Poly Performance at Moonlight Madness 2022 | Trip Report
This trip started when the Poly Performance crew was invited to an event hosted by Clovis Independent 4 wheelers club called Moonlight Madness. The event involves several day runs along with a midnight poker run up and around the locally famous Bald Mountain OHV trail system located just outside the town of Shaver Lake, CA.
We hit the road early Friday morning, loading up our new Poly Performance Bronco, and the trusty Poly Buggy onto the back of our well-used Mega Dodge. We towed up the massive hill known as ‘4-Lanes’ without issue, navigating the twisty forest road up to our turnoff: Tamarack Sno-Park at an altitude of roughly 7,500ft. After a short section of dirt road, part of which intersects an endangered toad crossing, we made it to the staging area/vendor booths. After setting up our booth and checking in at the event, we got camp thrown up and headed out for a quick shakedown run up to the tower to watch the sun go down.
This was our first trip really testing out the Broncos capabilities since adding a bunch of new parts. We recently outfitted it with a Zone 2” Spacer Lift, Raceline Avenger Beadlock Wheels paired with 37” Nitto tires, and some steering beef consisting of JKS Tie Rod Sleeves and Zone Cam Tab Gussets. After our immediate mishap in Moab during the last EJS event, we were all apprehensive about the Broncos weak factory tie rods snapping once again. However, the recent upgrades and newly acquired spare parts gave us the confidence to lock the Bronco into the extreme level group which was directed to all the hardest obstacles Bald Mountain has to offer.
After our first trip up to the tower, it was quickly apparent the Bronco was much more capable than expected and we started getting more comfortable behind the wheel.
The next morning Just manned our show booth as the majority of day run participants were staging in line after passing tech. It is always a pleasure getting to meet customer’s in person and seeing parts we have sold out in the wild. As the event runs finally left the staging area and the crowd thinned we decided it was time to get out on the trail ourselves. After some prep we had the Bronco and Buggy ready to wheel and headed out. We stopped along the way to enjoy some of the beautiful scenery Bald Mountain has to offer; such as cold mountain creeks, steep granite climbs, and windy forest roads through groves of trees. Since we were comfortable with the Broncos abilities we decided to test its limits on an Obstacle known as Posi Hill. We made the far left line fairly easily and decided to push it on the middle line. Crawl control paired with 37” tires made it pretty easy to climb the line. The crowd was really impressed that the Bronco was able to make it up a line that was typically reserved for more built rock crawlers.
We ran up to the tower again to take in the view then headed to an obstacle known as the V-Rock. After watching several buggies and an Ultra 4 car make it up successfully, we hit the easiest line with the Bronco to warm up. It walked up the line with no issues so we pushed it more and conquered the next toughest line. We played around on that obstacle for a long time showing off the Broncos capabilities. Eventually we got a little too comfortable and decided to tackle the hardest line in the Poly Buggy. It didn’t go so well and we rolled it after a tire slipped into a crack. We recovered the buggy using the Bronco and a friend’s 4runner. Pulled some spark plugs and it fired right back up and we all drove back to camp for some Tri Tip and Mac & Cheese dinner.
That night we decided to go back up to the Tower for the midnight Poker run and made our way back up the hill with no issues. The Bronco unknowingly ended up on some hardcore buggy line and had to be backed down to take a bypass. We made it up to the tower and got a few night shots, hung out for a bit, and then ran back down to grab a few hours of sleep before heading back home.
