Elephant hill, Devil's kitchen, Beef basin, Dark canyon wheeling trip 6/17-6/21 (1 Viewer)

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Hey guys! Mark me down as attending. Looking forward to seeing you fine folks again.

I have lockers, but not sliders...
 
Hey guys! Mark me down as attending. Looking forward to seeing you fine folks again.

I have lockers, but not sliders...
Yikes! Remind me how your Raptor is set up. I'm concerned about a full size truck negotiating the trail. Have you looked at the pictures and the videos in Ali's album?
 
Yikes! Remind me how your Raptor is set up. I'm concerned about a full size truck negotiating the trail. Have you looked at the pictures and the videos in Ali's album
Hey Pappy! I have +4 in the rear and +3.5 in the front. 4 tow points, a 12K winch, lockers, 35s… if I’m too big, I’m too big though. That’s the occasional cost of being full sized. I will defer to you experts. While I’ve been to Moab, I haven’t done these trails.
 
Chris,

I worry about your length and no sliders on SOB hill and Bobby's hole. I think you'd do fine on E-hill but the obstacles that we'll encounter heading out of the park Southbound will not be enjoyable for you or your spotters. I'd be uncomfortable spotting you through those obstacles since you have a nice rig. I'm sorry bud :(
 
Wow! Awesome pics and vids. I ain't gonna lie: I just spent 50min at work caught up on this link🤣 On minute 16 of the 25min video, it was VERY interesting for a couple of minutes😳
Looking forward to these trails, and bringing donuts for the spotters I'm sure I'll need! Great pics dude!!
 
Chris,

I worry about your length and no sliders on SOB hill and Bobby's hole. I think you'd do fine on E-hill but the obstacles that we'll encounter heading out of the park Southbound will not be enjoyable for you or your spotters. I'd be uncomfortable spotting you through those obstacles since you have a nice rig. I'm sorry bud :(
Damage is stressful. I agree this trip is too much. Thanks for keeping me in mind, Ali. Maybe I'll be able to catch another one soon.
 
Carlos - that is the location where I was suppose to back up and make it an easier turn. Instead I tried to do it at a straight shot and got myself teetering.


Wow! Awesome pics and vids. I ain't gonna lie: I just spent 50min at work caught up on this link🤣 On minute 16 of the 25min video, it was VERY interesting for a couple of minutes😳
Looking forward to these trails, and bringing donuts for the spotters I'm sure I'll need! Great pics dude!!
 
Carlos - that is the location where I was suppose to back up and make it an easier turn. Instead I tried to do it at a straight shot and got myself teetering.
That is also the spot where a mini-truck didn't back up and rolled as a result of trying to million-point the turn.
 
That is also the spot where a mini-truck didn't back up and rolled as a result of trying to million-point the turn.
Oh yeah, I was there for that mishap and helped with the recovery. It was a full exo-cage and the only casualty was a cooler and windshield wiper. Once uprighted, it just fired right up and kept going.
 
In my experience conditions can change. The first time over Elephant Hill, as I mentioned, was in a brand new stock Scout II with a group from Alamogordo. My mom likes to say that they had not even made the first payment on that car. This was with the the Dust Devils 4x4 club and I was too young to have a driver's license. We had FJ-40s and an Iron Pig in the mix. This was in the days before we even knew to air down let alone know what a locking differential was. This was also in the days before the route was "improved" with asphalt patches to get the honey wagon to the pit toilets at Devil's Kitchen. Everyone was pretty freaked by the trail until we got to the top to find a parked VW bug. Kinda took the wind out of our sails.
Our plan that day was to to loop over the northern flank of the Abajo Mountains and come out at Lavender Ranch and back to camp at Squaw Butte. So, yes, SOB Hill and Bobby's Hole. I remember the latter was a challenge, especially for the long wheel base 55. I also remember pulling winch cables through knee-deep snow on the mountain before it was decided to turn around. The return trip was made late at the end of a very long day, back down Bobby's Hole, SOB Hill, the Silver Stairs. The whole group shared a jar of peanut butter and crackers for dinner. By the time we got to Elephant Hill it was pitch dark, the kids asleep in the back seats, no one spotting. And no mishaps. Helluva day.

Subsequent trips over the years have included stock Toyota trucks (pre Tacos) with the only injury being sandwiching a front fender flair between a rock ledge and the tire backing down the switchback. It tweaked the whole fender. A few years ago I put together a group of hikers from Salida driving into Devil's Kitchen. Well, the trip got out of control and I ended up with an unwieldy group of non-four wheelers driving completely stock full-size pickups and a Sequoia. There was some serious spotting but the only damage was to the running boards on the latter vehicle. People still talk about that trip and want to do it again.

The last time I went up Bobby's Hole was on an HDC trip. I was expecting some effort - but we were surprised to find it newly graded!

