Trip Report - Sedona, AZ - Sedonafest II

[Rockrawler]

We pulled into town Friday evening & stopped in camp to see who had already arrived & meet up with Lance. The group was finishing up a recovery demonstration and we had some raffle swag to drop off. After leaving catalogs, stickers & prizes we checked into the hotel. After a good nights sleep we headed back over to camp and met up with a lot of great people. Events like this are great - lots of new ideas for product delelopment and improvement! Soon after was the drivers meeting and we then headed off to the trail. There were 3 groups: The scenic run, the also-scenic-but-a-bit-more-challenge run, and the "hard" run. We chose the hard run of course, and off to the trail we went. We had 7 FJ Cruisers, a monster Lexus and a Land Rover D90. The first trail was Broken Arrow, where we had to dodge pink Jeeps the whole way - most of the drivers were very nice, a couple seemed a bit grumpy, but everyone got along with no problems. Several were taking pictures and Cnynrat was doing video, here are my contributions. Let the photo's begin!

Sedona is beautiful... what a way to wake up!

Here the GP challenge is described, it was supposed to be held Saturday from 3pm-6pm, but because most participants were on the trail past that, it was delayed until this morning (Sunday) from 8am-10pm.

 

[Rockrawler]

We began at Broken Arrow, after airing down the fun began...

After a couple made it up, our "video crew" setup at the top of the first hill

The monster Lexus on nearly 39" tall tires

And since this was a turnaround section, we all headed back down & onto the next section

 

[Rockrawler]

Everyone was having a blast, the weather was in the 80's and the sky's were clear

Pink jeeps were swarming like insects

Our next stop was at an outlook where last year Bobo lost her lower control link. I was told the story of over an hour in the freezing snow doing a trail repair with vice grips, this year no problems, everyone walked through without damage. Yes, the views were spectacular

 

[Rockrawler]

The call was made to head out, Homedad lead the way

I believe this section was called the merry-go-round. Large rock in the middle to circle and a steady slope on the right made it appear & feel as if you were going to slide off, but traction was great.

 

[Rockrawler]

More of the pink Jeeps, this driver was particularly cool. I saw him later that night at the gas station & he remembered our group & wanted to make sure we had fun & everyone got out safe.

 

[Rockrawler]

After winding through the trail we finally got to the staircase, Broken Arrow's most famous feature. Much steeper than the pictures show, its a very fun obstacle that got many of the drivers attention

The video crew was on hand to capture the excitement

Vehicle after vehicle passed and headed down the hill

More of the pink Jeeps followed

and the local wildlife was there to check us out

Then it was time to head back to town, fuel up & head to the next trail

 

[Rockrawler]

Greasy Spoon was the next trail on the list, we ran it backwards and after several moderate hillclimbs and descents we got to the rocks.

With eyes as big as dinner plates, and a crackling voice saying "is this going to get any worse?" the driver made it through with only damage to his tailpipe

The human ballast helped a bit

and after determining that we could not continue further because last years flash floods washed FJ swallowing boulders into the entrance of the next canyon (hey.. the Lexus with 39's wouldnt even try it) we headed back out

Stuffin 35's! Yes a 35" tire will work on a 3" lift...

 

[Rockrawler]

After that it was a short climb out of that small canyon and a few miles back to the main road, then back into town.

It was a good day on the trail with some great people. Fun was had by all and everyone was ready to get back to camp & cleanup for dinner. More pics tonight of todays activities to come!

Terry
All Pro

 

[Rockrawler]

Here are some pics from the raffle:

The winner of the kids raffle:

The winner of the first annual GPS challenge

 

[rockcod]

Nice write up Lumpy!!

 

[Snook]

I believe this section was called the merry-go-round. Large rock in the middle to circle and a steady slope on the right made it appear & feel as if you were going to slide off, but traction was great.

This "merry-go-around" is actually called "Mushroom Rock", I just found out this name because we were there the week before!

Cheers,

 

[medicbob]

This "merry-go-around" is actually called "Mushroom Rock", I just found out this name because we were there the week before!

Cheers,

We always called it Chirp Rock due to the chirping of the tires as you go around it.