RedRock4Wheelers Easter Jeep Safari, Moab Utah

Easter Jeep Safari
Moab, Utah
April 13 – 20, 2014

Sunday, April 13
Moab, Utah

The group:
Rich and Corky
Dwayne and Tina
Chad, Joanna and Nash
Bill and Cheryll
Jerome
Mike and Laura
Ric and Lisa

A few of the group came in yesterday, the majority today. We stayed at a great RV Campground within close walking distance of everything we needed in town. Early in the day, the weather was nasty cold, windy, rainy with a bit of hail. The LaSal Mountains got a fresh batch of snow. By the time we all arrived the skies had cleared, the sun came out and it started to get beautiful. It stayed nice the rest of the week with daytime temperatures in the 60’s and nights in the low 30’s to 40’s by the end of the week.

Monday, April 14
Cliff Hanger
Report by Rich & Corky Wohlers

The group headed off to the assigned meeting place and got in line with about 30 other folk and the parade took off around 9 AM. It was a beautiful day, unlike Sunday which had rain and hail in Moab and a little snow in the mountains.

We got to the trailhead and headed down the steps before crossing the river. Just after the river is the first obstacle. It is not tough, but as always, tire placement helps. The group moved on and made all of the obstacles. Getting to the area where Cliff Hanger gets its name is always fun. You goof up too bad and 1500 feet later you hit bottom. It is not that difficult, but it is intimidating.

The next major obstacle before lunch break is a little climb, with an immediate right turn where you creep along the edge, hoping not to slip off and roll. Shortly we stopped for lunch. One of the folk in the group had a quad copter that we watched catch GoPro video. He was brave enough to fly over the edge and it came back with no issues.

The return trip did have some excitement. There is an obstacle called the Z Turn. A real pretty and well equipped four door JK decided to go down a different way than the rest of the group. It turned out it was 4-5 feet to the rock he thought he could make and he rolled it. No one was hurt, but he did suffer quite a bit of damage to the body, the cage and bent a wheel hub. The JK was righted and continued on the trail. It turned out he was a doctor and his girlfriend was a nurse!
We were near the last obstacle when the Wohlers vehicle suffered a broken valve stem. We pulled off to the side and changed tires. We did get hung up on the last climb and needed a tug.
That evening most of the group went to dinner at the Mexican restaurant a few blocks from the campground. We all had a great time. Thank goodness Mike Bourdon was not along. Last time we were there Mike ordered fish…….the whole fish with eyes looking at you!

Tuesday, April 15
Hell’s Revenge
Report by Bill and Sheryll

Described as the premier slickrock trail...it is. Steep climbs and descents with some off camber sections, sharp turns, and often with exposure on both sides. Not technically difficult; it takes a bit to really buy into the excellent traction the sandstone affords. And did we mention exposure?!

The trail starts right off the pavement with a short ledge climb (remember to lock lockers) and a hard left onto the first of many fins. As we are making the turn Sheryll says to me "...Wait, wait, are you kidding me? Up that? Are you sure? It's not wide enough...are you sure?" Silent pause as we motor up a little ways and then..."This is worse than Cliffhanger was yesterday; there's a ***** cliff on both sides!!! Are you sure?!" And so the day begins.

After navigating the first fin the group of 43 regrouped and decompressed for the driver's meeting at a beautiful vista plateau. In addition to the normal introductions of the Trail Boss and Assistants, our lucky day, representatives from Mopar including the Jeep Wrangler Rep and several Mopar development folks are also with us along with several vehicles with Jeep Dealers from Brazil on a Promo Trek. Mopar is sponsoring the trail for the day and has brought along several "concept" cars including the Dakar Cherokee and a few 4-door JKs outfitted with "Factory Offroad Performance" option builds.

