Friday, April 4, 2014

The Sevenmile Rim Trail

Moab, UT

March 23, 2014

By Jerry Smith

For several weeks the thought of a 3-day Jeep trip to Moab had haunted the minds of several Grand Mesa Jeep Club members. A few of the luckier ones were planning on an even more extensive trip, making the rest of us jealous.

Mike crossing what he calls "the Silver Crack".

Mid to late March in Moab can be slightly “iffy” as far as the weather is concerned. Cold nights (lower to upper 20s) and warm days (upper 30s to lower 60s) make for some “cozy” camping conditions and excellent “on the trail” days.

Still recovering from open heart surgery, I was under Doctor’s strict orders not to lift any more than about 10 pounds which precluded me from even packing my tent cot in the back of Happy Trails (my ’06 Jeep Rubicon), so I was limited on how much “camping” I was up to.

Here's Roy flexing his CJ on the "Silver Crack".

Add to that the fact that getting cold was not an option… shivering with a still healing chest is more than just painful.

The weatherman had been saying all week that Sunday would be “the day” to be out, so Sunday it was. The trip planned for the day was one I had not done before, so everything was working out perfectly.

Flexing to the point of unloading a coil spring.

The Sevenmile Rim Trail is rated as “Difficult” in Charles Wells’ “Guide To Moab, UT – Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails” book.

Happy Trails stretching on the "Silver Crack".

With sights like Uranium Arch, Monitor and Merrimac Buttes, overlooks of Arches National Park, the snow capped La Sal Mountains, and Determination Towers to look forward to, this day promised to be legendary.

The notorious obstacle “Wipe Out Hill” along the trail was a major draw as well. Having heard many stories of success and failures on this famous Moab obstacle brings a quickening to your heart rate if you’re into Jeeping in a big way. These famed Moab obstacles don’t come by their reputations lightly.

Leaving Grand Junction at about 6 AM meant driving I-70 in the dark. That proved to be a blessing in a way. Extreme eastern Utah along the interstate can be pretty boring. The silt left behind from the prehistoric seas apparently has little to offer plant life, not even sagebrush will grow there.

The sun was just breaking the horizon as we were passing the Hwy 191/313 intersection where we were to meet later. Gas and a small breakfast were awaiting us in Moab.

Lined up and ready to go.

Returning to just north of the 313 junction, I patiently awaited the rest of the troops. I spotted a Jeep that looked like Roy’s CJ go by and then Cody Lange turned in to tell me we would be assembling at the 313 intersection as mentioned in the trip preliminary.

By the time we got to the assembly area, most of the day’s trail seekers were already lined up and ready to hit the trail. Mike Ehlers was to become our trip leader and we followed him a short distance up Hwy 191 to the turnoff.

The actual trailhead is well marked by a metal sign some distance from the highway turnoff. From here, the trail begins getting rough and rocky.

Climbing the mesa on the Sevenmile Rim Trail.

A fairly steep grade becomes ledgy as you change altitude and pass through different layers of sandstone strata. Some of the more difficult ledges have by-pass opportunities if you choose to use them. Most of us didn’t.

Ascending the Sevenmile Rim Trail.

The views to the east get more dramatic as you ascend the mesa to the south. Unfortunately, there was a haze that spoiled our views looking into the eastern sunlight… blurring our views of Arches National Park and the magnificently snow capped La Sal Mountain range.

Not long after reaching the top, we stopped to “play” on some tall slickrock ledges just off the trail. It was here that I left a large piece of my previously broken left front fender flare hanging in a Juniper Tree as we passed by a little too close. A set of Bushwacker flat fender flares have been on the agenda all winter… now they seemed a lot more important.

"Playing" on ledges just off the trail.

The new flares require the Jeep body temperature to be above 60 degrees for the double-sided tape to adhere properly, so we’ve been waiting for warmer days to order them.

LJs nearly dragged the belly on these steps.

The next few miles of the trail weaves near and away from the east rim where views of Hwy 191 traffic below look like small matchbox cars. Further east is Arches National Park. Some arches were vaguely visible through the haze.

A little to the south shown the La Sal mountains with their white crests gleaming through the haze. On a clear day, this would make for some great “Kodak moments”.

