Added 26 May 2001
TREAD LIGHTLY! For more information on responsible wheeling, go HERE or HERE Ziggy at dirtroad.com says it best, "Use your 4-wheel drive to enjoy the environment, don't use the environment to enjoy your 4-wheel drive!"
| Sunday was the day of the big group run. It was the only trail that everyone who made it to ZafaRi2001 went on. We started at 8 o'clock Sunday morning and started the short drive down Sand Flats Road to the start of Fins & Things trail. We actually started the trail somewhere in the middle near the radio tower, trying to find the infamous Exhaust Bender Rock. EBR thwarted me last year, not even allowing my rear tires to get close to the base of it's extreme climb. EBR ate Steve Spangler's exhaust pipe when he failed to get up it (hence the nickname of the obstacle). Only Dave was able to conquer EBR last year. This year, I was determined to climb EBR. It would take us a while to reach it though, as we took a left turn instead of a right turn at a critical junction and ended up in a different area. The left turn took us to an area we had never been to before. We climbed up over a fin, and when we got on top, we had to get out and investigate. The trail led down the fin, into a slot, down a (dry) waterfall into a largish mud hole and down a wash. After some discussion, I decided to go for it. With the aid of a good spotter (Rich), the descent down the waterfall into and through the mud hole went smoothly. Rich followed, his lifted Jeep with 35's making the descent look safer and easier. | ||
  | Randy followed Rich with his lifted BlaZeR2 with 33" tires. He too, got down unscathed. When we started the descent down the slot, I wasn't sure how many people would try it, since most people were driving stock vehicles, most people have an aversion to body damage, and the waterfall certainly presented an opportunity for the later. I was surprised to see all but Steve Spangler and Erik line up to tackle the obstacle. One by one, we spotted everyone through the waterfall. |
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| Most were pretty uneventful, but Rick gave everyone a laugh and a bit of excitement, when he decided to gun it off the bottom ledge, jumping into the muddy pool! He looked like a cat leaping for a lizard. Unfortunately, his little stunt put me in a nickname quandary. Continue to call him Charro, or change his nickname to Gas 'n Go! In the end I decided that both were equally valid, so I alternated between the two. |
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| Once we got the group through the waterfall, Steve and Eric turned around, and each group went our own way to try to meet back up again at another point on the trail. After exiting the wash, we went right, hoping to hook back up with Steve and Eric as soon as possible, but that route dead-ended, and we had to turn everyone around. Eventually we found a section of Fins & Things that I recognized, but I couldn't recall where it was in relation to the rest of the trail. We ended up just continuing on, hoping to figure things out as we went. Eventually we figured out that Steve and Eric were on the same road we were, just further back, so we just went slow and stopped a lot to allow them to catch up to us. | |
| They did so not long after we had reached Kenny's Climb, billed as being just about the steepest climb that a stock vehicle can make. Since I was in the lead, and no one seemed at all interested in taking that position from me, I was the first to climb it. I poured on a little too much power and started hopping a bit, but made it up Kenny's climb without incident. | ||
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| Rich followed me up and made it look easy. Everyone else made it up with varying degrees of success. Rick further earned his Gas 'n Go nickname. The more stock vehicles required more careful spotting getting to the approach to the climb, and Steve Smith and I had to direct Eric's Ranger through very carefully, on the only line we could see that he could possibly make the approach. Once on the climb though, the Ranger did great, with it's really low gearing pulling it right up the rock with scarcely a single chirp of the tires. |
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| While Jeff completed his photo shoot for the Men of ZafaRi2 Calendar, Steve Spangler remained down below the descent from Kenny's Climb, and filmed the group moving along the rock fins. |
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With the group now back together, we finished off that end of the figure eight I had decided to make out of the Fins & Things trail and head back out to Sand Flats Road. From there, we went back to our starting point, this time taking the right fork that lead us to EBR. I nosed THE BEAST up to EBR with anxious anticipation. I had to get out and look this one over again, making sure I knew what I was getting myself into. EBR was even steeper than I remembered. Jeff and I measured it later at 45-50o at it's steepest. Insanely steep for a vehicle with stock gearing turning over size tires. But I was determined.
