How do I get the red off or The van goes to Moab.

[BigDan]

Well, the trip was a success. I picked Sleddy up in Billings, Mont. and we headed south. We went through Red Lodge, and on to Cooke City on our way into Yellowstone. Yellowstone was great but it stunk. On we went to Jackson Hole, and then after a detour to see Sleddy's Grandpa we were onto Moab.
We arrived late Friday night and slept in the van in a parking lot. It was storming very impressively all the way around Moab, seeing lightning in 3 directions was awesome. However we awoke to clear skys and nice temperatures.
There were cool rigs everywhere. Jeeps, Yotas, lots of Hummers, a few tube buggies, 4wheelers, you name it. We grabbed showers and a map and headed out. We found a place alongside the road and aired down and took off the sway bar.
We headed into Arches Park and looked around. We decided to cut our teeth on Fins and Things a 3.5 rated trail. The traction on these rocks just has to be experienced to believe. It is totally unreal. We started into it a bit nervous wondering if the van would be up to the challenge. We would soon be at ease. The only thing that touched on any of the trails we ran was the spare tire carrier latch. Good enough.
Up and over and around we went. The trail crosses the road and has several challenging climbs and decents. We soon caught up to a group of rigs and were waived by with smiles all around. We even got to see a Tracker go front wheels up on a hill. After we were around them we caught up with a Hummer tour group. Imagine the look on the owners of the 75k Hummers faces when we pulled up. There were alot of wide eyes and big smiles. The attitude on the trails down there was awesome. We went onto finish the run, and even with alot of adrenilin spent, we were ready for more.

[BigDan]

After running Fins and Things we headed back to town. We grabbed lunch and headed for Moab Rim. When we got there we saw why it's a 4+ trail. It starts up a steep stepped ridge right next to the Colorado river. The drop offs will take your breath away. Up we went. We worked our way up to the first major hard spot and decided to get out and take a look around. U-Joints and caps littered the ground everywhere. There must have been a million needles on the ground. With no anchor to winch to if we ran into trouble and having to have a vehicle that could make it back to Anchorage under it's own power we decided to turn around. Turning around on this trail in a 15 passenger van isn't much fun either. Not with a 100+ foot drop off behind us. We managed though, and down we went. We parked in the lot and headed up on foot. The parts scattered all over the place are testiment to the severity of the trail.



After the Moab Rim we decided to go check out the Gemini Bridges. It is an easy 3 rated trail and offered the chance for some sight seeing before dark. We headed north out of town to the trail head at 45 mph as the SSR's on the big heavy van didn't like being at 25 psi. The trail starts by some railroad tracks and soon heads up hill. This is where is got fun. The trail is cut into the side of a cliff! I was praying like crazy we wouldn't meet someone on the way up! Once we worked our way up the trail opened up into a large valley. It winds through the valley and old mining claims until it splits into two trails, one going to the rim the other heading to the bridges. We continued on meeting several rigs and a few tired mountain bikers. We arrived at the destination end of the trail and stopped for pics. We then proceeded to get lost, dutifully following the directions on the map. After getting stuck in a creek wash and turning around, we found the correct path and headed out on a road that allowed us to avoid going down the cliff road in the dark. We arrived back in town just in time to lock ourselves out of the van, and sit in a parking lot to watch all the cool rigs go by. After retrieving our keys we headed to a hotel for much needed rest.

There's a road up there somewhere!

[BigDan]

Sunday morning after sleeping till noon and some discussions with the locals we were encouraged to run Hells Revenge. So back to Arches National Park we went. After watching some people playing on the Bump Dump (pay to get in) we headed up. This is a 4 rated trail and is pretty long. We were told the pucker factor on this trail can be high, but with a cool head all should be well.
This trail was smiliar to Fins and Things only with much more extreme climbs and decents. Some really off camber sections and seriously thin sections are thrown in for good measure. We started with some climbs that were so steep our cameras and books in the center console fell straight back under the middle seat! And on the way down the bed I built in the back and everything secured beneath it went forward 6 inches! Fun! We worked our way through the trail, stopping several times to look at each other and wonder what we had gotten ourselves into...
We arrived at the Overlook about halfway through and headed down. This actually proved to be some of the most fun wheeling. Lots of ledges and crevises, loose rock and sand. The views at the end were breathtaking. A different kind of beauty compared to Alaska, but pretty just the same. We took lots of pictures and headed on.
We soon caught up with a group of Jeeps and after exchanging thumbs up we proceeded to follow them to some hottubs. One red XJ went down in the first one and up the other side with out incident. Then he proceeded into a steeper and deeper one. After working several time trying to get out we heard a pop and realized that only one rear wheel was turning. Oops! Broken rear welded diff. It was kinda funny to see the axle shaft and tire/wheel combo turning into a wide track. Off the buddies went to town for parts. We continued on.
This section of trail about did me in. You sit up pretty high in the van. We were probably in no danger of rolling, but man did it feel like it! There are several tight turns perched atop very thin ridges. Having to make multiple point turns on them sure made me wish I had rear steer. We worked our way around and through, and at the last steep decent we met up with a Hummer providing a tour to it's grinning occupants. We exchanged laughs and the typical banter, including "You're a long way from home." Yes, yes we were.
We headed down the steepest hill yet, making me wish for another luxury, a Klune-V for more gearing. The uphills were cake with the V-10 torque, but down hills the converter was a little to loose. We continued on to the end of the trail, meeting up with the same group of Hummers as the day before. Turns out one had broken a t-case but not to worry, someone in their group had a spare. A spare t-case? Odd. At the trail exit we talked with a group from Texas that were looking for Potato Salad Hill. They were excited to be in Moab for the first time as well and had taken pics of us heading into Hells Revenge. Those that have seen the trailhead know that it makes for some impressive pics.