Luke found this to be "as far as you go" on these ledges.

Not too far along we passed the first road to Uranium Arch. Trip leader Mike was looking for another road to it and left us setting beside a second road to the arch while he searched for a painted rock. Not finding the painted rock, he returned to the group and took us down into Uranium arch where we held a lunch break and did some exploring on foot.

Roy hitting the "Automatic Reject Feature" button.

Arches are phenomenons that always seem to hold one in awe. When you stand under or on one, you just can’t help wondering how they form and how long they will exist before crumbling into a heap of broken rock.

Uranium Arch from below.

How awesome it would be if one could live long enough to watch one form… though you might want another interest or you could become quite bored after a few thousand years of watching sandstone wear away.

Uranium Arch from above.

After driving further south for a while, the trail arcs to the west toward Monitor and Merrimac Buttes far in the distance.

Happy Trails about to lose the front fender flare to the tree.

Approaching the buttes gives a new perspective of the sizes of these monoliths. From seemingly nowhere, these two giant sandstone mountains with vertical cliffs hundreds of feet tall just jut from the earth.

Eons of weathering are evident as you get closer. This makes you wonder how long they have existed and how they came to be there. (must have been one large jack that raised them from the earth below)

Cody making ledges look easy.

After passing between the buttes, we encountered some off-camber trail and a narrow passage between the “rock and a hard place”… literally. Your outside mirrors are in peril as you maneuver through at about 25 mph. (yeah, right)

Not too far from the narrow spot, the trail takes a few turns leading to a steep side-hill of slick rock.

Crossing the off-camber slickrock.

Here, you must climb a steep slickrock approach that leads to a looong arc crossing a very off-camber slickrock side-hill that LOOKS much worse than it seems as you drive its length.

Roy climbing to the off-camber slickrock arc.

At the far end of the severe off-camber, you drop down a very steep slickrock grade to the sandy trail below. Not far from here is one of the very famous Moab obstacles… Wipe Out Hill.

Cody descending the slickrock hill.

When going to Moab, there are certain obstacles that stand out by reputation. Wipe Out Hill is one of these.

Mike descending Wipe Out Hill.

Going down is plenty rough on the seat covers as you feel like you’re standing almost vertically on the hillside. Your tires will chirp in places as you attempt to slow your descent. Yeah, it’s steep.

At the bottom is a small flat where you must turn around and get a new view of how much trouble you just got yourself into. There are a couple of lines you can take to extricate yourself from this pit. One very steep slickrock track and one extreme, loose rock shelf that only the large tire guys can run.

Roy climbing Wipe Out Hill.

Roy descending Wipe Out Hill.

After watching others in our group make the descent and then ascend the hill with no trouble, I pointed Happy Trails down the trail… turned around, engaged the ARB lockers and proceeded toward the top.

Happy Trails on Wipe Out Hill.

Just feet from the top, I felt the front totally unload. I was inches too far to the right. We scared the bystanders really bad by the looks they all had on their faces as we backed down for another try.

With all the weight I carry on the rear bumper and tire carrier, (two 5-gallon fuel tanks, full-size spare, high lift jack, axe, shovel, and rack, plus tools and recovery gear inside), the front gets a little light in situations like this. You get to know when to say “when” quickly under these circumstances.

Happy Trails getting light in the front.

Mike came down the hill yelling for me to have a strap attached to the front that three or four guys could help keep the front earth bound… so we did.

The second attempt to climb Wipe Out Hill was much more successful. The right line made a lot of difference and we nearly over ran the strap gang. Check off another challenging Moab obstacle as accomplished.

Returning to the trail, we found ourselves running a dry wash that suddenly turned wet. It was like the Beverly Hillbillies… only water, not oil. A spring bubbled from seemingly nowhere and began running down the wash. Dust was no longer a problem for quite a distance.

Luke on a tough rocky ledge.

Nearing Determination Towers, we left the wet wash bottom and proceeded north to a junction with Mill Canyon Road. Here you turn east which brings you back to Highway 191.

Determination Towers on Sevenmile Rim Trail.

The day of Jeeping concluded, most aired up for the long trip to Grand Junction. Some still had to go back and “break camp” while others of us just turned onto the highway and headed home with a wide smile on our faces.

End of the Sevenmile Rim Trail.

This would be another of those trips you ingrain on your memory. Good friends, great weather, and a superb Jeep trail. It just doesn’t get much better than this!

One last thought; “When you come to a fork in the road… take it!”

Happy trails.

Finding rocks isn't much of a job on the Sevenmile Rim Trail

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Sunday, February 2, 2014

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

By Jerry Smith

January 27, 2014

We all do it… put our Jeeps in jeopardy. Some of us do it more often than others of course, but we who do some serious Jeeping will find ourselves in that “situation” at some time.

When you find yourself in these situations, experience has shown time and time again that your best decision is to take a few minutes to “assess” the WHOLE SITUATION.

I found this photo on Pinterest and it really interested me.

Photo from Pinterest

(We’re going to make some assumptions here. We only have one view and can’t see everything one would want to before making too many judgments… but here goes with what we CAN see.)

In this photo, it’s pretty clear this Jeep is in a very bad position. How it got there is irrelevant at this point. It appears that the driver has had no chance to exit the vehicle to self-assess things from the outside. His first step looks like it would be about 10ft. straight down.

He is relying on his friends’ good judgment(s). In my opinion, that may have been his first mistake. After all, who has the most to lose here? The owner of the Jeep would be a good answer.

It’s clear that there has been some time between when the Jeep got into this predicament and when the photo was taken. Winch lines take a few minutes to be hooked-up and usually a few more for the winching vehicle to be positioned correctly.

From what we can see in this photo, there have been at least two really poor decisions made. Do you see them?

First, and here again, this is making some assumptions not clearly evident in the photo, it appears that if pulling this Jeep backward was the final decision, we could witness a serious roll-over.

If pulling backward, the right rear tire looks like it will come down slowly compared to what the left front will when it drops off the ledge. That puts the Jeep in a perfect position to roll.

Second, and forgive me if I am wrong, but it appears his friends hooked the winch line around the hitch ball. Doing this makes that ball a potential cannonball aimed directly at the winching vehicle. Do you call a “Foul ball”?

Take a minute and think about how you would extricate this Jeep. If it were your Jeep, what would YOU do?

After studying this picture about 3-seconds, my conclusion was they were about to make a bad situation a full-blown calamity. A much safer direction to be pulling this Jeep would be forward.

If possible, I would recommend having a winch pulling forward from the right front corner AND, if possible, have another winch pulling 90 degrees from the passenger side to keep the Jeep from rolling.

Doing it my way may require one or two more things for safety reasons. Do you know what they might be?

Here is a hint. Would you trust your Jeep to be pulled up this ledge by a vehicle only held in place by its own brakes? If given a choice, neither would I.

An even better situation would be to have the forward winching vehicle anchored to another vehicle so the red Jeep on the ledge will not pull it forward. The red Jeep will have a tendency to want to pull a winching vehicle hard toward it.

To make this even safer yet would be to anchor the side-pulling vehicle as well.

Believe it or not, there is one more safety trick in the bag. By doubling the front pulling winch line through a snatch block and back to the pulling Jeep, the pulling power of the winch would be doubled and the tension on the winch line would be cut in half. Does that sound like a good idea?

Seems like a lot from one silly photo, but then they say a picture is worth a thousand words. MS Word says this article is only 657 words to this point.

This photo just grabbed my interest and turned into something to do while nearly crying due to the Broncos losing the Super Bowl.

Some might say I obsess with Jeeping. O.K., suit me.

But when you come to a fork in the road, take it!

Happy Trails.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Radical Hill Trail

Radical Hill Trail

August 29, 2010

Along the Happy Trails

This Story is About How to Experience One of Your Best Days… While Having A Really Bad One

By Jerry Smith

With trails like Radical Hill, Webster Pass, Red Cone, and others in mind, Mike Click and I had planned to go on the Grand Mesa Jeep Club trip to Frisco, Colorado for several weeks. The club trip was scheduled for August 28 & 29, 2010 - (Sat, Sun). We planned to add some extra days because it is a long walk from Grand Junction to the Frisco/ Silverthorn area.

We figured to be able to do Radical Hill, Webster Pass, and Red Cone on the first day.

