This will be a really lame trip report at first, since I have approximately zero pictures...but with any luck one of the other guys has some and will post up. 
Bryson, Bob B, Shortshaft, and myself headed down for a quick mid-week trip riding in Bryson's buggy, and Bob's Bush Baby jeep/buggy.
Our trail time started with a warmup on Hell's Revenge, where the only noteworthy thing was that the big/hard hot tub (name I can't remember) was super-slick with oily snot at the bottom, which left us NO chance of climbing out of it. (Bryson's buggy has been in/out before, so he knows he can easily climb it normally)
We went from there to Pritchett Canyon, which was also uneventful until right after Rocker Knocker, where Bryson lost a bead on a front tire--and the only compressor we had was back at the tow rig. So, Shortshaft and myself waited at the buggy while Bob took Bryson back out. On his way out his cooling fan relay failed causing an overheating situation, so that necessitated some hasty jury-rigging to get the fan running again.
By the time they got back with the compressor, we re-seated the bead (after fixing the compressor's discharge hose with some of that silicone super-tape which I now need to purchase for my own trail repair kit), and it was late enough we elected to just go back to the trailers, since we were planning on turning around at the top of Yellow Hill anyway.
Thursday we spent at Area BFE. We started playing around on some of the many play areas, then made our way to Upper Helldorado. Wow, that whole thing is filled in with dirt and rocks since the last time I was there. The gatekeeper obstacle is probably 3 feet deep where it used to be 8 feet, the right turn that scratches your cage is a non-issue, and the waterfall is probably 2 feet shorter than it has been. Still a fun trail, and a nice milepost for Bob especially, since he's been looking forward to/dreading that waterfall since before he moved to Utah. Both Bryson and Bob climbed it on their 2nd attempt.
From there we went to Britney Spears. Bob went through first, and all was good until he got diffed at both ends, and couldn't move forward or backward. A bit of rock stacking and winching got him to the top turn-around, and down with no issues beyond some scratches on his driver's door. It was getting dark by that time, so Bryson took the exit bypass and we headed back to the Moab Brewery for some excellent hamburgers on $5 burger night.
Friday we were planning on doing Rusty Nail on our way out of town. Everything seemed great as we bombed our way through the fast dirt-road section heading toward Gold Bar Rim (Bob's 5.3 has PLENTY of power, but we still couldn't seem to catch Bryson's buggy), until we heard a strange noise from Bob's engine. It took a couple seconds to realize the oil pressure gauge was reading 0. Shut the engine down and stopped, smoke was pouring out of the hood. :sick: Bob hopped out and spotted fire on the driver's side--his fire extinguisher took care of it quick, and it didn't re-flare luckily. So, that ended that day...we went back out, drove the tow rig/trailer in, and packed it up and headed home.
Preliminary diagnosis looks like a failed oil line to the remote-mount oil filter causing the loss in oil pressure, and the complete coating of oil underneath. Hopefully the internals aren't damaged, but that remains to be seen.
By the way, if anyone spots a trailer ramp anywhere down there, one of them escaped from my trailer. We don't know exactly where, but it didn't look like it was anywhere between the Seven Mile parking area and Gooney Bird. It could be out toward BFE....
Bryson, Bob B, Shortshaft, and myself headed down for a quick mid-week trip riding in Bryson's buggy, and Bob's Bush Baby jeep/buggy.
Our trail time started with a warmup on Hell's Revenge, where the only noteworthy thing was that the big/hard hot tub (name I can't remember) was super-slick with oily snot at the bottom, which left us NO chance of climbing out of it. (Bryson's buggy has been in/out before, so he knows he can easily climb it normally)
We went from there to Pritchett Canyon, which was also uneventful until right after Rocker Knocker, where Bryson lost a bead on a front tire--and the only compressor we had was back at the tow rig. So, Shortshaft and myself waited at the buggy while Bob took Bryson back out. On his way out his cooling fan relay failed causing an overheating situation, so that necessitated some hasty jury-rigging to get the fan running again.
By the time they got back with the compressor, we re-seated the bead (after fixing the compressor's discharge hose with some of that silicone super-tape which I now need to purchase for my own trail repair kit), and it was late enough we elected to just go back to the trailers, since we were planning on turning around at the top of Yellow Hill anyway.
Thursday we spent at Area BFE. We started playing around on some of the many play areas, then made our way to Upper Helldorado. Wow, that whole thing is filled in with dirt and rocks since the last time I was there. The gatekeeper obstacle is probably 3 feet deep where it used to be 8 feet, the right turn that scratches your cage is a non-issue, and the waterfall is probably 2 feet shorter than it has been. Still a fun trail, and a nice milepost for Bob especially, since he's been looking forward to/dreading that waterfall since before he moved to Utah. Both Bryson and Bob climbed it on their 2nd attempt.
From there we went to Britney Spears. Bob went through first, and all was good until he got diffed at both ends, and couldn't move forward or backward.
A bit of rock stacking and winching got him to the top turn-around, and down with no issues beyond some scratches on his driver's door. It was getting dark by that time, so Bryson took the exit bypass and we headed back to the Moab Brewery for some excellent hamburgers on $5 burger night. Friday we were planning on doing Rusty Nail on our way out of town. Everything seemed great as we bombed our way through the fast dirt-road section heading toward Gold Bar Rim (Bob's 5.3 has PLENTY of power, but we still couldn't seem to catch Bryson's buggy), until we heard a strange noise from Bob's engine. It took a couple seconds to realize the oil pressure gauge was reading 0.
Shut the engine down and stopped, smoke was pouring out of the hood. :sick: Bob hopped out and spotted fire on the driver's side--his fire extinguisher took care of it quick, and it didn't re-flare luckily. So, that ended that day...we went back out, drove the tow rig/trailer in, and packed it up and headed home.Preliminary diagnosis looks like a failed oil line to the remote-mount oil filter causing the loss in oil pressure, and the complete coating of oil underneath. Hopefully the internals aren't damaged, but that remains to be seen.
By the way, if anyone spots a trailer ramp anywhere down there, one of them escaped from my trailer.
We don't know exactly where, but it didn't look like it was anywhere between the Seven Mile parking area and Gooney Bird. It could be out toward BFE....
Last edited:
