TacPen
Banned
After the SHOT Show (you don't finish this show so much as you merely survive it, bloody stumps and all) we needed to decompress. Despite having a great show and meeting wonderful people, we were still pretty frazzled. Peachster was in no mood to drive to Death Valley (quite appropriate given our physical state after 4 days in Vegas) so our original plan was scrapped. Like a terminal patient with bad news I frantically searched for an alternative. Fortunately for us, it wasn't too hard to find in Vegas. A company called Las Vegas Rock Crawlers offers guided tours near the Vegas area and even has rental Jeeps (yup, we took the FJ out for the show since it is much better suited to haul show gear) for your convenience. After a phone call and some emails we were all set to get picked up at 7:30 am and driven out to Logandale Trail on Saturday.
Fast forward to Saturday morning; after 4 days of working a booth at the biggest industry event of the year and waking up at 6am to pack everything up, shower and get some chow before heading out didn't seem quite as brilliant anymore. Still, I was pretty excited and determined to make the best of it. A nice toasted croissant breakfast sandwich and some delicious coffee (a mere $22 at the Venetian thank you very much) and we were ready to go.
As we were standing outside, enjoying the brisk morning air a minute or two after 7:30 we saw a lifted silver colored TJ pull up to the valet area. A minute later a second lifted red TJ pulled up (driven by his daughter). Our chariot(s) awaited. Tim, the owner of Las Vegas Rock Crawlers, hopped out of the silver Jeep and greeted us appraising ly. We looked as if we had just survived the zombie apocalypse so he was well within his right to check us over before handing over the keys to one of his Jeeps. Fortunately, we're not big drinkers and after the coffee kicked in we were fairly cogent if not exactly presentable. Tim told us that we've be driving about an hour north to Logandale and to follow him then handed us the paperwork. After signing a waiver and something about promising not to touch any turtles (only in Vegas can you touch the strippers but not pet the animals) we set the CB to channel 4, did a comms. check and threw our gear in the back and got rolling.
For the most part, I have to say that Nevada just north of Vegas is fairly uninspiring:
After passing the Valley of Fire (come on, tell me you don't want to see this place... it's the freaking Valley of Fire) we turned off for Logandale (which I kept referring to as Logansdale) and drove to the local gas station to air down. By now we were fully awake (the sweet hum of the 33" BFG mud tires and aftermarket exhaust helped) and ready for the trail. Tim disconnected the front sway bar and told us that our first trail was going to start out with a big obstacle right off the bat and should be fun. We followed him past Wayne Newton's old ranch (I think that's some dude with big hair who's important in Vegas) down a dusty gravel road and got to the trail head. The scenery was definitely picking up by now:
After a few hundred more meters we pulled up to what was to be the start of the trail and our first obstacle. It may be a good time to mention that I'm still pretty new to this sport. Sure, we've done a dozen or so trails but they were more or less all moderate with some slightly more impressive obstacles thrown in (more impressive to us anyway). When we pulled up to a wall of boulders it became apparent that I have a lot more to learn and could probably have used a bit more (or less, still not sure really) coffee before heading out:
Fortunately for us Tim has been doing this for a while (pretty much his entire life) and knows this trail quite well. He also knows how get someone through it. We hiked up and over the obstacle and Tim explained some key points. He then let me watch as he slowly and smoothly made his way up the rock as if he were simply driving Miss Daisy:
Nothing to it, right? Well, it was now my turn. I hit the compressor, turned on the air-lockers and tightened up my sphincter a few (dozen) notches:
Once through we talked it over and Tim got back in and started further up. We climbed up some more then turned right over a nice slick-rock hill and towards another obstacle. This one was even better. It seriously looked like a wall of solid rock with some boulders tossed in for good measure. Now, I'm sure there's a nice technical name for this type of thing (ledge of death seems like could concievably be appropriate) but since I'm a newb, I feel quite comfortable calling it the wall'o rock. The funny part is that got to watch Tim climb this in his TJ and knew that I was driving a similarly equipped vehicle and yet for the life of me I couldn't see how the hell we were going to get over this thing. Tim's reply (I'm probably paraphrasing here because he made it sound perfectly reasonable when he said it) was, "Well yeah, we have to take it easy and get the right line otherwise you'll end up rolling it backwards but you should be ok. If it feels like it's going over just try not to." Right, good call. Let's not roll the nice man's Jeep over backwards:
We paused at the top for a break and to take in the scenery (plus.. you know, I needed to relax that sphincter for a minute and try not to piss myself). The landscape was simply majestic. Similar in flavor to Arizona but with subtle differences. A bit less dirt and a bunch more sand. The red colors were just so bright and vibrant (of course, surviving the wall'o rock might have had something to do with it):
While we took a minute I asked Tim about the Jeeps. I was driving a red TJ with a Ford front axle and 4" long-arm lift kit on 33" BFG mud tires on 15" rims with a Terra Flex sport cage for safety and 4.56 gears. The silver Jeep had a Rubicon Express long-arm suspension and same wheel / tire setup. Mine was running air-lockers front and rear but I could see that Tim had an OX locker on his TJ. These were amazingly capable considering that they were fairly modest compared to some of the 40" wheeled monster JKs I read about on the forums. Still, it seemed that most of the capability came from Tim's extensive experience and ability to walk us through the best line and not the Jeeps themselves. I was reminded of a quote by Baron Manfred von Richthofen, "The quality of the crate matters little. Success depends upon who sits in it." Indeed.