The day went on without a hitch, although with 43 vehicles some of the obstacle observation stops were kind of long although the trail had quite a few bypasses. Highlights included:
• After the drivers' meeting we hit the first real big, long climb. We were chatting on the 2 meter radios how some people where needlessly waiting an awfully long time (almost until the vehicle ahead made the top) before starting up hill. Well wouldn't you know that the guy in front of Mike starts up and is sputtering from the very bottom of the hill! Yikes; don't go Mike...give him LOTS of room as this could be bad fast...my palms were sweating just watching and listening.
• At lunch we check out the Dakar Cherokee and Factory Offroad Performance builds as well as go to watch some folks playing on Hell's Gate as an optional obstacle. Mike gave a great show of his Jeep's underbelly/suspension at the last steep part near the top while the crowd whoa'd and held their breath; Rich made it look easy as usual.
• It seemed like all the vehicles made the Car Wash hot tub experience but there were two takers for the much more challenging Mickey’s Hot Tub (one 4 door JK and a built TJ); both had to be winched out.
• At the last significant obstacle, Tip-Over Challenge, all the OTR vehicles represented.

All in all another great day in Moab.

Wednesday, April 16
A day off spent site seeing and hiking
Report by Jerome Blunck
Wednesday was an optional day for our group after the long drive prior to arriving in Moab and being on two of Moab's legendary trails, Cliffhanger and Hells Revenge on Monday and Tuesday. After a causal morning with a little more time for breakfast we were off to see dinosaur bones and tracks to the north of Moab. The petrified bones are cemented in the harder sedimentary bedrock units along the bank of a natural drainage. Natural erosion of the bank had exposed the bones at various levels along the trail. On the other side of the highway from the dinosaur bones we saw tracks of a large and small dinosaur in a shelf of sandstone.
After seeing the dinosaur bones and tracks, we drove to Arches National Park that contains the world's largest collection of natural arches along with wonderful vistas. We first stopped at the visitor's center, which has excellent exhibits showing the history and geology of the park. Then it was on to a picnic area near Balance Rock for lunch. The drive up to this point climbed upward from the visitor center and passed shear walls of red sandstone. Along the way we passed Wall Street a series of towering red stone columns.
After lunch we parted ways with Rich, Corky, DuWayne, and Tina who went to see more dinosaur tracks. The rest of us drove to the trailhead for Delicate Arch, one of the more famous arches in the park. The drive took us past Window Arch, which is a grouping of arches.
The trail starts at the Wolfe Ranch parking area and is a round trip of 3 miles. From the parking lot the trail gains 480 feet in elevation over open slickrock and at one point traverses along a rock ledge. The slickrock is not slick at all but is exposed sandstone with the texture of fine to medium grained sandpaper. This is the reason our Jeeps (and Chad's FJ) can do the steep climbs that appear impossible.
The sight of Delicate Arch is hard to believe in that you wonder how it has survived at such height. No matter the distance from the arch, anyone standing under the arch appears small compared to the arch. Along the trail we climbed to a smaller arch from where we could look from the smaller arch out toward Delicate Arch. After spending some time enjoying the views from the higher elevation it was time to hike back to our vehicles for the drive back to Moab for dinner.

Thursday, April 17
Kane Creek Canyon
Report by DuWayne and Tina Larson
and…

Pritchett Canyon
Report by Chad and Joanna Oellien

Kane Creek Canyon by DuWayne and Tina Larson
Attendees: Rich & Corky Wohlers and DuWayne & Tina Larson
(We didn’t want go on the Pritchett Canyon Trail with our JK’s)
The run left at 9:00. There were approximately 35 vehicles lined up.

We arrived extra early, hoping to be toward the front of the line; but as with the same run two years ago, there was no organization, and the jeeps which came in last started first. (This situation caused great consternation on our part, and John Cary knows what we’re talking about.) And then we were stuck behind the middle assistant leader, who didn’t start out until a certain number of jeeps went by.

The trail was pretty rough and cobby at first. There were approximately 50 creek crossings, not to mention lots of mud and scratchy overgrowth. But there were a few tough inclines, and the scenery was very nice.

No jeeps broke down, but there were long delays as some of the inexperienced drivers took a while to get through obstacles.

We returned to Moab around 4:30.