[BigDan]

More

[BigDan]

All in all it was a great trip to Moab. We didn't run every trail, we didn't make it to the super hard ones, but we did have alot of fun. We will be back.
Thanks to all that worked on this trip. Thanks to all that offered up help, lodging, support, etc. Hopefully in few years we can do this as originally planned, and I honestly think we should. Dan

Here's a few pics of some things seen in Moab.

[BadCo]

*sigh* I wish there was a yellow Jeep in those pictures.

Everyone keeps asking me "When's Dan going to be back?"

I wouldn't come back for a while either...Cool pics, keep 'em coming.

[AKBearMoose]

My sentiments exactly, Kurt. I have been there, but it seems like ages...Dan awesome tour, even if you do have to spend time with Nate...(Nate is still in trouble with the family for his Taco John's PM last night)...Have a great remainder of the trip...we will continue to wheel the Lower half vicariously through you

Mike

[ODDBALL]

Rock it DAN!

[dman357]

Awesome pics and write up Dan.
You haven't missed much here. Expect some snow when you start back.

[sledneck]

As Dan said the trip went great! I had a blast! Yellowstone was cool! Last time I was there I was like 9 or 10. By the time we left we were tired of waiting for the **** buffalo on the road. Saw some monster Elk and some cool views! It was good to see my grandpa who I hadn’t seen in 11 years. The storm was cool as hell. I tried to get some pics of the lightning but I don’t think they are going to turn out. The amount of friendly people on the trails is amazing down there. You don’t have to worry about some one being pissed that you are on the trail. Fins and things was cool, gave us a taste of pretty much every thing. Hard rock, sand, Moab mud, water right before big hill climes, lots of bumps ect. Gemini bridges was fun I don’t know how the trail was as we went up the cliff face because I was sleeping. But when I woke up the views were sweet! After Dan got us stuck we thought we should probably find our way out. This was one of the many times were my GPS came through! I was able to look and make sure we were heading the right way. I was impressed with the map that is already in my GPS!! After we stopped at a motel 8 to see how much a room was Dan looks and me and says. “You know what I did” we waited for about an hour for the people to come unlock the van. Triple A is great but they aren’t fast. I believe the lady told Dan “they have been on there way for 10 minuets”. It takes like 3 to drive through Moab. Lol We found a motel and then hit up a Chinese place it was a sit down place witch made me kind of nervous, but it was good. We headed back to the motel to look at some maps and decide what trails we should run. After our late awakening Sunday morning Dan wanted to get some of the previous day’s mud off the van. So while he did that I went over to a tourist rental place to see if I could get some secrets from some one. The guy and the counter was nice I told him were looking for some trail, he asked what kind of trails. Well we have a 15 passenger van on 37s. O-really there have been some people taking about that thing. That was pretty cool to hear! He showed me some trails on the map and **** there are a lot! There’s a big loop trail that is a 145 miles long! He said hells Revenge was one of the trails he like the most. I told him that the van has to get back to Alaska. He said there shouldn’t be a problem getting around with a van. So we ran it. **** was there some steep stuff. My GPS would fall out of the cup holder. Lots of fun! After that we both decided that we had seen what kind of trails are in Moab and that we had had enough pucker factors for the trip. We headed into town had some lunch then Dan needed to change the King pin bushing on the driver side. I watched asked questions and helped when I could. I went and found a pay phone and made some calls to relative that were in the Denver area.


I brought along 3 cameras so trying to juggle them was a task, I took 6 rolls of film 175 digital pics and about 30 min of video. I’m not really impressed with my video, need a lesson from Noah. I don’t have a way to post pics right now can up load them to my web space. So you will have to wait for those…

We will have to get a BBQ together or something so we can share our pics and my video...

[Sarge]

You guys are back now? If not, and you're still out and about, you should take the time to go to Devils Tower. Talk about a cool place. I wouldn't doubt there are some killer trails out there, too. I wasn't into wheeling when I drove through, so I didn't research it, but I'd bet there's plenty.

[stretch]

My dad is near Jackson Hole, did you guys drive threw Evanston by chance??

[sledneck]

Originally Posted by hockeyplurr

My dad is near Jackson Hole, did you guys drive threw Evanston by chance??

no we didnt go throught evanston that was out of the way....

[sledneck]

looks like when the board went down the pics i posted went with....