Moab Trip Report - Weekend #1

I just got back from Moab. I towed my Cherokee down with my parents '92 ford club wagon (14 passenger van) Friday evening after work. We got there at about 10pm and headed out to find a camp spot. we finally found a decent place to park the van and my buddies trailer.

Saturday morning I got Big Ugly ready to go while Shaggy set up the rest of his camp and got his Ford pickup ready to go then we headed into town. We hooked up with the rest of our club that was there and headed for Hell's Revenge trail. The group consisted of a Chevy Blazer, a Ford pickup, a Jeep Cherokee, a CJ7, and 6 Scramblers (there's about 10 of them in our club). We played on Dump Bump for a while then proceeded on. we decided to run just the back end of the trail where most of the good obstacles are. We got to Dragon's back and went and went up to Mickey's HotTub. This is a hole in the slickrock about 16' deep by 8' wide by 12' long with 2 sheer walls, 1 70 degree wall, and 1 85 degree wall. You go down the 70 degree side then try to climb out the 85 degree side. I've got video and stills of my cherokee doing it and will get them scanned and sent to John and Doc ASAP. only 2 of the four that tried made it out by their own power. My cherokee and the Blazer are the ones that made it while the CJ7 almost rolled and had to be strapped back down to the bottom and then backed out and a scrambler had to be strapped out. We finished playing on Hell's revenge then headed into town and went swimming then had dinner and called it a night.

Sunday morning we headed into town to meet up with the rest of the club again. The group was the same group with the addition of an '84 Grand Wagoneer that had gotten there Saturday night and the absence of the ford pickup(Shaggy was sick, Too much campfire merriment). We decided to run the Moab Rim trail and headed out. There were several spectators taking pictures at Devil's Crack so I placed my tires just right to get some good lift on the front passenger tire. Just after the Crack my jeep started stalling if it lugged too low so after the Z-turn I adjusted the timing a little and that took care of the problem. We took the long way on top with a little diversion to play around including a sand hill. On the way back down there were still lot's of spectators at Devil's Crack so I gave them a show. If you put your tire right in the crack as you're going down then put on the brakes you lift the rear end to where they think you're going to roll then you let off the brakes to come back down. One of the people taking pictures was a professional that sells you the pictures later in the week so hopefully if he got a good shot I'll buy one and scan it.

I had to come back to work for three days but I left my jeep down there and will be going back Wednesday night and staying until next Tuesday.

Thanks to Matt for getting me those spare axles, It will make me feel much safer when I go back down Wednesday.

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     |  briggs@genetics.utah.edu  | Web Page Development  UtahFWDA |
     |  justbr@aol.com            | Storm Mountain  4X4    SLC  Ut |
     |  Salt Lake City, Utah      | Red Rock 4Wheelers     Moab Ut |
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     |'79 Wide Trac Cherokee Chief S: AMC 360, T18, Dana20, Dana 44|
     |front and rear with 4.56 gears & Lock-Rites, 35" BFG M/Ts, 4"|
     |SkyJacker SoftRide Lift, Some rust, And lots of dents.  =8)  |
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