Price and Compare Vehicles: See Norm Lenhart's Moab Coverage Here The annual Easter Jeep Safari is one of the largest off-road gatherings each year. Thousands of rock-loving 4wd enthusiasts gather each Easter week in Moab to enjoy some of the famous Moab trails. During the week I was there I saw the town about double in size. At first just a few trail-ready trucks could be seen, but by Friday the streets, trails and stores were completely full. Trail-capable trucks were everywhere. Our group of three Toyotas drove out from Southern California, through Nevada, Arizona and into Utah. We arrived in Moab late Sunday night. We stayed in the town the first night. The next morning we headed out to run, Pritchard Canyon. This 4+ trail was just plain fun, not too difficult yet challenging. It had off-camber sections and a few rocks climbs over loose rock. There were also a few optional obstacles that we decided to try while we were waiting for the trucks in front of us. After Pritchard Canyon we headed over to the "Dump Bump". This short little hill climb is one of those strange obstacles that favors less modified trucks. Long wheel base also helps on this one. We watched one completely stock Toyota extra cab with IFS suspension go up the bump about 5 times with little effort. Taking the right line with just the right amount of gas is the key to getting up. With a little work and after a couple of attempts I made it up. During the week we came back to this point a couple of times. Each time there was a huge crowd gathered to watch people try. Short wheel base trucks seem to have a much more difficult time and every few minutes the loud crack and bang of broken drive line parts could be heard.
 On Tuesday I was invited to run the Moab Rim trail With 4Wheel & Sport Utility. The previous day's trail had lots of loose rocks and climbs and I found a lower tire pressure worked best, but Moab Rim was all slick rock and after a few hundred feet I aired my BFG's up to 15 psi for a little more stability. This 4+ trail was mostly slick rock slabs that provided plenty of traction but the off-camber climb to the top was a little unnerving. Our group of 50 trucks made it to the top, then a rain storm swept through and it started raining. It was about noon and our group came to a stop to let another group pass by on their way back down. I rolled up the windows, ate lunch and called my wife on the cell phone. Most of the people driving open top and door-less trucks were soaked by this point and about 40 trucks turned around and headed back down. After about 90 minutes the rain stopped and the sun came back out. Ten trucks decided to push on and continue the trail with Ray Currie taking the lead. After all, the hard part of getting up the slabs was done. We played on the "dome" for awhile and then had some fun on the sand dunes and a few other obstacles along the rim trail. We also stopped several times to admire the beautiful sites that could be seen as the trail overlooks the town of Moab.
 On the way down, the Jeep I was following was driving across the slabs and at the same time up and over a climb that was about 16" high. He was leaning to the right side and hit the climb with his left front tire. The laws of physics did the rest. Up and over he went. He rolled all the way over onto his lid. His full external cage kept damage to a minimum but the front windshield was still cracked. I quickly ran my winch cable down to his truck. His well-equipped Jeep had shackles on the bottom of the nerf bars! This made for a perfect winch point. Due to the steepness of the slabs I tossed 4 rocks under my wheels and Ken hooked a strap to the back of my truck and used his Toyota pickup as an anchor. I winched the Jeep back onto his wheels and choosing a different line we were again under way. Tuesday afternoon we went behind "Lyons Back" and ran the "Hells Revenge" trail. This was not the most challenging trail but did have some fun climbs both up and down very steep rock faces. Most of this trail was traversable in 2wd low range. One exception was "Tip Over Challenge". Most that tried were able to make it but it took us a few tries before we could convince ourselves to give it enough throttle to make it up. This climb was just too steep at its base to crawl up and required a little speed to get up and over.
 Wednesday we ran the "Behind the Rock" trail with Peterson's 4wheel. This trail is rated a 4 and really only had two obstacles on it. In the morning I was not feeling well and opted to go around the first obstacle, a twisted section with an uphill climb at the end. It was really like having three obstacles back-to-back. First you have to watch you don't hit your roof as you lean way over to the left. Then you need to watch your line and not tip over to the right as you line up for the climb out. About 3/4 of our group were successful at negotiating this set of rocks. We continued on and several hours later we came to the meanest pile of rock I had seen so far in Moab. It was "White Knuckle Hill". All day long people were talking about it and whether they were going to try it or not. First our trail leader in his blue Jeep gave it a try. After several attempts, it was obvious he could not climb straight up and he chose a line up the right side. It was really scary to see him get several inches of air under his tire and teeter on the rock. Finally he gave the truck some peddle and up he went in a cloud of dust.
 Next Mitch in his Land Cruiser came up to the rock and with relative ease climbed up and over. Next Jon Bundrant in his 4Runner climbed up and put his front wheels on it and tired to crawl it. It was just too steep and after a minute Jon gave it near-full throttle and seemingly jumped up in one leap. Now it was my turn. It took a few tries but I finally make it up (thanks for the picture Drew). The Sniper was next and came right up with just a single try. Kevin of AOR made it up after a couple of tries. Two short wheel base Jeeps came up after Kevin all though one needed a litlle assistance from a strap. Coming down was also a bit spooky, it was loose and steep. Looking down it seemed just a little to close to vertical. Most of us lifted the rear tires as we hit bottom. It reminded me of coming down waterfall number one at Surprise Canyon.
Thursday we came back and did the Dump Bump again and continued around to the back side of Lyons back. It's one of those nasty trails you just have to see! We also cruised around and played in and around the rocks behind Lyons back. We also play in some of the "hot tubs" These are truck sized holes in the rock with steep smooth walls. On one set of rocks I saw a good photo opportunity and I pulled up and twisted the truck up on the cracked rock. Just as I reached maximum flex my truck popped loudly and truck just dropped down about an inch. The factory Toyota spring hanger I used for the rear springs had shattered into three pieces and the rear leaf spring pulled about 4" away from the frame.
I backed up a few feet and looked over the damage and removed the broken parts. As I was cleaning and prepping the steel Zuk drove up with his Jeep and pulled out his Ready Welder. We both removed our batteries and hooked this cute little wire feed welder up. A quick bead on some scrap steel and I was sure this was the best trail welder I had ever used. I am gona get me one of these! Two batteries is more than enough power for doing frame welding. In fact I found it necessary to reduce the welders power with some extra wire between the batteries. After a few minutes of welding the bracket was back together. I plan to replace both Toyota hangers with heavy duty brackets to prevent this from happening again. Friday our little group headed for home. It's a long 13 hour trip but I knew there were many others that drove even further than we did. I thought a lot about the trails I did not get to, still so much fun to have! So many great trails still to see and rock to play on. You can bet I will be there next year!
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