We got rolling again and Tim slowly did a little less spotting and a little more of letting me play follow-the-leader. My sphincter tightened back up but I was slowly beginning to see what he was up to. It was amazing to see him pick a specific line and watch his wheel placement. He choose lines which maximized his clearance while keeping the wheels on the ground. He knew exactly how his axles articulated and I didn't see him bounce a hard part even once the entire time (on the other hand, I was quite glad that the Jeep we were in was equiped with rock sliders).
We finally made it out of the rocks and onto some steep gravel hills ("Don't worry, it'll slide a little but you'll be fine."):
Once we made it through the hills we arrived at the sand dunes. Imagine a scene from the movie Dune (if you're old enough, it can even be the Sting version. If you're not old enough, pull your pants up and turn down that silly music.) and you'll get the idea. This was just amazing, almost as much fun as playing in the snow but without that whole ass-biting-cold thing that often accompanies snow:
After a nice lunch supplied by our gracious host (hmmm... Subway cold-cut combo), we drove back through the dunes for another trail and an amazing photo at the summit of a freaking mountain (ok so maybe it was a ridge, but it sure as hell felt like a mountain):
To make sure we had our fill of fun Tim decided to take the hard way out. I wouldn't exactly say that I had developed any significant degree of confidence just yet but I no longer felt that a horrible flamming death was imminent with each new obstacle. This was probably less due to my skill in driving and more in a faith in Tim's demonstrated instructional ability. To make things even more "fun" he'd tell me, "Turn off the lockers, you can do without them here." Sure, let's turn off the lockers. Next we'll be jumping out of airplanes without a parachute. Invariably he was right, we didn't need the lockers (pshhhhhh, I totally knew we could do those rocks without lockers... I mean, come on).
We drove back to the Longdale gas station, aired back up and reconnected the front sway bars. I've got to say that we definitely turned the fun factor up to 11 on this one ("You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?"). Hell, Peachy is already asking if we can drive the JK up to Vegas next time and do the trails in our Jeep. I'm going to be working hard to convince the rest of the crew to come with. This much fun, it needs to be shared.
Fast forward to Saturday morning; after 4 days of working a booth at the biggest industry event of the year and waking up at 6am to pack everything up, shower and get some chow before heading out didn't seem quite as brilliant anymore. Still, I was pretty excited and determined to make the best of it. A nice toasted croissant breakfast sandwich and some delicious coffee (a mere $22 at the Venetian thank you very much) and we were ready to go.
As we were standing outside, enjoying the brisk morning air a minute or two after 7:30 we saw a lifted silver colored TJ pull up to the valet area. A minute later a second lifted red TJ pulled up (driven by his daughter). Our chariot(s) awaited. Tim, the owner of Las Vegas Rock Crawlers, hopped out of the silver Jeep and greeted us appraising ly. We looked as if we had just survived the zombie apocalypse so he was well within his right to check us over before handing over the keys to one of his Jeeps. Fortunately, we're not big drinkers and after the coffee kicked in we were fairly cogent if not exactly presentable. Tim told us that we've be driving about an hour north to Logandale and to follow him then handed us the paperwork. After signing a waiver and something about promising not to touch any turtles (only in Vegas can you touch the strippers but not pet the animals) we set the CB to channel 4, did a comms. check and threw our gear in the back and got rolling.
