JeepAndrew's AZ Trail Runs/Campouts

Brandon and I spoke to a BLM volunteer at the Aravaipa sign. We let him know so they could get the rest of the tree cleared off the trail. He told us a story about a large piece of rock breaking off the side some time ago inside Aravaipa. He said you could feel the gust of wind after it fell.

After that whole incident played out I don't think I could ever camp that spot again. Don't get me wrong the site is beautiful and the 4x4 route in was like no other I've traveled. With knowing about the canyon walls and trees now I couldn't sleep there.

 

pansy
haha!
thanks andrew for the help with my fan

 

Yeah, I'm mother going to lie, that spot is going to creep me out for sure. I'm with jon, I'd be interested in camping somewhere with a little less trees next time haha

 

"Close"?! Its on the tent!

 

Holy shit that is crazy! Glad everyone was ok.

How did you get the truck out of there? Was it towable?

 

Cut parts of the tree down around the truck and pulled it out, it got towed to the highway by @JeepAndrew and @RPS1030

 

To allow the guys to drag Brian's truck out and clear some of the falled tree I had to move my rig. I moved to where there wer just Sycamore trees overhead, but close to the canyon wall. I slept well Saturday night. I like that canyon, but will forever walk carefully around half dead trees!

I had a fabulous time besides the treefall carnage. The 4x4 trip was awesome (my second time) and I did not recall from last Spring some of the harriest decents we did this time. I had done some front suspension tuning at Arizona Performance Engineering (ICON shock revalve and TC lower arms) and mounted a set of 255.85 Cooper ST tires for their first off-road trip. My sliders lost a bit of paint, but that is why they are on there!

Happy to say truck worked very well with the tires aired down to 20 PSI. My on-board air kept the lockers running and I aired up to 35 PSI in a few minutes once out of the Canyon on the way home.

Have to give kudos to JeepAndrew for guiding us through Rug Road and others for spotting for us on the most technical sections. Great teamwork and fun times.

 

I don't think I'll be able to camp anywhere without looking at the trees and wondering if one of them could fall.

New product in the works - 4 man tent with a full chromoly internal cage. haha

 

More like 10 man for those of us over 6foot tall and fat.

 

Chromoly edition RTTs. For those that need more than the ruggedized/summit series versions.

 

We were up camping on the rim at the end of summer and lighting struck a tree about 50' from our fire. So I dont know how good this fully caged tent will be either haha its a dangerous game we play guys. All we can do is keep our life insurance paid up and enjoy the time we have. Could end at any moment. Enjoy life while you got it and dont stress to much. And that was another episode of words of wisdom by Andrew

 

That is way true.
from now on, ill always be taking a look at trees to see if they could fall. and definitely placing my tent near a good structure, big rock, wall of a cliff, truck, something. haha!

 

That was by far the craziest thing I have ever witnessed, the sound, the aftermath, just completely amazed that all of us are ok

 

Yup, I glanced at the limbs directly over where I put my tent. Looked good to me. No big/loose branches to fall straight down. Never really considered an ENTIRE TREE toppling over.

 

That tree looked partially dead up high but I didn't expect the center to be rotted. The BLM volunteer said they have issues in that area with beatles and bark eating bugs hollowing trees. Sounds like they need to sweep the area of sickly trees.

 

Ok fully caged tent with lightning rod..... this is going to be a heavy tent

 

We just need an open field and room for Eric's crazy ass in the Rhino.

 

I thoroughly dug our campsite and would camp there again in a heartbeat. In fact, buddy and I are already talking about heading there in a couple weeks.

I've camped/wheeled damn near every weekend for a very, very long time and have only experienced a falling tree twice. The first was the result of an epic wind storm. To me, the thrill and enjoyment I get out of unwinding in the outdoors far surpasses the astronomical chances of being killed by a falling tree or lightning strike. None of us can avoid death and if it's my time, it's my time. At least I'll go out doing what I love!

Awesome weekend. The AZTW is a solid group of folks and I'm honored to have had such a great time with you all.

 

I totally agree. I've camped there twice now and I'll keep going. If a tree kills me, at least I'll die happy doing what I love and I'd be with Aaron. Life's too short to let trees dictate where I camp haha

 

Theres spots further up the canyon by where Rug Road drops in that are lacking in the tree department. But I agree too, falling trees are so rare that I'm good with camping there again.