WeBeJeepin’ Moab

Greetings! I was out for a weekend trip to Yellowstone National Park so Jim filled in as substitute trail reporter. Here is his report from the Saturday trip to Seven Mile Mesa.

A group of 4 trucks gathered at the Slickrock Cinema at 8am for the trail ride out to Seven Mile Mesa. Ber Knight was the trail leader while Jim was the gunner. Rick and Gary & Deb made up the other two Jeeps on the trip.

No one had been out in this area for a long time!

Wonderful scenery from the Dolores River overlook.

Here’s the group at the lunch spot!

The group was back at the Dewey Bridge by 4:30 pm. Everyone enjoyed the scenery and the day in the rarely explored region of 7 mile mesa.

Photos by Jim Molter.

Thanks all and see ya on the trail!

Trail Reports

An unofficial trip was organized to blast up to run the best of Hell’s Revenge on Sunday, June 21st. This means hot tubs and the Escalator. We had two birthday boys on the trail. Jim was turning a very young 71 while Ber Knight turned a quite respectable 85!! What better way to celebrate than to wheel?

We quickly started off in Mickey’s hot tub! Here’s Jeff showing us how to do it!

Mickey’s was nice and dry today and many of us gave it a go, crawling through pretty easily. Next, it was off to the Escalator!

 

Gary Lee shows just how big a wheel lift you can get on this obstacle without flipping over. His only casualty was losing two cans of bug spray into the water in the hole below. We made him clean up and retrieve his litter.

 

He finally got the correct line and was so happy to have figured it out that he went through 3 times, just like a little kid at an amusement park. Time 2 & 3, he crawled it, no wheel lifts at all!

 Next, was our first birthday boy Jim! Go on through the Escalator!

 Jim is one of the hardest working people I know…..period! He is very active in keeping trails open, works closely with the BLM and is active in both Moab Jeepin Clubs. He’s a letter writer and a nail hammerer. In short, he GETS IT DONE! (He’s also a great spotter and occasional beer drinker!) Happy Birthday Jim, I’m proud to know you. If you meet him on the trail, give him a big thanks as its likely he’s put in a post, a sign, or just cleaned up the piles of litter on every trail in Moab. You’ll know him when you see his rig, a battleship gray Samurai called BadCat.

Jim tries to show off his big wheel lift too!

Jim made it through pretty quickly as well but didn’t feel the need to do it again. We then worked our way off the trail and decided to make a quick tour of Potato Salad Hill. Here, Ber, our second birthday boy shows the correct line and that you’re never to old to do some extreme wheeling.

Hurrah to Ber and congratulations. Here’s to many more years of wheeling. If you don’t know Ber, he remains very active in both Moab Friends for Wheelin and the Red Rock 4 Wheelers. He is often seen out on trail restoration and contributes to almost every work project both clubs schedule. He also is a great resource when it comes to trail knowledge and often leads us places we never knew existed. You’re my hero Ber!

 Ber nails this one. It’s only Potato Salad hill, an obstacle that flips its share every year. Ber makes it look like its not even there, a drive in the park!

The rest of us jumped up Potato Salad and then called it a day. Not even lunchtime yet. Thanks for letting us come on your birthday trails.

Trail Reports

A group of 7 rigs went out to explore Area BFE. The day was overcast and a breeze helped keep the gnats to a minimum.

We began our trip by tackling the Gate Keeper, which is the first obstacle of the Helldorado trail. Some of the recent rains and flash floods have changed this obstacle since we last were on it. It’s starting to get harder….again.

Here’s a photo of Jeff climbing through the Gate Keeper.

Next, Gary Lee…..concentrate!

On to Minor Threat trail with lots of rocks and boulders. This technical trail is a diff catcher and requires careful tire placement.

Jim shows us how to climb this obstacle without breaking an axle.

Next, we started up Green Day. This is an awesome trail, as the photos will show. I was determined to not break an axle today and luckily, no one did.

 

Jeff found a relatively new, fun obstacle off to the left side the Green Day wash. The big rigs went this direction.

Others chose the traditional route, which is a big ledge in itself.

Gary Lee comes up the infamous Green Day waterfall, looking good!

Next, we continue up the wash where things start getting a little tippy. Keep your hand in John!

More narrow, tippy spots. Yours truly has to pick some different lines to get those full width axles through!

I no sooner got through and started working my way up the next set of ledges when I heard Jeff yell, “Bring the camera!” I ran back to discover……

Rick was caught in an “extreme lean”! Apparently he was almost through the obstacle but slipped off the  boulder, getting a nice little crunch on the driver door.

Oops! Poor RIck, hang in there buddy.

The rule is….if you can drive out of it, its not a flop! In fact, when I got back there with the camera, those were the first words out of Rick’s mouth! With a little strap help and a couple of guys to help pull the front end down, Rick drove on through. Not without a little damage though. Nothing a little sawzall can’t fix!

