Major event recap:

Day 1 - Saguaro Coves:

MAJOR hillclimb fun at the coves.. Some of the action: Duerk got to the top of one 200ft high hillclimb and launched his truck (all 4 wheels!) 4ft into the air trying to get up the ledge at the top.. Later on at the boulder crawl in the 6th cove several X's crushed their front bumpers and several ppl got a little tippy. Also had tons of fun on the wall getting out of the boulder crawl area. Several trucks high centered on the boulders and eventually got loose after lots of metal on rock. Camp was great. Awesome weather. Had a great campfire too. Carnage: Duerk's steering gave up and had to be replaced.

Day 2 - Sunflower Mine:

In comes the rain. We ran this trail in the pouring rain. It bumped the rating up another point. Definitely 3.5+. Much wheelspinning and high centering in the boulder wash. Couple of crunched tailpipes. We headed north up onto Pine Mountain to get up into the higher altitudes. The rain was pouring at this point. We were up in the clouds and visibility was so low, you could only see a couple hundred feet ahead of you. The trail was VERY slick with goopy gumbo mud all over it. We had hail, sleet, and freezing rain through most of it. At least 3 trucks (Joel, Flip, and Leyland that I can remember) had to be strapped up portions of the trail due to conditions, and lack of traction.. it was INSANE. Joel dented his drivers side rear quarterpanel on a tree.

The storms continued as we set up camp. We had a heavy monsoon roll over camp at about 7pm. Duerk's tent collapsed and the wind broke his tent poles. We were soaked. I was down to one last set of dry clothes. My heavy coat was soaked too which made things miserable.

Day 3 - Reno Pass:

Woke up in rain and freezing temps and packed up tent city. My tent barely survived the night, suffering one broken fiberglass pole. Should be able to fix it up enough for tommorrow night. It was WET out. Whiteman drowned his Frontier in a huge puddle as we were leaving camp, ingesting water into the engine. Water was up over his tires. We got him running and headed out for the trail. The trail was MUDDY. With the rain, we did over 15-20 water crossings. Portions of the trail were run IN the water, over slick riverrock. We were sliding around quite a bit. We ran the whole trail west to east. Unfortuantely, the portion we repaired had given way and we had to cross on a 1 ft narrower path with mud that was slick as snot. Everyone made it through though. At the bottom of the hill heading out to punkin center, the rain had taken its toll on the trail reducing it to gumbo mud. Dennis' Jeep got stuck in a rut and had to winch out. Terrence got stuck at a precarious angle in a rut and managed to drive it out. Duerk launched the driver's side of his truck about 2ft in the air when sliding sideways and slamming the passenger side into a rut. He also lost part of a fender flare on a tree. Mike popped a bead in the same section. Man, what fun!!!

We got video of almost everything.


BEEFYJames Fabrication - Custom Fabricated for Use and Abuse

YEAH!!!!

Mr. Will

Man!!

I cannot wait to see some video... sound intense

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www.geocities.com/greentacoma_99

I had a great time. You cant imagine how it feels to take a shower and dump!

The mud was so slick, the truck would slide sideways all the time. It would go where it wanted regardless of the steering wheel. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Toilet and shower were good to see. Mud, JW, and myself didn't get enough of Reno Pass west to east, so we turned around and ran it east to west. We saw a lot more sleet as we worked on JW's truck towards the top where his left tierod went bye bye.



1998 Frontier 4x4 seriously built
2002 Xterra 4x4 still stock
Please help STOP urban sprawl!

Unfortunately I missed all the Carnage and Fun of Day 3 I have been working steadily and am getting ready for Day 4 now. When I filled my tires up with air this morning I had a very deep gouge on the outer wall of my drivers side front tire. I have "certs" so I took it to Discount and got a brand new one. Look forward to seeing you all again tomorrow!

"If you can't hear me, it's because I'm in parentheses."

Too bad steering parts do not come with those nifty replacement certificates.