In one of the largest events we have hosted to date, we ventured for the first time onto the trails of Arizona. We joined forces with another offroad group with the plan of making our way, by trail, from Prescott, AZ to Las Vegas, NV. With many firsts, this adventure provided numerous out of the ordinary experiences, with a lot of twist and turns that normally are reserved for soap operas.
Early Saturday morning the group met up to air down and go over the drivers’ meeting details. Here is where the unusual happenings of the event started. Before we could even get started, two trucks were already out of the event as they both had issues related to the drive train. Both were not event related and happened in the a.m. on the way to the meeting point. In addition to losing two trucks, four trucks did not show up to the event at all, and did not provide any notice regarding not being able to make it. Despite this odd start, the large group headed out and hit the first section of trail.
The first leg through the forest was fun and had some great sites. One truck had a freak issue where the rear brake lines were cut from an exhaust falling out. This repair took several hours, but it we were able to get it fixed and the truck was able to make it off trail safely.
Have you started to notice a trend?
The second half of the day started the soap opera, as the trail down the mountain was rocky and not designed for desert trucks. In addition, it was a super busy weekend and many groups were coming up the hill that was just big enough for 1 raptor. The afternoon was a mix of crawling and working with other offroad groups on how to play pass a truck on the ledge. Despite this crazy long afternoon if negotiating trucks and attitudes, the group made it down the trail.
By this time, it was late and we were behind schedule, so half the group headed directly to the hotel while the rest of the group wanted more dirt. Hitting some of the end of day trails, the group that wanted more dirt found some great speed sections and a few jumps that were a welcome reminder of why we do desert runs. At day’s end, after an interesting and frustrating afternoon, everyone was tired and glad the day was over.
Sunday started off as planned, with fun trails to the first regroup section. The trails were technical and offered some great drifting opportunities to wake everyone up for the day. The second leg of the morning proved to be a goat trail that took longer than predicted. While the trail was scenic, it was very rocky and it was not very fun having to crawl across rock after rock. Only two people found the magic rocks and received flat tires. These flats were quickly changed and the group moved on. Reaching the fuel stop just before noon, the group decided to have lunch and re-group. Here the co-host group split off to do their own thing and the main group proceeded on to finish the planned run.
The second half of the day was what the trip was supposed to be: open trails, rolling hills, jumps, drifts and some crazy trails near old mines. The best part was a hill climb that was at a 30 degree incline. Despite the “pucker” factor, it was well worth the challenge. The group made great time on the end of the day’s trails and everyone was all smiles. Several locals to Las Vegas took the group to their favorite jump spot, where one truck got a little excited and broke its suspension. Overall, despite some drama and some trials and tribulations, the trip was a lot of fun. Learning from what worked well and not so well, we hoped to improve upon this trip for the next go around, making it a similar run to the Reno to Vegas event.
