Area BFE Moab Ride with Rancho, Bestop and BFGoodrich

Apr. 05, 2012 By Josh Burns

The trail ride in Area BFE was hosted by Rancho, Bestop and BFGoodrich tires.

Although all of Moab, Utah, may be concerned the ultimate off-road playground, Area BFE’s description of a “Hardcore Recreational Park” is an apt description for this accumulation of off-road trails that range from moderate to very difficult.

For our run, we tackled DropKick, a new trail in Area BFE.

It was Area BFE that played host to a get-together during Easter Jeep Safari by Bestop, Rancho and BFGoodrich tires. Quite a few vehicles showed up for the ride, including off-road journalists, trail activists and friends of the industry. Area BFE gets help from local wheelers and off-road enthusiasts. The Moab Friends for Wheelin (http://www.moabfriendsforwheelin.com/) actually helped build some of the new trails in the park. Jeff Stevens, one of the few locals who helped construct this new trail, was nice enough to offer us a seat in his Suzuki Samurai crawler.

The main entrance to Smashing Pumpkins, an option line on DropKick is almost a vertical slope.

Brad Lovell decided to tackle Smashing Pumpkins. After a few passes, he found the line and crawled right up like a polished veteran.

The Rancho/Dynomax gathered the group and organized the crew for the run. After a few words from Rancho, Bestop and BFGoodrich, a few of the off-road celebrities on the run were introduced, including King of the Hammers winner Erik Miller, Brad Lovell and rock legend Shannon Campbell.

One of the trail creators, Jeff Stevens with Moab Friends for Wheelin’, crawls down Minor Threat.

DropKick is an intermediate trail with a few technical sections. There are some rock pile sections toward the beginning of the trail that offer a bit of challenge before the trail breaks off onto the optional Smashing Pumpkins line, which Lovell tackled until he found the line and crawled up the nearly vertical rock face entering the trail. There also is another optional line called Rage Against the Machine, though we didn’t tackle it in our section of the group.

This really tight ledge is referred to as “pucker pass,” as hugging the side wall is necessary to avoid falling off the edge of the trail.

Once past pucker pass, a steep ledge awaits – and don’t miss it and slide back or a 20-foot drop awaits.

Further up Dropkick are a few more rocky climbs and then the unique tight pass and then climb on “Pucker Pass,” which is gnarly since it runs along side a nice drop off. The climb at the end offers a mental challenge as well, because if you don’t hit the climb right there’s very little space to back up – or little room if you happen to roll back off the ledge.

BFGoodrich’s Renato Silva may not have had a ton off-road driving experience when he started the trail, but he drove this JK up and around obstacles with off-road savvy as the day went on.

Although not every vehicle on our run was running 37-inch tires and a monster lift, everyone got through with a little help when obstacle clearance became an issue.

After DropKick, part of the group took Green Day, while our chunk of the group went down Minor Threat and hung out at the entrance to Helldorado.

We finished up with some BBQ and talks of the day’s festivities. It was a great run highlighted with lots of good company. Thanks to the ride organizers Rancho, Bestop and BFGoodrich for a great day of sun and wheelin’.

Contacts
Rancho
734-384-7804
GoRancho.com

Bestop
Bestop.com
800-845-3567

BFGoodrich Tires
877-788-8899
BFGoodrich.com

Area BFE
AreaBFE.com

MORE 2012 EASTER JEEP SAFARI:
Mopar, Jeep Unveil Concept Vehicles in Moab

Superlift, Dynatrac and Falken Tackle Poison Spider

Superwinch Trail Ride to Top of the World