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Hole in the Rock?

Thardy

Thardy

"FARM TOY"
Location
Santaquin, Utah
A buddy of mine is wanting to go on a company trip to Hole in the Rock. He asked me if he would be able to run it in a stockish Tahoe, 33" tires rear locker with a leveling kit. I have never ran this trail so I come to the experts! What do you say go or no go???
 
Caleb

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
4x4 trail or road? Two different trails, one on each side of the lake. That will vary the answers greatly :) If it's HITR Road, I would say yes, he should be able to without much problem. If it's HITR 4x4 Trail, then I will say it depends. Could a good driver make it in that setup, sure. I saw rholbrook's 16-17 year old kid (at the time) drive it in a stockish LJ on slightly larger tires with no rear locker. So it's doable, but there are a few sections that could get sketchy, especially for a driver that's of unknown capability.
 
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Thardy

Thardy

"FARM TOY"
Location
Santaquin, Utah
I believe it's the 4x4 trail. As far as capability, I have no idea! I will give him your info and let him decide whether he's capable or not.
 
ZUKEYPR

ZUKEYPR

Registered User
Location
651.78 miles East of the Rubicon
HITR Road-The only issue that he could possibly have would be if he has street tires on and the trail is wet. It gets slicker than a greased pig in that condition.

HITR Trail- If he is not an experienced driver I would suggest to stay off of it. There are sections that even in a narrower Wrangler that only the very inside of your tires are making contact due to the narrowness of the very steep fins. He would probably have issues as well with his with on the climb up to the mesa as well as with bottoming out a lot with that size of tire and the overall length of that rig if his tire placement isn't just right.

But the two more important issues with HITR Trail would be the experience and capability of those that will be accompanying him and his experience and capability of handing vehicle repairs and emergency medical situations. This trail is as about as remote as you can get in Utah with Medical attention far away and that is if you even have a cell signal to make that call.

Past group experiences that I have encountered: Multiple absolutely shredded sidewall of tires, alternator failures, overheating, complete brake failure, brakes seized up, grenade axle shaft U-Joints, bent leaf springs, extreme heat (slick rock 128 degrees), excessive cold
 
clfrnacwby

clfrnacwby

Recovery Addict
Location
NV
HITR is narrow in a few places so I'd be concerned about a full-sized rig going through. If he is VERY experienced, he should be OK. Some guys automatically think they are experienced because the have a locker to get them through "anything." Truth is, the locker drastically changes the way a vehicle handles and only seat time will give you the needed experience.
 
lhracing

lhracing

Well-Known Member
Location
Layton, UT
Thardy said:
A buddy of mine is wanting to go on a company trip to Hole in the Rock. He asked me if he would be able to run it in a stockish Tahoe, 33" tires rear locker with a leveling kit. I have never ran this trail so I come to the experts! What do you say go or no go???
Click to expand...


I was just down there a couple of weeks ago for my third time and I think a Tahoe is going to have some problems. The frame on a Tahoe is very low even with 33's and a leveling kit. The trail has some sections that get very narrow and off camber as well as some drop-offs. If you take the Tahoe be prepared to do some strap work and provide some good spotting for him.
 
ZUKEYPR

ZUKEYPR

Registered User
Location
651.78 miles East of the Rubicon
That's the exact spots I was referring to as well as the Chute which I've seen video of folks doing an endo down. One of my groups one year darn near did it. Pretty much right where my Rubicon is in the photo
View attachment 86159

Then ascending Double Down is really narrow. You can't tell from this photo but the outsides of his tires are not making contact with that fin and you as the driver can't see squat.
View attachment 86160
 
R

rholbrook

Well-Known Member
Location
Kaysville, Ut
The pictures above are all the hard spots for sure but one was left out. Coming up this obstacle was harder but the fact that he does have a rear locker will take care of it. At the time this LJ only had a 2" lift and 31s and it really had no issues and as Caleb said, my 16 year old drove the whole way. I think any 4x4 with a locker could do it. The Tahoe will drag is its ass in a few places. I would probably do it. Just make sure he doesn't try to bounce it and break an axle.
HITR.JPG


I had to pull this one out of the archive too.
Caleb precrash.JPG

Cant leave Corbin out
corban.jpg
 
R

rholbrook

Well-Known Member
Location
Kaysville, Ut
Here are some good pictures of the Chute. Its not scarey enought to pinch a mohawk in your seat but its fun.
Chute.JPGChute1.JPGchute2 (2).jpgchute2.jpgchute4.JPG
This is Lane's (lhracing) Rubicon. I dont know how much longer a Tahoe is but I'm not sure if Lane even had to engage his lockers.

HITR2.jpgHITR3.JPG
Same obstacle as above post

lane.jpgLJ.jpg
Lane's Ruby and my son's LJ in stockish form.

END.JPG
This is what you see when you get to the end.
 
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sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Caleb said:
4x4 trail or road? Two different trails, one on each side of the lake. That will vary the answers greatly :) If it's HITR Road, I would say yes, he should be able to without much problem. If it's HITR 4x4 Trail, then I will say it depends. Could a good driver make it in that setup, sure. I saw rholbrook's 16-17 year old kid (at the time) drive it in a stockish LJ on slightly larger tires with no rear locker. So it's doable, but there are a few sections that could get sketchy, especially for a driver that's of unknown capability.
Click to expand...

x2.

I say "no". A "leveling kit" isn't the same as a lift. I'm guessing most people with a leveling kit and bigger tires haven't fully flexed out their rig to see what rubs and where it rubs. I wouldn't want to be leading the trail with someone in the group driving a tahoe (unless it was Bart, who could drive an 18-wheeler up there). I would recommend he take a 4x4 quad instead, that could be a lot of fun.

The trail isn't the most hardcore in the world, but there are some spots that could prove fatal or near impossible to recover from if a mistake is made. I would not be the least bit surprised to hear of frequent rollovers on the trail with inexperienced wheelers. We had to tow a rig out of there for about 10 miles last year, over obstacles and climbs. At one point we had to hook up a tow vehicle in front of the tow vehicle for traction. It's EXTREMELY remote out there, and there isn't cell coverage for most of the trail. Even if you managed to get off the trail to the trailhead, you're still a good 2+ hours from any real town. It'd be like wheeling a trail in Moab, without the support/town of Moab and the nearest town being Green River or Price.

Last year we let a lady tag along with us who said she was "very experienced" off-roading and rock crawling. She wasn't, and her rig was plenty capable, but she put herself and others in danger with her lack of experience, and ultimately decided to turn back about 1/4 into the trail. She was very uncomfortable, and we hadn't even made it to any of the challenging sections yet. Her lack of self-control over her fear was extremely dangerous.

Here are two videos from the past two years to get you excited on the trip:

[video=youtube;F8sAn8dOwUU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8sAn8dOwUU[/video]

[video=youtube;zJxIaIIOKzw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJxIaIIOKzw[/video]
 
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sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
I consider myself a fairly experienced wheeler, and the narrow section was enough to make a mowhawk in my seat, both going up and going down. In fact, I was so uncomfortable that it killed any desire to do that trail again for at least 5 years. A rig with a shorter wheelbase than me would be far more comfortable on that section.
 
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