Well I'm Back from GONE, Here's my story - Topic Powered by eve community

Whew, what a trip. I am exhausted but here is a write up. It may not be perfect but is as I recall it and I may mix up names.

I drove up Saturday morning, hung around looking at all the CRAZY rigs. Mostly Jeeps and Yotas, but quite a few Samis, and other unimogs, 4x4 vans and other crazy stuff. I even saw an AMC eagle wheel and it was actually capable.

Sunday morning I fixed the final gasket that was left from the ones installed with the headers. The Thorley headers came with cheap cardboard like gaskets which have blown one at a time. This one blew out on my way up the mountain to Flagstaff and was noisy all the way to Moab. What I didn't realize was the hot air coming from between the flange was slowly cooking a hole in a rubber fuel line. Luckily I didn't have a "Thermal incident" as Jim and Carl called it. Anyway, I replaced the gasket and fuel line and I was good to go.

Sunday afternoon, we went on Klondike bluffs trail. It was rather mild with a few fun obstacles but it was breathtakingly gorgeous especially as it was my first time there. Also there were dinosaur foot prints in the slickrock. Pretty fun night that ended at Woodys bar and then some of us went to eat at some diner with killer burgers. I met up with Andy and we split a room at the Ramada. That was about the only night I got good sleep.

Monday, we ran Seven Mile rim and some other trail I can't remember. This was a pretty fun trail with some good obstacles. One that was particularly fun was Wipe Out Hill. Andy Bird (Xcetra) did a replay of my Saguaro hill climb and bounced his front end pretty high in the air. The second trail was mostly dirt roads we pretty much flew through but took us to a gorgeous view point of which I took several pictures and was well worth the dusty road.

Tuesday was Hells Revenge. This trail started right off with a nice little lions back like obstacle everyone had to go up. It was just wide enough for a truck and had a drop on each side. With 50 mph cross winds, it made for quite a rush. The beginning was a lot of up and down on the rocks but was quite beautiful and even a little adrenaline pumping at times.

Coming off a ledge I dropped that same coil spring again.

. I had wired it good when it came out on AZ run but the wire snapped. I wired them again and they stayed in for the rest of the trip, but next time I am using steel straps.

Anyway while we were going up and down these 100 foot climbs and descents on the slickrock, it started to rain. Nothing like AZ run but it did make it a little slippery where people had laid a lot of rubber and added a little more intensity. And don't forget the crosswinds.

After we got through the up and down stuff the sky cleared up and it was a beautiful afternoon, we passed "The escalator" nobody from our group tried that one, I believe it is the one that is also known as hells gate.

We continued on to an obstacle called "tip over challenge?" it was a nice steep and tipsy slickrock obstacle. A little over half of the 20+ trucks tried it and all of those that attempted made it up. Most took 5+ tries but they all made it up eventually. I made it up on my 2nd try, that was my highlight of the trip, especially being the only WD21, I felt I had to represent. Also, I believe all three frontiers(Andy, Rondo, and Jim) made it up on their first shot. One of the Xterras (Todd) broke a Calmini tie rod adjuster at the top. Took a bad hop and pretzeled the thing. One of the other Xs took a bad hop in nearly the same place and came very close to rolling.

After this, there was a nice hill climb. It was really similar to an AZ climb with off camber, Jagged rocks with a layer of loose dirt. It really wasn't bad if you picked the right line and maintained momentum. I made it up no problem but a few had to be strapped over the top. To add insult to those that didn't make it, a stock Hardbody (the only HB at the run)pounded his way up. After he made it, Project X hopped its way up with a front diff that was acting up so it took a few tries and hops but it finally came over the top. Immediately after, the Calmini Xterra took a few hops and broke a motor mount (this was discovered down the trail).

The next hour or so, we spent "stuck in traffic" as people helped the Calmini X. When they gave it some gas, with that broken motor mount, the motor rotated and put the Fan into the shroud. They pulled over and a couple guys helped them get the engine set in place and they held it in place with its winch. The fact that everyone had to stop and we help up a bunch of Jeeps was a little frustrating, but I guess that is part of running such a large group.

After they got the thing back on the trail, Carlton hung up his X in a precarious spot and several had to push and pull on his truck so he could get it off safely. After this, we finally escaped the depths of hell.

That evening Mike from UXOC took myself, Rondo, and Marty from Cali, to go run part of Gold Bar Rim backwards. It was a lot of fun and we got some great pictures. Here we ran into the AMC Eagle on 27" swampers. It was pretty awesome he had it locked and had skids under it also. It was actually pretty capable and made it up an obstacle Rondo could not, due to wheel base, but nonetheless was pretty funny. Down the trail a ways, we found a nice big step. Rondo climbed right over and we watched a few Jeeps hit it. Then another jeep came off it wrong and landed on his front bumper. It put the Radiator fan into the radiator and chopped it up a little. It started leaking but was fine otherwise. We helped him limp it back to UXOCs campground where his buddy was waiting with some patching plumber compound that seemed to fix it and they continued on their way. This little evening runs was one of the highlights of the trip.

Wednesday, this morning, everyone was going to run Poison Spider, Golden Spike and then Gold Bar rim. Because I had to drive back to PHX today, I decided to run Poison spider in with the group and then back out by myself. On the way in, the first major obstacle was a big waterfall. One of the Jeeps that was running with us took an optional hard line and got some air on a hop. He came down hard and snapped a wheel clean off. The inner snapped and I believe the ball joints were trashed. The only thing left connecting the wheel to the jeep was the brake line going to the rotor. The group helped him out of the way and his buddy stayed to help as everyone else continued on. This had several good obstacles and some were even more fun on the way out. I turned around after 2 hours so I could get back out and on the road to PHX by noon. Going back out was fun but rather uneventful. As I was going the wrong way, I ran into a lot of oncoming traffic including to large groups of 40+ Jeeps. When I got back to the waterfall they were still fixing the jeep but said they had it covered. I continued back to town where I did a quick eyeball alignment as it had been thrown way off and I drove back to town.

All in all, I had an awesome time. Well worth the trip but I wish I could have stayed longer. These trails are outstanding and there are so many lines to choose. I really am bummed I missed golden spike and the crack

. I really appreciate those who organized the run, Ian for leading the group, Mike for taking me on the evening run to GBR and Andy, Jim and Carl for having Brett and I at your campsite and everyone else who went for adding to an experience I will never forget. Well that does it, I am going to go to bed now and I'll upload the 273 pictures I took tomorrow.

Posts: 5416 | Location: Queen Creek, AZ | Registered: June 24, 2002

TF&J

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