Don't call it a comeback!

So today was a much better day. This is the second half of my successful climb. This formation doesn't have a name. There was a bypass. And the tail gunner suggested that I take the bypass. I paused at the fork in the road, and everyone assembled along the edges of the obstacle looked on as if to say, "C'mon, brother. You can do it." As soon as I cut my wheel towards it and answered in the affirmative, there was a cheer. I got up the first portion with no problem. And I swelled with confidence. About halfway up I got hung up. Tires squealed a bit. Pause. Tried again. Metal clanked off rock and the smell of burning rubber filled the cab. I knew to back off, take it easy. Drive shafts get snapped this way when there's a sudden gain of traction. I backed up a little bit. The guys threw some rip rap beneath my rear wheel to give me something to push off of. They also took down my flag which was on the verge of colliding with the tree. The stage is now set for what you see in this video.

Everyone knew this was my first time ever wheeling and they were really encouraging of me going for it. I went to apologize for the attempt taking so long...the foolishness with the flag and the associated delay. Time and again everyone said it was an exciting and entertaining run. No apology was necessary. I went left when I could have gone right. It felt good.

I thought I'd include just some random shots of the terrain and some of the other vehicles. The white Xterra was driven by Chris accompanied by his dad, Dave. Really helpful guys just getting into the sport, but they've definitely done their homework and put me on to the compressor and fuel tank that I picked up out here. Not sure if I wrote about this previously, but in this desert heat, the plastic cans I had started warping, expanding, and distorting. It did not strike me as the safest arrangement. They're not a waste though. I initially purchased them to store reserve fuel for the generator. They can be retained for that purpose as the generator is housed indoors when not in use and the fuel is in the garage.

Just some truly amazing scenery and landscape. That's probably the best part of this. We're not just in some muddy field somewhere or on some back woods trails where you can't see anything. You can literally get up to a plateau or a mesa and look out for seemingly a hundred miles in any direction. Or you just go around a bend or amble down into a ravine and see some unreal rock formations formed over millenia.

The changes in grade are just sick out here. This isn't even the most intense. At least for me, when I drive up, I can't really see the road when the grade gets to be this steep. You've got to scope it out and figure out your lines from the bottom. And then just drive off of instinct as near as I can figure it. Almost like Zen Off-roading. I don't control the steering wheel; I just convey the intent and the truck provides the direction.

I continue to take pictures of this truck like it's my kid.

At this point, we seemingly had only been driving an hour..at low speeds. Yet, we had ascended so high above the town below. In that far distance is the gas station where we met maybe 30 minutes prior. CRAZY changes in elevation in a short period. From the trail head, we pretty much dropped into 4WD Lo and started climbing immediately.

This might be the new FB profile photo.

I forgot there was effectively a third part of the climb. The main obstacle is cleared. Even the folks that bypassed have to take this secondary climb. It was a bit tough in terms of traction. I definitely spun tires a bit and then got hung up. Threw it in reverse, gunned it, spun, eased and gunned some more to BUMP IT and hop up and over the obstruction. It's a bit nervewracking though, cause just to the left is a precipitous drop off. If I were to rebound poorly from the bump it, or fish tail, or reverse absent-mindedly,...well...let's just say you'd be lucky if they sent a Medevac.

Generally, if I show the picture of another truck taking an obstacle, it is to demonstrate that I also cleared it and then came back for footage of another vehicle doing the same. Let me just clarify right now that I did NOT take this obstacle. Vehicle geometry actually precludes me from even attempting. But again, this is supposed to be an EASY trail. Most that did this were on 3 wheels, and a few were like ballet dancers on two wheels diagonally opposite one another. SICK.

The lineup. This run was called 7 Mile Rim. But we actually took most of the Uranium Something trail. The 'something' escapes me.

Trying to even out my farmer's tan.


 
Another convoy photo.

Tomorrow I'll be riding shotgun in another guy's rig. I met some more folks from the Red difficulty group and will hang with them. I hope to rejoin the Green group for Friday and maybe ride shotgun with one of them that has a better equipped vehicle. I'm more set up for zombie killing than offroading. However, if you look at the Venn Diagram for components suited to either platform, there is a very large area of overlap.

-MANIMAL