Moab -2001

Moab - 2001

Fair warning: this is a LONG article. This is what happens when you take a PC along with you on a wheeling trip and write down every damn thing that happens!

Left home Friday, April 6 around noon. 12 hours later, going through Nebraska, on a caffeine high (coffee, soda and chocolate - mostly at the same time), trying to stay awake, the radio was cranked and so was I. The wind and rain were pretty strong but didn't pay much attention. It seemed I had to crank the steering wheel a lot to the left - grumbled something about the damn alignment being off. Well, after seeing the first 18 wheeler in the ditch, it became obvious the cross winds were a lot stronger than I thought. (So much for the alignment problem.) Pulled into a rest area, got out, and almost blew away. There was even an overturned semi in the rest area, also blown over by the wind. Decided to sleep it out, had a beer or two and went to bed. Oh, did I mention the driver's side windshield wiper arm broke in Iowa? 600 miles in the rain without a wiper - thank you Rain-X. About 4 AM the wind died down, the clouds cleared and got underway again. There was a full moon setting in the West - as big and bright as I've ever seen. Quite a sight!

Pulled into Moab Saturday, hooked up with some friends (Grey Fox and Jay) and went out to have some supper and beer. Grey Fox is a full-timer and one of the best wheelers I know. Last year he did a great job of getting us through the Hell Dorados and a few other gnarly non-Safari trails.

Sunday was a cold day, but a bad day at Moab is better than a good day at work. Went off on Steel Bender with Perry and Linda Willard. Dieter, from Liechtenstein, was gunning on this trail. Nothing exciting happened, just had a real good time and lots of laughs - as usual with the Willards. Had supper that night with Dieter and about 10 of his buddies who also came over from Liechtenstein and Switzerland to go wheeling. Once again, the beer was cold and good.

Gunned Monday on Metal Masher. I was convinced all the problems of the previous year were fixed (except for those of the driver) so I approached the hill, started climbing, got almost up to the top and bounced - - - - only once. Now I had two choices, hit the brake or hit the gas. Duh! I really DIDN'T hit the gas THAT much but it was enough for me to bounce one more time and in one graceful maneuver, took out the rear driveshaft U-joint, the left axle U-joint (along with the axle, of course) and also the left hub. Also tweaked a few other parts here and there. This caused quite a stir in the peanut gallery as shrapnel was flying everywhere. It did provide the entertainment of the day, as there's a certain sadistic charm in watching a trail official systematically destroy his vehicle.

When asked how I would get out of there, I said I'd fix it on the spot as I had all the parts. Someone wondered why I didn't go to town to fix it and my reply was " When I get to town I want to drink beer, not fix the damn Jeep! " Made perfect sense to me. With the help from a couple good ol' boys from Tennessee, got the Jeep fixed within 90 minutes. The group had already moved on so I had no choice but to go back to town (and drink beer.) It was obvious the new Alcan springs weren't doing what they were supposed to. In fact, at this point, the rear springs looked more like a pretzel than anything else. A bottle jack here and a bottle jack there fixed them right up again - at least for a few days.

Tuesday was a 10. Jim Dordaller invited a number of us for a snow run in the La Sals. What a trip! There were about 6 or 7 of us: Jim, his friends from Cincinnati, Dieter and myself. We took the road to Geyser Pass. The snow got deeper but we aired down and drove on the top of the compacted snow, which at some places was 4 to 8 feet deep. I went to 5 lbs initially, but after digging in about 4 feet, sitting at a 50 degree angle and winching myself out of the snow, I aired down to what looked like 2 lbs, although it's hard to tell since the pressure gauge really doesn't read that low! After that there was no problem.

Sometimes the sun would be out and the snow was as white and bright as possible. The green pine trees provided a great contrast. Then it would cloud up and snow like hell for a while - at times it really came down. What a great time!

We got to within about 700 yards of the pass and the snow became too deep. Several people tried forging their way through a really big snowdrift to no avail. It was neat to hear the engines revved up to their respective redlines and people just trying to bust through the drift. No breakage that day, surprisingly. Of course on the way back, after we were down and in an area of only a few feet of snow - I ran off the road and got stuck. Dieter was more than happy to provide a strap to get me out of my latest predicament.

