WeBeJeepin’ Moab

On Sunday of Labor Day weekend, a group decided to explore the 7 Mile Rim area including Wipe Out Hill. Here’s the group at the trail head. We left at 8am so as to not interfere with the Labor Day RR4W event.

Our first stop was at Uranium Arch. I love this somewhat hidden arch nestled down beneath the rim. Usually you have it all to yourself but today there was a group of 4 Wheelers taking a tour.

Here we are past the Monitor and Merrimac, making our way towards Wipe Out Hill.

I think this area is so scenic. I love watching the Jeeps crawl their way across the slickrock.

Here are a couple of pictures from the Wipe Out Hill area. After going down one way, a few of us decided to go back up and down the other side which is more ledgy.

Here’s Jeff coming down Wipe Out.

And here I am in my other Jeep, Moab TJ. This is a fun area.

After we made all the trips we wanted both up and down Wipe Out, we continued to a side canyon for lunch and then finished the trail. We were back in Moab by about 1:00pm. It was a fun trail day. After the trail, Dee invited us to see her new “casita” which is absolutely beautiful. Welcome to Moab Dee!

Trail Reports

 Well, it’s yet another day out in Pritchett Canyon and Melanie’s first trip as a driver since her incident with Diffe’s Dump. This time, she’s driving Gary Lee’s Over EZ Samurai and boy is she nervous!

Here she is going up the Brickyard obstacle, learning whole new lines, and new vehicle, and a CLUTCH! Yikes!

Jim and his wife Susan joined us from Phoenix.

And Ray and his wife joined us. They’re Moab locals, I’ve just never wheeled with them before.

We made it to Chewy in good time and Jim quickly made his way up.

Next comes Melanie with Gary Lee as a passenger/coach.

I think Melanie could use a seat boost.

Jim made it to this point and broke his rear driveline u-joint. (or something close to it.) Anyway, I know we were all hunting for the right sized u-joint. He didn’t have one and neither did we, so Jeff went out to the entrance with Jim and then caught back up with us.

Here’s Susan on the way up, checking out the fence line.

Here I am going down Chewy. Why do you ask? Well, all of us except for Jim (who was broken), Ray, and Jeff had already made it up Chewy. Ray’s Jeep slid off the trail coming down the drop just before Chewy and was wedged against a rock BIG TIME! Jeff tried to rescue but it was a 2 vehicle manuever and they needed a BFJ so I got to go DOWN Chewy. Let me tell you that it is WAY more scary than going up.

Tippy and down hill is a Yucky combination. I made everyone stay out of my way in case I needed to come down fast to avoid a flop.

But, with 2 good spotters, I made it down no problem. We got Ray off the rock by me winching him sideways while Jeff pulled him backwards. Considering his situation, he had surprisingly little body damage.

Some of the obstacles were a bit muddy from the rains, making it more difficult for each subsequent driver to negotiate. Here’s Susan. She was defeated.

So was Ray although his gave it a good try. Here are some videos of the group going over Rocker Knocker. Super Fun!

Here’s Melanie going over her nemesis, what we now like to call Diffe’s Dump. She was pretty scared but walked right up it in Over EZ.

She’s pretty happy now.

Axel Hill was a pain in the neck today. Traction was weird….

But, we all made it one way or the other. Next was Rock Pile. I love to watch Gary Lee negotiate it as he does it perfectly almost every time. This time was no different.

Here are the members of the Rock Pile club today. Jeff and Gary in their Samurai’s and Melissa in her Jeep. Yes, we are being silly, what else is new?

So we finished the trail without further incident and made our way home. Good job to Melanie for driving Pritchett in someone else’s rig. Hope you had a blast!

Thanks all and see ya on the trail.

Trail Reports