But, that’s not the end of the fun. John got stuck on a tricky obstacle and needed to be “jacked” up. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a Jack on the trail so we had to make due with a Gary Lee. Hold on until we get some rocks stacked under there!

After John slipped down over the rock on this same obstacle, his bumper took a little damage. He’s still smiling though!

That mean old obstacle got Rick too. Gary draws the line at being a Jeep jack. Too heavy! Instead, out came the winch line.

Susan, towards the end of the line for the entire day showed us how to crawl over everything. She wasn’t without damage though. She showed up at the trailhead with a sliced sidewall, courtesy of the county road. She did the entire trail with plugs sticking out. I think new tires are in your future Susan!

Jim was our tail gunner and went so quickly over the obstacles that I barely had time to park and get back to grab photos…..

I know I always say that it was a really fun trail and a great day but it’s true. Good job Rick, you did more than tip-toe through BFE. Don’t worry about those scratches, they’ll buff out. Anyway, I hear there might be a Samurai in your future??

See ya on the trail.

Trail Reports

Yes, here we are in Pritchett once again! This time was for a fun run (and perhaps inpect our handiwork from the week before). There was a fellow named Shawn who was in Moab with his group. None of them were interested in P.C. and he was really hoping to run it so the We Be Jeepers us went out with him.

Actually, I was quite surprised with the turn out. Usually we just get the Sami’s and the big, fat Jeep but today we ended up with 7 rigs in total. Jim would’ve made 8 but he had eye surgery and the doc said “NO!” for one week on wheelin’.  Sorry Jim, we missed ya!

We got a good start but quickly caught up with a small group of Jeeps that were slow getting up the Brickyard. No front locker and no winch made for a long day for that group.

Here’s Shawn with his TJ Rubicon giving Chewy a try. We actually had quite a back-up here but soon the traffic cleared and we made our way up.

Gene was also along on the trail and brought his Jeep handily up the obstacle as well. In fact, everyone in our group made Chewy, not a pull or a winch line among us. We were all grins as we set off for Rocker Knocker where things didn’t go quite as well. As you can see in the photo, our fence is still standing!! Yay!!

Here’s Drtsqrl showing the way up. Note Susan already at the top in her blue Sami. It seems everyone has a favorite obstacle and she really shows everyone how Rocker Knocker’s done. Flawless!

Here’s yours truly in Redroxx. My rule of thumb is: when you get so tippy you think you’re going over, you’ve found the right line up Rocker Knocker. It was much easier this week since it was dry.

Now, it was Gene’s turn. He decided to take a pull as he was off the line. He had had a problem with his alternator that morning and his battery wouldn’t hold a charge. All was well until he got the winch line hooked up and the engine died. Then, there was nothing. He couldn’t get it started. So, he decided to change batteries with Gary Lee.

In order to keep the story short, let’s just say that Gary’s battery didn’t want to be hooked back up. Too many wires. After an hour of struggling, the right combo was figured out but we’d fallen behind on time.

So, up we went over the unnamed obstacle and Axle hill as quickly as we could. Larry got high centered on the unnamed obstacle bypass but drove Axle hill like a champ.

Then we ended up at Rock Pile.

Neither Jeff or I could make it up the Rock Pile. Finally Gary just putted right on up and showed us the line. After we figured out the new line, both of us drove up. The rest of the group came up with a little strap assistance to prevent unloading of the shorter wheel bases except for Shawn……

He wanted to try the Son of Rockpile but who could blame him as it was his first time on Pritchett. I personally do not like this obstacle, I usually get hung up on my diff and I’ve seen lots of breakage in here (axles, drivelines, etc.) Shawn gave it a good try but in the end, needed a little help.

Next, everyone was up and over Yellow Hill.

All the drivers posed with their rigs at the top of Yellow Hill, the end of Pritchett canyon but the start of a long county road out to 191.

So, a vote was taken on which way to go from here and even though it was getting late in the day, the group decided for Hunter Canyon and some of Behind the Rocks backwards.

Hunter was fairly uneventful, we were moving along pretty well.

Then, Larry lost a bead and sliced his sidewall while climbing up a long, rocky hill. Is it my imagination or is Hunter getting ledgy and mean? It seemed worse since I was last there during EJS.

Then we made it to White Knuckle. A couple of rigs decided to go around the long way while the rest drove or winched up.

Gary Lee was having a day, getting all the obstacles like they weren’t even there. So, he was really frustrated when White Knuckle wouldn’t grant him passage up the traditional line on the left side. He asked about going to the right side of the hill and Jeff told him “go ahead but you probably won’t make it”

Undaunted, the little 1.3 liter engine roared to life and jumped right on up. Now I know a new line! Great job Gary!

The rest of the trail was uneventful, we met up with the two rigs at the country road and raced our way out.

Thanks all and see ya on the trail!

Melissa

Trail Reports