WeBeJeepin’ Moab

 

At the eleventh hour on Saturday evening a small group of six rigs decided to go up onto Hell’s Revenge on Sunday morning.

It turned out to be a beautiful (if somewhat windy) day.

Our first stop was Hell’s Gate.

Gary Lee shows us how it’s done…..

Now to the real reason we came out here today…..there had been talk for some months about tackling the last untackled obstacle on Hell’s Revenge (at least for our group), the BIG HOT TUB! I had been seriously considering trying this as soon as the water had dried up in it. Gary Lee was out on the trail on Friday and saw that it was dry. In addition, we’ve been having some sticky rock conditions so I decided the time was right.

So, let’s cut right to the chase. Here I go……

Next was Gary Lee…….

Next was Jeff……

After this, Mickey’s hot tub looks rather small by comparison….

Then down to the Escalator obstacle where Gary Lee shows us how it’s done….

We had a great day out on the trail but we do have to wonder…..what could Jeff and Gary Lee possibly be thinking when they didn’t make the hot tub?

Here’s Jeff…..

And here’s Gary Lee…..

Since I’m sure I’m in trouble now for posting some of these videos/photos, I’m going to call it quits for today.

See ya on the trail!

Melissa

Trail Reports

Eight rigs met at the South Shell station to go out for a trip onto Flat Iron Mesa. Susan was the trail leader today!

Unfortunately my camera failed me at the trailhead so many of my photos are later in the trail.

After Susan lead us all around the mesa, we took off on the county road to the second portion of the trail that includes some of the named obstacles like Tilt-a-Whirl.

Here’s Ber and Charlotte making their way down.

Gary Lee’s friend Scott and his family joined us in their 4 door JK. While spotting at Tilt A Whirl, Susan noticed this little guy. Sorry for the blurry shot but my camera was just not behaving well today. After all the trucks went through, she set him free.

We went down to an overlook for lunch. While we were eating, a feather made it’s way up from below the canyon rim and circled all around before landing in our midst. It was rather surreal. Gary Lee kept it and put it in our artifact table.

After lunch, I found this unique situation. Since there was no Jim on the trail today, we have to wonder…..what could Gary Lee and Jeff POSSIBLY be thinking?

a. How in the world did that feather find us? Was it a ghost or a message? Spooky!……..Dad gum spooky!

b. Will we be able to take the difficult line over Easter Egg hill? Is there one?

c. Will our Samurai’s be able to find the way back to Moab?

d. Will our Samurai’s be able to climb the Big Hot tub tomorrow? Stay tuned…..

Next it was off to Easter Egg Hill which has changed a bit in the year or so since I’ve been out here. Seemed not so tippy and a bit easier….no one had trouble.

Gary Lee keeps a clear eye on Scott’s long 4 door to make sure it doesn’t leave its paint on Easter Egg.

Here’s that difficult line I was talking about. Right up and over Easter Egg.

Next comes Allen.

Not to be outdone, here comes Jeff! This one looks a mite tippy but all was well.

Next to the narrow portion of the trail. It feels like you’re driving off the cliff edge but you actually have quite a bit of room. Just don’t turn too soon or you’ll get wedged against the rock on your driver’s side. The blackness of it tells you that many have hit it.

As I mentioned last week, spring time has come to Moab. The cactus are in bloom and there were lots of fragrant flowers.

Another good trail week.

Melissa

Trail Reports

Well, the group was out on Pritchett Canyon once again and what a beautiful day. It was really nice to wake up to the sunshine knowing that it was a snow/rain mixture up in Salt Lake City.

Seven rigs went out for the trail day and we sure did miss Jim! Bad Cat has a broken pinion and is awaiting repairs. The rest of us carried on though, somehow!

This was the Cruise Moab week and the town was packed with Land Cruisers and all types of Toyota rigs and trucks. We made an attempt to be timely but still got caught up behind a small group. Luckily, they are RME (Rocky Mountain Extreme) members and let us jump in front of them on Chewy.

Here’s a view of an approach to the Brickyard.

Here is the line-up at Chewy. We were waiting for the big, long UTV on tiny, tiny wheels.

This in an interesting new contact sport where human strength is demonstrated by dragging your UTV up obstacles. Seriously, these are interesting rigs but there seems to be lots of straps, winch lines, and hanging off of vehicles. Oh well, to each his own. They eventually let us pass them and then it was open trail all the way!

Here’s Gary Lee, the first in our group to hop up Chewy. The rest of the group quickly followed and everyone drove flawlessly! Excellent.

I couldn’t resist putting in some scenic photos. The blue sky with white fluffy clouds made a nice contrast with the red rock and the different colored vehicles. Here’s Rick in his purple Sami!

We took a moment to play at the waterfall. It was muddy today and made for some wild rides.

Then over to Rocker Knocker. Rick had a friend Jerry riding along with him. Keep the wheel turned Rick! No cheating!

Next comes Susan. Flawless as always.

And Dee, trying for her first Pritchett unassisted sticker. Will she make it? Rocker Knocker looks good!

Here comes Gary Lee, pretending to be blindfolded. He was peeking!

Up and over the broken step. Watch out for those rocks!

The line-up and fun times on Axle Hill! Is Dee getting a little wheel lift? The conditions in the canyon were really strange, everything was especially “grippy”. This is good for some obstacles and makes some more difficult. On Axle Hill, you hope to slide to the right after climbing the first part of the hill to line the rig up correctly for the second part of the climb. This was not happening today. The rigs did not want to slide, they wanted to climb, making this one a bit tricky.

You can see here how we were trying to get Larry in the right line. His truck lost power and he slid backwards a few feet creating a scary moment. But, all was well.

After Axle Hill, we decided to have lunch. Then we wanted to work a bit on Rock Pile. This obstacle is changing and  getting the rear tires to pop up the bottom ledge is becoming increasingly difficult.  Jeff tried 2-3 times until he was up (as shown in this photo), then you hit it for the second part to climb the wall. (like Gary is doing in the next photo)

Redroxx made it too! I just don’t have a photo. The rocks were so grippy that one you were up the small ledge, the second part was about as easy as I have done it.

Susan and Dee decided for Son of Rock Pile and both of them made it look easy.

Rick decided to go for the Rock Pile but keep a safety strap on just because of a much shorter wheelbase.

He made it to the top okay but forgot about the large boulder guarding the left side of the top of the obstacle.

Oh well, that’s what rock crawlers are for. I’m sure it felt a little tippy at this point.

The photo of the rigs at the top of Yellow Hill at 1:00pm including lunch. We then decided for Hunter Canyon!

All the rigs crowding into the wash. Larry was having a bit of steering problems so I took advantage by grabbing a photo.

Follow the leader!

I also wanted to include some of the flower photos. Yes, Pritchett Canyon is blooming! We called this our extreme flower sniffing tour.

We made it over to White Knuckle Hill and then I spent time spotting folks up and over, not taking photos. If I get some, I’ll fill ‘em in. There were so many rocks piled at the bottom, along with the grippy rock conditions, that everyone made it up except for Dee. She made it up 75% of the way and then was defeated and took a winch for the last couple of feet. ALMOST!

Over to Hummer Hill for the trip down to the county road.

What a great day! Everyone had a wonderful time!

Thanks all and see ya on the trail.

Melissa

Trail Reports