For the most part, I have to say that Nevada just north of Vegas is fairly uninspiring:
After passing the Valley of Fire (come on, tell me you don't want to see this place... it's the freaking Valley of Fire) we turned off for Logandale (which I kept referring to as Logansdale) and drove to the local gas station to air down. By now we were fully awake (the sweet hum of the 33" BFG mud tires and aftermarket exhaust helped) and ready for the trail. Tim disconnected the front sway bar and told us that our first trail was going to start out with a big obstacle right off the bat and should be fun. We followed him past Wayne Newton's old ranch (I think that's some dude with big hair who's important in Vegas) down a dusty gravel road and got to the trail head. The scenery was definitely picking up by now:
After a few hundred more meters we pulled up to what was to be the start of the trail and our first obstacle. It may be a good time to mention that I'm still pretty new to this sport. Sure, we've done a dozen or so trails but they were more or less all moderate with some slightly more impressive obstacles thrown in (more impressive to us anyway). When we pulled up to a wall of boulders it became apparent that I have a lot more to learn and could probably have used a bit more (or less, still not sure really) coffee before heading out:
Fortunately for us Tim has been doing this for a while (pretty much his entire life) and knows this trail quite well. He also knows how get someone through it. We hiked up and over the obstacle and Tim explained some key points. He then let me watch as he slowly and smoothly made his way up the rock as if he were simply driving Miss Daisy:
Nothing to it, right? Well, it was now my turn. I hit the compressor, turned on the air-lockers and tightened up my sphincter a few (dozen) notches:
Once through we talked it over and Tim got back in and started further up. We climbed up some more then turned right over a nice slick-rock hill and towards another obstacle. This one was even better. It seriously looked like a wall of solid rock with some boulders tossed in for good measure. Now, I'm sure there's a nice technical name for this type of thing (ledge of death seems like could concievably be appropriate) but since I'm a newb, I feel quite comfortable calling it the wall'o rock. The funny part is that got to watch Tim climb this in his TJ and knew that I was driving a similarly equipped vehicle and yet for the life of me I couldn't see how the hell we were going to get over this thing. Tim's reply (I'm probably paraphrasing here because he made it sound perfectly reasonable when he said it) was, "Well yeah, we have to take it easy and get the right line otherwise you'll end up rolling it backwards but you should be ok. If it feels like it's going over just try not to." Right, good call. Let's not roll the nice man's Jeep over backwards:
We paused at the top for a break and to take in the scenery (plus.. you know, I needed to relax that sphincter for a minute and try not to piss myself). The landscape was simply majestic. Similar in flavor to Arizona but with subtle differences. A bit less dirt and a bunch more sand. The red colors were just so bright and vibrant (of course, surviving the wall'o rock might have had something to do with it):
While we took a minute I asked Tim about the Jeeps. I was driving a red TJ with a Ford front axle and 4" long-arm lift kit on 33" BFG mud tires on 15" rims with a Terra Flex sport cage for safety and 4.56 gears. The silver Jeep had a Rubicon Express long-arm suspension and same wheel / tire setup. Mine was running air-lockers front and rear but I could see that Tim had an OX locker on his TJ. These were amazingly capable considering that they were fairly modest compared to some of the 40" wheeled monster JKs I read about on the forums. Still, it seemed that most of the capability came from Tim's extensive experience and ability to walk us through the best line and not the Jeeps themselves. I was reminded of a quote by Baron Manfred von Richthofen, "The quality of the crate matters little. Success depends upon who sits in it." Indeed.
We got rolling again and Tim slowly did a little less spotting and a little more of letting me play follow-the-leader. My sphincter tightened back up but I was slowly beginning to see what he was up to. It was amazing to see him pick a specific line and watch his wheel placement. He choose lines which maximized his clearance while keeping the wheels on the ground. He knew exactly how his axles articulated and I didn't see him bounce a hard part even once the entire time (on the other hand, I was quite glad that the Jeep we were in was equiped with rock sliders).
We finally made it out of the rocks and onto some steep gravel hills ("Don't worry, it'll slide a little but you'll be fine."):
Once we made it through the hills we arrived at the sand dunes. Imagine a scene from the movie Dune (if you're old enough, it can even be the Sting version. If you're not old enough, pull your pants up and turn down that silly music.) and you'll get the idea. This was just amazing, almost as much fun as playing in the snow but without that whole ass-biting-cold thing that often accompanies snow:
After a nice lunch supplied by our gracious host (hmmm... Subway cold-cut combo), we drove back through the dunes for another trail and an amazing photo at the summit of a freaking mountain (ok so maybe it was a ridge, but it sure as hell felt like a mountain):
To make sure we had our fill of fun Tim decided to take the hard way out. I wouldn't exactly say that I had developed any significant degree of confidence just yet but I no longer felt that a horrible flamming death was imminent with each new obstacle. This was probably less due to my skill in driving and more in a faith in Tim's demonstrated instructional ability. To make things even more "fun" he'd tell me, "Turn off the lockers, you can do without them here." Sure, let's turn off the lockers. Next we'll be jumping out of airplanes without a parachute. Invariably he was right, we didn't need the lockers (pshhhhhh, I totally knew we could do those rocks without lockers... I mean, come on).
We drove back to the Longdale gas station, aired back up and reconnected the front sway bars. I've got to say that we definitely turned the fun factor up to 11 on this one ("You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?"). Hell, Peachy is already asking if we can drive the JK up to Vegas next time and do the trails in our Jeep. I'm going to be working hard to convince the rest of the crew to come with. This much fun, it needs to be shared.
