National Public Lands Day--Widowmaker approach repair

[surgeryturtle]

Moab Friends-For-Wheelin’ working in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management made repairs on the Metal Masher 4x4 route. Over the years the dugway leading up to the Widowmaker obstacle was washing away making the route dangerous to vehicle traffic. Seventeen members and four guests, two from Rocky Mountain Extreme (thanks Greg!) and two from Alberta, Canada spent the day working on the project. The dugway was stabilized using railroad ties held in place with re-bar and concrete.



Doesn't this look awful? I know of at least 2 shredded tires this year that got caught on that mesh and many big, capable rigs who could tackle Widowmaker but risked their cookies trying to get to it. Personally, I hate having to have spotting help trying to get to the obstacle I want to show off on. A little embarrassing!



The dugway before we fixed it. I drove this during Easter Week and my passenger screamed on this approach but was calm on Widowmaker. Does that say anything for how off-camber and scary it was?



The group working and moving all the railroad ties.



Drilling ties to be anchored into rock with Re-bar.



15 sacks of concrete, 80 feet of Re-bar and lots of Subway sandwiches for fuel.




The dugway after all the repairs. Now you can get right on up to Widowmaker.

P.S. We also installed a winch anchor on Widowmaker----just in case you all can't make it.

Photos of the fun to follow.

 

[1995zj]

AWESOME WORK! That looks much better! I really hated that part before Widow Maker as well. Thank you to everyone that worked on this project

 

[Goose]

wow! you guys really did an awesome job!!!
that was a sketchy tire ripper before.

 

[Amy]

Awesome!

 

[surgeryturtle]

I promised some fun on Widowmaker.....for the record, we didn't touch the actual obstacle other than install a winch anchor at the top. It's still just as big and mean as ever....

Gary Lee make it up.....





Yours truly makes it up.....good girl Redroxx.....



Yes, even Jeff made it up.....just kidding. He flopped here last time and I think he was a little bit nervous.



Our friends from Canada made it too.....'eh?



Next, some of the more "stock" sized Jeeps took a little strap help but got the fun of feeling the obstacle. Watch out for this up and coming girl driver....fearless fly.



Yes, another lady driver. Good job Melanie.



Dee, yes again another fantastic woman driver, gives a photo of what Widowmaker looks like from the driver's seat.



Redroxx is used to towing duty. After the winch anchor sets up good, she might get a break next time.



Come on up Dee!

 

[Bear T]

Awesome stuff my friend. You guys do great work.

 

[kmboren]

Great work guys. I was there two weeks ago. That was interesting trying to avoid that tire shredder. I attempted widow maker in my cherokee but I did not have enough clearance with my hitch. It only toke a strap with a couple of people on it and then I got right up it. That looks like some quality work on the approach. That winch anchor will come in handy for lots of people in the future. Good job.

 

[drtsqrl]

Thanks for the report, Surgeryturtle!

Just to let everyone know, we ran out of materials before we were able to finish the job. We will be going back on October 10th to finish up. If anyone is in Moab then and would like to help, we'd love to put you to work!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

You guys rock!

 

[Herzog]

You guys rock!

Yes they do!

 

[Grim]

very nice

 

[Floydargue]

Widowmaker

Excellent.
What's kind of funny is there is a bypass to this previous tire shredder, it had gotten so bad. Someone blazed a trail off to the right (when facing widowmaker) to get to it from the lower road without risking this spot. I am glad we got it fixed, as it looked really really unsafe! Now I guess we need to block off that unofficial bypass...

 

[RockMonkey]

You guys are awesome!

 

[Greg]

We were glad to help! It was a fun project, we made a good deal of progress. I'm surprised at how quickly we burned thru that much material. Much props to the MFFW for stepping up and taking care of this! I wish I could make it out to finish up the repairs on the 10th, but I have plans.

Sorry about bailing without saying goodbye, we walked down to the Toyota to get some water, saw the time and decided to leave in order to get up to the mountains and setup camp before the sun set.

 

[CJ Matt]

Another great job! I hated that spot!

 

[drtsqrl]

Excellent.
What's kind of funny is there is a bypass to this previous tire shredder, it had gotten so bad. Someone blazed a trail off to the right (when facing widowmaker) to get to it from the lower road without risking this spot. I am glad we got it fixed, as it looked really really unsafe! Now I guess we need to block off that unofficial bypass...

That bypass is illegal, and the BLM has asked us to close it.

 

[drtsqrl]

We were glad to help! It was a fun project, we made a good deal of progress. I'm surprised at how quickly we burned thru that much material. Much props to the MFFW for stepping up and taking care of this! I wish I could make it out to finish up the repairs on the 10th, but I have plans.

Sorry about bailing without saying goodbye, we walked down to the Toyota to get some water, saw the time and decided to leave in order to get up to the mountains and setup camp before the sun set.

Thanks so much for helping out, Greg. We really appreciated the help!

 

[big cherokee]

awsome awesome job guys, i have never seen or been to that area, but plan to run that trail memorial day this year and want to try widowmaker badly.

 

[Alpine Spirit]

I must say absolutely fantastic job. I drove it in May and my wife was "slightly irritated at the off camber but was fine on widow maker.

 

[Gravy]

nice work guys