Radical Hill as seen from Webster Pass.

Friday, August 27^th, we met a little before our scheduled 8 AM time and jumped on I-70 eastbound with thoughts of doing some Jeeping that afternoon and meeting with whoever showed up for the weekend the next morning.

Radical Hill from Red Cone through Webster Pass. The Radical Hill road is visible at the top of the ridge about ⅓ of the way from the left side.

After a quick lunch and a fuel stop in Frisco, we headed for Montezuma. From there we planned to go over Radical Hill and Webster Pass and return by way of 12,801 ft. Red Cone Mountain.

Montezuma is one of those small, sleepy Colorado mountain mining towns that you drive through with little memory of having done so. You can find it mentioned in some Colorado “Ghost Town” type books. The Ghosts were not out haunting… Friday being their day of rest.

One of Montezuma's "Odd Houses"

Lead and silver mining were responsible for Montezuma’s beginnings in about 1865. Most of the major buildings have succumbed to fires over the years, but some still remain from that time. There are several occupied older looking homes.

They have a 20 MPH speed limit that is quite unnecessary. The road through town is so full of deep potholes, you can’t do the speed limit without some serious undercarriage damage. It is my guess that the locals cultivate those potholes to keep the dust down… and trust me, it definitely works.

A short way out of town, we turned on FR5 (Forest Road #5) that takes you up the beautiful Deer Creek valley and up to the rim of Radical Hill. You have a grand look at the Webster Pass road across the valley with Red Cone reaching skyward above it. This view is worth the trip alone!

This is Mike going down the first steep slope of Radical Hill with Webster Pass and Red Cone in the distance.

From Goat to “Goat Whisperer”

Breaking over the ridge and dropping down Radical Hill is typical of many high mountain roads. Steep, rocky, and slow is the word.

Mike was leading the way down Radical Hill and made his way out of sight around the first switchback. As I rounded that switchback, the view of Mike going down the road below was definitely a “Kodak Moment”.

Happy Trails laying on Radical Hill.

I steered diagonally up on the bank on the high side of the road like I’ve done hundreds of times to be able to take a picture out the driver’s side window. It was a steep bank but looked like many I’ve climbed for this purpose.

As I reached across the passenger seat to get one of my cameras, I may have eased up on the brake pedal or the bank gave way because as I started sitting up to take a picture, I noticed the view had changed. The Radical Hill mountainside had disappeared.

From this angle, you could swear this roll-over was impossible.

What should have been a view of Mike going down Radical Hill out of the driver’s side window was in reality of the road surface coming into an extreme close-up.

How to become “the Goat”

Yep, I had just experienced my first rollover. The really bad part was it happened without my participation until the very last quarter second. What a wasted experience! But “Radical Hill” had just taken on a new meaning.

The rocks just off the road surface left nothing unscathed.

I do remember the thump and grind on the rocks and the sound of the side window of the top exploding at about the time a load of camera gear dumped all over me.

Shortly, I hear Mike asking if I am all right on the CB. It took a few moments to gather up the situation mentally as I turned off the ignition and began looking for the CB microphone, which was at my feet.

I told him “I have a situation here.” What I didn’t know at the time was that my CB antennae had been broken off so he couldn’t hear me. I saw him turning around, so I knew he was aware of my predicament.

This was my second time climbing vertically out of a Jeep passenger door window.

This is what a Mountain Goat looks like about 50-yards above you.

The first time was back in the ‘70s in my CJ5 when I had slipped off a steep road bank. That time only required my Ramsey winch to recover us from the ditch. This time, being above the tree line, there were no trees for a very long mile or so from which to winch from.

The other disqualifier was the hydraulically driven Mile Marker winch on the front would require the engine running to operate. Running your engine while on your side isn’t recommended, so the winch was just as handy as a rudder for a duck.

Mike had no winch “mounted”. His winch has resided in his garage for years. Being downhill from me with no way to pass made that a non-issue anyway. Any winching to set Happy Trails back on her tires would have to come from above. With few exceptions, you always want to roll a vehicle back on its wheels in the up-hill direction.

After some Radical Hill pictures, (yes, I had the wherewithal to grab a camera on the way out) we assessed the situation. Not good!

It was decided that I would stay with Happy Trails on Radical Hill while Mike went down to the campground where Dave McCollough should be. Dave has a Ramsey winch on his TJ.

Now I had what I estimated would be about three hours to think about this whole experience. One of the first sensations turned out to be my right knee hurting. The longer I waited, the more it ached.

This Nanny was easy to identify with one deformed horn.

As we were well above tree line, sunburn, even through the thin cloudy skies, was an issue to consider. Standing there in a tee shirt, I looked for some shade to set in but found it in very short supply at about 2:30 PM on Radical Hill.

Eventually, I found that if I stood on the front driver side tire, I could have some shade and a great view of the surrounding valley rim on the skyline. “Wow” is the only word that comes to mind.

This large high mountain half bowl above treeline was really something to see. I had the time to study intensely.

After a little while, one of the reasons for coming up to this area came walking over the rim above Radical Hill.

A wild Mountain Goat in its habitat is something you have to experience to understand the deeply spiritual feelings involved.

Watching this goat feed its way down the steep and rocky mountainside about four hundred yards from me was a real thrill. The experience got a little better when straight up the hill near the Radical Hill road, another goat and her kid began a stare down with me.

From Goat to “Goat Whisperer”

She stood on the skyline for about 45 minutes just measuring the danger I posed to her and her kid. She would look at the first goat to see if any warnings were being sent. Apparently, none were so she began coming down the steepest part of the Radical Hill road toward me. This I found to be really strange behavior.

Just moments after she began coming down the road, I heard footsteps behind me. Many thoughts ran through my mind.

Thoughts like… what could be sneaking up on me? Is it friendly? Is it not friendly?

In order not to scare "it", I made a very slow turn of my head to see five more Mountain Goats staring at me from just a few feet away. That explained why the other one was coming down the road.

This kid was one of my first photos taken of the Goats that became "MY friends".

Well, here I am, standing on the front tire of my pride and joy laying on its side on Radical Hill, surrounded by wild Mountain Goats closer than I ever dreamed possible, and my camera is on the rear bumper… can this be happening?

Standing as still as possible, I watched as one of the kids walked up to the rear tire while trying to figure me out. This was too unreal. Wild animals don’t normally walk this close to you on an exposed mountainside like this. There was nowhere to hide for hundreds of yards.

Soon, the need to take pictures outweighed the need to stay still, so I began a very slow move to the back of the Jeep. Surprise! No mass panic on the part of the goats. Yes, they did move off a few steps.

Now the next realization hit me. Mounted on the only camera not in the Jeep was the super wide-angle lens. A 10mm to 22mm lens is for very close up picture taking. Long distance shots are not very detailed normally. Bummer you might think.

I am told that few TJs have this suspension on the front. A Teraflex triangulated front and rear long-arm suspension has proven to be extremely flexible and very reliable. Seldom needed ARB lockers replaced the unreliable stock Rubicon lockers. With the tires always firmly on the ground, lockers are a luxury not needed often.

As it turned out, the lens was a good choice. These goats became almost family in the next hour or so. I actually began identifying individuals and practically naming them.

I talked to them some and they began coming closer and closer while doing what wild goats do. Eating, coughing, sneezing, bleating, and butting the weaning kids away when they tried to suckle. This was nature in all its glory.

The thought occurred to me, “what a John Denver song this could have been if he had been here to experience this”.

During all this excitement, a cold front had moved in. Suddenly my tee shirt wasn’t very warm. As I became colder, my left hand found its way into my front pocket.

Shortly, one of the nannies walked right up to me, stretched out her nose to within about one inch from the hand in my pocket and took a smell. What an unexpected thrill…. and a serious dilemma.

Let me tell you, having a wild Mountain Goat that close is right up there with going directly to heaven. Looking into her eyes that close was both a mind warping thrill and a very scary time all in one package.

You see, just above those dark inquisitive and nervous eyes are two long horns with sharp points that could leave a man with either two serious bruises or very deep wounds depending on the animal’s reaction.

The desire to pet her was overcome by the fear of those horns. I didn’t even attempt a picture of this for fear of sparking the wrong reaction.

Just a few minutes after this life altering experience, another nanny walked by close enough for me to pluck a tuft of the wool being shed from her back.