Pritchett Canyon by Chad Oellien

Attendees: Mike and Laura W., Jerome, Rick and Lisa, Chad, Joanna and Nash.
Our run started with an 8 a.m. line up. The group consisted of two Samurai buggies, one Tacoma truggy, one lone FJ40 driven by yours truly and approx. 20 Jeeps of varying types. The trail started with a few stair steps and off camber sections on the way to the 1st large obstacle, Chewy Hill. This ledgey hill climb required throttle to make it up the 1st section before making an off camber right turn. This obstacle claimed an axle and four drivelines including Rick’s. His rear transfer case output yolk decided it didn’t want his truck to have anything to do with this trail so it committed suicide and grenaded into four pieces. The output shaft got its way as a spare was nowhere to be found. Rick and Lisa hitched a ride for the rest of the day. We would have to return in the evening with a spare bought at the vender’s area to make the repair. Everyone else in our group made it up with some assistance.
Rocker Knocker required Jerome and me to have a strap tied on and held by 3 or 4 guys for some insurance. I had one wheel try to shake hands with the sun! Mike made it up this as well as all other obstacles unassisted, so he doesn’t add much detail to the report. Damn long wheel base, 40”, coil over piece of….Just kidding! Mike did awesome.
Axle Hill was next. This obstacle requires some momentum to climb a steep, slick rock face up to some ledges which require another off camber right turn. It was very similar to Chewy Hill. On my 1st attempt I just slid back. I should have stopped there and winched. Instead, I made a second attempt with a little more throttle. The front came up, up, up, over to the left, left, left and thunk. I was on my side. My winch took the brunt of the impact as it struck a large boulder. Needless to say my winch didn’t like the role it played in this fiasco, so it decided to get off my truck! After righting my Cruiser it fired right up. Damage was mainly limited to my winch and front driver fender. Not too bad. After seeing my mess, Jerome wisely winched up.
Next up was the Rock Pile. After a quick attempt and some rock spitting and just having rolled, I decided I would just take a strap to avoid any further carnage. It wasn’t to be. Mike started pulling, I started tipping. WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! I yelled. Mike couldn’t hear me. The trail leading spotters who were worth their weight in elephant snot did nothing and said nothing. They just stood there and watched. Over on my left side I went. I could not believe this just happened. Twenty-four years of wheelin’ without a roll, then twice in a row, one obstacle after another. Unbelievable! After the 1st roll, I was in good spirits. Stuff happens! It’s part of wheelin’. This time I was beyond angry due to the torpidity of our leaders. I had to take a walk. I didn’t want anyone to get burned by the steam coming out of my ears. This time, the B-pillar on my tub took quite a hit. It buckled slightly cracking the paint. Not a big deal, as I already had custom corner guards made that will cover the damage. I now have the opportunity to try my hand at some body work. We’ll see how it comes out.

Bill and Cheryll did Metal Masher Trail and broke a front axle.
That night, back in camp, Jerome and Bill repaired Bill’s Jeep while Mike, Rich and Ric headed back up Pritchett Canyon to replace the transfer case rear output yoke and driveshaft. Ric was able to purchase the yoke from a vendor at the fairgrounds and he carried a spare driveshaft. We got back to camp about 11:00 that night.

Friday, April 18
Moab Rim
Report by Mike Whittington

Today, we had Rich and Corky, DuWayne and Tina, Jerome, Ric and Lisa and Mike and Laura. Chad decided to stay back in camp today to work on his FJ following yesterday’s adventure in Pritchett Canyon. Bill and Cheryll went siteseeing.
Moab Rim is a really cool trail. It begins just west of town, right off Kane Creek Road which parallels the Colorado River. After the drivers meeting, we started up towards the rim, a steep meandering climb that was almost all on slickrock.
The first obstacle is a sharp right hander up a v-notch. As you make the sharp right, and look over your left shoulder then look down, through the crack you will see the Colorado River about 200’ straight down! After a fun Z-Turn obstacle, we all made it to the top of the rim without incident.
We stopped for lunch at an overlook of the valley below. At the top the views are spectacular. Moab is about 1000’ below us and the snow covered LaSal Mountains are in the background. Arches National Park is to our North.
Going back down off the rim can get a bit sketchy at times. In places it can be really off camber (probably feels a lot worse than it actually is). You just need to be careful and pay attention at all times. We all made it back down the mountain and back to camp with plenty of time for refreshments and munchies. A few of the group headed to the fairgrounds for the raffle; the best off-road themed raffle of them all. Bill won a fuel can and holder. Wow! He was trying to give it away but no takers. I just think he didn’t want to carry it home with him.