Gunned on Behind the Rocks on Wednesday. No sooner did we get on the trail than I noticed the twin sticks on the Atlas transfer case were moving around a little more than normal. A quick inspection revealed no transfer case bolts for the rear support - they were just gone! At the High Dive, I dropped the skid plate and slapped a couple bolts in. Made sure they were really tight this time since last year they " fell out " on Kane Creek. The rest of the trail was uneventful. Quite a few made it up White Knuckle, but with my springs starting to look like pretzels again, and remembering the folly on Widow Maker, I elected to watch others attempt to break their vehicles instead.

Thursday was the only free day. Grey Fox was going to take a few of us up the Pickle, but he got in a pickle before we got to the Pickle. At the first ledge he broke a front axle. The weather was getting crappy so we went back to town and had a beer.

Friday I gunned on Hell's revenge. A guy in a TJ took the wrong line and almost endo'd it in the hot tub. Took about 20 minutes to get him out. After that, headed to Potato Salad to watch the folly there, but missed the incident where a vehicle came up and hit a spectator, breaking both her legs. Spectating is a dangerous sport, don'tcha know!

Big Saturday was great. Gunned on Pritchett with Dan Brown. On the way out of town there were groups of people with signs stating " Repent - turn in your keys.... " Huh? Oh well, you see the damndest things during the Safari! Had fun on Rocker Knocker and the Rock Pile. Got done early so Dan took what remained of the group back through Hunter Canyon. This was the best time of the entire week. We had a small group and stopped often to play. We watched an incredible Utah sunset and made it back to town, after dark, but happy and content.

Sunday we headed out to the Spike. There were a few vehicles that probably shouldn't have been on the trail but then those always the ones that provide the most entertainment. At the Crack, we had the usual amount of fun. It was interesting to watch the crowd scatter when I took a slightly different line to get more air and came out facing the big rock where people were sitting in the shade. On the Golden Stairs, we had a vehicle roll. There weren't a lot of vehicles with winches so I pulled up to the top and got him righted again. On our way. After that there was little interest in the Double Whammy. Got back at dusk, but another fine day.

Monday, Dieter, Stefan and Marcus (all from Liechtenstein) and myself headed out towards Hite. The plan was to camp overnight there then head into the Maze for a couple days of wheeling and back-country camping. We had reservations at the Doll House and the Overlook campgrounds in the Maze. 60 miles south of Moab, on the hill to Monticello, I saw Stefan pull his CJ7 off to the side. Then I noticed pieces of metal in the road. Ooops! Not sure of the cause, but the pinion was REAL loose, the rear u-joint was gone, along with a fair portion of the rear driveshaft. We loaded his rig on my trailer and he drove my YJ back. These guys are good sports. They dropped the CJ off for repair, went out and rented a TJ ( sound familiar ) and off we went again.

Pulled into Hite about 7 PM. I parked the motor home at the campground but Dieter found a nice spot down by the lake. The lake was very low so there was lots of room down there. Dieter made a comment about it being too bad they were down there and I was " up there. " Something was also mentioned that I couldn't bring the motorhome down there because it was too rough. Wrong thing to say … … . After a little planning, took the motorhome (30,000 lbs plus trailer) " off-road " , into the lake bed and found a great campsite. It creaked and groaned. The next morning it had to work a little to get up the hill, but didn't get stuck. Once again, another " experience. "

Tuesday, the four of us and three vehicles headed into the Maze. Our destination, 7 hours away, was the Doll House campground. What a good time. The first half was mostly dirt road, but then we got into some areas where we needed 4WD. Stopped at Sunset Pass for lunch. The scenery was magnificent! Made it to the Land of Standing Rocks by 4 PM and to the campsite by 5. Dieter and his crew hiked down to Spanish Bottoms and the Colorado River while I stayed behind, set up camp and used the extra water we carried to take a nice hot shower and get 7 hours worth of dust off. That night we had steaks and beer and saw the most spectacular shooting star I'd ever seen in my life. Lit up the heavens for 10-15 seconds. Awesome!

Wednesday we decided to head back rather than spend another day going up to the Maze Overlook. The Liechtenstein crew wanted to see a little of the San Rafael Swell and Temple mountain. We made it out of the Maze in record time, went back to Hite, got the motor home and more supplies and headed out to the Swell. Got there, set up camp, did some wheeling and spent a few hours wandering through the old uranium mines. We didn't stay too long since the Geiger counter was showing higher than normal levels of radiation, even in just the entrances to the mines, probably due to the high winds stirring up all the dust.

