Trip Report 2019 Winter 4x4 Jamboree

[Jinx]

Ok, it is rough to come home to this Snow!

But I thought I would take a quick minute and sum up the weekend.

I ended up leaving way later than intended and after Utah County traffic, I finally got to St. George a little before Midnight Wednesday.

Thursday morning it was looking like rain, but not a 100% sure, so I left the passenger door on for my 4 year old daughter who was my co pilot. Which was fine until it really started to come down and that is where I was pretty glad to have some buddies with hard top JKs to keep her safe and warm.

I spent most of Thursday standing in the rain spotting for the pretty dang cool group on Triple 7, the trail went from dry, to covered is slime, to holy cow why are we still out here! Obstacles that aren't usually obstacles, turned into a pretty tricky mess that took a second set of eyes out side the rig to get everyone through.

The only damage we had was a breakline, so a set of vice grips and some zip ties we were rolling.

 

[zmotorsports]

I watched a few vids of the weekend and it looked like a gooey mess with the rain. They even commented on a couple of the videos that obstacles that usually were not really that bad became pretty hairy due to the wet sand and mud getting tracked onto the rocks.

Thanks for the report out.

Mike

 

[Jinx]

Friday the weather was 100% better, and were asked to do recovery in the West Rim area. Pretty mild day of sight seeing and playing around. No official trail but we were able to help a buggy with a bad alternator back to his trailer.

Highlight of the day was playing on a sled in the sand. We hooked a strap behind Tim's ( @pkrfctr ) Jeep and took the big kids and little kids for a ride. We also built so pretty cook sand castles too.

Saturday, our crew lead the 10am Double Sammy.

Another super cool group of people. We a couple folks who were new to their equipment, but were super willing to listen and be patient to wait until we could get to them and spot them.

My wife and boys came down Friday night so I had my whole crew with me on Saturday which is a blast. The kids just played pretty much the whole trail.

The only carnage we had was a coil spring that kept coming out, until we chained the suspension to limit the drop, and playing around the Chute at the end, we had a TJ slip on his side. (took two winches to get him out) and a JKU slipped on to his side on the chute itself, a couple of guys pushing him off the rock and winch on the back kept the damage to a minimal.

What a great event! Huge thanks to the Desert RATS, for putting it on. I am curious to see what is donated this year.

I kind of feel a little antisocial this year because spending time with my daughter I didn't get to the usual hang outs to kick up dust with old friends but the smiles and waves as we passed still made my day.

A huge thank you to @pkrfctr, @bds, and the Buhler's for giving me an excuse to do something good and for helping me keep Lucy safe and warm!

I am sorry to say that I only have pictures of my daughter, so nothing to share.

How did the weekend go for you?

@Bart, @Pile of parts @greenjeep Kevin and family?

 

[kmboren]

My turn I guess. I have been involved in this event before it was this event so been around a long time. I quickly learned how valuable it is to have another driver for your rig when your a trail leader. My 12 year old daughter was my codriver/turned driver on Thursday and Friday and half of Saturday. Thirsday I midgunned for Jeff on double sammy 10 run with genright and sin city off road. I was guiding the Vegas group which were new to there rigs so it took some work but they all listened well and got through well even in the sloppy conditions. It was wet but fun. I was proud of my daughter as she did awesome and even drove the chute in the rain sloppy mess. Needless to say everyone was impressed with her. I fear I may be spending a lot more time in the passenger seat.

 

[kmboren]

Friday I lead John's trail and due to unforeseen circumstances I lead the trail and spotted 90% of the rigs by myself. Thanks again to my daughter that kept the rigs moving along to the next obstacles. Had a great group and no breakages. Spotted all but 3 or 4 rigs up the last obstacle and only one had to take a winch. Friday was also my sons 7th Birthday so I had our entire group sing to him. He was shy but it was awesome.

 

[Jinx]

Friday I lead John's trail and due to unforeseen circumstances I lead the trail and spotted 90% of the rigs by myself. Thanks again to my daughter that kept the rigs moving along to the next obstacles. Had a great group and no breakages. Spotted all but 3 or 4 rigs up the last obstacle and only one had to take a winch. Friday was also my sons 7th Birthday so I had our entire group sing to him. He was shy but it was awesome.