My first two attempts were without the aid of a spotter except for Steve Smith making sure my departure angle was good enough. I didn't have any problems there, but I was losing traction early on in the ascent. After that, Steve, Rich and I decided that a line further to the right would be better, telling myself and the group that this would be my last attempt. I had no desire to break my truck. I started the climb and made it quite a bit further up the rock but started hopping the front end so bad that I let off the gas . . . at just the wrong time. Just as I let off the gas, I crested the rise a bit and started getting some more traction. But I couldn't correct fast enough and put the power down again, so I stomped on the brakes and slid quickly and precariously down the steep incline to the bottom. Despite my earlier decision that the third time would be my last, I couldn't end my effort knowing that I had come so close. One more try. Clear EBR this time, or go home having made a good effort at it. I ran it up and started hopping pretty bad, but I stuck to my guns a couple of seconds longer than last time to find all the traction I needed to make it up and over. I rounded the top, thankful that I hadn't broken anything. | ||
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After climbing EBR, I no longer had anything to prove. I would still go on to tackle other obstacles, but I no longer felt the need to get that solid front axle conversion, or many of the other toys I had been thinking about putting on THE BEAST. Who knows, I may still do some of those things, but EBR was another Moby for me. And now overcome, I can go back to the mild-mannered captain I used to be, wanting only to use my 4X4 to get me places where most people don't go. Not that I have ever deliberately destroyed anything while 4-wheeling, now I can more fully return to the heart and soul of one of my favorite 4-wheeling sayings: "Use your 4-wheel-drive to enjoy the environment, not the environment to enjoy your 4-wheel-drive." Obstacles will still remain fun and challenging, but the joy is in what's around you.
After I got up EBR, Rich and Dave made it look easy. (Note to self: Don't invite people on trips with extremely mod'ed vehicles that make me look bad.) Steve Smith also made an attempt at it, but EBR treated him to the same defeat it did me the first time I tried it last year. EBR eats trucks with low approach and departure angles. I had to chop 6" off the bottom of my rear body panels and replace the bumper in order to get my rear wheels to the base of that rock. | ||
| Everyone else decided to take the low-angle route to the far left, and made it up without incident. We then backtracked a bit to the main trail and continued on, taking a spur trail out to an overlook for lunch. The second half of the figure eight was all new trail for everyone there, and it was really nice. There were a couple of attention getting obstacles along the way, and some different scenery from the rest of Fins & Things. |
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After exiting back onto Sand Flats Road, we headed back to camp to make plans for the rest of the day. Steve Spangler and I headed out to Canyonlands where we had to take care of our permits for the White Rim Trail while most of the others headed out and did the Porcupine Rim trail. Rich decided to head back to Colorado at that point. It was too bad Rich had to leave so soon, but I wasn't sad to leave his Jeep leave. The damn thing kept showing me up!
That night, everyone got cleaned up and showered for a group dinner at the Moab Brewery. Good food, good service, and good times were had by all. I'm sure it helped that we all felt clean. As if other realizations weren't enough, this camping trip has made it more apparent to me that I am getting old. I remember when going camping for a week without a shower was nothing to me. I can't go much more than three days without a shower now. First the memory loss, then the slower recovery time from injuries, and now this! What has my life come to? After dinner, we went back to camp and discussed trails for the next day. We decided on doing Top of the World, which overlooks Castle Valley, followed by Steel Bender. That settled, we talked for a while longer before drifting off to bed. | ||
If you're in the Tucson area, drop me a line and we can go wheelin' sometime.
Speaking of which, if you own a Highrider/ZR2/BlaZeR2, or want to find out more about the best little 4X4's around, check out these great sites:
http://www.zr2.com and http://www.zr2hr.org
There is also a ZR2 discussion group, which is very fun for talking about our special trucks and in getting ideas, help, and useful information. I have learned a great deal from the list. You can join by sending an e-mail to mailto:zr2@zr2hr.org with the word "SUBSCRIBE" (without the quotes) in the subject line.
ENJOY!
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