This year two of us guys headed out a week before the families. We went down to the Needles District first. Again, we were able to go on one of our last trips through Salt Creek before the unwarranted closure in 1998. We then headed up to Moab and did the Golden Spike in reverse. Once the families came out we went on the Safari Trails and finished up the two weeks with Lion's Back. My Jeep is on the left, Steve's is on the right.

First was Salt Creek and up to Angel Arch (see 1994 ). The trail goes up the creek for about 15 miles with the first part in fairly deep water. We had a great time! After this we did the the Confluence and spent a day in Beef Basin.

Next was the area Northwest of Moab. Here's a photo taken near Gemini Bridges just to give a perspective of the area. Years ago, on one of our first family trips, I looked and looked for Gemini Bridges only to discover that we were parked right on top of one of the two twin bridges! And yes, those are people out on the point.

Couldn't resist putting this picture in. Here's what Moab, the La Sals and the Colorado River look like from the beginning of the Golden Spike trail.

A few hours before Connie and Amanda arrived, a big wind storm came up. I was in the motor home having a beer when it started rocking back forth. I looked out to see our neighbor's tent get picked up, with all the gear inside, and deposited on a barb wired fence.

And here's the family.

This is one of my favorite photos. I've got a great 16X20 of this taken by the Slickrock Photo. We're doing the Golden Crack. At this point, we had slightly larger tires but no lockers. This is with a stock suspension. Now, with the Jeep built a little better we go over it and I have to work to try and get air.

Yes, that's a lizard on his dash. Yes, it's real. The darn thing stayed right there most of the time that the people were wheeling - and not just easy stuff, either! You see just about everything during the Safari week.

Before you know it, the two weeks are gone. The last days are hectic with over 2000 Jeeps descending on Moab. With that many people, some of them inexperienced, there are bound to be accidents. The Red Rock Four Wheelers do a great job of ensuring the safety of those who are on the official trail rides, but there are a lot of folks wheeling on their own. We were on our way up to do Lion's Back when we came upon these two roll overs. These were taken within 10 minutes of each other. Fortunately no one was hurt. The one on the right is at the base of Lion's Back.

And finally, here's Lion's Back, not a Jeep Safari Trail. The tough part is at the bottom, that's were almost all the accidents occur since it's so steep. Lion's Back is a narrow fin and once up at the top, the view is fantastic. It's not too wide and the first time up, I did about an 18 point turn! Now I can do it in 3!

On the left, that is a Jeep (me) on the fin. On the right is the view from inside the Jeep on the way down. You can see a corner of the hood in the photo.