Man, I wish I would have known you needed a hand on Friday, I would have come and mid gunned for you. I was just playing in the sand...

Spotting for every rig makes for a LONG DAY...

 

[kmboren]

Saturday I lead a group of 24 or so up fault line. Ended up with some helpers at the beginning but lost them 1/3 of the way up due to a breakage of a trail hawk Cherokee. So alas It was a repeat of Friday. Again no other real issues and showed all the beginning side obstacles on fault line and some of west rims. Everyone seemed to have a good time and it was successful day with people doing hard things with there rigs thanks to a wonderful spotter.

 

[kmboren]

Yesterday had a relaxing day with Tim and his friend Al from Reno. Took @pkrfctr up a trail that is 3 obstacles. Let's say that this trail is going to be known as JKUs not allowed. 3 obstacles = 3 winches. Then ran a new trail I hadn't run before called razorback. It was fun. It was a relaxing day of not spotting a full 20+ rigs. Then ran the kids around on the sand on @pkrfctr and sled.

 

[pkrfctr]

Jku killer might be good name for that section......

 

[Pile of parts]

I'm terrible at trip reports.

Thursday - The Maze with @GER4x4 and his latest Jeep, another friend, Larry, who is not on here, with his LJ and @Bart, tail gunning. It was a wet sloppy mess in some spots with a drizzle most of the day. Larry and his BFG shod LJ made a good showing for the BF Goodrich rep on our trail that day. I wouldn't be surprised to see video of Larry on the website or Facebook (if they have one)

Friday - Front Range same group of friends. We had the GenRight bunch and Sin City Off-road with us . Much nicer day. Rich Klein leading @lil rich ???

Saturday - Chain Reaction with Rich leading again. Another sunny day. Had some impressive buggies on the trail and got to watch them tackle some tough obstacles.

 

[Bart]

It was fun wheeling with you Jason, and please, again, forgive me for my memory lapse and not realizing it was you until we were almost finished with the Maze.

 

[Pile of parts]

It was fun wheeling with you Jason, and please, again, forgive me for my memory lapse and not realizing it was you until we were almost finished with the Maze.

Never gave it a second thought. Always nice to wheel with you, Bart. Your rig and driving are always impressive! Glad you've decided to hold on to it, for now....

I should have mentioned that @Agility Customs was one of the impressive buggies on Chain Reaction. Fun to watch that rig work! Pretty sure that was the Pro Mod.

Saw a lot of others from here. Only got to wave or say hi. Wish we could have wheeled with all of them. @Jinx @pkrfctr @crapmanche4l Melissa and Susan from Moab Friends For Wheelin'

 

[LJTim]

I had a blast as always. Anymore, I just pretty much plan on nasty weather. After seeing Thursday's 100% chance of rain in the forecast, I was happy with the outcome.

I arrived Wednesday at about 3:00pm and went directly to the Washington Dam staging area, where I was meeting a few folks to pre-run Fawlty Towers one last time. I was concerned with the amount of rain the area had received, some spots might be washed out. We did most the Fault Line area previously mapped out for this trail, and after taking a few attempts of the "Rocket Launch" it was decided that we would leave the whole Fault Line area out of the trail for the week, and possibly permanently.

Thursday I lead Double Sammy. We ended up with only a slight drizzle of rain most the day. We had 24 vehicles in the group, and I told everyone right off the bat, I would only be taking the easy routes, due to weather. Thankfully most everyone else did as well. We didn't even have one person attempt the nasty left turn at the gate keeper, and we only had about 4 do the obstacle some people call "Traverse" that is about 2/3 the way through the trail. Only about 8 of us did the Chute, which was really the only super slick part of the trail - because by then it was pouring pretty good.

Friday I lead John's Trail. No drama on this trail with the 25+ rigs we had. It was full of mostly capable drivers and vehicles, with the exception of only a few that possibly signed up for more trail than they were ready for. All obstacles were handled without the need of any recovery efforts until we reached the very end. The last obstacle at the top of the hill, where you make a hard left turn was so slick, it spin a few of us around in a very weird way. Several tugs with the strap were needed, and a near flop of a pick up had us all on our toes.