This spring we took a single vehicle day trip to the Confluence Overlook in my 100. The only issue was getting behind some newbies who had trouble at every obstacle until they could let us pass. I did find Scout Slot just difficult enough to use the lockers - this owing to the considerable polish on the rock ledges from all the traffic.

By the way, speaking of changing conditions.... I remember our club doing Pritchett Canyon (the whole loop) and Moab Rim during the Easter Jeep Safari - again in completely stock vehicles. I wouldn't touch those routes today on anything other than my bicycle.

And speaking of bicycles... the run out to the Confluence Overlook from Devil's Kitchen is one of my favorites unless the sand is too deep. Which it could be in June. It could also be very hot! Carry plenty of water in your rig to give to hapless hikers and bikers.
 
Bobby's Hole circa 1972.
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This was an F-4 fighter pilot from Holloman AFB. On one trip up Salt Creek (when you could drive Salt Creek) we ran into some California Land Cruisers with Chevy small blocks. Our Moab trip the following year all our 40s had Chevy small blocks!
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Couple more....
We followed this damn thing all the way from southern NM.
And look - a stock Wagoneer waiting to descend the Silver Stairs behind the Scout!
The good old days before everyone drove identical vehicles - Jeep Rubicons. Yes, the Safari was popular 50 years ago. Crikes, did I just say 50 years ago?

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Carlos - that is the location where I was suppose to back up and make it an easier turn. Instead I tried to do it at a straight shot and got myself teetering.
So is that the one where the "move" is to back down the ledge?? Im a good listener, so a spotter will earn his/her wings that day with us!!
 
That is also the spot where a mini-truck didn't back up and rolled as a result of trying to million-point the turn.
WTF Papy??!! This is what we call in government work need-to-know-only-information ....and I don't think I needed to know THAT!!🤣🤣🤣
 
In my experience conditions can change. The first time over Elephant Hill, as I mentioned, was in a brand new stock Scout II with a group from Alamogordo. My mom likes to say that they had not even made the first payment on that car. This was with the the Dust Devils 4x4 club and I was too young to have a driver's license. We had FJ-40s and an Iron Pig in the mix. This was in the days before we even knew to air down let alone know what a locking differential was. This was also in the days before the route was "improved" with asphalt patches to get the honey wagon to the pit toilets at Devil's Kitchen. Everyone was pretty freaked by the trail until we got to the top to find a parked VW bug. Kinda took the wind out of our sails.
Our plan that day was to to loop over the northern flank of the Abajo Mountains and come out at Lavender Ranch and back to camp at Squaw Butte. So, yes, SOB Hill and Bobby's Hole. I remember the latter was a challenge, especially for the long wheel base 55. I also remember pulling winch cables through knee-deep snow on the mountain before it was decided to turn around. The return trip was made late at the end of a very long day, back down Bobby's Hole, SOB Hill, the Silver Stairs. The whole group shared a jar of peanut butter and crackers for dinner. By the time we got to Elephant Hill it was pitch dark, the kids asleep in the back seats, no one spotting. And no mishaps. Helluva day.

Subsequent trips over the years have included stock Toyota trucks (pre Tacos) with the only injury being sandwiching a front fender flair between a rock ledge and the tire backing down the switchback. It tweaked the whole fender. A few years ago I put together a group of hikers from Salida driving into Devil's Kitchen. Well, the trip got out of control and I ended up with an unwieldy group of non-four wheelers driving completely stock full-size pickups and a Sequoia. There was some serious spotting but the only damage was to the running boards on the latter vehicle. People still talk about that trip and want to do it again.

The last time I went up Bobby's Hole was on an HDC trip. I was expecting some effort - but we were surprised to find it newly graded!

This spring we took a single vehicle day trip to the Confluence Overlook in my 100. The only issue was getting behind some newbies who had trouble at every obstacle until they could let us pass. I did find Scout Slot just difficult enough to use the lockers - this owing to the considerable polish on the rock ledges from all the traffic.

By the way, speaking of changing conditions.... I remember our club doing Pritchett Canyon (the whole loop) and Moab Rim during the Easter Jeep Safari - again in completely stock vehicles. I wouldn't touch those routes today on anything other than my bicycle.

And speaking of bicycles... the run out to the Confluence Overlook from Devil's Kitchen is one of my favorites unless the sand is too deep. Which it could be in June. It could also be very hot! Carry plenty of water in your rig to give to hapless hikers and bikers.
Damn, very cool pics!!
 
Thanks for sharing the old time photos. My Dad bought a brand new Scout in the sixties. But Mom made him sell it because it was noisy, as in squeaks and creaks !
But we kids loved it. Our first taste of 4x4's. It stuck with me and my brother, as we discovered off roading and we gravitated toward that as we got older.
Great pictures !!! thanks.
 
I did Bobby's Hole (both down and up) in April. I didn't hit my sliders with 33s but I did take a bad line, got stuck (all tires spinning with lockers), and had to back up. Eventually got up fine.

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