Builds I bought a Whale, now I gotta build it and use it (7 Viewers)

[Govwike]

These x-AT are performing better than expected. Killed the north rim mud and stuck to the Moab rock like glue

sounds good .

 

[wngrog]

If you are looking at the GPS routes make sure you look at the run times and pace we push. We usually go dawn to Dusk. 12-13 hours. Eat on the fly.

This leg was 1200 miles.

So far this trip has been 4600 miles

Ole Whale holding up great

 

[RustyNailJustin]

Safe and sound at RNR HQ

 

[wngrog]

 

[WharfRat]

As always, great write up and pics!

 

[Godwin]

Safe and sound at RNR HQ

View attachment 3904231

@wngrog You're going to go back for the next leg of this trip. The pack rats will have eaten your wiring harness and you'll be stuck riding in the slow and smoky HJ with @WharfRat .

 

[WharfRat]

@wngrog You're going to go back for the next leg of this trip. The pack rats will have eaten your wiring harness and you'll be stuck riding in the slow and smoky HJ with @WharfRat .

I hope my wires taste like diesel fumes

 

[tincan45]

I'm going to back up and share all the links from these trips


This is the New Mexico to Patagonia AZ stuff.

Really solid track I've perfected after a couple of previous trips to the area

https://www.gaiagps.com/public/jH36zwQcM1VyKJf4jYnnX1mA

Thanks for Sharing. If you haven't been, I'd recommend dropping south at Tombstone and Visit Bisbee\Lowell. Great little mining town.

 

[offoradjunkie]

This is probably my favorite thread on mud.
You’ve inspired me to check out the South Utah/Northern Arizona area. Do you have any particular suggestions on places to check out?

 

[wngrog]

This is probably my favorite thread on mud.
You’ve inspired me to check out the South Utah/Northern Arizona area. Do you have any particular suggestions on places to check out?

Southern Utah would take years to properly check out. Start there and enjoy.

Part 4 of this adventure starts in 3 weeks. Can't wait to get back out west.

 

[wngrog]

Back for part 4 of the Whale across America trip. This leg will be a bit different.

Red flew out with me and we got a big house in Ridgway. We flew in Saturday and with delayed flights all we were able to do was grocery shop and have a nice dinner at The Hearth.

Sunday we drove over to Telluride, had lunch at New Sheridan then rode the gondola up and hiked down. Great day.

 

[wngrog]

Red has a remote work job so she is staying at the house while I go ride the mountains.

Today I was solo. Saw this beauty on the way up

Took Imogene almost to Telluride but there was a landslide so I had to backtrack. Got on the trail early and had very little traffic.

 

[wngrog]

After I got out I hooked a left and went to the top of Yankee Boy Basin.

Plenty of traffic but it thinned out a ton once the trail got hard at the top

 

[wngrog]

I hooked it south into Governors Basin with a side track through Sidney Basin clockwise. I had to use the magic Crawl on a couple of spots on that optional loop. Recommend.

I made it almost to the furthest mine and the bottom fell out of rain/sleet/hail/snow

Was awesome. Was damn glad not to be on a side by side or in one of these dopey tourist trucks....aka divorce makers

 

[wngrog]

This morning I left at 6:30 to meet my buddy @JTU in Silverton to do the Alpine Loop.

I got there a bit early and to my suprise the entire town was full of wagons.

I'm assuming you people know these people. I saw the @Dissent LX700 and I pulled over and introduced myself to Ben. That thing is amazing with the portals and all of his armor.

I should probably know these things but I rarely get into the 200 forums.

 

[wngrog]

We got going and started on Cinnamon Pass. We were early and there was no trail traffic to speak of.

Beautiful trail. Feels like the Scottish highlands a bit on the west side.

 

[wngrog]

Lake City was a cool town. We got there about noon but no one wanted to stop so we rolled into Engineer.

Traffic picked up some but it was not bad until we hit the pass

 

[wngrog]

From the pass down we ran into a bunch of Cruisers coming up and had to wait about 30 minutes.

*gripe hat on*

If you venture onto a one-way section of trail with 15* vehicles, run it tight. Don't have 300 yard gaps.

*hat off*

We jumped onto Mineral Creek trail and that's probably the hardest stuff in the area.

We got behind some poor pilgrim that had a brand new Ranger Tremor and was WAY out of his league.

We forced a pass in a corner and immediately ran up on his buddy with a flipped adventure trailer. He had about 10 trucks blocked coming uphill. They were very glad to see me and we made quick work of their mess.

Sadly the pilgrim in the Ranger was with this guy and when he saw the accident he started having a panic attack. He had a baby and his wife in and was panicking (never mind the punisher tattoos)

We spotted him through then left him with his buddy.

Next corner we found a broken Rivian.

The level of gay to believe the hype and take this 8000# turd up this trail is unreal. He snapped his steering. He's ****ed

The rest of the trail was clear. Great day.

 

[wngrog]

 

[wngrog]

The cutting brake feature on a 200 is legit and I made some Jeep guys eyes explode with it today