Friday night, we had a good sized group of about 8-9 rigs on Milt's Mile. It was a great time, even though It appeared more affected by the rain than any other trail I had been on. Every obstacle was extra slick, but we still took the main routes through every obstacle. Nobody took on the middle monkey, although we had one guy pull up on it and bail.

Saturday I lead Fawlty Towers. Even though this trail has a cap of 15 vehicles, we had 25 in our group. If I wasn't good friends with each of the vendors that showed up, I might have been upset with this number, but I will be suggesting that it is required that Vendors still register for their trails, just like everyone else. The only difference being that they use a coupon code or something. I had about 8 rigs just show up saying they were vendors, and my gunners were pissed. Like I said, I'm friends with most of them, so I just let it ride. We still ended up getting through the trail quicker than the Friday group, and we hit more obstacles. I think we had a talented set of drivers, and we did every obstacle except the section we skipped at the Fault Line. My highlight was Shad getting up the Wall of Doom. That was freaking sick!

We enjoyed the vendor show, my friends even spent a little money. We also participated in the dinner, and kids raffle, but unfortunately due to church responsibilities early Sunday morning, I had to bolt home as soon as my girl got her prize. We rolled in at home just before midnight.

 

[Agility Customs]

Never gave it a second thought. Always nice to wheel with you, Bart. Your rig and driving are always impressive! Glad you've decided to hold on to it, for now....

I should have mentioned that @Agility Customs was one of the impressive buggies on Chain Reaction. Fun to watch that rig work! Pretty sure that was the Pro Mod.

Saw a lot of others from here. Only got to wave or say hi. Wish we could have wheeled with all of them. @Jinx @pkrfctr @crapmanche4l Melissa and Susan from Moab Friends For Wheelin'

Chain Reaction was alot of fun, The rock was still pretty slick from getting rained on 2 days earlier but everybody still got through easy enough. WHat rig was yours @Pile of parts ???

 

[Pile of parts]

Seemed like my driving was just a little off on Saturday. I was always a little too left or a little too right. Oh well, made it through. Just not as clean as some days.

 

[MurpheyZ]

Never gave it a second thought. Always nice to wheel with you, Bart. Your rig and driving are always impressive! Glad you've decided to hold on to it, for now....

I should have mentioned that @Agility Customs was one of the impressive buggies on Chain Reaction. Fun to watch that rig work! Pretty sure that was the Pro Mod.

Saw a lot of others from here. Only got to wave or say hi. Wish we could have wheeled with all of them. @Jinx @pkrfctr @crapmanche4l Melissa and Susan from Moab Friends For Wheelin'

Was good to see you again! Meant to track you back down, but didn't work out. I did walk down to your group on chain and said hello to some buddies, but you looked busy spotting. Let me know when you head down again.

Ran Front Range Saturday with Randy Patterson out of Vegas, there was a big group from Rock Slide Engineering out of Logan (I believe) and some Idaho buggies and the #penaltybuilt Cherokee from the IG. Lost some JK's early on the gatekeeper, and was really surprised at how many vehicles bypassed as many obstacles as they did. But other than a couple shafts, some rear corner kisses and a door (that got hammered back straight) on a optional buggy line, the group all made it and was a good time and in good time. Sorry no pics

 

[pkrfctr]