Saturday, April 19
Golden Spike Trail
Report by Mike Whittington

This was Big Saturday, the one day everybody lines up for their trail at a designated location on Main Street for a 9:00 parade departure. Everybody except the folks going on Golden Spike and one or two other trails; we got to leave at 8:00. We left early, before everyone else because Golden Spike is a very long trail. We usually don’t get back to camp until after dark. Golden Spike also happens to be my favorite trail in Moab.
The weather was perfect with a few scattered showers during the day.

Our trail leader was Dan Mick, a Moab off-road legacy, great trail leader and all around good guy. He runs an off-road tour/ guide service in Moab and knows the area like the back of his hand.

I believe we had about 25 vehicles on the run for the day. The trail is mostly slickrock (sandstone) with very steep climbs and descents (one called The Launch Pad, and another called Skyline Drive), canyons, crevices (the Golden Crack is famous) and a few very challenging obstacles (Golden Staircase, Double Wammy, etc.). As with all other trails around Moab, the scenery was spectacular.

All was going well through about the first third of the trail. In fact Dan mentioned that we were making great time with no mishaps, breakdowns, etc. He shouldn’t have said it.
Smoke started pouring out of my hood. When the hood was opened (carefully) it was found the power steering pump return hose (low pressure side) had slipped off of the hard line leaving the steering box. The soft line is connected to the hard line with a hose clamp. After making the necessary repair and cleaning up the mess, we started off again and quickly caught up to the main group doing the Zuki Shuffle (crabbing the vehicle sideways to gain traction up a small ledge).

It happened again! This time the soft line separated at the power steering fluid cooler. I thought the inline filter might be plugged so with the help of the rest of the OTR folks (again!), we cleaned the filter (it didn’t look bad), cleaned up the mess and restarted down the trail. Now we were lagging behind. The tail gunner and another trail official vehicle stayed with us while we made the repairs. Approximately 100 yards later, it happened again!!! This time the soft line popped off of the filter inlet. Okay, I’m a little slow on the uptake. After the third time, the brain went ding.

Obviously, I was getting high pressure coming around to the low pressure side of the pump indicating a restriction somewhere in the line. By now we were lagging way behind the rest of the Jeeps and this was becoming rapidly un-fun. This time, rather than trying to repair it again, we routed the power steering pump in a loop to prevent damage to the pump and did the same thing for the steering box and ram. Obviously this resulted in total loss of power steering but it would prevent spillage allowing me to stop returning hydrocarbons to the earth.

At this point, because we were so far behind the rest of the group, the OTR folks and the tail gunner turned around towards Poison Spider Mesa and home. Sadly we would not be completing Golden Spike this year.

Driving on 40” tires at 8 psi and a Detroit Locker is near impossible. We finally ended up inflating the tires to 30 psi., unlocking the hubs and placed the xfer case into 2 low. This made the Jeep someone drivable but, as anyone who has ever driven a non power steering equipped vehicle off road, I literally felt every little bump, rock and groove in the trail on the way back. I learned all about bump steer. Miserable!

Just as we were nearing the end of the trail, Chad’s FJ40 started having fuel delivery problems. Chad eventually got it taken care of and off we went.
We finally made it off the trail just as it was getting dark.

No we didn’t make it, but it is still an awesome trail. Thanks for all the help guys; I couldn’t have done it without you.

Back at camp the refreshments and munchies came out. It had been a very long day. It was nice to finally get back and finally relax before making preparations to head for home the next day.

Chad and Joanna left Saturday night to get a jump on the drive home.

Sunday, April 20
Time to go home.

Most of us headed for home on Sunday morning. The only club members leaving later were the retired folks. They didn’t have to be back to work the next morning.

If you’ve never had the opportunity to participate in the Moab Easter Jeep Safari you need to do it, at least once. Sure there are a lot of people, a lot of vehicles, crowded restaurants and lines but it is all worth it. I’ll be back for sure.