Trip Report Willys in Pritchett Canyon

[smfulle]

On Saturday a group of folks from the Moab Friends for Wheelin' were kind enough to lead me and my fellow flatfender driver Jeff through Pritchett Canyon. This was our 2nd time through there this year. Jeff felt like he had some unfinished business with Rocker Knocker so he came back from Illinois to give it another go. Here's how it turned out on Rocker Knocker for both of us. Jeff 1st in his 43 MB, Bam Bam, then I follow in my 48 CJ2A, Grampa's Jeep.

 

[Jinx]

Nice Shot! I was thinking the flat fenders could almost drive on that shelf!

I can't say enough good things about the Moab Friends of 4wheelin'. Classy people all the way around!

 

[smfulle]

When we went through in Sept. it was still pretty warm (95ish) and the traction seemed a lot better. I struggle a bit more this time on the big walls.

Here's my climb of Axle Hill.

 

[smfulle]

Here we are on Yellow Hill. With a couple of bonus rigs from the Moab Friends for Wheelin' including Rory from Moab Motorsports in his wild trail recovery tow truck "Trail-Mater"

 

[Greg]

You guys both cruised right up Rocker Knocker this time!! That's too cool to see, glad it went well and thanks for sharing on here, Stan.

 

[RustEoldtrux]

I can't believe how well the non-directional tires on the flat fenders were working. They are probably some of the worst tires for rock crawling you can find.

 

[Herzog]

That's so awesome. Loved the rocker knocker footage, that was perfect

 

[smfulle]

I can't believe how well the non-directional tires on the flat fenders were working. They are probably some of the worst tires for rock crawling you can find.

My experience with other tires is basically zero, but for me the NDTs perform pretty well on the rocks. Deep snow, no, soft sand, no, but on the slick rock they really are pretty good.

On a less serious note, and to prove my point, I made this video comparison with, of course, no creative editing or biased clip selection.

 

[RustEoldtrux]

Impressive. The non-directional tires I've used on my vintage Power Wagons had durometers about the same as an oak plank.

 

[smfulle]

Another little video of our Pritchett Flat Fender adventure. This one has a little comical interlude at the end where Grampa's Jeep's low belly weakness is exposed.

 

[smfulle]

Dee from Moab Friends for Wheelin' sent me a bunch of pictures from our ride. I picked out a few of my favorites.

Here's one that she did in black and white. I like the way it makes the canyon look vintage like the jeeps.




Here's one from my attempt at Chewy Hill. We ran the canyon in Sept and I made it up Chewy. This time it seemed a lot more slippery. Don't know if there was more dirt/dust on the wall or the colder temps made my tires less sticky, but after of few of these sideways slides, I called it quits and took a line.




Here I am on Axle Hill. If you watched the video above, you know the struggle I had getting up it and my 60 hp Go Devil engine was augmented by 1 manpower to get me there. I like this pic because it shows me getting a little air with the front tire.




Here I am on Son of Rock Pile. I have yet to beat this obstacle. In this picture it looks like I'm pretty close.