Next morning, Dieter's crew headed back as they needed to prepare for their flight back home. I took some water and headed to the narrows of Little Wild Horse Canyon. All the times I'd been there, I never hiked the narrows. Got in there and my half-hour short hike turned into a four-hour, five-mile hike. The place is fantastic and photos don't do it justice. This place will be on the list for next year, for sure. What a great time.

Got back to the motor home about noon, took off and arrived at Grand Junction about 4. Stopped at Alcan to lament my " pretzeled " springs and they said if I'd pull them off, they'd rebuild them for nothing. So, in one hour, found a campground, pulled the rear Alcans off, put my spares on and dropped off the springs at Alcan one minute before closing! In addition to repairing the springs, they also added another leaf to prevent the warping.

The next day they had the springs rebuilt so I tossed them on the trailer and headed for home. Once home, put the Alcans on and this time added a Sam's off-road bar so will see if this fixes the hopping problem. (Note: It didn't! sh*t!)

Once again, two weeks of wheelin' in the west and it just doesn't get much better than this!

Created 07/21/01.
Last Modified:

Pulled into Moab Saturday, hooked up with some friends (Grey Fox and Jay) and went out to have some supper and beer. Grey Fox is a full-timer and one of the best wheelers I know. Last year he did a great job of getting us through the Hell Dorados and a few other gnarly non-Safari trails.
	Sunday was a cold day, but a bad day at Moab is better than a good day at work. Went off on Steel Bender with Perry and Linda Willard. Dieter, from Liechtenstein, was gunning on this trail. Nothing exciting happened, just had a real good time and lots of laughs - as usual with the Willards. Had supper that night with Dieter and about 10 of his buddies who also came over from Liechtenstein and Switzerland to go wheeling. Once again, the beer was cold and good.
Gunned Monday on Metal Masher. I was convinced all the problems of the previous year were fixed (except for those of the driver) so I approached the hill, started climbing, got almost up to the top and bounced - - - - only once. Now I had two choices, hit the brake or hit the gas. Duh! I really DIDN'T hit the gas THAT much but it was enough for me to bounce one more time and in one graceful maneuver, took out the rear driveshaft U-joint, the left axle U-joint (along with the axle, of course) and also the left hub. Also tweaked a few other parts here and there. This caused quite a stir in the peanut gallery as shrapnel was flying everywhere. It did provide the entertainment of the day, as there's a certain sadistic charm in watching a trail official systematically destroy his vehicle. When asked how I would get out of there, I said I'd fix it on the spot as I had all the parts. Someone wondered why I didn't go to town to fix it and my reply was " When I get to town I want to drink beer, not fix the damn Jeep! " Made perfect sense to me. With the help from a couple good ol' boys from Tennessee, got the Jeep fixed within 90 minutes. The group had already moved on so I had no choice but to go back to town (and drink beer.) It was obvious the new Alcan springs weren't doing what they were supposed to. In fact, at this point, the rear springs looked more like a pretzel than anything else. A bottle jack here and a bottle jack there fixed them right up again - at least for a few days.
Tuesday was a 10. Jim Dordaller invited a number of us for a snow run in the La Sals. What a trip! There were about 6 or 7 of us: Jim, his friends from Cincinnati, Dieter and myself. We took the road to Geyser Pass. The snow got deeper but we aired down and drove on the top of the compacted snow, which at some places was 4 to 8 feet deep. I went to 5 lbs initially, but after digging in about 4 feet, sitting at a 50 degree angle and winching myself out of the snow, I aired down to what looked like 2 lbs, although it's hard to tell since the pressure gauge really doesn't read that low! After that there was no problem.
	Sometimes the sun would be out and the snow was as white and bright as possible. The green pine trees provided a great contrast. Then it would cloud up and snow like hell for a while - at times it really came down. What a great time!
We got to within about 700 yards of the pass and the snow became too deep. Several people tried forging their way through a really big snowdrift to no avail. It was neat to hear the engines revved up to their respective redlines and people just trying to bust through the drift. No breakage that day, surprisingly. Of course on the way back, after we were down and in an area of only a few feet of snow - I ran off the road and got stuck. Dieter was more than happy to provide a strap to get me out of my latest predicament.
	Gunned on Behind the Rocks on Wednesday. No sooner did we get on the trail than I noticed the twin sticks on the Atlas transfer case were moving around a little more than normal. A quick inspection revealed no transfer case bolts for the rear support - they were just gone! At the High Dive, I dropped the skid plate and slapped a couple bolts in. Made sure they were really tight this time since last year they " fell out " on Kane Creek. The rest of the trail was uneventful. Quite a few made it up White Knuckle, but with my springs starting to look like pretzels again, and remembering the folly on Widow Maker, I elected to watch others attempt to break their vehicles instead.