Guess I'll report too although Jinx covered most of mine.
Rolled in Wed and was fortunate enough to stay at a friend house for the entire weekend!
On Thursday I lead Triple 7's. We had a good group and were able to keep moving. As with all the other runs the rain made things interesting. The first obstacle threw a couple of TJ's sideways and they need winched up to keep from flopping over. The second set of obstacles I gave everyone their choice and most took the normal route but a good handful of us did the optional climb to the right without much drama. The last V notch obstacle was a full waterfall when we got there and was tough for everyone. Took awhile to get everyone though but everyone made it under their own power. Due to the rain we called it a early day and headed back to the fair grounds.
Friday we were on recovery so headed out to west rim to play around until a call came in from Fawlty towers. Someone lost an alternator and needed escorted out. I then spent hours and way too much gas pulling kids up and down the sand bowl on a sled before heading back to the vendor show.
Saturday I lead double sammy 10 AM. I let anyone who wanted try the first optional gatekeeper obstacle on the left. I was able to get all but 2 of those who want to try up it. A nicely built JKU with flat skids was denied and a brand new JL due to his rocker guards. We spent about an hour getting everyone through, it was a good show! Thanks to Eric for showing me the line a few weeks ago. The front half of the group made the point where 777 is in sight really quick but the back half had a couple of JKU's that kept getting hung up. So we played on the optional set of obstacle while we waited. We caught the 8 Am group shortly after and stopped for lunch to let them get ahead of us. At the chute several did the option obstacle to the right just before the chute. A 2 dr JK tried it and ended up on his tail gate. I quick winch from the front and he was back on all fours with no damage. A TJ tried it and ended up on his driverside in it. Took 2 winches to save his side. 1 pulling him out. The other pulling on his roll cage to the side. Surprisingly we got him out with no damage. While we were doing the recovery the group started up the chute. I was the last one up the chute and somehow ended up on my driverside sliding back down it. Still not sure what went wrong other than a drivers tire slipped in. A quick tug from a winch to level me out and I was good to go with only little scratches on the rear door and tear in the soft top. Straightened out and went up it. However due to nail gun injury I have been fighting the flop hurt like hell from the seat belt so I called it a day and missed the dinner and raffle.
Sunday I made the mistake of following Kevin on a new section that is being developed for fawlty towers. It's not for JKU's and spent the morning on the winch mostly due to breakover angle. We then headed into razorback. this is a great trail for those who hate being off camber. It will cure you real quick! The entire thing is off camber with a few spot that are down right nerve racking. good times. Ended the day with kids on sleds again going up and down the sand bowl.

 

[SSR]

First trip to Sand Hollow for me, what an amazing place! I was quite impressed with the event, well organized, very capable trail leaders (at least for the trails I was on).

We arrived late Thursday missing the rainstorms. We ran the new trail Fawlty Towers and John Trail which were both lots of fun. The new build performed great. I will definitely be visiting Sand Hollow again in the near future.

While there I had the privilege to meet some of you face to face, the most entertaining started at the breakfast buffet of the hotel where we stayed. As we ate breakfast we made trail talk with a couple of guys sitting at other tables around us. It came time to depart, so we bid each other safe travel and headed for the trucks and trailers. Once in the parking lot I hear one of the guys we just departed shout "are you SSR? I'm Jinx!". We both act pretty excited for a moment with the new realization. As we again depart my wife looks a little confused and maybe unimpressed given the magnitude of what just occurred. As I climb in the truck she says "SSR? Jinx? What just happened there"? After some laughter at her response to our excited behavior I explain to her Jinx and SSR are our RME user names, and how many of you, including Jinx had helped with input on my build.

I look forward to meeting more of you on the trail.

 

[xjtony]

Looks like a great trip! One of these days I won't be down for maintenance and will make it down.

 

[Jinx]

First trip to Sand Hollow for me, what an amazing place! I was quite impressed with the event, well organized, very capable trail leaders (at least for the trails I was on).

We arrived late Thursday missing the rainstorms. We ran the new trail Fawlty Towers and John Trail which were both lots of fun. The new build performed great. I will definitely be visiting Sand Hollow again in the near future.

While there I had the privilege to meet some of you face to face, the most entertaining started at the breakfast buffet of the hotel where we stayed. As we ate breakfast we made trail talk with a couple of guys sitting at other tables around us. It came time to depart, so we bid each other safe travel and headed for the trucks and trailers. Once in the parking lot I hear one of the guys we just departed shout "are you SSR? I'm Jinx!". We both act pretty excited for a moment with the new realization. As we again depart my wife looks a little confused and maybe unimpressed given the magnitude of what just occurred. As I climb in the truck she says "SSR? Jinx? What just happened there"? After some laughter at her response to our excited behavior I explain to her Jinx and SSR are our RME user names, and how many of you, including Jinx had helped with input on my build.

I look forward to meeting more of you on the trail.

It was pretty cool to get to meet you and check out your fab work first hand after following it online.

Great to meet you and I am glad everything worked well.

Where we are always wheeling with the whole family it is pretty cool a rig built specifically for it.