WeBeJeepin’ Moab

It was a lovely, but very hot Saturday and a group of us decided to run Rusty Nail and Where Eagles Dare. There were 3 Samurais, 2 Jeeps, and 1 Toyota truck. Jim let us know that he’s named the obstacles Rocky 1, Rocky 2, and Rocky 3 and of course, No Left Turn.

Here’s Larry on Rocky 1. It takes a bit to get up on this rock and you have to keep some momentum so you don’t slide off of the rock one way or the other. No one elected to do Rocky 2 which is the traditional bypass for Rocky 1.

Rocky #3 is one of those obstacles that changes regularly. When I first started running Rusty Nail, this was a really hard obstacle that liked to hang you up on your diffs. Then someone moved some rocks and it got very easy. As we approached it today, it appears that someone has pulled more rocks down, making the obstacle difficult again. It was a whole new obstacle and fun trying to find the available lines. This was Jim’s first approach and he got WAY up on this not so stable boulder.

After that one didn’t work, he moved over to the left of the obstacle which is where I went up. It’s pretty tippy and undercut over on this side but seemed fairly straightforward if you have big tires.

Dee gave a try on the same line but couldn’t quite get the rear to climb, it preferred to slide.

Which caused a pretty good wheel lift and one of those, “uh-oh” moments. After a couple of tries, she wisely elected to take a small pull.

Larry went up the same line but I noticed a u-joint cap and some needle bearings come flying out right as he was at this point.

Yep, the front drive shaft spit out the old u-joint. Luckily, most of us carry extra ones and Jeff made the repair and we were quickly back under way.

Gary Lee came down No Left Turn just a bit too far to the right and got a bit tippy.

Uh-Oh! What’s this? What could Jim POSSIBLY be thinking? Pick the best answer!

a.  Gary’s vehicle provides a nice shady spot to get out of the hot, desert sun!

b. I didn’t know Gary’s shaft was a WOODY!

c. I haven’t seen this big a wheel lift since I tipped on EZ Squeezy last year!

d. Get this rig the hell off this rock, I’m going to be late for CHURCH!

Well, we left Rusty Nail behind and with Jeep Arch in the background, made our way onto the Spike.

We all had a good time crossing the Golden Crack.

We found some shade and had lunch just as we entered the Where Eagles Dare trail. Then we drove the trail down Phobia Hill and over to Corona Arch overlook.

We got there just as some folks were preparing to rappel down the arch. If you look closely, you can see them clinging to the side of the arch.

By this time, it was well over 100 degrees so we decided to fast track it back to the a/c. It was another great trail day! See ya!

Melissa

Trail Reports

A couple of my co-workers from Megadyne came out to Moab to learn about Jeeping on the slickrock. Alisa, the blonde one is from Draper and Patricia is an intern here for the summer from Spain.

Some of these photos were taken by Patricia. She’s working on her English but I loved her comment, “I have never seen rocks that were red before.”

We did a beginner’s class on Jeeping and Jeff taught most of the curriculum while the rest of us attempted to demonstrate.

Alisa rented a Jeep from Cliffhanger and wasn’t afraid to drive it at all.

We went out on Fins N Things (which is really hard to translate into Spanish). But, you don’t have to translate the beautiful desert and mountain landscape, Patty could see that for herself and a picture paints a thousand words.

We had lots of photos like this. Posers…..

Susan was out in her stocky, showing that the trail can be run by stock vehicles or even Crown Victoria’s (check out YouTube if you don’t believe me!)

We worked on ledges for awhile and Alisa got the feel for it.

Then we went over to tackle Kenny’s Climb. The girls loved it so much we had to do it again. Check out the video of Alisa driving.

After we finished the Fins N Things trail, we went over the Baby Lion’s back and found some mud and water. They loved splashing around and slinging mud everywhere. So, the next day (Sunday), the group decides to run Hell’s Revenge and the girls decide to join us to see the difference in scenic wheeling vs. more rockcrawling action.

I took Patty in Redroxx.

Jim took Alisa in Chief 9. They both love Samurai’s by the way. Hmmmm…….

We got out to Hell’s Gate and Gary offered to let Alisa drive Hell’s gate. She accepted. Here she is going down into the Gate, an interesting photo as I rarely shoot the descent. The video is of Alisa driving up and out.

We then went over to the Big Hot tub where Gary Lee put on quite a show. He made it and gave a triumphant yell at the end with this poser shot.

Jeff quickly followed and made his first ascent of the Big Hot tub. There were no other takers, I was feeling chickenish today so we went over to Mickey’s and the Escalator.

Here’s Gary Lee coming up Mickey’s

Here’ s Larry going up the Escalator.

Here’s Jim going up the Escalator.

And Melissa (me) going up the Escalator too. I went twice!

And here’s Jim coming back down the Escalator. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anyone go down. Jim made it look pretty easy with the exception of one wheel lift.

We had a great weekend and my co-workers told me, “It’s so addicting!” Yes, I know……

See ya on the trail.

Melissa

Trail Reports