet Josh and I for dinner. And just like that, our 2026 Dusy adventure was in the books. It certainly wasn’t the Perfect trip we had back in 2022, but it was definitely one we won’t forget!
