Trip Report Jared Boren Memorial and Birthday Run

[Greg]

Kevin Boren and his family held a Birthday Celebration for their son Jared, who passed away earlier this year unexpectedly. Jared loved rock crawling, November 4th would have been his 4th Birthday, so the Boren family planned a trip and gathered to remember Jared and celebrate his Birthday.

We gathered at the Hells Revenge trailhead with 13 4x4's and headed out! The trip wasn't without without vehicle problems, a Toyota FJ Cruiser in the group bent a tie rid pretty badly, but thanks to some quick thinking and work from Steve Maxfield, it was pulled off, straightened out and put back together!

About the same time we noticed Nate's XJ rear axle had been trying to become a high-pinion 8.25... the tubes had spun in the housing! He decided to call it a day and head out to find a friend to weld it back up and get his tube XJ ready for the next day. The rest of the group headed out to continue the trail.

The Boren family released balloons at the Hells Revenge lookout point and sang Happy Birthday to him... it was quite touching, hard to hold the tears back!

After that, many of the rigs in the group played around on the Hells Gate.... some hitting it a few times!

 

[Greg]

We then worked our way over to the Hot Tubs and the brave gave them a try! One of them had a lot of water/oil/nastyness in the bottom, even Steve's LS2-powered 6 door JKU couldn't climb with the tires covered in the grease! The easier Hot Tub was a breeze for all and Mickey's proved a formidable challenge for most, with Kevin putting his XJ close to going over backwards, but saving it at the last moment.

We drove over to the Escalator, took a lunch break and once again, the willing gave it an attempt. It was fun to see how different width and length rigs worked in the holes on the Escalator, some had front tires reaching for the sky, as usual. Stan and his pretty much stock CJ2a was the most surprising, the holes on the Escalator seemed to swallow the little Willys, but he cruised right up with hardly a problem!

We eventually made it to Tip Over Challenge and after everyone was up or around, our group split up and headed back to the trailhead. Several continued on to Potato Salad Hill from there to watch the brave make attempts climbing PHS!

 

[smfulle]

I would like to thank Kevin for organizing this and he and his family for including us in the celebration of their son. I’ve never met Kevin and his family before, but their story and their spirit touched me. Thanks!

Since I am only an occasional visitor to rme4x4.com I don’t know if you usually start a separate thread in the trip report section, or just report in this announcement/planning section. I’m going to post some quick vids here from my phone taken by Bretto and his wife. I have a bunch of GoPro “dash cam” video that I have to edit, but I just got a new pc and found out that Microsoft movie maker is not included anymore and Microsoft isn’t supporting it. I’ve always used that to edit my videos so I have to figure something else out.

Also, thanks to all who came along for making a great day on the trail!

Stan

 

[smfulle]

Greg,
Those are awesome photos and vids. Thanks for catching me on Potato Salad Hill. Your pics are always top notch. And thanks for moving my post over.
This really was a fun event to be a part of.

 

[Greg]

Greg,
Those are awesome photos and vids. Thanks for catching me on Potato Salad Hill. Your pics are always top notch. And thanks for moving my post over.
This really was a fun event to be a part of.

It was an excellent trip, I'm glad I was able to be part of it! Really enjoyed meeting you and all the others. It was so much fun to watch you drive that CJ everywhere, you had to work for it but it was nearly unstoppable!

I copied your post, so it's still in the other thread. Thanks for the compliments Stan! Hopefully next time we meet up, I'll have my '48 along for the ride.

 

[the walrus]

Good times had by all. Let's do this again next year! -Justin

 

[Greg]

Good times had by all. Let's do this again next year! -Justin

I feel bad, I didn't get pics of all the rigs in our group or even meet everyone and put faces to usernames! Were you in the green 4Runner?

 

[the walrus]

I feel bad, I didn't get pics of all the rigs in our group or even meet everyone and put faces to usernames! Were you in the green 4Runner?

Yeah that was me, trying not to hold up the group too bad while I tip-toed over the rocks. Sure had a lot of fun and it was great to meet everyone.

 

[Greg]

Yeah that was me, trying not to hold up the group too bad while I tip-toed over the rocks. Sure had a lot of fun and it was great to meet everyone.

You did great, I was behind you for part of the trail, watching you work that 4Runner pretty good! I cringed a few times when the hitch dug in.

 

[the walrus]

You did great, I was behind you for part of the trail, watching you work that 4Runner pretty good! I cringed a few times when the hitch dug in.

LOL, yeah the hitch dug in a lot. Time to install the taller springs I have sitting in the garage!

 

[moab_cj5]

Awesome report! Thanks for sharing! Very touching to do this for a lost child. My heart still hurts for the family. Every time my 5 year old hears I am going somewhere, he wants to go. I can't imagine losing any of my kids, and especially my little adventure buddy.

 

[Pike2350]

Thanks Kevin for putting this together.

It was nice to put a few (screen)names to faces and trucks. I miss having more people to wheel with. I wish I had more comfort in my truck and my front locker wasn't acting up. I would've loved to try the harder stuff...but I'm still learning how flexy my truck is....and right now it feels too flexy....between myself and my father-in-law (this was his first real 4wheel trail off an ATV) we were scared in the beginning because of the body roll. In time I'll get more comfortable with it and will continue to make changes as $$ permits.

Everyone was cool, and as is my experience so far, you can't beat the 4wheel drive community for great, helpful people.

 

[Greg]

Thanks Kevin for putting this together.

It was nice to put a few (screen)names to faces and trucks. I miss having more people to wheel with. I wish I had more comfort in my truck and my front locker wasn't acting up. I would've loved to try the harder stuff...but I'm still learning how flexy my truck is....and right now it feels too flexy....between myself and my father-in-law (this was his first real 4wheel trail off an ATV) we were scared in the beginning because of the body roll. In time I'll get more comfortable with it and will continue to make changes as $$ permits.

Everyone was cool, and as is my experience so far, you can't beat the 4wheel drive community for great, helpful people.

It was great to meet you Steve, your FIL seemed to have a blast getting ideas for his JKU!

 

[mesha]

I wish I could have been there.

Jared was an awesome kid.

 

[smfulle]

Hey all.
Anyone that has been on any trail rides with me knows that I usually have a GoPro hanging off my side mirror or windshield. I filmed most of this ride on Hell’s Revenge and finally got it edited and uploaded. I sped the playback up to 8X to get through the whole day in around 20 minutes. Mostly I make these things for myself and anyone who might want to get a feel of what the entire trail is like.

I do slow it down on the obstacles, got to show off a little.

Here’s the Hell’s Revenge video. Thanks to Bretto and Greg for the alternate views.