Trip Report Sand Hollow over New Years

RockChucker

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland
What a trip. Great mix of wheelin and giving the little one time to play. Mostly kept it to 1/2 days of wheelin. Naturally I’d have liked to do more wheelin but this was a family trip after all and more than 5 or 6 hrs for a 3 year old is a lot.
12/28:
Started off with a quick run up Double Sammy followed by Front Range. I’d never done Front Range before. It’s a fun trail. Rated 8 I believe. We ran into @Pile of parts and @GER4x4 before we were done. I gave the bowl at the top a fair shake and couldn’t get it done. I backed out and my uncle gave it a try in his newish to him buggy on 42” reds. He couldn’t get it either. As he was backing out, I was guiding him on the same back up line I took. I didn’t account for the fact that he excavated an additional 18”+ sand. As his front passenger tire dropped back into the hole, it didn’t find the bottom and he flopped. Whoops. Quick winch and he was back on his wheels and out.IMG_5938.jpeg
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After we finished front range, the wife and kiddo went and played with my buddy Zack’s wife and kiddos. Arrowhead was next on the agenda.

The group consisted of
@Pile of parts in his CJ that has enough gearing to make a Toyota blush
@GER4x4 in his we’ll built TJ on treps
Zack in his TJ on 39” Kanatis and about 100” wheelbase
Dan in his ultra4 style buggy in 42” reds
Me in my TJ
@kmboren leading this group. He was riding momentarily with Glen since his buggy is down waiting for a radiator.

We started up the trail and got a pretty good feel for what was ahead of us immediately. The canyon wastes no time with big crack exposure. We made pretty short work of the first several obstacles. About 50% through the trail we learned that Zack’s 100” wheelbase wasn’t quite long enough. He had to take the sandy bypass on the same obstacle that caught @Greg and flipped him on his lid. Just not quite enough stretch to be able to crabwalk up onto the ledge. Zack later struggled a couple obstacles later which resulted in slipping into the crack and tweaking a light mount on the a pillar and scuffing the windshield frame. He ended up having to front dig and winch to get up and over that crack. But everyone made it through without any major problems. Count that as a win!
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I need to get more video uploaded to YouTube. Here is the one I have so far…

More to come…
 

Herzog

somewhat damaged
Admin
Location
Wydaho
Looks like it was a great time! I'm still licking my wounds from the Nov trip down there.
 

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
I know of a little XJ that identifies as a buggy and wants a shot at Arrowhead. We need to get something scheduled…
 

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
Kevin likes to take people to Arrowhead just to see them break their buggy. I broke my hydro steer right after the first obstacle. #becausekevin
I like to find the weakness of people's rigs. It makes me sleep well at night. I am also helping others by finding the weak spots of thier rigs so they can upgrade and make them better. Your welcome.
 
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N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
Let’s just act like I have front digs. That’ll help!


I feel like you guys are underestimating me and Snowflake and it stings…
 

Pile of parts

Well-Known Member
Location
South Jordan
Slow to add to this, but thanks to @RockChucker and his group for letting @GER4x4 and I join in for a couple of days. Also, big thanks to @kmboren for guiding us on Arrowhead. We had a great time!

In regard to the gearing comment, I did the math and the crawl ratio comes out to 351.44 to 1... I rarely ever use that gear or the two low ranges doubled together. However, watching those before me on a couple of the Arrowhead obstacles I could see that traction was good, there was no need for wheel speed and all I had to do was be able to hold my line. Since I don't have the luxury of riding the brakes or resting on the torque converter, I did the closest I could come up with.
Anyway, here's a couple of videos from Arrowhead.

 

Pile of parts

Well-Known Member
Location
South Jordan
Everything after the first day seemed a little tame. I guess that's how it goes when you start the trip with Arrowhead...
Here's a couple from a spot on The Ledges. Thanks to @RockChucker group for sharing these. The last 2 days, @GER4x4 and I ran with @Bart , his son in law and 2 grandsons in a nicely built YJ and his friend from Iowa in a beautiful LJ. Bart's grandsons are great kids and at 13 and 15, I believe, can probably outdrive a lot of people. Good times and a great way to spend the Holidays!

 
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