ROCKtober Therapy - THE Moab Gathering

Just did Hells Revenge. It’s a much more mellow trip

 

It's been 20 years since I wheeled in moab. What was so annoying about fins?
I think it was my first trail out there, probably everyone's first trail.

 

No real obstacles, constant dragging, about 5 total minutes of the trail aren’t bumpy. I mean it’s pretty, and was great for the guys I was with who have stock tacos, but even with the 37s at 12psi my brain rattled out

 

Was just reminiscing with my wife about our first wheeling trip to moab.
Going though town we pass a wrecker with a mangled 4runner on it.

The rig had just fallen off the back section of the lions back. Was not pretty.
Made the wife nervous.
Still got to do the lions back though.
That was a hi pressure 4 point turnaround at the top.

 

Awesome you got to do it!

 

It was a cool time in the world of rock crawling. Marlin had just invented dual transfer case setup and a 85 toyota could be built cheap and perform with the big dogs.
As a new dad, camping and wheeling were the perfect family activity.

It was May of 1997 when we saw the mangled 4runner.
Reminded us not to take safety lightly.
The wife walked most obstacles with the kid.

 

Just bringing back Bob's old map from a couple of years ago to help everyone out.

Red spots are decent camping sites. White ones not so much.

 

yea those white spots can get a bit sticky

 

hows the camping on the first two chodes?

 

Too far from the shitter. No pun intended. Well, maybe a little.

 

It's a trip to see stock rigs doing golden spike trail.
25 years ago I was doing the trail in a solid axle locked and crawlered and thought we were getting extreme.

Most of the vids I see of tacoma on Golden crack have the almost tip moment.
Anyone see a rig roll there?

 

While it feels sketchy to teeter on the crack, there are very few rollovers there. Especially if you have any sort of wheelbase.

It's the golf carts that struggle there more than the trucks.

Of course it's all easy to say the crack is no worries when you when you can do it without lifting a tire. YMMV.



Nearly that whole trail favors long wheelbase, so the Tacos don't really struggle.

I remember getting to the waterfall just on dusk a few years ago at the back of a RT group that included some stock Tacos. There was a brand new 2 door JK on the waterfall having to bump really hard a few times to try to get up. He even ended up sliding sideways and doing some body damage.

In the end all the tacos made it up without much drama. The longer wheelbase meant they were hooking the front over the ledge.

 

This particular day/night is one I'll never forget. First time meeting @SilverGhost, who proceeds to launch into the night sky with people at arms reach of his tires. Pretty sure there was also a guy with a trailer-thing stacked with speakers playing music off in the distance?

 

yup local guy christian had his boom truck there that had the speakers on the sides

 

ill run pritchett again with you next year. itll be fun when you get big tires and forgo the thought of straight body panels

i really enjoyed that run. Left a lot of rubber there, cooked the tranny, and grenaded cv or two...but the only thing i couldnt make it up was rocker knocker. super fun trail for sure!

 

mmmmm sadly too much else going on right now life wise to take this week off as well. I have a dedicated tow rig now though so there will be less fucks to give at moab in the future.

 

@rctoy and I ran it last year. Discovered I had a broken shackle on rocker knocker. Welded it back up then took the bypass.

My rear bumper prevents me from getting on to rock pile. The bypass is no joke there though.

Might run it it again especially if @TBuzz is keen.

The main issues with pritchett are

1. All the golf carts clogging it up these days. We got stuck behind a big group of them on Chewie. 2 were already broken. They were just bumping harder and harder to try to make it. Eventually they let us go. Konsta and I both pretty much just walked right up it. I didn't even slip a tire.
2. The exit road back to camp kinda sucks. Just bumpy and long.
3. Despite all that we made good time and were back in camp pretty early. Not really early enough to go hit another trail, but still felt like a bit of a waste of an afternoon.

 

laaaaaaame

 

hop on behind the rocks backwards next time?

 

Well I officially have a truck and trailer set up, so I’m definitely down since I’ll be trailering out and back. Just gotta make sure work doesn’t fuck me