The thoughts of this experience were ranging from “Awesome” to “how will anyone believe me when I tell them?”

Soon, I see a man standing on the rim above Radical Hill near where the first goat had been. He was nobody I knew, but I could tell he didn’t believe what he was seeing. After all, how many times do you see a Jeep lying on its side in the middle of a mountain road surrounded by 17 wild Mountain Goats?

Just minutes later, I no longer had to wonder how my story would be accepted.

Some of 17 Rocky Mountain Goats

Mike’s Jeep broke over the top of Radical Hill above with Dave a short way behind and another guy on an ATV behind him. As Mike got closer, some of the goats began slowly moving off, but some just watched while chewing a bite of grass.

This was definitely a surreal experience for the books. God was truly working overtime that day.

Next was the meeting to decide the best approach to putting Happy Trails on its feet.

This is not the recommended way to show your rear suspension.

I have been the one doing the recovering of others many times. From these experiences, I have learned to let others speak their views of the situation before making a decision as to how to proceed.

You often gain a new perspective of a problem that makes you re-evaluate your first impressions. Often too, the guy who is in the tough spot is not the best one to make the final decision. (that would be me in this instance).

Dave lined up to take a pull on our first thoughts. This proved to be a “no go”; Happy Trails had begun to roll up when Dave’s Jeep started skidding toward it, so we had some more brainstorming.

Dave came up with a great plan that I had not considered. We ran the winch cable to HT and then up to Mikes JK to provide a new angle of pull and to take some of the strain off of Dave’s Jeep.

Dave’s idea worked perfectly. Soon HT was up on her wheels and then dragged up the hill to a spot well off the Radical Hill trail.

After confirming that the engine was “hydraulically locked” with oil in the cylinders, Dave offered his help and some fluids he carries to get us back to running condition.

As it was close to dark, Dave left for his camp down beside the Dillon Reservoir and Mike and I set up camp for the night right on the Radical Hill road.

The next morning, the sun was upon us before the folks in Denver. At over 12,000 feet above sea level on the east side of the mountain, you get to see the sun before many people over a hundred miles to your east.

I pulled off all the necessary hardware required to remove the spark plugs to blow the oil out of the cylinders. Thinking we had the job done, all the parts were replaced and another attempt to start it was tried.

During all this activity, some of my new friends came back for another close encounter. We had about ten of the Radical Hill goats surrounding us while we worked on Happy Trails.

One fed on some grass about two steps from the driver’s side door the whole time we were getting in and out and cranking the engine. “Amazing” doesn’t quite say what I felt about this.

Still locked up… all the parts were removed and replaced one more time before we heard the engine cough and puke a fog of blue smoke. The smoke was more than the goats could deal with and they moved away. It was time to leave Radical Hill.

This is the interior while still on its side. Please pardon the mess.

After breaking camp, we headed back up Radical Hill toward Montezuma and met Dave and his wife Pam coming up Deer Creek. Pam nicknamed me “Goat Whisperer”. After all the wonderful experiences, how could I argue?

It didn’t occur to me at the time, but no one had “razzed” me about the rollover. What a great bunch of people to not rub it in.

With my now bum right knee aching like that was its entire purpose for being, I decided to set out the next couple of days of Jeeping. What a bummer!

I had so looked forward to seeing some new trails and this awesome Colorado high country, but having to brake and throttle with my left foot wasn’t making this anything less than dangerous. One major calamity seemed like enough for this trip.

After some discussion to the contrary, Mike finally relented and stayed with Dave and Pam to run the hills for the next two days. How I envied them!

After a very wind noisy, but uneventful trip home, I unloaded Happy Trails so she could be sent in to have the dents and scratches repaired. I am really looking forward to having a new driver’s side rear view mirror. How do you drive with no mirrors?

Radical Hill, the real estate, will forever be branded in my memory.

The Radical Hill goats will always outweigh that memory by an infinity or two.

Happy Trails to you, and remember—when you come to a fork in the road, take it!

This one let me pick some of the shedding wool off her back.

Here, the contrast of a goat already done shedding and one not.

Note how this nanny is comfortable standing on rocks when there is bare ground all around. Their footing on impossible places is incredible.