Late nights...

Today was pretty intense. Lots of great sights; some harrowing moments. We'll see how tomorrow pans out. I'm worried about things getting rougher. Veronica handled herself pretty well. I'll have to be careful not to push it.

One of the Xs getting ready for Metal Masher...a more difficult run that was also being kicked off from our same launch point. Watching those vehicles leave the station was like watching a military maneuver. They were seriously built up.

I had been thinking of taking off the winch from the night before at the kick off meeting. I was worried about approach angles and essentially spearing the sides of rocks before I ever had a chance to make contact with the rubber of my tires. It turns out that my neighbor to the right of my spot is an experienced wheeler...probably his 6th or 7th time here. He took one look at my rig and confirmed I would be better served keeping that Ace up my sleeve instead of riding around with it as I had it. Boy was he right! I did get some inspiration from some of the Xterras that were running still using their factory plastic bumpers that they had cut away to install the winch. I'm not above doing that with the chrome bumper. My only concern would be either buying or fabbing the mounting plate needed to support the winch. 

My first scare of the morning came before we even had hit the trails. Midway there, I noticed an exclamation mark warning signal display on my dash. We had only traveled down a bumpy dirt road for a little ways and were going to give folks a second chance to air down their tires for improved grip. I had aired down (only by about 10psi...very modest) prior to leaving. The signal initially looked like the "Low Brake Fluid" warning. I instantly thought to how the installer of my lift kit suggested that I might want to make a bracket extension to raise the brake cables up some so that when the rear axle is at full droop, there is still some slack. I had made the extensions the night before I left. Problem was, I hadn't gotten around to installing them. For the life of me, I couldn't think of anything I'd done recently that would have stretched those cables and caused the leak. But here I was, just at the trail head, and it was looking like I was going to have to pack up and head back. Well, that obviously didn't happen. Turns out that the error I actually was experiencing only resembles the brake failure warning. This was a low tire pressure warning issued by the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System). I knew I had one of those; I just didn't know what it would look like if there was an issue. We all had it. Funny thing is, that many of the true newbies like me were quietly suffering through their anxiety. I spoke up and was like, "I need to see what this (expletive) means in the manual!) That's when someone finally chimed in on the connection between us airing down, and this system warning coming up. Whew.

 

 

 

 

Disaster averted. Happy again. 

This was taken once we were underway. I think I was a bit overwhelmed earlier and wasn't really taking pictures...just trying to survive the experience in one piece. We did this one gnarly climb very early on. Talk about "pucker factor". That term is used alot in these circles I've come to understand. It's pretty much that "Oh sh*t" moment where you might do just that. Well I puckered alright. Look down at your keyboard at the capital letter "Z". That slanted mid-section just about approximates the angle of the edifice we scaled. The hood on the Frontier just kept rising forcing my gaze skyward. I wanted to see the ground beneath me...to know that me and the truck were still connected to it. But all I could see was the white of my hood and the blue of the sky. And I thought, any second now, I'll be seeing the Green of the hood of the Jeep behind me as I somersault backwards off of this thing. It's not like it was steep and smooth. It was steep and craggly with rivets and outcroppings. And it was super sick to see my little rig pull that off. So I guess having done that, it was now safe to pull out the camera.

Like a proud papa, watching his kid on their first day of school. 

The flag surprisingly stayed on once I got that duct tape job on it done in the AM. Even at highway speed.

This is the shot of the convoy. I have to find out the guy's name in the red Xterra. Saved me more than he knows. I was initially behind the yellow jeep, but then we had to restructure after a wrong turn. The Jeep was a poor role model for what line to take because every departure looks easy in a jeep. Their bumper is like directly behind the rear wheel. The X has a base that is a compromise between the two. Plus he had a rear receiver that was bashing rock as well. So I could see in advance where I'd be in trouble and try to mitigate it. Generally there was nothing I could do. Veronica just took her lumps. But fortunately I never got hung up in a way that I couldn't get her unhung.

Jeff was our guide. This is his X and his wife, Wenday. It was refreshing to see a guy with a capable vehicle that wasn't like super-tricked out. Kinda gives hope to the little guy with a limited budget.

The cool thing about the trip is that it is about more than wheeling. Although we burn gas in pursuit of this, a lot of the folks seem to be really into nature and the outdoors. Every time there was a good vantage point to explore, these guys and gals did. I followed them down into a ravine that led to this cavernous cut and a precipitous dropoff at the other end. It was really awe-inspiring scenery.

It got to be close quarters in a few spots. It was nice to see daylight.

She just strolled out there to sit down and have her lunch. Mind you, 18 inches from her foot, it drops off like 800+ feet directly into hell. You don't even like stop to die or get mangled or maimed. If you fall off, that's it. They don't send a rescue team, they send the coroner's recovery team. So, I had to go out there,damn near crawling on hands and knees. We ate vegetables.

Aside from the video, I don't really have any footage of me in action. I tried to catch other vehicles at work under the premise that, since I was ahead of them, I clearly had to cover the obstacle in my truck as well to get to this vantage point.

Check out that incline. Not quite as gnarly as that first one, but it definitely provides some perspective. Sometimes we traversed closely positioned like this, other times there was a gap. I tried to be close enough to track the guy's line up the slope so I could match his tire placement if he came out unscathed.

We use CB radios to communicate updates and tips to each other. I generally provided confirmation of whether or not I had survived something. Generally, the other drivers knew that if I made it in my longer platform, that they had a good chance of coming through as well.

Surprisingly, this was not my idea..at least not at this moment. One of the older ladies that was driving really liked the flag and thought it was a good addition to the group and the scenery; so, she suggested I take a photo here as well.

We climbed the vertical face of this in our trucks. Ok, that's hyperbole.

Secret Spire. All of this driving through the desert and beating the hell out of my receiver hitch was to see this thing. It is pretty cool/weird looking.

This is the backdrop behind the Secret Spire.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. I'm just more nervous for tomorrow than I was today. I've gotten a taste of what this desert can toss up. And the word I keep coming back to is 'gnarly'.