ROCKtober Therapy - THE Moab Gathering

crazy right?! gotta take the wash in for any excitement now

 

Not being one to break with tradition, this just happened:

 

I'm doing the same, forgot this was going on and had a trip planned to Yellowstone then looking at the weather we decided to change plans and head to Moab instead, but yeah if yall see me around make sure to wave or even come chat for a minute always love seeing other peoples builds. I wish I could hit some of the trails with yall but I told my friend's id show them around the national parks and do things they want to do. I even just got a new rear leaf pack and I want to test it out on some trails but oh well, maybe another time. But here's a pic for reference, make sure to wave or come say hi if yall see me around.

 

When all you need is a little plate cut for your new tie rod bumper and all your friends are comedians:

 

at first i was like "whats the big deal, just a kangaroo, not that funny"

oh, wait, that lil detail haha. its really the little details that make a rig great, not just good

 

Totally agree. When doesn't a big (or small) set of unwanted balls make something better?

 

everyone likes surprises

 

I think you need to bring another truck with you.

 

Just finished up steel bender.. heading back to camp now. Should have plenty of options to park all that.

 

I want to apologize for driving my loud POS through camp so late at night. Hope I didn’t wake too many people

 

That is fair reasoning

 

Sucks we had to bail early. Was great to see everyone and get some moab time in before the winter. Hope the trail runs today went smother than yesterday! Sucks we'll be missing the dune session tonight too! Looking forward to hearing how Pritchett went today with all the issues rigs... looked like a great group heading back there.

Hope to see you all again soon

 

How many ended up going?

 

Rad day for sure.

 

Sorry we bailed and missed all the breakage at the end but the little man was loosing his patience.

 

Thanks to @NYCO for organizing ROCKtober Therapy, 10 years running! I matched quite a few faces to Tacoma World handles including @NYCO, @Ripcord, @Zizzle, @Wishbone Runner and @Squeaky Penguin , who was giving his best sales pitch to sell me parts from his Tacoma as he prepares to take it to the next level.

Thursday, I wheeled Top of the World, Rose Garden Hill and Onion Creek trails. It was my first time on those trails and I thought the chances were good that I'd meet up with some random group, since Moab has been busy all season, but instead I ended up solo. I just took it slow and used the trail experiences Tacoma World members such as @In4aride, @johntoyota, @Littles and @Deathbysnusnu taught me. The route left (clockwise) on TOW presented many ledges that I had to get out, analyze, and stack some rocks if needed. For example, I had to back up and insert a rock under the passenger rear tire so I could get my diff over the edge:


On the way to RGH



Beginning of RGH


RGH presented some tall ledges for my 32" tires, so I inserted a few rocks at the bottom of the ledge to prevent turtling:


Onion Creek was beautiful



Thursday was great day!

On Friday I wheeled with @Zizzle and @Wishbone Runner on Flat Iron Mesa. @Wishbone Runner gave me the heads up when it was time to take a bypass for example at the Chute:





Both Zizzle and Wishbone Runner have crawl boxes. Those are nice.
On steep rocky inclines, I tend to use too much skinny pedal, which prompted this exchange:
Zizzle: Its rock crawling not rock bouncing!
Winkle feebly making up some logic: With the front tires on top of the rock, unload the rear with a bounce and crawl up.
Wishbone Runner: That works ... until it doesn't.
I think a crawl box would really help me with my skinny pedal issue.

After FIM, we had time to take on Steel Bender, where Zizzle and Wishbone Runner taught me how to cliff dive with my truck.

The conversation went something like this:
Winkle99: Is this where I send it?
Zizzle: Laughs
Wishbone Runner: Here's were we learn about gravity.
Winkle99: Don't I want to go to the left?
Zizzle: Too tippy. Safest way is to stay right and let it fall.
Winkle99: OK

I then watched Wishbone Runner carefully maneuver over the edge and dive into the rockpile below. Zizzle's pickup, with its crawlbox and 40's, drove down the ledged as if it wasn't there:
https://youtu.be/J7rI9iOL2NA

I then proceeded to dive into the pile of rocks also ... no problem.


At the end of the day, I neglected to get out and look before following Zizzle over a ledge and turtled, balancing on my skid plate. I put a rock under each front tire so my transfer case would clear, then Zizzle gave me a short pull.


Thanks Zizzle and Wishbone Runner. Friday was a great day!

The snowy mountain weather predictions made me flash back to a year ago when driving back from a San Rafael Swell off road trip. At Vail Pass, there were vehicles sliding all around me. I left Saturday instead of Sunday and had an easy ride home with light traffic. But first, since I was so close, I stopped by Picture Frame arch:

 

So jealous. Hate I couldnt make it. Awesome pictures!

 

You will be in Moab soon. November 6 I think?

 

Cant come soon enough

 

Why you gotta rub it in? But, Id say with so much new fancy on that rear now.....

You should sneak back out there that first weekend of November.