Thursday was the only free day. Grey Fox was going to take a few of us up the Pickle, but he got in a pickle before we got to the Pickle. At the first ledge he broke a front axle. The weather was getting crappy so we went back to town and had a beer.
	Friday I gunned on Hell's revenge. A guy in a TJ took the wrong line and almost endo'd it in the hot tub. Took about 20 minutes to get him out. After that, headed to Potato Salad to watch the folly there, but missed the incident where a vehicle came up and hit a spectator, breaking both her legs. Spectating is a dangerous sport, don'tcha know!
Big Saturday was great. Gunned on Pritchett with Dan Brown. On the way out of town there were groups of people with signs stating " Repent - turn in your keys.... " Huh? Oh well, you see the damndest things during the Safari! Had fun on Rocker Knocker and the Rock Pile. Got done early so Dan took what remained of the group back through Hunter Canyon. This was the best time of the entire week. We had a small group and stopped often to play. We watched an incredible Utah sunset and made it back to town, after dark, but happy and content.
Sunday we headed out to the Spike. There were a few vehicles that probably shouldn't have been on the trail but then those always the ones that provide the most entertainment. At the Crack, we had the usual amount of fun. It was interesting to watch the crowd scatter when I took a slightly different line to get more air and came out facing the big rock where people were sitting in the shade. On the Golden Stairs, we had a vehicle roll. There weren't a lot of vehicles with winches so I pulled up to the top and got him righted again. On our way. After that there was little interest in the Double Whammy. Got back at dusk, but another fine day.
Monday, Dieter, Stefan and Marcus (all from Liechtenstein) and myself headed out towards Hite. The plan was to camp overnight there then head into the Maze for a couple days of wheeling and back-country camping. We had reservations at the Doll House and the Overlook campgrounds in the Maze. 60 miles south of Moab, on the hill to Monticello, I saw Stefan pull his CJ7 off to the side. Then I noticed pieces of metal in the road. Ooops! Not sure of the cause, but the pinion was REAL loose, the rear u-joint was gone, along with a fair portion of the rear driveshaft. We loaded his rig on my trailer and he drove my YJ back. These guys are good sports. They dropped the CJ off for repair, went out and rented a TJ ( sound familiar ) and off we went again.
Pulled into Hite about 7 PM. I parked the motor home at the campground but Dieter found a nice spot down by the lake. The lake was very low so there was lots of room down there. Dieter made a comment about it being too bad they were down there and I was " up there. " Something was also mentioned that I couldn't bring the motorhome down there because it was too rough. Wrong thing to say … … . After a little planning, took the motorhome (30,000 lbs plus trailer) " off-road " , into the lake bed and found a great campsite. It creaked and groaned. The next morning it had to work a little to get up the hill, but didn't get stuck. Once again, another " experience. "
	Tuesday, the four of us and three vehicles headed into the Maze. Our destination, 7 hours away, was the Doll House campground. What a good time. The first half was mostly dirt road, but then we got into some areas where we needed 4WD. Stopped at Sunset Pass for lunch. The scenery was magnificent! Made it to the Land of Standing Rocks by 4 PM and to the campsite by 5. Dieter and his crew hiked down to Spanish Bottoms and the Colorado River while I stayed behind, set up camp and used the extra water we carried to take a nice hot shower and get 7 hours worth of dust off. That night we had steaks and beer and saw the most spectacular shooting star I'd ever seen in my life. Lit up the heavens for 10-15 seconds. Awesome!

Wednesday we decided to head back rather than spend another day going up to the Maze Overlook. The Liechtenstein crew wanted to see a little of the San Rafael Swell and Temple mountain. We made it out of the Maze in record time, went back to Hite, got the motor home and more supplies and headed out to the Swell. Got there, set up camp, did some wheeling and spent a few hours wandering through the old uranium mines. We didn't stay too long since the Geiger counter was showing higher than normal levels of radiation, even in just the entrances to the mines, probably due to the high winds stirring up all the dust.
Next morning, Dieter's crew headed back as they needed to prepare for their flight back home. I took some water and headed to the narrows of Little Wild Horse Canyon. All the times I'd been there, I never hiked the narrows. Got in there and my half-hour short hike turned into a four-hour, five-mile hike. The place is fantastic and photos don't do it justice. This place will be on the list for next year, for sure. What a great time.